Virtualization

What is Virtualization
Virtualization is the process of running a virtual instance of a
computer system in a layer abstracted from the actual
hardware.
Most commonly, it refers to running multiple operating
systems on a computer system simultaneously.
To the applications running on top of the virtualized machine,
it can appear as if they are on their own dedicated machine,
where the operating system, libraries, and other programs are
unique to the guest virtualized system and unconnected to the
host operating system which sits below it.
Virtual Machine
• A virtual machine is the emulated equivalent of a computer
system that runs on top of another system.
• Virtual machines may have access to any number of resources:
computing power, through hardware-assisted but limited
access to the host machine's CPU and memory;
•
• Desktop Virtualization
• Server Virtualization
• Network Virtualization
• Storage Virtualization
• Application Virtualization
Vendors of Virtualization
 Benefits from
Virtualization
• Save money and energy
• Simplify management
Desktop Virtualization

• VMware Workstation (Local)

• Microsoft Virtual PC (Local)
• Citrix XenDesktop (Centralized)
Desktop Virtualization Architecture
Virtual

Applications Applications Applications

Guest OS Guest OS Guest OS

(Windows) (Linux) (VMware ESX)
Virtual Machine Virtual Machine Virtual Machine
Physical

Virtual Machine Manager

Host OS

Hardware
Components of Virtual
Machines?
• Configuration file
• Hard disk file(s)
• Virtual machine state
file
• In-memory file
Comparison
• VMware Workstation
• Costs more
• More host & guests support
• Better features (Snapshots, USB)
• 64-bit hosts and guests
• Microsoft Virtual PC
• Free
• Less hosts & guests support
• Less VM features and capabilities
Uses
• Development
• Testing
• Training
Server
Virtualization
• Software
(SoftV)
• Hardware
(HardV)
SoftV Server
Virtualization
• VMware
Server
SoftV Server Virtualization
Architecture
Virtual

Applications Applications Applications

Guest OS Guest OS Guest OS

(Windows) (Linux) (VMware ESX)
Virtual Machine Virtual Machine Virtual Machine
Physical

Virtual Machine Manager(Server

Products)
Host OS(Server Products)

Hardware
HardV Server
Virtualization
• Microsoft Virtual Server
• Citrix XenServer

• VMware ESX Server

• Microsoft Hyper-V Server

• VMware ESXi Server

HardV Server Virtualization
Architecture
Virtual

Applications Applications
Guest OS Guest OS
(Windows) (Linux)

Virtual Machine Virtual Machine

Host OS Virtualization Layer

Physical

Hardware
HardV Server Virtualization
Architecture
Applications Application Applicatio
s ns
Virtual

Guest OS Guest OS Guest OS

(Windows) (Linux) (VMware
ESX)
Virtual Virtual Virtual Machine
Machine Machine

Host OS + Virtualization Layer

Physical

Hardware
HardV Server Virtualization
Architecture
Applications Application Applicatio
s ns
Virtual

Guest OS Guest OS Guest OS

(Windows) (Linux) (VMware
ESX)
Virtual Virtual Virtual Machine
Machine Machine

Virtualization Layer
(Hypervisor)
Physical

Hardware
What is a hypervisor?
• A hypervisor, also called a virtual machine manager
(VMM), is a program that allows multiple operating
systems to share a single hardware host.
• Each operating system appears to have the host's
processor, memory, and other resources all to itself.
• However, the hypervisor is actually controlling the
host processor and resources, allocating what is
needed to each operating system in turn and making
sure that the guest operating systems (called virtual
machines) cannot disrupt each other.
ESX & ESXi
• ESX has a Service Console is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
(Update 6) that is heavily modified and stripped down and is used
for management purposes. During the boot process the Service
Console bootstraps the VMKernel using initrd and then turns over
full control of all hardware resources to the VMkernel. When the
VMkernel takes over the hardware resources of the host, the
Service Console is warm booted and managed as a privileged
virtual machine within the VMkernel.

