www.novell.

com
Technical White Paper
DATA CENTER AUTOMATION

Automation for the

New Data Center
Automation for the New Data Center

Table of Contents: 2 . . . . . Easing Pain in the

Data Center

2 . . . . . Data Center Automation

Solutions from Novell

4 . . . . . Components

5 . . . . . Compute Servers

7 . . . . . Storage Servers

7 . . . . . Management Servers

10 . . . . . Summary

p. 1

“Data Center Managers
are on the hot seat lately.
They not only have to
cram more servers per
square inch than they
ever thought they’d need,
they also have to figure
out how to do it without
sending the electricity
bill through the roof.”
eWeek
“The Greening of the Data Center”
by Kevin Fogarty
August 2006
Easing Pain in the Data Center
Data centers are being squeezed by a variety
of internal and external pressures such as
power consumption, HVAC requirements, new
servers, human errors, patching, asset track-
ing and more. In fact, the average data center
consumes enough power in a month to power
1,000 homes! On top of all this, you have to
keep up with dynamically changing business
requirements. You need a solution that will
allow you to align IT to your business, control
costs and minimize risks. Data center man-
agers are looking for a variety of ways to
address these dilemmas. One of the key ways
is server consolidation using virtualization.
Data Center Automation
Solutions from Novell®
Novell has launched a new
strategy to build a mixed-
Figure 1. SUSE Linux Enterprise is the foundation for commercial high-performance cluster computing, data center,
enterprise workgroup and desktop.
p. 2
source-based platform that offers value through
sophisticated integration of otherwise isolated
components. This solution addresses the
workloads shown in Figure 1. Consider the
evolution of computing from mainframe to
mini to client/server. Now modularize, stan-
dardize, commoditize and virtualize. Next,
add integrated intelligence and you have
a modern computer, comprising virtualized
computing and storage that is controlled by
a distributed operating system realized by
grid-inspired resource management software.
This new solution enables mainframe-class
capabilities for commodity scale-out data
center architectures. All workloads are
supported by a common modular Linux*
foundation: SUSE Linux Enterprise,
®
although all major virtualization
platforms will be supported.
Automation for the New Data Center
Commercial high-performance cluster com-
puting, data center and enterprise workgroup
workloads will run inside “virtualized” data
centers (see Figure 2 on the following page).
Users connect to the network using fixed-
location desktops or mobile devices.
What is Virtualization?
The classic computer has CPUs, memory
and disk(s) to hold data when the power is
turned off. Virtual memory gave computers
the ability to present the illusion to appli-
cations of more main memory than was
physically available. Virtual disks create
the illusion of a larger or more fault-tolerant
disk compared to the many physical disks
they comprise. Virtual machines present the
illusion of a whole computer that is actually
contained by a real computer sharing its
physical resources among competing virtu-
al machines. Clusters present the illusion
of a single reliable computer by coupling
together and masking the failures of
physical computers.
Today, data center computers (servers)
are connected to disks over a storage area
network (SAN). By removing and relocating
storage from individual servers to a central
network location, server form factors have
shrunk. Blade servers are now popular.
Blades are granted access to virtual disks
(named storage containers) located inside
SAN disk arrays. When a server fails,
processing fails over to another server
with access to the same SAN virtual disks.
When a service (running on a server) runs
out of storage, more space can be allo-
cated from the SAN using standard man-
agement APIs. When services themselves
are virtualized, by hosting inside a virtual
machine, they gain the flexibility to migrate
from one physical server to another.
Virtualization eliminates physically imposed
static boundaries: CPU, memory and disk
are allocated dynamically. Services and
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Eventually, parts of the desktop experience
will also be hosted by data center servers
through virtualization-enabled deployment “Virtualization in and
of end-user virtual machines, connected to of itself is interesting,
next-generation thin client terminals. and it gives you server
efficiency, but without
some of the automated
tools, it may actually
increase your manage-
ment burden.”
data gain mobility: the freedom to optimally
consume physical resources and the ability
John Enck
to rapidly switch to alternate physical Gartner
resources while adapting to workload
demands. High availability is a natural
consequence of virtualized systems.
Legacy line-of-business (LOB) applications
are also being virtualized. Static monolithic
client server software is being augmented
or replaced with Web services. Web-based
Services Oriented Architecture (SOA)
replaces earlier distributed object systems.
There are new WS- protocols for anything
that wasn’t XML-based before. And LOB
applications now comprise a number of
cooperating services. Infrastructure services
provide naming, discovery and, via XML,
a data integration and exchange format.
LOB components execute in virtual machines
and communicate using Web services pro-
tocols. SOA and WS- protocols are creating
a new platform for distributed computing.
Finally, with so many distributed moving
parts, identity management creates the
infrastructure necessary to securely name
and associate, authenticate and authorize
service consumers with producers regard-
less of service type. Identity is the context
that binds a flow of service requests all the
way from the end user through multiple pro-
cessing tiers, to data on disks. Users are
granted rights to services and services are
granted rights to other services. And if we
haven’t experienced enough virtualization
yet, identity itself has been virtualized by
the notion of “role.”
p. 3
“For virtualization to
truly work in real-world
applications, users must
also focus strongly on
automation, the policy-
based administrative
tools used to deploy
virtualized instances
and manage them.”

