Transcript Speakeasy Template 2006

VMware vCenter Server
Heartbeat – Overview
Agenda
Why is VMware vCenter Availability Important?
What Needs to be Protected?
Protecting vCenter Server with vCenter Server Heartbeat
Self Service Management
Self Service
Portal
vCenter
Service
Catalog
Billing/
Chargeback
Availability
Security
Performance
99.99%
High
.2 Milliseconds
SLA Driven
Management
Model
Infrastructure Management
Provisioning
Configuration
Capacity
Operations
Performance
Virtual Datacenter Operating System
Availability
What is VMware vCenter Server?
vCenter Server: A Key Infrastructure Component
A universal hub for virtualization management
How Do You Use vCenter Server?
Monitor cluster, host and VM performance
Manage VM and host provisioning
Patch and update hosts and VMs
Configure and operate VMotion, DRS and HA
Provision and manage a VDI environment
Manage disaster recover plans
Impact of vCenter Server Downtime
Component
Impact Experienced
Virtual Machines
Management requires direct connections to host;
can’t provision new VMs from templates
ESX Servers
Management requires direct connections to host
Performance & Monitoring
Statistics
Historical records will have gaps during outages,
still available via ESX Servers
VMotion / Storage VMotion
Unavailable
VMware DRS
Unavailable
vCenter Plug - Ins
Unavailable
VMware HA
HA failover works, admission control unavailable
VMware VDI
Cannot provision new desktop instances
Agenda
Why is VMware vCenter Availability Important?
What Needs to be Protected?
Protecting vCenter Server with vCenter Server Heartbeat
Determining a Strategy
Define the Scope of Protection Desired
Which is most important?
Local high availability for hardware/network failures?
Protecting application integrity and uptime against all types of
threats?
Remote disaster recovery for large scale, site-wide outages?
What is the recovery time objective?
Need to base this on what functionality is unavailable during vCenter
Server outage
How Do You Protect vCenter Server Today?
•
•
•
•
•
No protection
Keep a backup copy archived
Cold standby
Clustering
VMware HA
Protecting vCenter Server
Replication of
state files
VI Services
vCenter Server
vCenter Server
Primary
Standby
VI
Inventory
Standard DR Solution
Database Server
Database Server
What is required to restore vCenter functionality?
vCenter Server is an almost stateless application
Data stored in the vCenter database is the most critical resource
Following data is necessary to restore the vCenter functionality
(with intact database)
vCenter server IP Address
DNS name for ODBC connection
License files for the License Manager Server
Security Certificates
vCenter Configuration file
vCenter Plug-in data
Customized data from upgrade directory (if applicable)
Cold Standby Recovery Procedure: Simple, Slow
Maintain separate
up to date copy of
local configuration
files
ESX Server hosts
reconnect
automatically
Disaster!
yes
Able to assign
primary’s IP to
standby?
no
Done
Run script to reconnect
all ESX Server hosts
Install fresh
vCenter
instance
Install
config files;
connect to
standby DB
Warm Standby Recovery Procedure: Complex, Faster
Keep local
configuration files
synchronized
between
primary and
standby
ESX Server hosts
reconnect
automatically
Disaster!
Also allows for
scripting and
automation
yes
Able to assign
primary’s IP to
standby?
no
Done
Faster end-to-end
recovery (RTO)
Run script to reconnect
all ESX Server hosts
Replication of
configuration files
through host-based
replication or backup
tools
Agenda
Why is VMware vCenter Availability Important?
What Needs to be Protected?
Protecting vCenter Server with vCenter Server Heartbeat
Solutions for Protecting vCenter Server
vCenter downtime greatly impacts productivity of VI
Administrators
However, several options can be used to mitigate the potential
for vCenter Server downtime
The solution of choice will depend on level of protection desired
and recovery point objectives.
