Posts tagged with VMware
Cloud Computing: A Look Back and a Look Forward
Posted by Margaret Lewis in 4:39 PM
Loading ...October is pretty active month in the cloud computing space, with two big events happening this week that caught my eye: the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco and the Cloud Adoption Arena virtual event. The Web 2.0 conference is about more than just the Internet; it’s evolved to focus on technologies & business models – particularly cloud computing. The Cloud Adoption Arena is taking a hard look at how the difficult year for the economy is actually spurring the adoption of cloud strategies. Quite simply, I love these kinds of conversations.
But all this talk about where the cloud is going got me thinking about where we’ve come from. In fact, it was almost exactly a year ago that I was talking about getting beyond the fluff of cloud computing, and eWEEK was asking if we can “bet on the cloud.” The evolution of cloud computing allows you to draw a number of parallels to similar technologies. Living and breathing virtualization, I can’t help but feel some déjà-vu when I hear the main issues of cloud computing discussed (both pros and cons): it’s incredible for efficiency, flexibility and scalability of your business, but what about manageability, security and overall maturity of the market? These are all things we’re saying about virtualization just a few short years ago.
But, like virtualization, the major players stepped up to drive cloud computing forward. VMware launched their vSphere operating system – a major step to addressing those concerns over manageability & security. Microsoft has launched their Azure platform, which helps simplify the entire development cycle of the cloud – from web developers to ISVs to system integrators. And, from a standards perspective, groups like the Cloud Security Alliance and the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) have taken control of this market to help ensure its evolving in a responsible way.
And, at AMD, we’ve been addressing the infrastructure needs. We now have a Six-Core AMD Opteron EE processor available that draws an ACP of 40W, as well as the “Kroner” server platform to further address energy efficiency. These low-power, highly scalable, fully-featured solutions help cloud providers operate an extremely efficient, highly utilized and dense computing environment.
The same way that AMD was ahead of the curve in developing on-chip virtualization features like Rapid Virtualization Indexing (RVI) and focusing on low-power server processors to ensure a highly utilized physical machine was saving energy costs – AMD is out in front with cloud computing again. The conversation has evolved from “will this catch on” to “how can we shift our business model to adapt,” and it’s conferences like the two happening this week that are instrumental in driving that discussion.
What do you think? Are we finally beyond the fluff?
Margaret Lewis (@margaretjlewis) is a Product Marketing Director at AMD.
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Simply Spectacular Virtualization with 4P Six-Core AMD Opteron™ Processor-based Systems
Posted by Margaret Lewis in 4:40 PM
When I was attending VMworld in September, one of the most frequently asked question was “how do I decide whether to use 2P Intel Xeon 5500 processor-based servers or 4P Six-Core AMD OpteronTM processor-based servers for virtualization?” Over the past few weeks I have done a lot of research and put together a solid picture of where a 4P server can provide an amazing amount of value and efficiency.
Low and behold – I was not the only person working on this thought thread. We recently sent Johan De Gelas with AnandTech a 4P Six-Core AMD Opteron processor-based system. And in his review, “Expensive Quad Sockets vs. Ubiquitous Dual Sockets,” Johan focuses on some interesting points on the same topic (which my colleague John Fruehe discusses on the @Work blog as well). While he compares a number of workloads on 2P servers versus 4P servers- my interest was drawn to the section where Johan discusses one of my most favorite topics – virtualization (surprise, surprise).
In my research I have been taking a look at the pricing of 2P and 4P servers with larger memory configurations. Here is a snapshot of system costs using processors with similar specifications. Note how steeply the system price climbs for the 2P servers as the memory configurations grow.
| HP ProLiant DL385 G6 Server | HP ProLiant DL380 G6 Server | HP ProLiant DL585 G6 Server |
| 2 Six-Core AMD OpteronTM Processors Model 2431 (”Istanbul”), 2.4GHz, 75W ACP | 2 Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor Model E5530 (”Gainestown”), 2.40GHz, 80W TDP | 4 Six-Core AMD OpteronTM Processors Model 2431 (”Istanbul”), 2.4GHz, 75W ACP |
| 64GB REG PC2-6400 16×4GB Dual Rank Memory | 64GB PC3-10600R 16×4GB 2Rank Memory |
64GB REG PC2-6400 16×4GB Dual Rank Memory |
|
$5,560.00 |
$7,272.00 |
$16,120.00 |
| 96GB Reg PC2-5300 12×8GB Memory | 96GB PC3-8500R 12×8GB 2Rank Memory |
96GB REG PC2-6400 24×4GB Dual Rank Memory |
|
$14,282.00 |
$15,922.00 |
$17,156.00 |
| 128GB Reg PC2-5300 16×8GB Memory | 128GB PC3-10600R 16×8GB 2Rank Memory | 128GB REG PC2-6400 32×4GB Dual Rank Memory |
|
$17,880.00 |
$31,242.00 |
$18,192.00 |
Johan came to a similar conclusion ”A very large database or virtualization consolidation scenario requiring more than 72GB of RAM will probably push you towards the quad Istanbul – once you need more than 64-72GB, memory gets really expensive on the Intel dual socket platform. There are two reasons for this: 8GB DIMMs are five times more expensive than 4GB DIMMs, and DDR3 is still more costly than DDR2 (especially in large DIMMs).”