• ESXi does not have a full Service Console but instead has a limited
management console based on an implementation of the Posix
variant of Unix within a Busybox framework and has many
features that you will find in the full Service Console.
Techniques of VMware
• VMotion
• Storage VMotion
• High Availability
• Memory Reclamation
VMotion
• VMotion allows you to quickly move
an entire running virtual machine
from one host to another without
any downtime or interruption to the
virtual machine This is also known
as a “hot” or “live” migration.
• The entire state of a virtual machine
is encapsulated and the VMFS file
system allows both the source and
the target ESX host to access the
virtual machine files concurrently.
The active memory and precise
execution state of a virtual machine
can then be rapidly transmitted
over a high speed network. The
virtual machine retains its network
identity and connections, ensuring a
seamless migration process.
Storage VMotion
• Storage VMotion is a new feature introduced in
ESX 3.5, it allows you to migrate a running
virtual machine and its disk files from one
datastore to another on the same ESX host
• The difference between VMotion and Storage
VMotion is that VMotion simply moves a virtual
machine from one ESX host to another but keeps
the storage location of the VM the same, Storage
VMotion on the other hand changes the storage
location of the virtual machine while it is running
and moves it to another datastore on the same
ESX host. The virtual machine can be moved to
any datastore on the ESX host which includes
local and shared storage.
High Availability (HA)
• Continuously monitors all hosts in a
cluster and restarts virtual machines
affected by a host failure on other
hosts
• Can also monitor guest OS's for a
failure via a heartbeat and restart
them on the same host in case of a
failure
• Continuously monitors and
chooses the optimal physical servers
within a resource pool on which to
restart virtual machines (if used in
conjunction with DRS)
Examining the Anatomy of a Virtual
Machine
• If a list of specifications is equal to a machine (personal computer),
and if software can create the same properties of a machine, you
have a VM.
• Hardware virtualization offers several benefits:-
Consolidation of the infrastructure,
Ease of replication and relocation,
 Normalization of systems,
 Isolation of resources
Examining the Anatomy of a Virtual
Machine

(Virtual Device Context)

Examining the Anatomy of a Virtual
Machine
• Virtualization software protects and partitions the
host’s resources,
central processing units (CPUs),
memory, disks,
and peripherals
by creating a virtualization layer within the host’s operating system
(OS) or directly on the hardware.
Examining the Anatomy of a Virtual
Machine
• Virtualization software protects and partitions the
host’s resources,
central processing units (CPUs),
memory, disks,
and peripherals
by creating a virtualization layer within the host’s operating system
(OS) or directly on the hardware.
Examining the Anatomy of a Virtual
Machine
• Every virtual machine can run its own set of applications on its own
operating system.
• The partitioning process prevents data leaks and keeps virtual
machines isolated from each other.
• Like physical computers, virtual machines require a physical
network, a virtual network,or a combination of both network types
to communicate
 Abstraction
• The virtualization layer abstracts the
hardware for every guest operating system:
• Abstraction
• is the process of separating hardware
functionality from the underlying hardware.
• Because the operating system is built on
idealized hardware, you can change
physical hardware without impacting the
function of virtual machines.
• The virtualization layer is responsible for
mapping virtualized hardware to the host’s
physical resources
Introducing VM Types
• VMs come in several varieties and are defined by how the
virtualization process is performed.
• Emulating a virtual machine is the process of duplicating the
physical structure by using software, and mapping is
• The process of trapping software routines and passing instructions
to the physical hardware.
• 1. Hardware Emulators
• 2. Application Virtual Machines
• 3. Mainframe Virtual Machine
• 4. Operating System Virtual Machines
• 5. Parallel Virtual Machines
1.Hardware Emulators
• Hardware emulators programmatically duplicate physical
architectures to provide native functionality for software.
• .For instance, Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac emulates the i386 architecture for the
PowerPC chip

• Hardware emulators are useful for

• re-creating hardware that no longer exists,
• sharing expensive resources,
• and porting software to different computing system architectures.
the PowerPC chip.
1.Hardware Emulators
• Hardware emulators, unlike VMs, focus on
• running software written for a specific type of processing
architecture on a completely different architecture.

