Virtualization Manager Overview


Virtualization Manager is a web-based system administration tool that is tightly integrated with HP SIM. All of the VSE technologies discussed in this book will be supported by Virtualization Manager. The purpose of Virtualization Manager is to provide a consolidated monitoring and administration point for all VSE technologies. Graphical views of system configurations are one of the primary features of the tools. These views depict the relationships between VSE technologies such as the nPartitions that contain virtual machines and the virtual partitions that are being managed by Global Workload Manager (gWLM). The views also depict the systems that contain gWLM PSETS and FSS groups in shared resource domains. In the past, each of these technologies had a technology-specific user interface. However, Virtualization Manager unites these technologies under a single administration console for seamless monitoring and management of VSE technologies.

The HP VSE management software consists of three primary components. The first component, Virtualization Manager, provides visualization and configuration capabilities for all of the VSE technologies. The visualization aspect of this component provides graphical displays of Virtualization Manager's management domain. The configuration aspect of this component provides direct access to each of the VSE management tools. For example, the management tool for Integrity Virtual Machines is seamlessly integrated with Virtualization Manager.

The second primary component of the VSE Management Software is Global Workload Manager, which is discussed in detail in Chapter 19. This component allows policies to be associated with workloads that in turn provide resource controls to ensure that workloads receive the necessary resources while maximizing hardware utilization.

The third and final component of the VSE Management Software is the Capacity Advisor. Capacity Advisor is described in detail in Chapter 18. This component enables capacity planners to analyze historical workload utilization data for the purposes of planning for workload migrations or new workload introductions. Taken in whole, the three components of the VSE management suite provide the capabilities necessary to effectively and efficiently manage a Virtual Server Environment.

Within Virtualization Manager four primary views are available. The first is the System view, which graphically displays the hierarchical layout of the systems in the VSE management domain. The second is the Workload view, which displays a list of workloads in the management domain. This view contains only workloads. Systems that are not directly running workloads, such as VM hosts, are not shown in the Workload view. As another example, if an nPartition complex contains four nPartitions that are each running workloads, then the System view would display the complex and the four nPartitions. On the other hand, the Workload view would display only the four nPartitions because the complex is not running a workload directly. The third view in Virtualization Manager is the Shared Resource Domain view, which displays the systems and workloads being managed by gWLM. The final Virtualization Manager view is the view. This view displays the capacity-planning scenarios that have been created for analysis and planning purposes.

Overview of Architecture of the Management Software

Figure 17-1 shows the management domains relevant to the Management Software. The outermost box indicates the set of systems in HP SIM's management domain. This domain includes a variety of system types such as HP NonStop servers, HP 9000 servers, HP Integrity servers, IA-32 servers, IA-32 workstations, printers, and network switches. HP SIM also supports a variety of operating systems, such as HP-UX, Linux, Windows, OpenVMS, and HP NonStop.

Figure 17-1. HP Systems Insight Manager and VSE Management Domains


The VSE Management Software's management domain is a subset of HP SIM's management domain. HP 9000 and HP Integrity servers are the focus of the VSE Management Software, and thus the management domain for the VSE Management Software is restricted to those hardware platforms. As the diagram indicates, the CMS itself can be part of the management domain. The VSE Management Software supports the HP-UX and Linux operating systems initially, and it will support Windows operating systems in a future revision.

Within the VSE Management Software's domain, the innermost box shown in the diagram depicts a specific set of systems that have been grouped together in a customized system list for management purposes. A system list can be created as a collection of specifically chosen systems or system lists can be defined as a query such that all systems that meet a certain criteria are contained in the list. In Figure 17-1, the four HP-UX servers in the system list could be part of a collection where each system was specifically added to the list. Or the system list could have been defined as a query for all systems running the HP-UX operating system. The difference between the two methods of creating system lists is that HP SIM automatically updates the system lists defined as queries when a new system is added to the management domain, but system lists defined as a collection of systems must be manually updated by the administrator. In the case where four HP-UX servers are specifically added to the collection, a new HP Integrity server running HP-UX that is added to the management domain will not be automatically included in the system list. However, if the system list is defined as a query based on the operating system, adding a new HP Integrity server running HP-UX would result in HP SIM automatically expanding the list to include the new server.

The diagram shown in Figure 17-2 illustrates the communication mechanisms between the HP SIM CMS and the managed systems. Every managed system in the management domain requires that a specific set of software be present and running. The required software varies based on the VSE technologies in use. Generally speaking, a utilization Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) provider tracks resource utilization for processors, memory, disks, and network interfaces. In addition, most VSE technologies have a specific WBEM provider that the VSE Management Software uses to collect status and configuration information from the managed systems. Examples of these technology-specific WBEM providers include nPartition, virtual partition, and virtual machine WBEM providers. In other cases, VSE technologies rely on a proprietary agent on the managed system that provides the capabilities necessary for the technology. gWLM and Serviceguard both rely on such proprietary agents.

Figure 17-2. Architecture of HP Systems Insight Manager and VSE Managed Systems


In addition to the VSE Management Software GUI, a set of VSE Management Software daemons runs on the CMS. These daemons are responsible for keeping the data on the CMS up to date. Every managed system is also required to have a secure shell SSH server available to allow the remote execution of commands. The VSE Management Software relies on an SSH client on the CMS to execute the VSE Commands on the managed systems when configuration changes are performed.



The HP Virtual Server Environment. Making the Adaptive Enterprise Vision a Reality in Your Datacenter
The HP Virtual Server Environment: Making the Adaptive Enterprise Vision a Reality in Your Datacenter
ISBN: 0131855220
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 197

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