Overcoming The Blind Spots in Your Virtualized Data Center

Transcription

1 Overcoming The Blind Spots in Your Virtualized Data Center Matt Percival Sales Manager Northern Europe Stand C Ixia Inc.

2 Outline Virtualization Overview Network Monitoring Basics Implementing a Monitoring Solution in a Virtual Environment Summary 2

3 Virtualization Overview 3

4 What Is Virtualization? Virtualization, in computing, refers to the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including but not limited to a virtual computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network resources. COMPUTE, STORAGE and NETWORK 4

5 How Has It Transformed The Way We Do Business? Server Virtualization (Compute and Storage) Pioneered by VMWare Saved organizations Billions in capital expenses through Server Consolidation Adopted by Amazon AWS Hosts its own retail website ( on AWS Netflix uses AWS for streaming and delivery of content Has revolutionized how we access our data Enables virtualization across different manufacturers products Emergence of Cloud Storage services like Box, Dropbox 5

6 Types of Virtualization Type 1 Server Virtualization Software application (Hypervisor) divides the server into multiple virtual environments. Host OS not needed. Type 2 Desktop Virtualization Use of software to abstract the operating system, applications and associated data from the user PC. Host OS needed. I/O virtualization The physical network adaptor is virtualized into vnics to carry traffic in different virtual channels from the Server traffic. Storage Virtualization Physical storage is abstracted by virtualization to present it to many Servers. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) 6

7 Virtualization Introduces Blind Spots Most east-west data traffic in the virtualized Data Center NEVER reaches the top of the rack where it can be monitored According to Gartner*, 80% of traffic fits into this category Net result, most Data Centers are blind in this area which creates security and performance issues * Source = Your Data Center Network is Heading for Traffic Chaos, Bjarne Munch, 27 April 2011 / ID Number: G , Gartner. 7

8 Virtualization Blind Spot Validation * * Source: A commissioned survey conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cisco Systems, December

9 What s The Problem With Blind Spots? Bad things can happen in virtual data center blind spots 1. Security issues 2. Complexity of managing virtual solutions 3. Proper compliance tracking 4. Performance problems can be hidden for a long time App OS App OS + = 9

10 The Virtual Network Visibility Gap Expect more than 80% of traffic in the data center to be between servers Host to User Visibility Solved today Tap into network at Top of Rack Or use expensive Top of Rack switch SPAN port Host to Host Visibility Limited/no visibility below Top of Rack No visibility within server chassis Core Switch Top of Rack Switch VM to VM Visibility Traffic does not enter the physical network 100% of traffic goes unseen and uninspected VM Mobility Visibility vmotion launches VMs in separate sites for DR or other purposes Physical visibility options may be cost prohibitive for these uses Physical Host 3 VM VM App App OS OS Physical Host VM VM App App OS OS 2 Physical Host VM VM App App OS OS 1. Gartner Research: Your Data Center Network is Heading for Traffic Chaos, 27 April, 2011) 10 4 VMs moved to separate site

11 Network Monitoring Basics 11

12 Tools Need End-to-End Network Access Production Network Tools Organization SPAN Ports Taps Inline Bypass Campus Remote Office Branch Office Network Management Network Operations Core SPAN Ports Taps Inline Bypass SPAN Ports Taps Inline Bypass This isn t happening! Why? Application Performance Performance Management Security Admin Server Admin Data Center Private Cloud Virtualization Security Intelligence WAN Carrier Networks Wired and Mobile SPAN Ports Taps Inline Bypass Customer Experience Audit & Privacy Forensics 12

13 New Needs to Solve the Tools Problem Production Network Tools Organization Campus Remote Office Branch Office Visibility Needs End-to-End Visibility Tool access to any point in the network Network Operations Scalability Scales to fit the needs of any network Performance Management Core Manageability Flexible macro-level management Security Admin Data Center Private Cloud Virtualization Control View exactly the information you need Reduce Costs Reduce tool costs & administrative burdens Server Admin Audit & Privacy WAN Carrier Networks Wired and Mobile Forensics 13

14 Visibility Architectures Are The Foundation of Monitoring Strategies Remote Office Branch Office Visibility Architecture Network Operations Campus Network Taps Out of Band NPB App Aware Element Mgmt Performance Management Core Virtual & Cloud Access Policy Mgmt Security Admin Data Center Private Cloud Virtualization Inline Bypass Inline NPB Session Aware Data Center Automation Server Admin Audit & Privacy Carrier Networks Wired and Mobile Network Access Packet Brokers Intelligence Management Forensics 14

15 Virtual Visibility Framework Inter-VM, east-west traffic monitoring eliminates the blind spots in virtualized environments Network Scaling Single solution for VMware, Microsoft Hyper -V, Citrix Zen, and others Existing physical monitoring tools Core Switch Network Packet Brokers Performance Kernel implementation preserves hypervisor performance, capacity, throughput and utilization Top of Rack Switch Proven, Patented Control Existing physical network packet brokers Quick and easy to deploy Single solution for physical and virtual visibility and troubleshooting Virtualized Host Hypervisor vswitch Kernel Module Global Manageability Simple virtual tap management Single pane of glass management for physical and virtual Virtual Tap VM App OS VM App OS VM App OS VM App OS VM App OS 15

16 Implementing a Monitoring Solution in a Virtual Environment 16

17 You Can t Measure What You Can t See You can t measure what you can t see Best Practice is to replicate your physical monitoring environment processes Typically Tap exporting info to NPB to monitoring tools If you don t have a monitoring process, then implement Visibility Architecture Take a holistic approach - where going, needs, wants, flexibility Quick and simple will normally lead to wasted time, effort and money down the road 17

18 Blade Backbone Virtual Tap Solution Summary Hypervisor Hypervisor Kernel implementation no need for SPAN Ports / Promiscuous Mode VM1 VM2 VM3 VM4 VM5 VM6 Preserves hypervisors performance, capacity, throughput and utilization Lowers investment in virtual tools by bridging existing physical tools to the virtual network Phantom vtap Phantom vtap Enables routing of data from remote data centers to central monitoring facilities LAN vswitch vswitch 100% visibility of inter-virtual Machine traffic Single pane of glass management console for virtual hosts and VMs VLAN and GRE tunnel forwarding support Strengths Highest Performance Cross Platform Support Kernel Level Software 18

19 5 Steps to Improving Visibility 1. Don t let capacity limit access to monitoring information 2. Reduce unnecessary data and costs 3. Get the ROI you want from your existing monitoring tools 4. Optimize incident response to reduce mean time to repair 5. Optimize your network with trend analysis 19

20 Summary Blind Spots (and their associated problems) are there whether you know it or not Security, complexity, compliance, performance How you chose to deal with the blind spots will dictate your future level of effort and cost for your network Take the time to take that holistic (360 degree) view before implementation Best Practice - Keep your current policies so everything is consistent and integrated with data center automation Consider a virtual tap to give you the access you need to your virtualized data center and network 20

21 Additional Resources Download the FREE whitepapers from Ask for a free copy of the ebook - Overcoming Blind Spots in Your Virtualized Data Center Ask for a free Phantom virtual Tap consultation and demo Visit the Ixia Network Visibility Solutions Blog: 21

22 Questions? 22