John Enck
Gartner

Figure 2. A platform for executing SOA Applications can be represented using the following formula:
Virtual Storage + Virtual Machines + Resource Management + Identity Management
Virtualized Storage. Active control of SAN devices to accomplish data protection or storage provisioning goals
on behalf of host resident services. A cluster file system stores virtual machine images and other persistent data
in a highly available way.
Virtual Machines. Execution containers for NetWare®, Linux, .Net and Java*, on Linux (for example, a physical
server that has been imaged and is now running on a Linux cluster as a managed virtual machine).
Resource Management. Management software that images blades, orchestrates remote installs and package
updates across a farm of (blade) servers; includes Grid resource scheduling algorithms, for example, for migrating
workloads and even large datasets from one blade server to another or one data center SAN to another for disaster
recovery; policy-driven data protection.
Identity Management. The owner of services and data, the entity that creates purpose and ownership for the
above activities.

Components Compute servers

Storage servers
The first data center automation solution
Management servers (with five main
from Novell manages compute and storage
functions):
servers on behalf of applications or services
– Orchestrator
hosted in virtual machines. Figure 3 illustrates
– Storage Resource Manager
the following three primary types of servers
– Universal Model Facility
running in the new data center:
– Image Creation
– Image Repository

p. 4
Automation for the New Data Center www.novell.com

“What grids offer is an

ease of letting compute
power flow to wherever
it’s needed instead of
being statically allocated
by the capital spending
of particular business
units. The enterprise data
center is well on its way
to becoming a supplier
of service rather than a
custodian of hardware.
Figure 3. Novell Data Center Automation comprises a number of management servers including Orchestrator,
Image Creation and Image Repository servers. “Today’s confluence of
commodity components,
burgeoning bandwidth
There are five main management server under the Systems Management Architecture
and open source systems
functions; all functions could be installed for Server Hardware (SMASH) initiative devel-
software fills in the rest
on a single physical server, in separate oped by the DMTF. Next-generation CPUs
of the picture. Taken
virtual machines, or separate servers. will provide hardware support to improve
together, they make the
Management servers will be clustered for upon today’s software-based server virtual-
enterprise case for grid
high availability. The resulting management ization. Compute servers run an appropriate
computing, which is the
cluster is responsible for orchestrating OS for the physical hardware architecture,
connection of heteroge-
compute and storage servers with respect comprising a virtual machine monitor (such as
neous computing nodes
to allocatable units of application-specific Xen hypervisor), device drivers, management
using self-administering
memory, compute and storage capacity kernel and agents. Management agents sup-
software that makes the
declared by individual virtual machine port remote deployment of virtual machines
nodes function as a
instantiation and deployment constraints. to be executed by the hypervisor present on
single virtual system.”
every compute server. Compute servers may
Compute Servers be grouped together and organized by type
Peter Coffee
(for example, thin blades versus thick SMPs), Grid Computing in the Enterprise
Compute servers are industry-standard intended purpose (for example, test or pro- February 2004
(rack-mount and blade) servers with multi- duction), owner, physical location and other
core 64-bit CPUs, multi-GB memory, serial- classification. They are named with a globally
attached RAID, Ethernet and SAN ports, unique identifier. Finally, compute servers can
plus embedded hardware that supports the function in isolation, or they can cooperate
intelligent platform management interface with other compute servers to create high-
(IPMI) and can be accessed through open availability clusters.
standard server management profiles defined