OK – this is a compelling cost message. But what about performance? Johan gives two examples of performance – current VMmark scores with systems that have memory configurations ranging from 64GB to 128GB, and vApus Mark I, their own in-house developed virtualization benchmark, designed to measure the performance of “heavy” performance-critical applications and done in cooperation with the Sizing Servers Lab.
For performance details, latest results, and system configurations see http://www.vmware.com/products/vmmark/results.html.
So compelling performance - and more importantly – very compelling price/performance.
I did one other exercise during my research. Instead of just comparing server to server – I took a look at comparing a 42U rack of 2P servers versus a 42U rack of 4P servers. Using the system costs from the example above here is another snap shot
|
HP ProLiant DL380 G6 Server Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor (”Gainestown”) |
HP ProLiant DL585 G6 Server Six-Core AMD Opteron processor (”Istanbul”) |
|
| Total Number of Servers |
21 |
10 |
| Total Number of Processors |
42 |
40 |
| Total Number of Cores |
168 |
240 |
| Cost of servers with 64GB RAM |
$152,712 |
$161,200 |
| Cost of servers with 96GB RAM |
$334,362 |
$171,560 |
| Cost of servers with 128GB RAM |
$656,082 |
$181,920 |
The price difference of servers to fill a 42U rack is less than $10,000 when comparing 2P and 4P servers with 64GB of RAM – and over $400,000 more for 2P with 128GB of RAM compared to similarly configured 4P servers.
So the take away from my research – 4P servers running Six Core AMD Opteron processors provide the cores, memory and price to achieve simply spectacular virtualization! And, as I noted, to get some additional insights on the same topic, check out my colleague John Fruehe’s recent blog “AMD Opteron Processor – Delivering True Value, Not Just Benchmarks.”
Margaret Lewis (@margaretjlewis) is a Product Marketing Director at AMD.
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Countdown to VMworld – More Cores, More VMs with Six-Core AMD Opteron™ Processors!
Posted by tmueting in 12:12 PM
Gearing up for VMware, I had a chance recently to spend some time in AMD’s performance lab and showcase one of the cooler demos I have ever been a part of. Operating a Six-Core AMD OpteronTM 8400 Series processor-based HP DL785 G6 server with VMware ESX 4.0 software we were able to successfully consolidate 180 virtual machines onto one physical server.1
That is 25% more virtual machines than the competition can claim running the same workload. As a side note, running the same workload on either a Six-Core AMD Opteron processor-based HP ProLiant DL585 G6 server or BL685c G6 blade -- we’re able to consolidate 120 virtual machines, which is 43% more VMs than the competition on a 4-socket, 24 core server.
But, don’t take my word for it, check out the video below (we also just broke our own record with HP releasing a a new top 48-core VMmark result on the same server with a score of 53.73 running 210 VMs!).
And, join us at VMworld August 31-September 3rd. We’ll be showcasing this demo at our booth (#1408) as well as many more.
Tim Mueting is a Product Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
1Based on 30 tiles x 6 VMs for 48-core HP ProLiant DL785 G6 server, as tested using the VMmark benchmark (http://www.vmware.com/products/vmmark/results.html).
How to Drive a Hybrid – Implementing Desktop Virtualization
Posted by Margaret Lewis in 4:35 PM
Recently, I blogged about the market opportunities for virtualization, both in desktop and server. I now want to give you a better glimpse into the reality of implementing desktop virtualization solutions.
While there is a lot of talk out there about the benefits of virtualization and cloud-models, a lot of business are asking where the heck you are supposed to start. Let’s slow down and understand something first: one size does not fit all.
Something I’ve become a big proponent of is what I’ll call a hybrid model. What I mean is that you can think about virtualization and cloud computing in different pieces, and integrate those solutions without overhauling your entire infrastructure. In the spirit of practicing what you preach, we saw this success within AMD’s own Sunnyvale campus. In our IT department in Sunnyvale, about 100 engineers deployed server-hosted virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) so that they could share resources and a common desktop management infrastructure. The desktop virtualization runs as part of AMD’s HP blade server farm and storage environment consisting of HP’s EVA 8100 SAN and HP BL685 and BL465 blade systems with AMD OpteronTM processors.