For instance,
Transitive’s QuickTransit emulator allows code written for Sun Solaris to be
executed on an Intel x86 processor and allows an operating system written for
the Intel processor
2. Application Virtual Machines
• An application virtual machine (AVM) is software that isolates a
running application from the computer hardware.
• The result of the isolated application :-

Application code is written once for the virtual machine, and any
computer capable of running the VM can execute the application.
AVMs save developers from rewriting the same application for different
computing platforms:

Examples
Java and Microsoft’s .NET.
3. Mainframe Virtual Machine
• A mainframe virtual machine (MVM) is a software computing
environment emulating the host computer.
• Virtual machines copy not only the host’s software environment
but also its physical environment.
• For computer users, the VM creates the illusion that each user is in
• command of a physical computer and operating system.
• .
3. Mainframe Virtual Machine
• For owners of expensive mainframes,the virtual machine allows
efficient sharing of valuable computing resources and the security
• settings that prevent concurrently running guest VMs from
interfering with one another.
• Any number of IBM mainframe systems fall into this category, such
as
• IBM Mainframes
• System/370 or System/390
4. Operating System Virtual Machines
• Create an environment of an operating system for the computer
user.
• Unlike the MVM emulation, OSVMs achieve virtualization by
mapping the physical computer environment on guest operating
systems.
• The computer on which the OSVM runs executes its own operating
systems—a virtualized computer and operating systems within a
physical computer and operating system.
4. Operating System Virtual Machines
• Examples
• VMware Workstation and GSX Server,
• Microsoft Virtual PC
• Virtual Server
5.Parallel virtual Macines
• Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) is a software tool for parallel
networking of computers.
• It is designed to allow a network of heterogeneous Unix and/or
Windows machines to be used as a single distributed
parallel processor.
 5.Parallel virtual Macines
• PVMs consist of one computing environment running on multiple
computers
• PVMs create the illusion that only one computer is being
• used rather than many.

Executing user Executing

computation PVM system
routines
Deploying VMs
When preparing to virtualize, remember that
 more memory,
faster processors, and
plenty of high-performance hard disk space make for better VMs.
• Note that the hardware on the host computer must have the
minimum requirements
• to support its operating system and the guest operating system
Choosing VM Hardware
• Microsoft Virtual Hardware Specifications
Introducing Computer Components
• CPU
• VMs employ a virtual processor identical to the host computer and
accomplish virtualization by passing nonprivileged instructions
directly to the physical CPU.
• Privileged instructions are safely processed via the VM monitor
(VMM). By allowing most commands to be directly executed,
• guest VMs will approximate the speed of the host.
• Each guest VM will appear to have its own CPU that’s isolated from
other VMs.
Examining the Anatomy of a Virtual
Machine
• Virtual Machine Maximum CPU and Memory Specifications
RAM
• Like CPU virtualization, guest VMs access RAM through the VMM
or virtualization layer.
• The VMM is responsible for presenting VMs with a contiguous
memory space.
• The host VM, in turn, maps the memory space to its physical
resources.
• The management of the virtual memory pool is completely
transparent to the guest VM and its memory subsystems
Microsoft Operating Systems and RAM Configurations
Hard Drive

• Unlike RAM, a hard drive is considered the primary permanent

storage device of VMs.
• Having apparently the same function, Microsoft and VMware use
different terminology to describe their virtual disks.
• The virtualization layer constructs a
• virtual hard drive using this approach, encapsulating each virtual
machine disk into a single file on the host’s physical hard drive
Introducing Virtual Disk Types: Microsoft and VMware

• VM disks come in several forms, such as physical, plain, dynamic,

and virtual.
• Each disk type offers benefits and drawbacks.
• Determining which type of disk to use will be based on the function
of the guest VM.
Virtual Disk Types
Functionally Equivalent Virtual Disk Types

VMware guest operating systems currently support IDE disks as large as 128GB and
SCSI disks as large as 256GB for Workstation and GSX Server. ESX Server can
support a total of four virtual SCSI adapters each with fifteen devices limited to
9 terabytes (TB) per virtual disk.
Preparing a Virtual Machine Host
• Host’s three major systems:
• Storage systems: Hard drives, SANs, CD/DVD-ROMs, RAM, and
cache
• Networking systems: NICs, switches, and routers
• Processing systems: CPU and front-side bus (FSB)
• Servers are different from laptops and workstations in that users
will be depending on
• VMs: accessibility and availability will be your highest priority.
You’ll want to use Redundant
• Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)–configured hard drives (SAN if
possible), several-gigabit
• NICs in a teamed configuration, multiple processors, and maximum
RAM quantities
Selecting a Motherboard
• • CPU speed and quantity
• • Controller chipset
• • Memory requirements
• • Bus types
• • Integrated devices
• • Board form factor
• • Overall quality
CPU Speed and Quantity
• Multiprocessor support is limited to the host machine’s OS. Where
VMware differs from Microsoft is that ESX Server supports SMP for
guest VMs with SMP licensing.
• For instance, if your host server has sixteen processors, you can
configure four guest VMs, each having four processors.

