Advanced System Management

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Advanced System Management
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Advanced System Management

• Presented by Andrew Kutz
• Principal
• l o s t c r e a t i o n s
• akutz_at_lostcreations.com
• www.lostcreations.com

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Abstract

• After an environment is virtualized, IT
  professionals are faced with managing a
  virtualized architecture on an enterprise scale
  likely for the first time in their career.
• This session goes beyond the point level
  GUI-driven management solutions offered by each
  virtualization platform vendor, instead examining
  scripting solutions for virtualization
  management.
• Youll also get a review of the available tools
  for centrally managing the virtual enterprise.

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WHAT I ASSUME YOU (THE AUDIENCE) KNOWS

• Virtualization platform familiarity
• Basic knowledge of virtualization management
  concepts and problems

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BY THE END OF THE SESSION, YOULL KNOW THE
FOLLOWING

• Post deployment tuning
• How to overcome common management challenges

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Post Deployment Tuning

• Disk/Storage
• Network
• Routine Performance Spikes

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General Tuning

• Disable unused ports and devices
• USB, Floppy, CD-ROM
• Do not use virtual SMP unless required by apps
• Disable unnecessary programs and services
• Run a single application per VM
• Consolidate virtual memorymaps by grouping like
  OS/applications

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General Tuning

• Install VM Tools or additions
• Install paravirtualized drivers whenever possible
• Video
• Disable screen savers
• Do not run X Windows

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Management Tools

• Point-level
• Centralized management
• CA Unicenter ASM
• SWsoft
• ZENworks Virtual Machine Management

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CA Unicenter ASM
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Controlling VM Sprawl

• Domain VHD Audit Script
• Connect to domain
• Collect list of all computers
• Connect to each computer and list all VHD, VMDK,
  and files over 800MB
• http//downloads.chriswolf.com

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Domain VHD/VMDK Audit Script
'Create Log File Set objFSO CreateObject("Script
ing.FileSystemObject") Set objFile
objFSO.OpenTextFile (strLogFile, _
ForWriting, True) ' Connect to domain and
collect computer accounts Const ADS_SCOPE_SUBTREE
2 Set objConnection CreateObject("ADODB.Connec
tion") Set objCommand CreateObject("ADODB.Comman
d") objConnection.Provider "ADsDSOObject" objCon
nection.Open "Active Directory Provider" Set
objCommand.ActiveConnection objConnection set
objRootDSE GetObject("LDAP//RootDSE") objComman
d.CommandText _ "SELECT Name, Location FROM
'LDAP//" _ objRootDSE.Get("defaultNamingContex
t") "'" _ "WHERE objectClass'computer'" objC
ommand.Properties("Page Size")
1000 objCommand.Properties("Timeout")
30 objCommand.Properties("Searchscope")
ADS_SCOPE_SUBTREE objCommand.Properties("Cache
Results") False Set objRecordSet
objCommand.Execute objRecordSet.MoveFirst
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Domain VHD/VMDK Audit Script
' Output domain computer accounts, connect to
each ' computer, and enumerate virtual disk
files or ' files larger than 800 MB Do Until
objRecordSet.EOF strComputer
objRecordSet.Fields("Name").Value
objFile.WriteLine "System " strComputer Set
objWMIsvc GetObject("winmgmts" _
"impersonationlevelimpersonate!\\" _
strComputer "\root\cimv2") 'Check for
connection error. If systems are 'unreachable,
ensure that a software firewall 'is not blocking
WMI connections. If Err 462 Then
objFile.Writeline(" System Unreachable ")
Err.Clear Else
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Domain VHD/VMDK Audit Script
'Enumerate VHDs and VMDKs set colFiles
objWMIsvc.ExecQuery _ ("Select from
CIM_DataFile where Extension " _ " 'vhd'
or Extension 'vmdk' or FileSize " _ "gt
838860800") ' Note 838860800 is the byte
value of 800 MB 'List VHDs on host For Each
objVHD In colFiles objFile.WriteLine(objVHD.N
ame " -- " _ objVHD.FileSize "
bytes") Next End If objfile.writeline("-
------------------------------")
objfile.writeline() objRecordSet.MoveNext Loop '
All done! WScript.Echo("Audit Complete!")
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Auditing Virtual MAC Addresses

• Needed for MAC filtering, new deployments, VLANs
• Virtual MAC Tool (VMware)www.runvirtual.com
• Vbscript (Windows)downloads.chriswolf.com

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VM Failover Issues

• Linux file systems may re-mount as read only
  following a data path failover in a multipath
  environment
• Solution VMware patch (KB 51306)
• Manual repair VMware ESX, Linux virtual
  machines and read-only file systems

SCSI Error lt0 0 0 0gt return code 0x20008
end_request I/O error, dev sda, sector 4928181
Aborting journal on device dm-0 ext3_abort
called. EXT3-fs error (device dm-0)
ext3_journal_start_sb Detected aborted journal
Remounting filesystem read-only.
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Resizing Virtual Hard Disks

• VMware vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -x ltnew sizegt
  ltvirtual disk filegt
• Microsoft
• VhdResizer (vmtoolkit.com)
• Xen xe disk resize

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Adding a VM Property to AD Objects

• Useful for knowing which servers are virtual and
  which are physical
• Requires a schema modification
• Requires scripted AD integration to initially set
  the property

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Management Resources

• Chriswolf.com
• VMware, XenSource, MS, Virtual Iron, SWsoft
  scripting downloads
• VMware SDK http//www.vmware.com/support/develope
  r/
• XenSource KB http//kb.xensource.com/kbindex.jspa

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USE AT THE OFFICE

• http//downloads.chriswolf.com
• Tons o scripts
• VM appliances
• Resource guides

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RECOMMENDATIONS / SUMMARY

• Dont assume anything works as promised until you
  validate it
• Centralized monitoring and script support make
  life easier
• Share your experiences!

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QUESTIONS?

• Audience QA
• akutz_at_lostcreations.com

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Virtualization From the Desktop to the
  Enterprise
• www.chriswolf.com
• www.searchservervirtualization.com
• www.vmblog.com
• www.virtualization.info