Server Consolidation and Business

Continuity using VMware ESX and

Network Appliance SnapMirror

Mike Gower
Chris Fraser
Agenda
Introduction
Company Profile – Imperial Parking
Before Virtualization
The Challenge, Drivers & Requirements
The Solution
Design & Benefits
Disaster Recovery Failover Procedure & Summary
Achieved Virtualization, Results & Summary
Q&A
Introduction
Presenters
Mike Gower - I.T. Blueprint Solutions Consulting Inc.
Chris Fraser - Long View Systems

Topic
Server consolidation and business continuity using VMware ESX and
Network Appliance (NetApp) SnapMirror technology
Company Profile
Imperial Parking Corporation
Full suite of parking and
transportation services to
a wide variety of clients
across North America
Statistics
35 offices, 1,800 parking
facilities, 425,000 spaces
in Canada and the United
States and 3,700
employees
Web URL
www.impark.com
Environment Before Virtualization
38 physical servers
NT 4.0 & 2003 Active Directory mixed infrastructure.
SQL, Oracle, Exchange, Citrix, Great Plains, and custom LOB Apps
User requirements
Business Continuity
Support new company initiatives
Limitations
Success by heroic effort
Complex environment
Lack of Documentation
Development environment
The Challenge
Mix of Hardware
The “Desktop” server
Specialty servers
Old hardware
Recoverability
New projects
Need to support new corporate initiatives
Mixed environment and unfinished migrations/projects
Both NT 4 and 2003 AD
Power and Cooling
Consumption and Cooling in current Data Center at capacity
Key Drivers and Requirements
Support growth
New projects
Corporate growth
Reliable and Agile technology
Manageability
Time to implement new systems
Governance model
Revitalization of technology
New infrastructure vs. using existing
Business continuity
Ability to recover all specified systems!
The Solution
Selection of Partner
Long View Systems
Technology Selection
VMware ESX
HP Proliant Servers
Network Appliance Storage
Implementation
Provision new systems
P2V existing systems
Systems Management
Vendor Support
Why Long View Systems?
Local presence
Vancouver and Calgary
Ability to support Impark operations continentally
Offices also located in Edmonton, Denver and Houston
North American coverage through VTN
Expertise in products selected
VAC & Premier VIP Enterprise Partner
30+ VCPs on staff
NetApp Platinum Partner
HP Platinum Partner
Storage Management & Server Consolidation are 2 of
our 8 core practices
Our culture of flexibility and a “get it done” attitude
Our people
Servers & Software
Virtual Infrastructure Starter Kit
consisting 4 VIN nodes, Virtual Center & P2V starter kit.
(Starter Kits no longer available)
ESX Servers:
4 HP Proliant DL585s, each with 4-way AMD Opteron 2.4 GHz
Dual Core processors & 32 GB PC3200 SDRAM, 8 NIC ports, 2
Qlogic HBAs
Virtual Center Server:
HP Proliant DL385, 2 way AMD Opteron 2.4 GHz Dual Core
processor & 4 GB PC3200 SDRAM
Storage Technologies
Storage
Network Appliance 3020HA storage configured with initial 2TB
of storage with SnapMirror license
HP StorageWorks (Backup)
Snapshots
Network Appliance Snapshot technology
Replication
NetApp SnapMirror
Integrated feature that provides automated file system or LUN
replication of a volume onto a remote filer
High Level Infrastructure Design
Additional Solution Components
Management tools
HP Systems Insight Manager
HP SNMP Agents & HP Advanced iLO (Lights-out)
Altiris Server and Infrastructure Management solution
Governance Model
Introduction of governance model for Service Delivery and
Service Support based on ITIL
Co-Location site
Implementation of a “warm” lights-out co-location environment
Consolidation Approach

Complete infrastructure refresh

New virtual machines created for all key systems
P2V migration of high risk or legacy systems
Design

