Desktop Virtualization

Virtualization is a hot subject regardless of where it’s being deployed. Server virtualization is getting a lot of press because of the business implications. However, there’s just as much interest and need on the desktop side.

Since I’m a MacBook Pro user, I’ve often found myself needing to review a site or technology that is only found on Windows or Linux. In the past, I’ve relied on Parallels to provide my virtual Intel system. However, in the past year, several new comers have come into focus and one that is “Free” is now maturing.

From the makers of the original VirtualPC comes, VirtualBox. I was completely unaware of their offering until I “stumbledupon” a site that discussed a lot of the virtual options on the MacOS. While Parallels has been a great option, it’s needed some competition and what better tool than free?

I just finished installing it and while I’m not planning on reviewing it here, my intent is to simply quickly report on the experience.

First, the install of the core software was very painless. Pretty much like any other Mac software. Install a package or drag-n-drop into the “applications” folder. VirtualBox or VB, installs like a package and requires an uninstaller, if you so desire.

Once  that was installed, I went through the process of installing WindowsXP. Since I own a copy of XP, but rarely use it, it was available. The installation was pretty much XPish or Microsoftish… long and arduous, like all things Microsoft. However, for the most part, the installation and subsequent updates (about a million of them) went off without a hitch. Well, except for all of the time spent watching the downloads, reboot, downloads, reboot etc… However, at the end of the installation process, I had a perfectly good working copy of WindowsXP at my disposal. Since I do very little with it, I left it as a basic install and will install a few specific applications I need.

Next, Linux. I went out and downloaded the Xubuntu distro, which came down as an ISO file. It was around 680mb or so and took a little while to download. Once done, I started the install process and discovered that VB supports mounting an ISO disk within the application, which I did and which it proceeded to install the entire package through the ISO eliminating the need to burn a CD. Cool!

That install took a while. Not sure if they’re taking their cues from Microsoft or not, but several of the install procedures seemed to take an enourmous amount of time and appeared to “hang”, but since the drive was cranking along and things weren’t hung on my core OS, I figured, wait and see. Eventually, it continued each section and finally rebooted to a very clean Linux install.

Now, what does this level of technical installation and tinkering have to do with sales or sales engineering? Well, in technical sales, one major aspect to being successful is DEMOS. In that vein, the idea would be to build a series of needed demonstration systems either on Windows or Linux depending on the need. Now, you can carry just one laptop, a MacBook Pro and have it all. Usability and ease of the elegant MacOS as well as Windows & Linux, any flavour.

Next, I hear VMWare has a great Mac solution that will take VM installations and allow them to run on the MacBook as well. So much power, so little time!

Many uses…

There are some products on the market that are just plain useful no matter the cost and sometimes they’re marketed in a way that they may not get the full attention of an IT organization, CTO or CIO.

One such product started life as an entirely different company with a very specific niche but has morphed into a different product line because where the product is now and who owns the code.

The product I’m referencing was “LiveState” by V2i now called “Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery” SBESR. Which has a long name and a connotation that it’s just a backup tool. Well, it’s not JUST for backups and here are several uses to consider.

NOTE: First off, I’ll mention that the product is not cheap, but it’s not out of the stratosphere. Cost or Expense justification can easily be calculated in time savings. Period. Last before I start in on putting an overview together on uses, I’ll say, I’m not affiliated in any way with Symantec nor do I get any commission on pushing or promoting their products. (Okay… disclaimer out of the way.)

Initially, the product was described as a system replication and dynamic environment backup tool. Meaning, it would encapsulate an entire “C:” drive or any drive for that matter into a single backup file to be stored anywhere. However, any drive that had the entire “Windows Server installation” could be backed up and used to for recovery in the event of a failure. This was and is it’s primary intent. As the product literature and documentation indicates, it takes a snap-shot or “live state” of a given environment and can even perform scheduled incremental file sets to be stitched back together if need be. As the product matured, it started supporting such things as storing the backup files any whwere, disk, tape, near line, off-line, over a LAN to storage, over a WAN to storage, to a DVD, to a session based CD, just about any type of storage that could handle the file size was supported.

Once Symantec purchased the entire company, V2i, I think that was the name, they incorporated it into their backup suite and added the name Backup Exec, morphed the name from LiveState to System Recovery. It is a great backup tool and can actually be used for that purpose quit successfully, but it also can be used for much more.

Uses 101
One: It can be installed and configured for it’s intended stated and documented purpose. To perform a complete backup of an entire Windows based environment be it desktop or server. It supports incremental backups, backups when changes occur and any scheduled configuration you can possibly imagine. Very much like a tape or disk based data backup and recovery. Recovery methods also vary in that they can be laid back down onto any dissimilar hardware that it was originally installed. This is the panacea of recovery options as you can put the server back onto a desktop, a laptop, another similarly configured server or a very different server class system.