p. 5
 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10—Virtuously Virtual
SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 offers virtualiza-
tion capabilities like no other OS. It can
provision, deprovision, install, monitor and
manage multiple guest operating systems.
It provides the out-of-the-box ability to cre-
ate Xen* virtual machines running modified,
highly tuned, paravirtualized guest oper-
ating systems for optimal performance.
What’s more, with CPU hardware assist
plus Xen functionality, SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server can play host to several guest OSes
operating on a single server at speeds that
are generally faster than those obtained
when the OSes were operating solo in
a 1:1 configuration.
Data center managers can maintain a
centralized store of virtual machines (VMs)
and deploy them over the network by iden-
tifying a physical computer at deployment
time, copying the VM image, and making
it available to run on that particular physi-
cal server. The VM can specify a set of
constraints such as 32-bit or 64-bit server
or SAN connectivity. The VM might contain
an unmodified Windows* OS and declare
a deployment constraint for hardware that
must support virtualization technology.
The data center can maintain a veritable
catalog of available VMs in an offline
repository and send OS images upon the
request of an individual, a workgroup or—
soon—when a business policy, a service
level agreement or a server failure neces-
sitates deploying a new image.
In addition to virtualization capabilities,
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 provides
p. 6
integrated high-availability clustering with
support for LinuxHA v2 and the Oracle*
Cluster File System (OCFS). Inn a clus-
tered environment, SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 10 (plus the Xen hypervisor, YaST2,
CIM-based monitoring tools and other
built-in, standards-based management
solutions) is the foundation for allowing
resources to be pooled, allocated and
utilized like never before. In effect, VM
management becomes synonymous with
workload management. The data center
becomes an asset manager that is aware
of all physical and virtual servers in the
environment and their characteristics.
This information is acted upon in real time
to allocate resources as appropriately and
efficiently as possible.
Data center managers can configure a
clustered environment based on standard
servers and storage and running SUSE
Linux Enterprise 10 that is free of single
points of failure (see Figure 4 on the follow-
ing page).
Shared-disk clusters enable high availability
for VM hosting, as all VM OS image files
reside in a central location and access is
possible by each server. VMs can be failed
over if the physical server on which they’re
running fails. With future support for live
VM state migration—a real-time transfer of
live OS state from one physical server to
another—there is virtually no server down-
time; applications continue to operate
uninterrupted, and end users are unaware
that a migration even took place.
Automation for the New Data Center www.novell.com

_______________________________

† Note: According to
Wikipedia.com, SMI-S,
or the Storage Management
Initiative—Specification, is a
storage standard developed
and maintained by the Storage
Networking Industry Associ-
ation (SNIA) and is a model,
or guide to building systems
using modules that plug
together. SMI-S-compliant
storage modules interoperate
in a system and function in
consistent, predictable ways,
regardless of which vendor
built them, provided that
the modules use Common
Information Model (CIM)
language and adhere to sets
of specifications called CIM
schema. The main objective
of SMI-S is to enable broad
interoperability among
heterogeneous storage
vendor systems.