• Controller Chipset
• Memory Requirements
• Bus Types
• Board Form Factor
• Overall Quality
Availability and Performance
• The virtualization layer neutralizes hardware dependence. If the
VM application can be installed on new hardware, your VM server
will run.
• Clustering on single-server hardware eliminates single-server
failure. If one server panics or blue-screens, the other keeps
working.
• The single-file design of VMs supports the portability needs of
disaster recovery. Copy and save a server like any other file, and
then run it anywhere.
Supporting Generic SCSI
• The generic SCSI feature gives the guest operating system direct
access to SCSI devices that are connected to the host system,
including scanners, tape drives, and other data storage devices. A
virtual machine can use the generic SCSI driver to run
any SCSI device
• Generic SCSI allows a VM to directly connect to the physical SCSI
device.
• Assuming the guest OS can supply a driver for the attached physical
SCSI device, then VMware VMs can run the SCSI device after
installing the appropriate driver.
CONFIGURING SCSI
• Add a Generic SCSI Device to a Virtual Machine
• Install the BusLogic Driver in a Windows NT 4.0 Guest
• Avoiding Concurrent Access Problems for SCSI Devices on Hosts
SYSTEM
• Troubleshoot Problems Detecting Generic SCSI Devices
Typical VM Configuration File-Windows
Guests
• config.version = "7"
• virtualHW.version = "3"
• scsi0.present = "TRUE"
• scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
• memsize = "128"
• scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
• scsi0:0.fileName = "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmdk"
• ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
• ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
• ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
• floppy0.fileName = "A:"
• Ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
• usb.present = "FALSE"
• displayName = "W2K3"
• guestOS = "winNetStandard"
• priority.grabbed = "normal"
Linux Guests
Like Windows operating systems, VMware supports generic SCSI
for Linux VMs.
Generic SCSI is nothing more than pass-through access to physical
SCSI devices for which the host loads drivers.
Assuming a driver has been successfully loaded, guest VMs can use
any SCSI device that the host can.
RAID Types
• RAID types and
• how they impact the performance and redundancy of your VM
solution.

• RAID 0,
• RAID 1,
• RAID 5
RAID 0
• Striping is the process of splitting data into blocks and distributing
• it across the drives in the array.
• RAID 0 is great to use where a single hard disk is normally used and
• the loss of data isn’t critical
• RAID 0 is great to use where a single hard disk is normally used and
• the loss of data isn’t critical
RAID 1
• RAID 1, or disk mirroring, maintains an identical copy of all data on
different disks in the array.
• At a minimum, you must use two disks. If one disk goes bad,
service availability of the host and guest VMs will be maintained.
• RAID 1 provides for faster disk reads because two data locations
are working to service one request.
• RAID 1 is good for protecting servers that don’t require lots of disk
space or where extensive file writing will not be an issue,such as
for a server hosting a read-only database.
RAID 5
• RAID 5, also known as block-level striping with distributed parity,
stripes data and parity information across a minimum of three hard
drives.
• RAID 5 has similar performance characteristics as RAID 0 save for
the overhead of writing parity information to each drive in the
• array.
• The performance impact of having to write the parity information
isn’t as significant as having to perform disk mirroring.
• Fault tolerance is derived from data blocks and its parity
Information being stored on separate drives in the array.
Host Disk Sizing

• Sizing system storage is extremely important for both virtual and

physical machines.
• Because you’ll be collapsing the infrastructure onto one box, your
storage needs in a single host computer will be a multiple of the
servers you want to run on it.
Guest Disk Sizing

