maximizing the agility of your virtualized infrastructure

Presented byKirk Bauer Field Systems Engineer, F5

Maximizing the Agility of your Virtualized Infrastructure

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Common Virtualization Challenges& How F5 can help

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Common Virtualization Drivers & Barriers

• Cost Savings• IT Agility / Speed• IT Efficiency

Drivers CIO Objectives

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• Performance• Availability• Management• Integration


IMPACT to the

Business


Barriers Real World Challenges

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• Performance• Availability• Management• Integration

Risks • Missed ROI/Savings• Missed Agility/Speed • SLA impact• Over Budget


IMPACT to the

Business


Barriers Real World Challenges

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DRS & BIG-IP…do I need both?

• VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and L7 Application Delivery solve different problems

• DRS: “How do I use my RAM & CPU across the cluster most effectively?”

• L7 Application Delivery: “How do I distribute my traffic most effectively?”– NIC / vSwitch saturation– Bandwidth utilization– Latency– Number of Connections– Application availability

• DRS manages different VM workloads across a cluster, whereas L7 Application Delivery manages application traffic across application instances

• DRS is local to a cluster whereas L7 app delivery extends beyond clusters (cloudbursting, DR)

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LTM and VMware Fault Tolerance• FT is intended to provide high availability of an app within the same

vSphere/Site.• Primary VM has a secondary VM in lockstep that records the exact

same transactions, taking it’s queues from the primary.• If primary VM or host fails, secondary VM takes over instantly.• Zero downtime of the VM – it’s as if it never failed.• While a valuable feature, it does not overlap much with F5 LTM

– FT is unrelated to failover between vSpheres or sites.– FT is unrelated to traffic load balancing, server offload, traffic optimization and

acceleration, intelligent traffic management (e.g. iRules), global traffic management, etc.

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Common Practical Issues

• How can I provision more seamlessly?

• How can I make application performance better?

• How can I automate more administrative tasks?

• How can I simplify network configuration for VMs?

• How can take full advantage of vMotion?

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F5 & VMware

• F5 & VMware are active partners

• Interoperability & Performance Testing– vSphere, vCenter, AppSpeed, SRM, View, etc.

• Joint Deployment Guides

• Future joint development plans in progress

• Dedicated alliance teams

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Server Virtualization & F5

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Use of Server Offload Yields Higher VM Density

http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/f5-big-ip/facts/975-FFD-F8D

Before After

SSL

TCP Opt.

Caching

Compression

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F5 Has Been Improving Enterprise App Performance & Availability for 10 years

• Network Functions are as critical to virtual as physical apps– Load balancing– Traffic Management– Traffic Optimization– Acceleration– Security

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Example: Reduced CPU Utilization on SAP Portal

Joint testing conducted at SAP Co-Innovation Lab

68%

38%

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POC: Exchange 2007 on vSphere 4

• Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 Edition • HUB and CAS server in VMs• 4,000 mailboxes• Testing consisted of two phases:

– 1. Storage I/O stress testing using Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress Tool– 2. Mailbox simulation using Microsoft Exchange Load Generator (LoadGen) Tool in two

scenarios:• Without LTM offload• With LTM offload

• LTM offloaded approximately 40% of the load from the application server CPUs.• 39.4% reduction in CPU load• Reciprocal ~60% increase in VM Density

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Case study: http://www.f5.com/pdf/case-studies/first-american-cs.pdf Press Release: http://www.f5.com/news-press-events/press/2009/20090831.html

Case Study:

First American

BIG-IP LTM , GTM, FirePass SSL VPN, iRules & Virtualization Benefits:Reduced business critical application log in time by nearly 50%Streamlined IT operations – single interface used across multiple solutionsImproved application performance and user experience twofoldiRules enabled IT to optimize application delivery to each mobile deviceCaching and compression optimized their virtual infrastructure increasing capacity by 20%

“During a recent unplanned outage, we were able to seamlessly redirect folks from one data center to another without a service interruption. F5 provides two fairly large services—content delivery and disaster recovery—we didn’t find that with any other company.

Jake Seitz, Enterprise Architect

Vertical: FinanceLocation: Santa Ana, CaliforniaPartner: VMware

Customer Overview:The First American Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, supplies businesses and consumers with online information in five primary industry segments, including title insurance and services, specialtyinsurance, and data and analytics.