Figure 4. You can create a SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 cluster for hosting Xen VMs. Using the YaST2 tool, VMs take
on cluster-wide capabilities. VM images and creation files are placed where they are accessible to other servers in
a clustered configuration.

Storage Servers enterprise storage has been assigned to it,

Storage servers are industry-standard
SAN disk-block storage arrays or file servers.
Storage is pooled and protected. Storage is
accessed by compute servers on behalf of
virtual machines. This is a dynamic relation-
ship; storage is managed with respect to the
lifecycle of individual virtual machines. Just
as in compute servers, storage is organized
by type (for example, available RAID 5 disks),
purpose (for example, temporary, protected
or remotely replicated), and owner.
Many customers have already made a storage
infrastructure commitment and want Data
Center Automation tools to support that
investment. Industry-standard SMI-S† enables
third-party management of heterogeneous
storage. The system will manage whatever
for example, a portion of an existing SAN or
the entire SAN if dedicated to compute and
storage orchestration.
Management Servers
A configuration management server extends
an existing Novell product that uses policy-
driven automation to deploy, manage and
maintain data center servers. The manage-
ment server provides centralized control of the
lifecycle of operating systems with imaging,
remote control, inventory and software
management. With respect to data center
automation, it provides imaging of physical
systems onto compute servers plus a global
namespace (hardware asset inventory) of all
managed compute servers.

p. 7
This namespace, plus any hierarchical struc-
ture created by the data center administrator
(e.g., organizing servers into groups), will be
federated with the Universal Model Facility
(UMF; also see Universal Model Facility on
the following page) to support CIM-based
server health monitoring. The management
server can track the registration of virtual
machines, and considers them to be man-
aged assets just as physical servers are.
Virtual machines, once created, will also
appear in the managed server namespace.
Once the systems are in a managed state,
you need a way to orchestrate them to align
to business needs.
What is Utility Computing?
The word Utility connotes an always-
available resource much like that sold by
water, gas or electricity supply companies.
These utility companies charge consumers
for what is used and when it is used.
They also offer a guaranteed service
level. Consumers have become critically
dependent on utilities.
Consumers of information technology desire
a Utility model for computing. It’s no longer
possible for society to function without
IT and because demand for capacity is
sporadic and unpredictable, consumers
want to pay as they go and be guaranteed
service when they ask. On-demand is
therefore only one attribute of the broader
Utility Computing concept.
Virtualized systems do nothing by them-
selves. They have a latent potential to com-
pute and store data in a very dynamic way,
but do nothing unless directed. Virtualized
systems are the willing subordinates of
demanding consumers. Utility computing is
therefore realized through the combination
of virtualized systems and sophisticated
p. 8
Orchestrator
The Orchestrator is the brain behind the
data center automation system; it interacts
with the configuration and storage resource
management servers to manage physical
compute and storage resources and the rela-
tionships between them. The Orchestrator
also manages virtual resources. It’s respon-
sible for the entire lifecycle of individual virtual
machines comprising control information,
OS image and storage resources from initial
creation to deployment and monitored execu-
tion, to final destruction. Physical constraints,
dependencies, live performance trends and
other real-time execution states monitored by
resource management software. Resource
management, by executing policy, is the
driving force directing virtualized systems
in support of line-of-business applications
and processes.
In response to variable workload demand,
resource management automates tasks
such as creating a virtual machine and
assigning it to a physical machine or
allocating more storage to an authorized
service. And lifecycle rules cause resources
to be automatically retired when no longer
needed. To offer a true Utility model for com-
puting, resource management must also
react to unexpected events. Response to
server failure or spikes in demand for capa-
city should not require human intervention.
Virtualized systems are therefore required
to offer standard mechanisms for intro-
spection, or the ability to monitor and report
their own health. Autonomic computing is
automated response to monitored health
conditions and so therefore also realized
by the combination of virtualized systems
and (policy-based) resource management.
Automation for the New Data Center
What is Grid?
Electricity supply utilities depend on a
high-voltage grid. Therefore, Grid software
is nominally considered the foundation for
Utility computing. A Grid runs distributed
resource management software capable
of allocating capacity from virtualized
computers and storage devices. Instead
of statically installing application software
onto a computer, grid software dynamically
binds services and data to computers
at execution time. This makes individual
computers anonymous relative to process-
ing. Grid “jobs” that comprise program
logic and dependent data are scheduled
to be combined and enable processing.
the UMF are considered by the Orchestrator
when scheduling virtual machines to compute
servers for execution.
Storage Resource Manager
The storage resource manager is responsible
for managing network storage assets. It main-
tains a configuration inventory of storage
devices. Compute servers will dynamically
access SAN storage on behalf of virtual
machines that are scheduled to run on them.
The storage resource manager also supports
provisioning of network storage when creating
a new virtual machine.
Universal Model Facility
The Universal Model Facility (UMF) is another
new component responsible for aggregating
and associating management models and
monitoring data from managed devices.
Managed devices are either compute servers,
virtual machines or SMI-S-enabled storage
servers. The UMF collects and records health
information in the context of the relationships
that exist between managed devices. By con-
suming status events, applying hysteresis
thresholds to monitored devices and exporting
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A good way to think about Grid is as the
next generation of resource management
software. A better way might be to con-
sider Grid the next distributed operating
system. Grid Computing manages appli-
cations comprising a collection of Web
services consuming virtualized storage
and computational optimal use of physical
resources relative to consumers. Therefore,
the classic definition of an OS hasn’t
changed; it too has been virtualized
across multiple computers.
a summary view of vital-signs metrics to the
Orchestrator, the UMF could be considered the
nervous system wired to the Orchestrator’s
brain. A monitored variable may go above
and dip below thresholds, but isn’t consid-
ered noteworthy until it has stayed above a
threshold for a certain period of time.
Image Creation
An image-creation server is a special kind
of compute server dedicated to the creation
and installation of virtual machines. In large
environments that depend on frequent virtual
machine creation, you might have multiple
image-creation servers. In other scenarios,
the Orchestration server may decide to define
and install a virtual machine “in-place,” effec-
tively incubating the virtual machine on the
compute server that will eventually also exe-
cute it. The result of providing image-creation
services is the automated control and creation
of a new virtual machine comprising control
information, OS image and optional external
storage references. Infant virtual machines
are ready to execute. They actually run as a
result of Orchestrator-driven deployment to
an assigned compute server.
p. 9
 www.novell.com

