Quoting Electronics Weekly
IBM and Intel are working together to improve how IT managers select, deploy and measure virtualized server solutions for enterprise data centres.
The moves comes with the increasing use of virtualisation technology on Intel-based servers for mid-tier application workloads.
Mid-sized and large enterprise IT organisations are now leveraging cost savings by consolidating data centres through server virtualisation, and hosting applications on larger, more expandable multi-processor servers, IBM notes.
At the same time Big Blue recognises that many organisations need tools to help select the server platform that works best in each users environment, according to Jim Northington, v-p for IBM’s System x.
One of the first tools to emerge from this joint work is a new virtualisation benchmarking methodology called vConsolidate that runs multiple instances of consolidated database, mail, Web and Java workloads in multiple virtual CPU partitions on Intel-based System x servers to simulate real-world server performance in a typical environment, the companies explained.
The vConsolidate methodology will also be contributed to an industry standards body by IBM and Intel for consideration.
Intel’s Boyd Davis, general manager of server platform group marketing said Intel took a major step toward accelerating virtualisation with the introduction of its first processors with integrated Intel Virtualization Technology more than a year ago, and the company has since built a software ecosystem to support it. “By creating the vConsolidate methodology with IBM, we are helping to make it easier for IT managers to adopt the technology and compare processor platforms and system configurations.”
A benchmark using vConsolidate on an IBM System x3950 server with four dual-core Intel Xeon 7100 processors showed that the x3950 delivers up to 46 per cent more performance throughput than a competing system when running a mix of larger two- and four virtualised processor partitions, the companies report.
Based on this and other customer test results, IBM and Intel said they created a VMware Infrastructure Sizing Guide aimed at helping customers select and appropriately configure the various virtualised server options available to them.
IBM said this approach draws from its virtualisation experience that dates back to its pioneering work on mainframe virtualisation 40 years ago, and the lessons learned from helping customers consolidate their server environments.
As a result, the tool provides recommendations for target utilisation rates, the total number of virtual machines that will be needed to run the application, and the number of physical servers required to support the computing workload and goals.
The tool identifies an economy of scale associated with larger server configurations based on the ability to support more applications when usage peaks, conservation of reserve memory across all virtual machines on a server and more processor targets for scheduling job execution.
Memory a limiting factor
The companies noted that both the sizing guide effort and the vConsolidate testing results identified memory as a key limiting factor in determining how many virtual machines can be loaded onto an Intel-based server.
Researchers at both companies studied the impact of increased addressable memory on virtualisation performance and by collecting data from more than 10,000 servers through IBM’s Consolidation Discovery and Analysis Tool, the researchers determined that while virtualisation increases total processor utilisation, additional reserve memory is required to allow for application usage spikes.
This finding prompted further development using the IBM System x3950 as a large memory system reference configuration to increase the total addressable memory pool from 64Gbytes to 128Gbytes. Intel and IBM said they expect this expanded memory addressability to be supported in the leading virtualisation platforms beginning next year.
“The success we’ve seen with our System x servers and the Intel Xeon 7100 processor series architecture gives us the confidence to invest in a fourth generation of our Enterprise X-Architecture supporting quad-core Intel Xeon processors for multi-processor servers in the middle of 2007,” IBM’s Northington said in a statement.
Finally, to assist customers with virtualisation adoption decisions, IBM said it expects to open the Virtualisation Resource Centre (VRC) in early 2007. Customers will be able to apply principles gleaned from vConsolidate and sizing guide activities to their particular environments and software workloads.
The VRC is also expected to help IBM resellers translate the general benefits of using large Intel Xeon processor-based servers to specific “proof of concept” application tests conducted over 30- to 60-day studies.
IBM also offers VMware Infrastructure virtualisation technology.
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