C O N S U L T IN G P R O G R A M S
Guide to Virtual Infrastructure Implementation
Virtualization Value
Virtualization provides opportunities to improve service levels and low er capital and operating costs to provide and maintain I inf T rastructure. O ver the past f years many organizations ive have specif ically deployed VM w are inf rastructure sof are on tw industry standard systems to signif icantly reduce their hardw are, data center and operational coasts—many report 7080% costs savings and 3-6 month RO Iperiods—w hile achieving unexpected gains in operational f lexibility, ef iciency, and f agility. To date over one million server w orkloads have been virtualized on this inf rastructure. 90% ofour customers are now rolling out this inf rastructure f production usage. or
K ey Changes w ithin IT infrastructure
Rolling out virtualization can introduce change w ithin the I T inf rastructure and the organization requiring, I management to T properly guide and sponsor the activities. A range ofI processes T and inf rastructure designs are commonly af ected by f virtualization. Specif know ledge and skill sets around ic virtualization need to be developed during the design, planning and f phase deployment. I processes around application, irst T capacity and hardw are provisioning is the most f undamental area that requires re-engineering to achieve an implementation that scales across multiple terms. I many cases, a straightf ard n orw evolution ofcurrent technical standards and operational processes w ill achieve a smooth integration ofvirtual inf rastructure into existing practices.
K ey Success Factors
Based on the experiences ofour customers, implementing virtual inf rastructure is achievable and manageable. H ow ever, because virtualization is still a relatively new technology that can touch a broad set ofI stakeholders and processes, cultural T resistance can stall or limit many deployments, particularly in larger enterprise organization. To achieve the benef of its virtualization beyond a tactical and isolated proj ect-oriented deployment, w e’ f ve ound that the f ollow ing considerations and strategies help organizations address cultural and organizational challenges. • • • • • • • • Top-dow n sponsorshi ensures the appropriate levels of p f unding, staf ing and cooperation f f rom all groups w ithin the enterprise. Treat virtualization as an archi tecturaldeci on that leads si to a corporate I standard and a new model ofdelivering T inf rastructure resources. D esign f the big picture and depl i or oy ncrem entaly to l low er risk, build conf idence and achieve early RO I( target 6 months) . Achieve and maintain stakeholder buy-in as the cultural changes required to roll out new technology requires cross-department cooperation. Form a core virtualization team—a Center of Excelence—chartered to design, operate and drive l internal changes. Create hi qualty desi utilizing best practices to gh i gn minimize issues and establish prof icient w ays f tracking or and remediation. Ref virtualization processes w ith standardi ine zed and m easurabl practi e ces. Start w ith an assessm ent ofthe “as is”organizational and technical readiness and design a vision f your desired or end state.
O perational Readiness
O perational Readiness is def ined as the maturity an enterprise must reach to achieve f benef f ull it rom a virtual environment. As the number ofvirtual machines deployed and the scope of use across the organization increases, the level ofcapability to manage critical processes determines the maturity level. I order n to scale and prolif erate virtualization technology, processes and operations must become more mature and robust. Successf implementations require the expansion ofvirtual ul machines and critical processes to be delicately balanced w ith the capabilities and maturity ofthe virtual environment. W ithout measuring balanced progress along the Adoption Curve, an enterprise may either over-commit ( many services on too immature virtual inf rastructure)or under-commit ( enough not services on mature virtual inf rastructure) Each ofthese states can . cause lengthy delays, or even f ailure, in reaching the desired scalability and associated return on investment. Vi rtualzati A dopti Curve i on on
! " #
$ % &
' % &
Path to O perational Readiness
Phase I A ssess : An O perational Readiness Assessment w ill establish the current state along the Virtualization Adoption Curve and determine how w ell the I inf T rastructure environment is understood and documented. Create a detailed inventory and assess inf rastructure assets per proj including applications, services, ect CPU s, drives, N I and RAM . Then measure perf Cs ormance, utilization statistics and trends. Review current and planned proj ects f impact and identif candidate proj or y ects f or collaboration. I addition, a high level review ofbusiness n applications inf rastructure is important input into planning migrations to a virtual environment. Phase 2:Pl an/D esi gn From the O perational Readiness A ssessment a Roadmap clearly documents the operational design and proj plan f ect or implementation ofvirtual inf rastructure. The obj ective is to understand the impact ofvirtualization on the I organization T and inf rastructure in terms ofdeployment, design, operations and support and then move to a virtual inf rastructure w here w orkloads are distributed ef iciently to maximize capacity f utilization. Review by stakeholders and cross-department buyin helps overcome resistance to cultural changes. I addition, n the Roadmap def ines requirements f the new environment or ( hardw are, service levels, monitoring and reporting) e.g. . Phase 3:Buid l Successf execution ofthe Roadmap requires clear direction as ul to w hat must be done and w ho can do it. Theref building ore, virtual capacity has many dependencies on other teams such as netw ork, storage, design and support groups. Execution of test plans demonstrate that all the virtualization success criteria have been met and that core f eatures and f tolerance w ork ault as expected. Steps to building out a virtual environment include getting the necessary approvals, scheduling needed resources, installing hardw are, completing conf igurations and building the virtual machines. Phase 4:M anage O perations guides and “ books”must be extended to run include all production capabilities ofvirtualization such as back up and restore, adding new f systems, patching/upgrading iles and monitoring. O ngoing management and improvement may mean expanding into areas ofvirtualization such as desktop or business continuity or going deeper into processes like service desk integration or incident management.