This method of desktop virtualization provides users with access to server-based applications and related data via sessions running from central servers in the data center. We are currently able to host about 50 virtual desktops on one server! This has been a simple measure to improve the efficiency of our IT department, who could then provision the desktops of employees to more effectively manage issues without actually having to be at the physical computer. This VDI virtualization implementation increased responsiveness to ongoing project demands while helping to save operations costs.
Utilizing VDI within AMD is just one example. You can find a myriad of benefit from adaptive server and desktop virtualization. For example, security and management. In the VDI example data and applications reside on the server, not the client, which contributes to a more secure environment and on that is more easily managed by IT. It also enables more efficient software provisioning and patching. And the good news – you don’t have to implement expensive client systems with a lot of proprietary technology like Intel’s vPRO to reap these benefits.
During VMworld Conference, we plan to feature presentations from Citrix, Microsoft, and Wyse in the AMD “Masters of Virtualization” Theater, providing insights into this emerging world of desktop virtualization. Our own Tim Mueting will also feature a customer case study on desktop virtualization during his VMworld session – check out his blog for detail.
So what can you take from all this? Technology is made to empower you, not confuse you. Virtualization and cloud computing are receiving a great deal of attention because of the potential they offer to improve efficiencies and maximize resources, but there is always room for a hybrid approach. In fact, AMD’s very own Neil Kelly was at BriForum last month talking up this exact topic with Wyse Technology. In particular, they discussed solutions that are aligned at simplifying access to mixed data center cloud environments with superior user experience quality.
In this economic climate, I always encourage playing it smart. But, don’t just take my word for it – leave your experiences in the comment section.
Margaret Lewis (@margaretjlewis) is a Product Marketing Director at AMD.
Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Live Migration: Here to Stay
Posted by tmueting in 11:57 AM
(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)I have recently returned from the HP Technical Conference and, although attendance was down a bit this year (likely due to the economy), there were still plenty of enthusiastic AMD customers and partners in attendance. The buzz around the availability of the recently released Six-Core AMD OpteronTM “Istanbul” processor and HP Proliant G6 servers was tremendous. HP has announced seven HP ProLiant platforms based on “Istanbul” processors as well as the availability of upgrade kits for existing G5/G5p platforms. I’m also happy to report that I had a packed room during my virtualization session on Tuesday.
In our booth on the exhibition floor we demonstrated the ability to use VMware’s VMotion to seamlessly migrate a running virtual machine between an HP Proliant G2 server running Dual-Core AMD Opteron “Rev F” processors (released in 2006), G5 server running Quad-Core AMD Opteron “Shanghai” processors, (released in 2007) and the newest G6 server with Six-Core AMD Opteron processors. We’ve just released a video on YouTube featuring a similar demo -- except that it also includes our upcoming processor codenamed “Magny-Cours”.
I’m constantly getting questions on the topic of live migration and VMotion in particular. Customers want to be assured that they can use VMotion to migrate virtual machines between older and newer versions of their AMD processer-based platforms. Apparently we and our technology partners could do a better job of getting the word out.
So let’s be clear -- the answer is a resounding YES!
Here are the facts. With the launch of our first quad-core processors, AMD formalized a functionality that had existed in our processors for a while under the feature name of Extended Migration. This capability enabled virtualization software vendors like VMware to support the live migration of a virtual machine between different versions of AMD processors starting with Rev E, which was released in 2004. Subsequently, with ESX 3.5 u2, VMware released a feature as part of VMotion called Enhanced VMotion Compatibility (EVC) that uses AMD Extended Migration to support VMotion between AMD Opteron processor generations. In order to utilize the feature, each server must be configured for EVC. For information on configuring EVC, see the “Migrating Virtual Machines” chapter in the Basic System Administration Guide for your ESX release. You can also gain a better understanding of EVC processor support and baseline definitions at the Enhanced VMotion Compatibility (EVC) processor support VMware web page.
Keep in mind that live migration across AMD OpteronTM processor generations is supported by other virtualization software, including Citrix XenMotion and Microsoft HyperV Server 2008 R2 Live Migration. In fact, you can watch a demo showcasing Hyper-V live migration between Quad-Core and Six Core AMD Opteron processors.
And don’t forget the technology demonstration we did a year ago with Red Hat, showcasing live migration between an AMD and Intel processor -- the YouTube video is still getting a lot of views.
