John Kennedy TME SAVTG

Stateless Computing with UCSM and VMware AutoDeploy – Best Practices

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What does “Stateless” mean?

§ Statefull := stuck to the hardware

Maybe the OS is installed on a local disk, that isn’t replicated… Maybe an Application depends on a burned in identifier, like WWPN or MAC or UUID…

§ Stateless := free to migrate where needed

Nothing in the hardware prevents the software from running on other hardware MAC addresses, WWPN, etc. move from machine to machine based on the needs of the business

Stateless vs. Statefull

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How does Cisco UCS enable stateless computing?

§  UCS hardware can have any MAC, WWPN, UUID applied to it through software

§ Choose layout

§  Then select the layout with the background you would like

Service profile basics

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What are the benefits of Stateless Computing?

§ Simplified provisioning

§ Upgrades of hardware

§ Migration to a new datacenter Without a forklift…

§ Disaster recovery

Allows migration of server functionality

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How does UCS enable stateless computing?

§ UCS applies a “Service Profile” XML collection of metadata

§ Service Profile is centralized, for ease of management

§ Service Profiles can be removed from one server and applied to another

Host OS, Applications, Network and Storage cannot tell the difference

§ Service Profiles can be created from Service Profile Templates Repeatability, ease of management, reliability… When Template is updated, attached profiles get the updates.

By overriding the servers current WWPN, MAC, UUID, etc.

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But Doesn’t VMware enable Stateless Computing?

§ Server boot from the network, not a SAN or local disk

§ State data kept in Host Profiles

§ Allows Elastic Capacity on Demand

Yes, with vSphere AutoDeploy

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AutoDeploy basics

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Frailties of vSphere AutoDeploy

§ Requires DHCP, TFTP, all must be managed

§  If AutoDeploy server fails, ESXi servers can’t reboot

§  In the event of a Power outage, AutoDeploy has to be running before ESXi can boot from it.

§  If AutoDeploy is running in a VM… Chicken? Egg?

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New Feature in vSphere 5.1: Statefull AutoDeploy

§ Allows AutoDeploy to leave a copy of the ESXi server state on a local disk

FlexFlash© , SATA drive, …

§  If server reboots, and AutoDeploy or vCenter isn’t available, server retains it’s identity.

§ When AutoDeploy is available, reboot the server, and it is once again stateless.

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Does AutoDeploy conflict with Service Profiles? The two work together… § When a Service Profile moves to another server, vCenter and

AutoDeploy don’t see a new MAC or IP address ESXi server retains it’s host profile, and it’s state

§ When a Service Profile moves to another server, the local disk can be “scrubbed”

Assumes you use a Full Scrub profile in UCS, so be sure you do…

§  This is an advantage of current servers!

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UCSM enhancements for vSphere AutoDeploy

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Best Practices Specific to this topic… § Make your AutoDeploy, DHCP, and TFTP highly available!

§ Ensure the IPMI address stays with the profile Enables Distributed Power Management

§ Make DHCP reservations for your Service Profiles

§ Make individual Host Profiles for each Service Profile

§ Set your Host Profiles to use Stateless Install on local disk FlexFlash is available on C series only

§ Don’t move B series SP to C series or vice versa

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Best Practices Specific to this topic… § Set your boot order profile to boot from:

CDROM (for troubleshooting) vNICA (Best to use just one…) Local disk

§ Set your vNIC to use the default VLAN Otherwise, either DHCP or gPXE will break

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In summary

§  vSphere AutoDeploy 5.1 lets the ESXi server retain state on the local disk

But that’s not good if you want to repurpose that server You have to scrub the server yourself The replacement server will have a new MAC, new IP, and won’t look the same to vCenter

§ But with UCS Service Profiles, the MAC, WWPN, etc. go on whatever server you wish

So your ESXi server remains available after moving to a new piece of hardware

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Where can I learn more?

§ AutoDeploy documentation http://bit.ly/OgLlZj

§ VMware KB article 2005131 http://bit.ly/OgLH27

§ Cisco UCS solutions http://www.cisco.com/go/ucs

§  TEX2815-vCenter Orchestrator Plug-in for Self-Scaling Data Center Wednesday, Aug 29, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Moscone South, Level 3, Room 310

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Questions?