If they haven’t already, server virtualization and cloud computing are about to become really big deals. Proper use of virtual servers can help an organization reduce costs, optimize hardware utilization, and add flexibility to its IT infrastructure. So when someone comes to you and says they want to virtualize SharePoint, the answer is always “Yes”, right? Not necessarily. SharePoint has always proven itself to be a unique platform in so many ways, and it’s no different with server virtualization. This presentation will address the advantages and disadvantages of virtualizing the components of the SharePoint platform, including both present and future releases, and cover the common traps you will encounter if applying general virtualization approaches to SharePoint. It will address not only why some types of servers in your farm should or should not be virtualized, but also the impact of those virtualization actions will have on how your manage your servers and your farm. It will conclude by the different types of virtualization and cloud computing available today and how they can be used to host SharePoint effectively, and analyzing some real-world examples of virtualized SharePoint environments.

1. SharePoint on Imaginary Hardware
John L. Ferringer – Apparatus
Twitter: @ferringer
Email: jferringer@apparatus.net
Blog: http://www.MyCentralAdmin.com (live on Monday)

2. Agenda
• Intro to SharePoint
• What is Imaginary Hardware?
• Virtualization and SharePoint
• The Cloud and SharePoint
• Q&A

3. SharePoint & Imaginary Hardware?
Is it: Or is it:
?

4. What’s SharePoint?
• Portal
• Intranet
• Web Content
Management
• Data Hub
• Swiss Army Knife
• Gateway Drug

5. How Does SharePoint Work?
• Serves web pages to end users
• Multiple “roles” available
• Flexible architecture
• MUST have SQL Server

6. SharePoint’s Server Roles
SharePoint 2007 SharePoint 2010
• Web Front End Server • SharePoint Foundation Web
(WFE) Application Server (WFE)
• Application Server • Service Application Server
• Query Server • Query Server
• Index Server • Crawl Server
• SQL Server • SQL Server

7. A Closer Look:
SharePoint Roles and Performance
Server Roles Important Metrics
• All • Network Bandwidth
• WFE • CPU and RAM
• Application/Service App • Depends on the app,
often CPU and RAM
• Query • Disk (for reads)
• Index/Crawl • CPU, Disk (for writes), RAM
• SQL Server • CPU, Disk (reads & writes),
RAM

8. Imaginary Hardware
What are we talking about?
Virtualization Cloud Computing

9. Virtualization and The Cloud
Virtualization
The Cloud

10. Why Go with Virtualization?
• Lower costs
• Increase flexibility
• Manage resources dynamically
• Maximize performance
• Enable redundancy
• Consolidate infrastructure

11. How Does Virtualization Work?
• Physical “host” server
• One to many virtual “guest” servers
or “virtual machines” (VMs)
• VMs exist as files stored on the host
• Host resources (CPU, RAM, disk, network)
are shared

12. How Is Virtualization Different?
• Simplifies deployment
• Centralizes administration
• Changes performance metrics
• Shifts bottlenecks

13. A Closer Look:
Virtualization Performance
• CPU
• Memory (RAM)
• Disk
• Network
• Know your metrics!

14. Even Closer:
Virtualization and Disk I/O
• VMs live on disk
• Disk implementation matters
– How is it presented to the VM?
– Hardware Configuration?
• Disk usage patterns matter
• Avoid disk fragmentation

15. SharePoint and Virtualization -
What’s Good?
• Roles:
– WFEs
– Query (maybe)
– Application (maybe)
• Redundancy
– Sort of
• Deployment
– Sort of

16. SharePoint and Virtualization –
What’s Not?
• Roles:
– SQL Server
– Index/Crawl
• Disk I/O
• Disaster Recovery

17. SharePoint and Virtualization -
Considerations
• It always depends
• Ensure true redundancy
• Use it in the right situations
• Know your limitations

18. Virtualization and The Cloud
The Cloud
Virtualization

19. Why Go with The Cloud?
• Defined costs
• Flexibility
• No capital investment
• Simplify infrastructure

20. How Does The Cloud Work?
• Utility computing
• Defined “units” purchased
• Elastic
• Global
• Offers a broad range of options

21. How Is The Cloud Different?
• Abstracts infrastructure
• Lets you focus on your business
• Simplifies upgrades
• Quantifies costs

22. The Cloud Deep Dive: Types
• Hosted SharePoint (Software as a Service, SaaS)
– Example: SharePoint Online
• VM-based (Platform as a Service, PaaS)
– Examples: Rackspace cloudservers, Bluelock
• Private
• Compute
– Examples: Amazon EC2, Azure
• Storage
– Examples: Amazon S3, Rackspace cloudfiles,
Azure Storage

23. SharePoint and The Cloud
• Know your Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• What do you own?
• What can you control?
• Watch your costs!
• Understand your dependencies

24. SharePoint & Imaginary Hardware?
Is it: Or is it:
?

25. Questions?

26. Resources
Twitter: @ferringer
Email: jferringer@apparatus.net
Blog: http://www.MyCentralAdmin.com (live on Monday)
• MS UK SharePoint Team Blog on SharePoint and Virtualization:
http://tinyurl.com/MSUKSPVM
• Hardware Virtualization Support for SharePoint:
http://tinyurl.com/SPVMSupport
• Virtualization Products:
• Citrix Xen Server: http://tinyurl.com/XenSrvr
• VMWare: http://www.vmware.com
• Windows Hyper-V: http://tinyurl.com/WinHyperV
• Cloud Providers:
• Amazon Web Services: http://aws.amazon.com/
• Bluelock: http://www.bluelock.com
• Rackspace: http://www.rackspace.com
• Windows Azure: http://www.azure.com
• VMware and Network Load Balancing:
http://tinyurl.com/VMwareNLB