Rest assured, AMD is pushing the technology envelope to cover all bases when it comes to offering broad support for your virtualization environment.
Tim Mueting is a Product Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Keep it Simple, Silly
Posted by Margaret Lewis in 1:01 AM
Call me a technology purist, but I love when things are simple. After all, that’s supposed to be what use technology does, right? Make our lives more productive, make our businesses more efficient and streamline processes that previously couldn’t be done manually (or if they could – took lots of effort). That’s exactly why I’m excited about VMware’s Fault Tolerance technology. As you may have seen last week, VMware introduced its vSphere 4 cloud computing OS, and the Fault Tolerance feature is a big part of this new solution.
As described by VMware, Fault Tolerance helps provide continuous availability with a simple ‘click of a button’ – something that gives businesses with virtualized data center environments peace of mind. At AMD, we have been thinking about continuous availability and disaster recovery for years and architected our AMD OpteronTM processors, in part, to address this. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may know we’ve focused this effort on the hardware side with our live migration capabilities (something we specifically call Extended Migration) across all of our processor generations, dating back to single-core Opteron processors! But why is this important? Well, with an AMD Opteron processor-based data center, an IT manager can dynamically move VMs across physical servers and in the case of a hardware failure-do so without interrupting services to users. VMware takes this one step further with Fault Tolerance software that is designed to provide even more reliability.
What is so interesting about VMware’s Fault Tolerance is that it works to create a “shadow instance” of the virtual machine that is in lockstep with the primary instance (not surprisingly, part of VMware’s vLockstep technology). We have worked with VMware to make sure our hardware provides a solid foundation for their technology, and are extremely excited at the value it can offer our customers. More than anything, it addresses the number one concern we hear from customers when they consider virtualization: how reliable is this technology? What happens if there is an earthquake or a pipe bursts in my office? How do I ensure my data is protected?
Of course, it’s natural to be a bit hesitant at the thought of virtualizing your most critical business applications, but it’s my job to let customers know these risks are addressed with virtualization. Unique hardware features like AMD Extended Migration and software like VMware’s Fault Tolerance not only help your trusty IT manager (and you) sleep better at night, but also help make their job easier by including reliability features directly on the hardware and software. Its complex technology made simple. I like the sound of that.
is a Product Marketing Director at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Margaret Lewis, director, AMD commercial software and solutions
Margaret Lewis
@margaretjlewis
User Enablement Instead of Vendor Lock-Out
Posted by Margaret Lewis in 11:43 AM
It’s easy to see that virtualization it is a technology that has real benefits for companies both big and small. Not to mention, it is underlying technology for another key computing paradigm that is gearing up – cloud computing.
One thing we at AMD understand is that virtualization for x86 is a fast moving train. Six years ago when we introduced AMD Opteron™ x86 processor technology, virtualization was in its infancy. Today it is a technology that is racing to move beyond early adopters and moving quickly into the mainstream – a trend backed by much industry research.
Six years ago there were no hardware hooks in x86 processors to assist virtualization software. Today – through the power of cooperation – virtualization represents a very delicate dance between hardware and software. It requires joint development efforts between processor vendors and hypervisor providers.
AMD has software engineers working hand-in-hand with major virtualization software partners and is an active contributor to Xen and KVM open source virtualization projects. The end result – we are moving toward near native application performance in virtualized environments, running servers with high utilization rates, and helping to reduce the energy footprint of data centers.
So what’s next? We need to drive toward the next level of cooperation, which is heterogeneous virtualization. Customers are asking us to drive innovation in the direction of interoperability. We need live migration between different processors brands – not just between generations of the same processor. We need enablement – not lock-out and I think Virtualization Ecosystem Month was a great way to get conversations going about how to address this customer need. While March is over, I encourage all of our partners and customers to keep the virtualization ecosystem spirit alive and work together to continue to further this important and game-changing technology.
Margaret Lewis, director, AMD commercial software and solutions
Margaret Lewis (@margaretjlewis) is a Product Marketing Director at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Unleashing high performance applications with AMD and VMware
Posted by Julie Lass in 1:09 PM
We all count on Moore’s Law to make our lives easier every time we upgrade to the next generation of computing systems, but we sometimes forget that there’s a lot of hard work that goes into improving the performance of our hardware and software.
I’m John Troyer from VMware’s VMTN Blog. For AMD’s Virtualization Ecosystem Month, I thought I’d talk about the recent performance testing we’ve seen with the 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processor (codenamed “Shanghai”) and how VMware Virtual Infrastructure can unleash your applications to take full advantage of your new hardware.