Two: There in lies it’s power. While using it strictly as a “backup” strategy, it can also be configured to participate in a Disaster Recovery process, which is actually what backups are for. Disasters. Not just hurricanes and buildings exploding, but more common hardware disasters, localized departmental disasters etc… However, it can also be configured to support a much more complex higher reaching full blown disaster scenario as well. If configured, tested and implemented, it can support a wide variety of disaster plans and can support the documented system on many levels. Suffice it to say, that next to it’s primary intended purpose, this is the second most common installation type, I’d imagine.

Three: This is where the deviations begin. While it is a powerful backup tool, I believe it’s true power is in it’s functionality and flexibility. The single coolest functional aspect, besides plain working, is that it can take a complicated installed server environment and automatically recover it to a dissimilar piece of hardware. In fact, it can be installed and moved between similar hardware by different manufactures, which has lots of possibilities. Because of this flexibility and inherent nature of it’s functionality, it can be used for a variety of purposes both utilitarian and for complex deployments.

• One of it’s functions can be used to build a “golden master” for a variety of server solutions based upon type and need. There are a number of “ghosting” technologies and niche products geared for this, but they all take a different approach and in my experience have their various problems and short comings. However, with SBESR, you can take a snapshot or backup of the entire environment down to the drivers and registry, store it in a well defined and documented storage location and then use the stored “file” to build a new server in minutes. Considering how long it takes to work manually through a “check-list”, staging and/or prepping a server can take anywhere from 4 hours to several days depending on the complexity of the server software to configure. For example, a basic 10gb server partition can take just less than an hour start to finish. In some cases, it can take less than 30 minutes for the actual copy time. The other time is spent resetting the windows licensing, joining domains and other basic functions to get it fully ready to go.
• Server deployments to another location or data center. This process can be very lengthy depending on many factors, but he concept is simple. Fully stage a deployable environment, N+1 servers by starting with a golden master and configuring, data loading etc… for a given environment. This could be called staging. You could stage these servers on physical systems and/or virtual systems as they’re not dependent on scalability, just functionality and providing a test environment. Once testing has been signed off or final deployable code and configurations are prepared, you would then take a snap-shot of all of the server environments, store them on an external drive, preferably one thats portable. Now it’s prepared for shipping and/or for having the implementation technician install in a much shorter time frame than building systems on site or building systems in the development lab and shipping heavy servers to their final home.
• Development environments. Another possible use is to build up a suite of development and staging solutions that are stable and at a certain revision or version that is fully deployable. Test the upgrades process and/or new installation process. If it fails, simply revert back to the golden state and start over for tweaking and testing. Virtual server technology can also be used for this function, but if that’s not available and SBESR is, then it is a great choice for this job.
• One of the more recent uses would/could be for conversions to virtual server installations. There are a variety of tools and techniques to take a server from physical to virtual. However, SBESR now has built in tools that allow the recovery point to be applied back to either a physical server or converted to a variety of virtual formats.

Well, these are simply overview comments regarding a variety of uses. Each scenario has obvious ramifications in regards to time savings and quickly satisfy any ROI. I can say without reservation that if a technical team starts using these tools on a regular basis, they’ll abandon any old check-lists and manual server preparation processes on short order. In fact, I had one reluctant team of two prep-techs that resisted the use for several months. However, once they got indoctrinated, they are now champions of the product and resistant to upper management threatening to change or reconsider future purchases. A mutiny could ensue.

Bottom line, time savings are enormous for the various scenarios described above. This alone will help justify the high-cost barrier, especially in with regards to time sensitive deployments.

Server Virtualization

Servers are the “foundation” of the tech industry. Without servers, there’d be no web server, internet or any central area where files are stored for sharing. Servers make the web spin and store immense amounts of data. They’re pretty ubiquitous to the average web surfer or office worker.

There are many different kinds of servers and this blog isn’t really written to cover the wide variety. There are small servers dedicated to one function, appliance servers performing several functions and there are huge massive servers scaled to many sizes depending on how big the database or file storage needs are. There are “server farms” coupled together in many fashions to increase the computing power and for those applications that scale way past one single massive server. Suffice it to say, there are an infinite amount and variety of servers doing all kinds of things.

Regardless of size and scale, there are several problems that plague any server environment. These are two problems that need a solution every time a new server comes online somewhere in some data center. While there are a plethora of issues that can cause issues with any server, the two major ones are:

1. Data backup: backup is the Achilles heel of any server environment due to the potential of failure. Backup means many different things from data being stored to operating system and applications running.
2. Disaster Recovery: this is the process of performing a recovery after a failure. While backup is important, if that problem is solved and the data is comfortably stored somewhere waiting for recovery, the next biggest issue is, where and how to restore.