Category Assignment
Servers and Storage designated into a service level category
(Gold, Silver, Bronze)
Gold and Silver:
Each VM is configured with its own Flex Volume
Separate VMDKs created for Operating System and Data drives
• VM Operating System Drive C – VMDK
• App and Data Drive E – VMDK
Special Case – Transactional Databases use an RDM and use
an NTFS native format for the Data Drive instead of a VMDK file
Bronze
Shares common Flex Volume and LUN
Design Benefits
Granular Control
Flexible Failover
Single VM or entire Data Center
Minimal Impart to Environment
Only changes replicated across WAN
Future Considerations
Maximize Disk Storage
High Level Storage Breakdown
Detailed Design Silver & Bronze Example
VanWSS01 VanBES01

C:\ E:\ C:\ E:\

vmdk
VanWSS01 VanWSS01 VanBES01 VanBES01 vmdk
vmdk
_c.vmdk _c.vmdk _e.vmdk vmdk
_e.vmdk vmdk
vmdk
vmdk
vmdk

silver_vmfs_VanWSS01 silver_vmfs_VanBES01
bronze_vmfs_all
VMFS-2 VMFS-2
VMFS-2

Flex Volume on Flex Volume on Flex Volume on

VANFAS02 VANFAS02 VANFAS02
Detailed Design Gold Example
VanMCS01 VanOra01 VanSQL01

C:\ E:\ C:\ E:\ E:\ C:\

VanMCS01 VanMCS01 VanOra01 gold_ntfs_VanOra01 VanOra01 VanSQL01 gold_ntfs_VanSQL01 VanSQL01

_c.vmdk _e.vmdk _c.vmdk NTFS _e.vmdk _e.vmdk NTFS _c.vmdk

gold_vmfs_VanMCS01 gold_vmfs_VanRDM01
gold_vmfs_VanOra01 gold_vmfs_VanSQL01
VMFS-2 VMFS-2
VMFS-2 VMFS-2

Flex Volume on Flex Volume on Flex Volume on Flex Volume on

VANFAS01 VANFAS01 VANFAS01 VANFAS01
Network Topology
Disaster Recovery Failover Procedure

Using VMware and Network Appliance SnapMirror technologies

Demo of procedures to recover a single failed server to the
Disaster Recovery site
Disaster Recovery Summary
Solution:
Calgary setup as warm site
Calgary configured as a separate network. Required routing added
to allow all locations to access co-location network
Calgary DNS server setup to act as a tertiary DNS server
All branches DHCP scopes setup to include Calgary DNS server
All branches VPN devices configured with 2nd VPN tunnel to Calgary
All replicated VMs have static MAC addresses
DHCP MAC reservations used
When a VM comes up in Calgary, DNS is updated for clients
Assumptions:
- All locations use DNS for name resolution (Not I.P. Addresses)

- No hard-coding of server I.P. information in applications

Achieved Virtualization
Virtual Environment (Production)
23 virtual servers (not included Development)
Migrated services of 6 physical servers onto new core VMs
P2V’d 9 physical servers
30+ virtual machines considered direct hardware
replacements ($370K Cost avoidance)
Production virtual infrastructure running:
NT 4.0 & Windows 2000 (de-commissioning)
Windows 2003 - File & Print, IIS, SQL, Oracle, DCs & Line
of business applications, Citrix
Virtual Infrastructure 3

Early Q107 – pilot HA & upgrade VC

Late Q107 – Migrate to VI3
Summary: Imperial Parking

Key Benefits
$480,000+ in avoided costs and/or savings – ROI Year 1
Server Hardware Consolidation
Business Continuity implemented
Management and governance of systems
Standardization of systems and processes
Support new initiatives
Full potential of savings yet to be realized

“By virtualizing unsupported infrastructure, we’ve added a

component of recoverability that we previously did not have.”

Neal Boxrud, Network Manager, Imperial Parking

References
Network Appliance
TR3393 Using Network Appliance Snapshot technology with
VMware ESX Server
TR3401 Using a Network Appliance SAN with VMware to
Facilitate Storage and Server Consolidation
TR3428 Network Appliance & VMware ESX Server Instantaneous
Backup & Recovery with NetApp Snapshot Technology
Q&A

Presented by:

Mike Gower Chris Fraser

mike@itblueprint.ca chris.fraser@lvs1.com
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