This document discusses how small and medium-sized businesses can benefit from virtualization using VMware products and tools. It outlines key considerations for SMB virtualization architectures like storage options, mixing production and non-production virtual machines, and licensing models. The document also provides real-world examples and discusses free monitoring and backup tools that VMware offers to help SMBs virtualize effectively with limited budgets.

1. © 2010 VMware Inc. All rights reserved
Small Business and Virtualization:
Benefits, Tools, and Tips

2. 2
Introduction
Paul Woodward Jr.
• Systems Engineer, Swick Technologies
• @ExploreVM
Brian Kirsch, M.Ed
• VMUG Board of Directors
• @BCKirsch

3. 3
Virtualization isn’t just for the Enterprise
Using the right tools and techniques the SMB
can thrive with virtualization

4. 4
Things to look at…
Architecture
Tools
Licensing
Techniques

5. 5
SAN and NAS everywhere…except
Central Storage has been a barrier for SMB
Newer frames offer lower costs
Plus…
Why not make use of local storage?
VMware ESX

6. 6
Production / Test - Dev
Splitting Production and Test / Dev
Production on your shared storage
Test / Dev on local storage
Best of both
VMware ESX
VMware ESX

7. 7
Storage Performance Options…
Make use of both spinning disks /
RAID and SSD
This can be done for both external
storage and internal storage
VMware ESX
VMware ESX

8. 8
Mixing Production, Dev and Infrastructure
Don’t dedicate hosts to specific roles
Mixing VM’s on a single host allows for:
•Reduction in Test / Dev in the event of contention
•Less impact in the event of failure
•Better ability to overcommit

9. 9
Licenses…
The vSphere ESXi Hypervisor is *Free* - no
really it’s free!
No host memory restrictions
No CPU host restrictions
Virtual Machines are “limited” to 8 virtual CPU’s

10. 10
Do I need vCenter…
?
vCenter gives you central management for
production VM’s
Two versions
•vCenter Server Foundation
•vCenter Server Standard
Foundation is limited to
three ESXi Hosts

11. 11
Do I need vCenter…
?
If you have a large test /dev environment you
could place it on a non-vCenter managed host
However no vMotion…
It’s not for everyone

12. 12
While most versions of Linux are opensource
there are concerns…
•Do you have staff knowledgeable about Linux
•Does you application have runtime on Linux
•What support options exist
What about guest OS’s…

13. 13
Windows Standard per VM is a ideal platform
up to a point
•Depending on your price, about 8-10 licenses per
host
•Standard is licensed per install
After that, Windows Datacenter is the key
•Licensed per CPU socket
What about the Microsoft license

14. 14
Windows Datacenter allows for unlimited guest
OS’s to be installed
•After 8-10 virtual machines on a dual socket server it
becomes cost effective and savings grow with every
additional install
•Windows Datacenter does not cover desktop
licenses, only servers
What about the Microsoft license

15. 15
Real World Examples - Manufacturing
 Clients Needs
• Implement a new ERP program (5-10 users) and decommission Windows
Server 2003
 Constraints
• Existing Hyper-V host is only 3 years old
• Budget - cost of the ERP program was high; hardware budget is low
 Solution
• V2V existing VM to a Temp ESXi Host
• Install additional RAM & 15k SAS drives on the original host
• License using Essentials Kit
• Environment grew from 1 Server 03 VM to 4 Server 2012 R2 VMs & a
vCSA
• DC, File Server, Application Server, Terminal Server

16. 16
Real World Examples – Nonprofit Organization
 Clients Needs
• Cloud based legacy applications lags / freezes even after network & ISP
improvements
 Constraints
• As an NPO, funds were allocated via grants, low cash on hand for IT
projects
 Solution
• Migrate application from the cloud to a small local host
• Licensed using ESXi Free
• Application and DC VMs on prem with room to grow in the future

17. 17
Free Tools
 vCheck by Alan Renouf - @alanrenouf
 http://www.virtu-al.net/vcheck-pluginsheaders/vcheck/
 PowerShell script that runs as a scheduled task
 Requires vCenter Server
 Provides over 150 plugins to check the health & status of your VI
 Generates an HTML Email Report or saves to a file

18. 18
Free Tools
 RV Tools
 http://www.robware.net/
 Program reports on over 20 metrics to monitor VM & Host health

19. 19
Free Tools
 Veeam Backup Free Edition
 Backup Single VMs at a time
 Veeam One Free
 VM health and history data collection
 http://www.veeam.com/

20. 20
Free Tools

21. © 2010 VMware Inc. All rights reserved
Thank You!
Any questions?