These two areas seem to be one in the same. However, they’re usually addressed separately and in fact, they should be considered in tandem when setting up a server(s). It is paramount that each area be addressed together. Unfortunately, many systems engineers only focus on one specific area, backup only. Recovery is usually an after thought. The reasoning and oversight is vast.

So, what does this have to do with server virtualization? Well, one of the biggest obstacles to these two major problems are “hardware”. Simply put, the easiest approach is to have a duplicate server for each primary server. In fact, in some mission critical needs, this is an option many install. However, the downside is cost. Cost is always a factor with any capitol intensive project.

Why is hardware a factor? Well, most if not all server operating systems are a one-to-one installation on top of any hardware platform. Or traditionally, that’s how it’s been configured. You buy said server and install an operating system. Then, you install the application stuff on top of that. Connect it all and you have an environment that is complex. But, hardware and the system are intricately tied together.

This is where virtualization comes into play. In it’s simplest form, virtualization uncouples the environment and hardware by making them mutually exclusive. In short, building a virtual server removes the dependency on how the hardware is configured. There are other benefits to virtual servers, like scalability and flexibility. However, the quickest win with virtual servers is minimizing the dependency on specific hardware configurations.

There are issues surrounding setting up a virtual server and depending on which solution you go with, the flexibility will vary. Each solution has pros and cons. However, in theory, virtualizing a server really makes for a flexible environment.

In short, it also can solve the two problems mentioned above. With virtual server technology, many of them offer incremental backup options. So, instead of backing up each piece of the puzzle separately, one simply has to backup the virtual server and the data. For recovery, many virtual server technologies allow the environment to be recovered onto any size system and during the recovery process, it doesn’t matter what hardware is in place. In some cases, a large complex system can be recovered to a smaller, less powerful hardware system and run with penalties such as speed and performance, but the system could be run and information accessed, which is the ultimate goal. Accessing the data and information after a failure.

While there’s no way to discuss server virtualization in one basic blog, my intent was to simply put out an very cursory overview on why virtual servers are a great technology and are the NEXT big thing as server environments change and grow. The early adopters, web hosting companies, have already proven that it’s a viable scalable solution. Enterprise and corporate environments are catching up and it’s becoming a standard.

Starting Another Tech Blog…

Starting a new blog is kind of like starting a new job. You’re all excited about the prospects and your head is full of ideas and categories just waiting to come out. However, like all new jobs, you have some house-keeping to do before you dive in and make a splash.

First and THE most important thing you HAVE to do before you even try and get your office assigned is, find out where the “restroom” is located. And of course, there’s following the “Male Restroom Etiquette” that usually needs no review. Next to the Coffee Machine, this is by far the most important thing you’ll need to know. Why? Well, because, we do have natural needs to fulfill and secondly, it’s a great place to “get-away” when you need to think and do NOT want anyone to find you. And, believe it or not, there is actually a Restroom Association dedicated to providing clean public restrooms everywhere.

Second, as mentioned above, the Coffee Machine is the next most important item to find. Even if you do not drink this elixir of life for starting the day, it’s still important for “locating” co-workers and next to the water cooler, it’s probably the most used area for keeping up with the “Latest” knowledge about anything and any subject known to man. However, I digress.

So, what’s this got to do with a TECH blog? Well, everything because there are restrooms and coffee machines on the web that help us get through our day. And there is hardware, software, technology, gadgets and web sites that will fall into one of these two categories. If all we(I) did was talk about the NEXT thing or about some technology, then, it’d be kind of boring.

Therefore, I’ve created two categories that are at the end of two spectrum’s, but similar in that they are needs and wants. Restrooms and Coffee Machines. These are two necessities of life and with technology, there are lots of necessities that I’m thinking about categorizing in this fashion. Restrooms represent the “We gotta have” things and “Coffee Machines” are things that are wonderful, help us out, but are a luxury or more important, a luxury and something we “think” we can’t do without.

After these two prime categories and ways of thinking about technical things, there are a few other obvious ones that come to mind. THE most obvious is “Garbage“. As we go through the day, we all generate a lot of waste and stuff that is just plain junk, refuse or needs to be thrown out. Therefore, my third category will be “Garbage”. There is of course a lot of Garbage or Junk on the web and internet.

Since we live in a society of music, evidenced by the proliferation of the iPod, blasting car stereos and surround sound coming from nearly every home on the block, then the other category that may have significance is “Rock“, well okay, it’s a music genre, but it’s obviously that it’s something that’s well, just great. As in “You Rock” or “That freakin ROCKS!”.

Everything else will be filed under “Uncategorized” or I’ll make up a category as I go. So, there you have it, the first post on my “Tech Blog” that has nothing really to do with technology.

Stay tuned…

Another Tech Blogger – Shane

Hello world!

Any new start with regards to software has one of these. Any coder playing around with new technology or is writing a new tool starts here. So, that’s it… just the boring, Hello World!