Image Repository Summary

An image-repository server is another Novell, having recognized the shift toward
Contact your local Novell
special kind of compute server that stores commodity data center architectures based Solutions Provider, or call
ready-to-run virtual machines. When the on Intel* architecture servers, storage Novell at:
Orchestrator instructs a compute server to networking, virtualization, automation for
run a particular virtual machine, the com- resource management and an underlying 1 888 321 4272 U.S./Canada
1 801 861 4272 Worldwide
pute server contacts the image repository context of identity-based orchestration, is
1 801 861 8473 Facsimile
and downloads the corresponding image. making investments for customers that are
Pushing is an alternative to this pull style of consolidating their data centers. The unique
Novell, Inc.
image deployment. For some workloads, Novell approach, linking virtualized storage, 404 Wyman Street
it may be optimal for the Orchestrator to virtual machines, resource management, Waltham, MA 02451 USA
instruct the image repository to multicast identity management and Services Oriented
an image to multiple compute servers to Architecture (SOA) applications, puts Novell
prestage the VM on potential deployment into a leading position in data center auto-
targets. The image repository also provides mation. Watch for more developments from
version control for virtual machines under Novell in the future, capitalizing on the virtue
management to support, for example, of the virtual approach.
offline patching and preproduction testing
prior to production staging and rollout, For more information visit: www.novell.com/
with assured rollback to version-tagged dca
golden images.

462-002042-001 | 11/06 | © 2006 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. Novell, the Novell logo, the N logo, NetWare and SUSE are
registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

*Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.