D esired End State
There are m any opti and di ons recti that the roadm ap to ons vi rtualzati can take dependi on the uni i on ng que needs ofyour organi on.The suggested phased approach w ilenabl you zati l e to experi ence success and provi a sold f de i oundati f on rom w hi to expand.Regardl ofthe si or sol on area ofa ch ess ze uti vi rtualzati i pl entati stri to reach the f l i set i on m em on, ve olow ng ofobj ves as a m eans to m easure progress tow ard a desi ecti red end state. • Tested standard operati procedures ng • D ef ned polci such as change m anagem ent and i i es, securi ty • I pl ented rol and responsi lti across the m em es bii es enterpri se—not j CoE ust • Pri ed f vi m or rtuali rastructure prolf nf ierati and f on uture servi ces • H i avaiabii across core,i gh l lty ntegrati poi w i on nts th enterpri system s se • Standardi processes zed • A ccepted pl f next phase—vi an or rtualzati ofprocess, i on such as chargeback,di saster recovery or com plance i The deci on to i pl ent a vi si m em rtuali rastructure w i n your nf thi enterpri i a sm art one that w ilprovi num erous fnanci se s l de i al and operati onalbenef ts to your organi on.Thi practi i zati s cal i pl entati strategy provi a key m iestone as you m em on des l conti nue to grow the f lval ofa vi ul ue rtualzati envi i on ronm ent. The concepts w i n thi docum ent represent a sum m ary ofthe thi s w hi tepaper on Road to Vi rtualI rastructure:Practi nf cal I pl entati Strategi For the next l m em on es. evelofdetai l dow nl oad thi paper f s rom w w w . vam w are. com under Servi ces: H ow to Buy.
For M ore Information
VM w are Prof onalServi can hel you buid your roadm ap essi ces p l to vi rtualzati and achi rapi ti e-to-val i on eve d m ue. M ore i orm ati about VM w are sof are and servi can be nf on tw ces f ound at http: w w . //w vmw are. com and f rom your l ocal VM w are representati ve.
VM w are w arrants that i w il perform these w orkshop servi i a reasonabl m anner usi generaly accepted i t l ces n e ng l ndustry standards and practi ces. TH E EXPRESS W A RRA N TY SET FO RTH A BO VE I I LI O F A LL O TH ER W A RRA N TI EXPRESS, I PLI ,STA TU TO RY O R O TH ERW I W I RESPEC T TO TH E SERVI S N EU ES, M ED SE TH CES A N D D ELI VERA BLES PRO VI ED BY VM W A RE,O R A S TO TH E RESU LTS W H I M A Y BE O BTA I ED TH EREFRO M ,A N D VM W A RE D I D CH N SCLA I S A LL I PLI W A RRA N TI O F M ERCH A N TA BI TY O R FI ESS FO R A PA RTI U LA R PU RPO SE. VM W A RE W I N O T BE LI BLE FO R A N Y TH I -PA RTY SERVI M M ED ES LI TN C LL A RD CES O R PRO D U CTS I EN TI ED O R D FI REFERRED TO C U STO M ER BY VM W A RE. VM W A RE W I N O T BE LI BLE FO R A N Y LO ST PRO FI O R BU SI ESS O PPO RTU N I ES,LO SS O F U SE,BU SI ESS I TERRU PTI N ,LO SS O F D A TA ,O R A N Y O TH ER I D I T,SPECI L,I CI EN TA L,O R CO N SEQ U EN TI L D A M A G ES A RI N G U N D ER TH I A G REEM EN T U N D ER A N Y TH EO RY O F LL A TS N TI N N O N REC A N D A SI S LI BI TY,W H ETH ER BA SED I CO N TRA C T,TO RT,N EG LI EN CE,PRO D U C T LI BI TY O R O TH ERW I REG A RD LESS O F W H ETH ER VM W A RE H A S BEEN A D VI A LI N G A LI SE, SED O F TH E PO SSI LI O F SU CH D A M A G ES. VM W A RE’ A G G REG A TE LI BI TY U N D ER TH I A G REEM EN T W I N O T,I A N Y EVEN T,EXCEED TH E FEES PA I BY CU STO M ER BI TY S A LI S LL N D TO VM W A RE U N D ER TH I A G REEM EN T. A l m ateri s provi S l al ded under thi w orkshop are copyri s ghted by VM w are ("W orkshop M ateri s") VM w are grants the custom er of thi w orkshop a lcense to use and m ake reasonabl i al . s i e nternal com pany copi of any W orkshop M ateri s stri y for the purpose of facii ng such es al ctl ltati com pany' understandi utii on and operati ofi lcensed VM w are product( . Except as set forth expressl i the sentence above,there i no transfer ofany i l s ng, lzati on ts i s) y n s ntelectualproperty ri ghts or any other lcense granted under the term s ofthi w orkshop. I C ustom er i i s f ssues a purchase order or other orderi d ocum ent,the ng term s and condi ons ofw hi are i addi on to or i ti ch n ti nconsi stent w i the term s and condi ons ofthi A greem ent,the term s and condi ons ofsuch purchase order or other orderi docum ent w ilnot be bi ng and w ilnot m odi thi A greem ent. th ti s ti ng l ndi l fy s
VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 650-475-5000 Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-475-5001 © 2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242, 6,496,847, 6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022, 6,961,941, 6,961,806, 6,944,699, 7,069,413; 7,082,598 and 7,089,377; patents pending. VMware, the VMware “boxes” logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Page 2 of2;4/07