First of all, these processors are fast. Here is some background on VMmark from our VROOM! Blog:
VMmark is a benchmark intended to measure the performance of virtualization environments in an effort to allow customers to compare platforms. It is also useful in studying the effect of architectural features. VMmark consists of six workloads (Web, File, Database, Java, Mail and Standby servers). Multiple sets of workloads (tiles) can be added to scale the benchmark load to match the underlying hardware resources. For more information on VMmark see here.
Now take a look at the VMmark Results page: a screen shot of the three current top scoring entries is shown on the right. The Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 8384 is powering all of those top-scoring entries.
One of the reasons these Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors are so fast is that they contain AMD’s Rapid Virtualization Indexing (RVI) technology, which gives hardware support for MMU virtualization. We wrote a white paper showing how VMware ESX takes advantage of RVI, including a 29% increase in performance with Citrix XenApp; and in a recent study on our VROOM! blog, we showed RVI boosting VMmark performance boost by as much as 17%.
These processors are fast, but can your application take advantage of them? Many applications can’t utilize all the cores of modern CPUs. We tested the ability of the Apache web server to scale up and use more CPU cores using th
e web performance benchmark SPECweb®2005. Even using 8 processors, .However, if you scale out with VMware Virtual Infrastructure using multiple virtual machines, all running a web server, you can scale to take advantage of all 8 cores.Apache on a native, non-virtualization system only delivered 1.85x the performance of a single processor
We decided to show this by creating a rocket car and setting a land speed record. We documented how we built our web serving rocket car on an HP ProLiant DL585 G5 with four Quad-Core AMD Opteron Model 8382 processors. This setup achieved the highest SPEC®web2005 result ever on a 16-core system. Now, there are cheaper ways to move this many transactions on a virtual platform, but we weren’t building a cargo-hauling truck, we were building a race car to prove a point – scaling out with virtual machine building blocks is the best way to overcome multi-core scaling limitations of current applications.
Check out the eye-opening graphs in Scott Drummond’s blog post showing how your application running in a native environment probably will (or won’t) scale over the next few years and how a virtual building block architecture can help you take advantage of the newest generation of processors. VMware will continue to work together with AMD to help unleash the power of your high performance applications with virtualization.
John Troyer manages VMware’s blogging and social media programs.His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Any claims made herein have not been independently verified by AMD. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
SPEC and SPECweb are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.
Of Helium, Nitrogen, and Itanium
Posted by Margaret Lewis in 9:19 AM
There are people out in the desert who overclocked an AMD Phenom II X4 to 6.5 GHz using liquid Nitrogen and Helium to supercool it! Not a standard cooling technique for the data center – but a very interesting showcase of the extreme end of our processor technology driven by the raw determination of our users.
When you deliver great technology to the market, people have a solid foundation for their own innovations. You also get some pretty wide pendulum swings in the way your technology is used. While the Quad-Core AMD Phenom™ II processor enabled overclockers to reach for new raw performance levels from a single processor, the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor running in a HP ProLiant DL785 server set records with the VMware VMmark consolidation benchmark for the largest number of virtual machines (114 virtual machines) ever achieved on an x86 platform.
Isn’t that what technology is about? We, the inventors and manufacturers, bring to life a product and send it to the next phase of its evolution when we put it into the hands of our partners and users. In fact, this interaction is exactly how AMD defines “Fusion.” For the AMD Opteron processor, virtualization is a great example of Fusion – the foundation of our hardware assisted virtualization technology, supported by our ecosystem of virtualization software partners, and put into production by the data center manager to drive better utilization and lower operating costs. That is the type of innovation we can all relate to in today’s economy.
Sometimes this flow just does not happen. A product may not inspire innovation, perhaps because it costs too much or is too hard to use or targets too narrow an audience. In our industry the “best processor” in the world can fail because it is a weak foundation for partner and user innovation. A recent posting by John Dvorak, How the Itanium Killed the Computer Industry, explores this type of failure. I don’t necessarily agree with all of his points, but John provides an interesting viewpoint on a processor that was supposed to change the way computers work, and what happened instead.
Setting records by overclocking super-cooled processors and running a large number of virtual machines on a server showcase the extreme ends you can take AMD CPU technology. The reality: the innovation in AMD Phenom II and AMD Opteron™ processors can deliver more practical wins for everyday users. We didn’t design these processors to revolutionize the industry – but rather to deliver the type of innovation that can be practically harnessed by users to evolve their digital worlds.
Note: AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is enabled via AMD software. In addition, the overclocking results described above are not typical, and were achieved under extreme conditions.
Margaret Lewis is a Product Marketing Director at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.