• IDE device controllers are limited to four devices total, two each for
the primary and secondary channels.
• You can use any CD-ROM and hard drive combination, but you
can’t exceed the limit of four devices: this is true for physical and
virtual machines
Installing VM Applications on Desktops
 Deploying VMs with Microsoft Virtual PC
 Microsoft Virtual PC is intended to be installed on Microsoft desktop OSs
(specifically, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, and
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition).
 Virtual PC officially supports many Microsoft guest operating systems from
MS-DOS 6.22 to Windows 2003 Server. It even officially supports OS/2.
 Though you can run many other operating systems without official support,
this may be a moot point if you’re in an all-Microsoft shop.
 In the following sections, we’ll show you how to install Virtual PC on a
Windows XP host computer
• Microsoft has released Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and it’s available
for download
• at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads
Installing VM Applications on Desktops
 Deploying VMs with Microsoft Virtual PC
 Microsoft Virtual PC is intended to be installed on Microsoft desktop OSs
(specifically, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, and
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition).
 Virtual PC officially supports many Microsoft guest operating systems
from MS-DOS 6.22 to Windows 2003 Server. It even officially supports
OS/2.
 Though you can run many other operating systems without official
support, this may be a moot point if you’re in an all-Microsoft shop.
 In the following sections, we’ll show you how to install Virtual PC on a
Windows XP host computer
 Deploying and Managing VMs on the Desktop
• Deploying VMs with VMware Workstation
• Building a Windows VM is identical to building a Linux VM. To start,
launch Vmware Workstation.
• For Windows host systems, select Start ➤Programs ➤VMware
➤Vmware Workstation, and then select File ➤New Virtual Machine
to launch the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
• To launch VMware for Linux, make sure X Windows is started, type
vmware in a terminal window, and then select File ➤New Virtual
Machine
• You’ll now have to select a name for your VM as well as a storage
point for the guest VM’s virtual hard disk.
• Some network administrators use cryptic host names in an effort to
achieve a greater level of security

VM name and storage directory

• The destination directory for windows
• D:\VirtualMachines\vmw2k3-1\vmw2k3-1.
• For Linux, the path will look similar to
/root/VirtualMachines/vmw2k3-1/vmw2k3-1.

• Take a moment to click the Advanced button and explore these

options.
• On this screen,you can specify the virtual disk’s device node and the
disk mode.
• VMs support a maximum of two devices on each virtual IDE
controller.
• VMware will present you with a progress indication during the
creation process.
• Depending on the host’s hardware, it will take five to ten minutes to
create an 8GB virtual disk.

IDE virtual disk advanced options

• When the disk creation process is complete, you’ll be returned to
the Workstation Management User Interface (MUI).
• Installing VM Tools:
• After installing an operating system on your guest VM, you’ll want
to install VMware Tools.
• The VMware Tools package supplies significant enhancements to a
VM and provides extra functionality between a guest VM and the
host system
VMware Tools for Windows
• To initiate the installation of VMware Tools for Windows, start by
selecting VM ➤Install VMware Tools
• from Workstation’s console menu.
• You’ll be presented with a preinstallation pop-up menu
• informing you that the VM to receive the tools must be running.
VMware Tools for Linux
• The easiest way to install the tools is to log into the VM as the root user.
• To begin the installation, power on the guest VM to receive the packages
in text mode;
• the tools can’t be installed if X Windows is running. After the guest VM
has completely booted and you’ve completed the login process, select
File ➤Install VMware Tools from the Workstation console menu.
• You’ll now need to mount the virtual CD-ROM and then extract the
installer files.

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

cd /tmp
tar zxf /mnt/vmware-linux-tools.tar.gz
umount /mnt/cdrom
VMware Tools for Linux
• Like physical computers, VMs have an array of peripheral options you can
install or remove.
• you can even configure the BIOS of your VM after you power it on.

To install VMware Tools in a Linux guest operating system using Compiler:

1)Ensure that your Linux virtual machine is powered on.
2)If you are running a GUI interface, open a command shell.

3)Click VM in the virtual machine menu, then click Guest > Install/Upgrade
VMware Tools.
4)Click OK.
Note: In some cases, verify that the CDROM device is Connected from within
the Edit Settings option of the virtual machine.
5) To create a mount point, run:
mkdir /mnt/cdrom
• 6)To mount the CDROM, run:

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

• 7)To copy the Compiler gzip tar file to a temporary local directory,
run:

cp /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-version.tar.gz /tmp/
Where version is the VMware Tools package version.

8)To determine the version of VMware tools, run:

ls /mnt/cdrom
9)To change to the tmp directory and extract the contents of the tar file
into a new directory called vmware-tools-distrib, run:

cd /tmp
tar -zxvf VMwareTools-version.tar.gz

10)To change directory to vmware-tools-distrib and run the vmware-

install.pl PERL script to install VMware Tools, run:

cd vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
Microsoft Virtual PC: Building a Windows
VM