Traditionally, each of First American’s business units had its own IT shop. But recently, the company created a cohesive IT operation capable of providing a standard services catalog, SLAs, and disaster recovery guarantees for all business units. Fronting its massive virtual infrastructure with the BIG-IP solutions and using caching and compression to minimize server workloads has enabled First American to optimize its operation. F5 and VMware have allowed their IT operation to be far more nimble, efficient, and cost-effective in meeting business needs.

http://www.f5.com/pdf/case-studies/first-american-cs.pdf

http://www.f5.com/news-press-events/press/2009/20090831.html

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Case study: http://www.f5.com/pdf/case-studies/transplace-cs.pdf

Case Study:

Transplace

BIG-IP LTM , WebAccelerator, and iRules Benefits:Intelligent traffic management that efficiently distributes traffic across virtual machines to optimize server utilizationHigher availability for Transplace’s TMS platformHigher availability for business-critical enterprise applicationsIncrease in revenue generation Reduced data center footprint

“We're always trying to improve our services for our customers. BIG-IP, as part of our virtualized environment, plays a big role in that. It’s the cornerstone of TMS, and every other application that is critical to our infrastructure.”

Scott EngleDirector of IT Infrastructure

Vertical: Shipping and Logistics Location: Frisco, TXPartner: VMware

Customer Overview:Transplace is a third-party logistics provider that helps companies lower logistics and supply chain costs by taking advantage of its large base of shipments, logistics technology, and operating experience.

In 2006, Transplace redesigned its IT infrastructure to lower costs, increase efficiency, and improve the customer experience. Its environment is now highly virtualized with technology from VMware, and takes advantage of BIG-IP LTM devices to provide high availability and top performance for enterprise applications, including its revenue-generating Transportation Management Services (TMS) SaaS platform.

http://www.f5.com/pdf/case-studies/transplace-cs.pdf

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Automating the Network ChangesBIG-IP LTM & VMware vCenter integrated for automatic provisioning of local VMs on demand Respond instantly to changes in traffic

volume Provision to mean rather than peak Reduce manual labor

BIG-IP GTM & VMware SRM integrated to enable failover between sites

GTM makes traffic follow SRM

Automatic

Zero Application Downtime

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Web Clients

FrontEnd

AppServers Virtualization

App. Server App. Server App. Server

Storage Virtualization

Frontends VirtualizationBIG-IP LTM

BIG-IP LTM

FrontEnd FrontEnd

Web Clients

iControl

iControl

Mon

itorin

g &

Man

agem

ent

vCenter

+

AppSpeed

(optional)

Demand ↑ ↑ ↑

F5 Provision

Detection

AutomationVM Provision

Demand ↓ ↓ ↓

VM Deprovision

Detection

AutomationF5 Deprovision

Illustration: LTM & vCenter Integration

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Cloud Computing & F5

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Illustration: GTM & SRM Integration

SRM Failover

Ongoing Replication

(a) GTM Health checks reveal unhealthy site 1. GTM self-executes a redirection to site 2.

(b) SRM instructs GTM via iControl to failover to site 2

Site 1 Site 2

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WAN Acceleration for VMwarevMotion, Storage vMotion & View

• Overcome latency, packet loss and low bandwidth• BIG-IP iSessions™

– Free feature of LTM, no additional boxes required– Compression, Optimization

• WAN Optimization Module – Add-on Module for LTM– Accelerates VMware View remote desktop traffic on average 12:1– Can accelerate vMotion up to 25:1– Improved user experience over any link– Acceptable connections over weak links– Compression, Optimization, De-duplication

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Escaping Boundaries Between DCs

New Use Cases for Well Established Functionality

– Disaster Avoidance

– Capacity Expansion

– Migrate Apps between DCs

– Migrate Apps between Clouds

– Follow the sun/mooniSession tunnel

23Logical representation, not physical

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How it works – the fundamental steps

1. Storage vMotion to Site 22. vMotion to Site 23. LTM routes incoming connections for existing sessions

to Site 2 VM4. GTM routes new connections to Site 25. Register host and VM in vCenter Site 2 (optional)

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Acceleration & Encryption• F5 testing results of common bandwidth/latency combinations• iSessions™ or WAN Optimization Module™• SSL encryption• Acceleration

