virtualization.info

The last post covered the cultural impacts and change caused by virtualization. This post will cover operational readiness issues and needs related to virtualization.

Being operationally prepared for virtualization is the overall hidden challenge.
Being operationally ready for virtualization includes the topics already discussed, but this post will cover a few more detailed points.

The processes and procedures that exists to manage physical servers will not all work for virtual servers. Many of the hypervisor operating systems are Linux based, but most virtual instances running on them are Windows based.
In most larger companies, Linux is managed by a UNIX based team, while Windows servers are managed by a separate team. So how should these hypervisors be managed?

Having a team manage the hypervisor OS’s that understands the security and kernel aspects of the OS is key. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that a UNIX based team manages the hypervisor OS’s and then let the proper team manage the OS’s on the virtual instances based on the type.
While it may seem efficient to have a single team manage the hypervisor, create virtual instances and manage the guest OS’s, there are many hidden issues with that approach.
Having these duties split can not only help with better management of each piece, but can create separation of duties for compliance and help manage things like VM sprawl.

With new embedded or core hypervisor OS’s, security models from the physical world may cover more than needed or not cover some important differences.
Build a security model just for the virtual hypervisor OS’s rather than trying to shoe horn a existing model from Linux or Windows physical servers.
Finally, make sure documentation on processes and procedures for all aspects of virtualization are documented and have been shared with all the proper teams.
Training, whether for internal procedures or from vendors for the products, is essential to make sure the environment are designed, scaled and managed properly.

Virtualization will grow in the future years, and probably will grow faster than anticipated once the value is realized, therefore planning properly for scale down the road is very important.

The next post will cover data center implication of virtualization.