VMware Solutions
Third-Party Solutions
VMware HA
Backup
VMware vCenter Server
Heartbeat
Clustering
Host Replication
Protecting vCenter Server Against Downtime Threats
vCenter Server
Linked Mode provides visibility across
multiple vCenter Servers (coming in
2009)
Replicated licenses & roles
vCenter
Server
vCenter
Server
vCenter
Server
vCenter
vCenter
Server
vCenter
Server
Server
VMware HA
ESXi
ESX
ESX
ESXi
ESXi
Active
vCenter
Server
vCenter Heartbeat
ESXi
Passive
vCenter
Server
VMware HA protects a virtualized
vCenter Server against hardware
and OS downtime
ESX
Heartbeat provides broad failover
protection for vCenter Server
against all types of planned or
unplanned downtime
Introducing VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat
Extends availability for the vCenter Server platform
Add-on to vCenter Server protects critical components of the
infrastructure
Deep awareness of all vCenter Server components
Simple configuration and deployment
Replicates all data and transactions to a standby server
Failover of the application and database over the LAN or WAN
Introducing VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat
 Best-of breed-technology
VMware has selected Neverfail to provide the underlying
technology
Proven technology supports SQL, Exchange, Blackberry availability
vCenter Server Heartbeat is a VMware product and fully supported
by VMware
vCenter Server Heartbeat
Hardware
Failures
OS
Failures
vCenter Server
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Application
Failures
Network
Failures
vCenter Server Heartbeat
vCenter Server Heartbeat Architecture
•Software Based Solution Providing:
•Paired Servers with Shared Nothing Architecture
•Active/Passive clone
•Hardware Agnostic
•Physical & Virtual Support
•Application Awareness (AMF)
•Hardware and Software Redundancy
•Automated Failover
•Planned Maintenance
•Network Monitoring
•Low Bandwidth Module
Comparing vCenter Server Heartbeat
Deeper more granular protection than other solutions
Host
Replication
Heartbeat
Partial
Yes
Hardware & OS failures
Yes
Yes
Protects vCenter Server
components
No
Yes
Network failures
No
Yes
Configuration Agnostic
Yes
Yes
Medium-High
Low
WAN failover
Complexity
vCenter Server Heartbeat: Defense in Depth
Complete
vCenter
Heartbeat
Depth of HA
protection
Replication
Clustering
VMware
HA
Hardware/OS
Specific
All
Breadth of workloads supported
Summary: Why vCenter Server Heartbeat?
 High availability for VC is growing in importance for
customers running VMware in production
Underlying infrastructure needs to be fully protected
HA provides robust general-purpose protection of virtualized
workloads
Need to protect against configuration errors, network failures, OS
failures, database failures with WAN failover support
Many customers run vCenter Server on a physical server
Other solutions are expensive, complex and lack app awareness,
support for database, WAN failover
Customers have been asking for a VMware solution that
provides more granular availability for vCenter Server
Introducing VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat
Extends availability for the vCenter Server platform
Announce at VMworld Europe, GA in mid-March
Add-on to vCenter Server protects critical components of the
infrastructure
Deep awareness of the vCenter Server components
Failover of the application and database over the LAN or WAN

Best-of breed-technology
VMware has signed an agreement to license the technology for
Heartbeat and sell it as a VMware product
Proven technology supports SQL, Exchange, Blackberry availability
VMware will provide training and support as with any other VMware
product
Neverfail provides underlying technology and updates, as well as
support for field, channel and GSS enablement
Questions?
Backup Slides
VMware HA for vCenter Server Availability
 This section discusses how HA can be used for vCenter
Server availability
Solutions for Protecting vCenter
vCenter downtime greatly impacts productivity of VI Administrators
However, several options can be used to mitigate the potential for
vCenter downtime
The solution of choice will depend on level of protection desired
and recovery point objectives.
VMware Solutions
Third-Party Solutions
VMware HA
Backup
VMware vCenter Server
Heartbeat
Clustering
Host Replication
vCenter with VMware HA: Out-of-Band
Two approaches
vpxd
Two vCenter instances manage
each other (pictured)
Both run in HA cluster
Each manages the other’s HA
cluster
vpxd
Separate vCenter instance is
used to manage 2-node HA
cluster (not pictured)
vCenter with VMware HA: In-Band
vpxd
vCenter Server manages the
VMware HA cluster providing
its protection
When the ESX hosts with
vCenter VM fails, VM is
restarted automatically by HA
Failover functionality provided
by HA is independent from
vCenter (post-configuration)
Comparing Solutions: VMware HA and Clustering
VMware
HA
Clustering
WAN failover
No
No
Hardware & OS failures
Yes
Yes
Database
Database via
clustering
Network failures
No
Yes
Configuration Agnostic
Yes
No
Complexity
Low
High
Protects vCenter
Server components