– TCP Optimization– Byte-level deduplication– Dynamic compression

• Able to successfully vMotion in conditions where previously failed

Bandwidth (Mbps)

Link Latency (RTT ms)

Link Packet Loss (%)

Average Time without WOM

in Minutes

Average Time with WOM in

Minutes

Acceleration Factor

45 (T3) 100 0% 13:43 3:35 3.8X

100 25 0% 6:10 1:18 4.7X

155 (OC3) 100 0% 13:25 3:29 3.9X

622 (OC12) 40 0% 5:57 1:57 3.1X

1000 (Ethernet) 20 0% 2:38 0:38 3.5X

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On-Demand Scalability in the Cloud

LAN

Internal Cloud External Cloud

On-DemandScaleability

Scale-up by simply plugging in a new blade.

Zero configuration

On-Premise Servers

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Dynamic & Intelligent Traffic Management between Cloud & DC

Enterprise Manager

Firewalls

BIG-IPGlobal Traffic Manager

DatabaseServers

BladeServers

HQ Site 1

BIG-IPLocal Traffic Manager

BIG-IPLink Controller

DMZ

Enterprise Manager

Firewalls

BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager

DatabaseServers

BladeServers

BIG-IPLocalTraffic

Manager

FirePass

BIG-IPLink Controller

DMZ

BranchOffice

FirePass

Remote User

Site 2

BIG-IP SAM

Internet or WAN

Dynamically load balance between data centers based on application availability, time of day, etc. Take into account all tiers of the application

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Desktop Virtualization & F5

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LTM Offload from View Manager Servers

View Manager load grows over time

But LTM can improve View Manager Server Efficiency, Resulting in fewer servers needed and better performance

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LTM Acceleration of RDP Traffic

LTM can also accelerate RDP traffic up to 12:1 using its WAN Optimization Module

Encrypted, Accelerated, Deduplicated Tunnel

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Answer some simple questions

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Automatically creates all necessary objects

Click on any to customize

If no customization needed, you’re done!

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BIG-IP Virtual Edition

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Summary: F5 and VMware

For more information go to www.f5.com/vmware

Agility & ManageabilityGlobal Traffic ManagementiRules IntelligenceiControl IntegrationVIPRION scale-on-demandVMware View Deployment Wizard

Performance & AvailabilityCachingSSL OffloadCompressionDe-duplicationTCP OptimizationRate ShapingSecurityAdvanced Load BalancingAdvanced Persistence

http://www.f5.com/vmware

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Live App Migration Demo with F5 BIG-IP & VMware vMotion

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…of a virtualized application and its storage

F5 and VMware can enable a secure, live migration

…from one siteto another

…without downtime and without user disruption.

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BIG-IP LocalTraffic Manager

Initial Environment



vCenter A vCenter B

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Step 1: F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Opens WAN Optimization Tunnel



vCenter A vCenter B

1• Compressed• De-

Duplicated• Encrypted

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Step 2: Storage vMotion Executed Across WAN Optimized Tunnel



vCenter A vCenter B

2 This step can be avoided if storage is already being synchronously

replicated between sites

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Step 2: Pending App vMotion, transactions rely on VM in Site A, but Storage in Site B



vCenter A vCenter B

vCenter A still managing VM

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Step 3: Application vMotion Executed Over WAN Optimized Tunnel



vCenter A vCenter B

3

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Step 4: vCenter Instructs F5 BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager to Cut Over to Site-B



vCenter A vCenter B

4

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F5 BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager Routes All NEW Application Connections/Sessions Directly to Site B.



vCenter A vCenter B

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F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager in Site A Redirects EXISTING Sessions Temporarily to Site B Until Clients Register DNS Change



vCenter A vCenter B

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Eventually, ALL Connections Go Directly to Site B. The Process Can Be Reversed When Necessary.


vCenter B


vCenter A

Successful Application Migration Complete

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Option:

Have Original IP Space (Site A)

Reclaimed and Re-Used

for Other Applications


vCenter A

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Practical Limitations

• Attention must be paid to:– WAN characteristics

• Latency• Packet Loss

– Rate-of-Change to VM and Storage (typically depends on application characteristics)

• Ratio of RoC-to-WAN performance must not be so high as to prevent successful vMotion or Storage vMotion.

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