I am writing this sat in the departure lounge at Nice Airport, awaiting my flight home after having spent the week in Cannes at VMworld EMEA '09, which has just finished. Focus of this years event was somewhat different from last year, last year everything was 'Green' this year we were all living in the Cloud, or at least that ís the way the keynotes painted the picture. Most of exhibitors and attendees however still seemed to have their feet firmly planted on the ground in the reality of using todayís technology.

Sticking with the keynotes, last year they were very product and feature centric whilst this year one got the impression that VMware were providing more of a vision of where they see their software taking the industry - and this was most definitely into the cloud !

Another shift was in the client space where last year VDI was the buzz word and thin clients would solve all our business needs, this year there seemed to be an acknowledgement that the rich client has a place ( even if it might be virtualised ) so for those PowerPoint junkies amongst us who want all the cpu power they can get at their fingertips whenever and wherever they are this is good news. In terms of virtualising clients one bit of news from the conference was that VMware plan to develop a bare metal ( type 1 ) hypervisor for clients that takes advantage of Intel's VPro Technology to provide amongst other things out-of-band management and authentication of the hypervisor.

Back into the clouds, 'IT as a Service' was one of the keynote themes with VDC-OS and Vcloud enabling this. For those that didn't attend the event the keynote videos are here. To support the 'IT as a Service' story SAP presented on their IT infrastructure, of particular interest was the proposition that in the future Cloud computing would become much like the airline industry with low cost providers competing with full-service providers,  pricing varying by time and demand, aggregators ( a.k.a bucket shops ) selling off excess capacity and resource over-commit becoming a feature of using the cloud.

Walking the show floor it was clear that if VMware were in the clouds most of the rest of the folks in Cannes were clearly facing up to today's reality of deploying technology to enable their business's. Much of the focus this year seemed to be on storage and back solutions, with management and networking also be key topics. It also felt like there was a more technical bias amongst the attendees than last year - maybe due to the current economic climate.

One parting thought is that what ever else is happening in the IT industry the momentum behind the virtualisation train continues to grow and its something we all need to be taking into consideration when planning our IT strategy.

We all know that IT is using virtualization on x86 servers to solve tough data center challenges (server sprawl, accelerating power and cooling costs, the need to extend life of current facilities, achieving high-availability and disaster recovery through live migration, etc.) 

But which x86 servers are they using? According to IDC’s q3’08 Server Virtualization tracker, 85% of all the x86 servers deployed in 2008 for virtualization were based on Intel® Xeon® processors. 

Ok, next question: Is there a benefit to going with scalable 4 Socket servers (Multi-processor) vs. 2 socket servers (Dual-Processor)?  It’s a religious argument really, but as IT budgets continue to tighten, scalable 4 Socket servers offer more ‘capabilities’ (i.e. processors, memory, I/O ports and reliability features) that enable higher consolidation ratios. 

So I thought I would write about 5 specific scenarios where you should see a benefit to scalable 4 Socket (MP) servers over 2 Socket newest (DP).  Tell us if you agree or disagree.

1. Higher Consolidation Ratios for Memory-Constrained Apps

Do you have a bunch of apps that you need to keep running but at the same time face tremendous pressure to address the challenges listed above?  A key advantage of scalable servers is that they can be configured with more memory than smaller 2S servers, typically 2x-4x more.  Often times, especially with multi-core processors, virtual machines will run into memory constraints before they run into processor constraints.  A 2x-4x memory capacity advantage can translate into 2x-4x the VMs.  Scalable servers also tend to use available memory more efficiently, since code and data can be stored once and shared among multiple virtual machines.  Solvay Pharmaceuticals, for example, intends to run with consolidation ratios as high as 25:1 on 4 Socket Xeon servers. 

2. Performance and Reliability for Business-Critical Workloads

Intel’s launch last September of the Xeon 7400 processor (6-cores, 16mb shared L3 cache) brings 24 processing cores and up to 256gb memory (32 dimm slots x 8gb dimms) to a 4 Socket Server environment.   This provides a lot of resources for demanding applications and unexpected workload spikes.  Tests within Intel’s IT department have shown that 4-socket servers show much less variation in throughput than comparable 2-socket servers as virtualized workloads are increased. 

3. Faster and More Cost-Effective Test and Development

Development teams can be demanding.  The faster IT can provision testing environments for the developers the better.  Scalable servers offer more headroom to deploy additional dev environments when needed, without waiting for new physical servers to be provisioned. Scalable servers can also support a broader range of applications, including enterprise applications that may require the processor, memory and I/O resources of a large, multi-processor system.  Using the same Solvay Pharmaceuticals example listed above, they were able to deploy new apps in 10 min vs. 1 week prior to deploying virtualization on Xeon based servers.

4. Larger and More Robust Flexible Resource Pools

With VMware Virtual Infrastructure, applications can be migrated without downtime among all the servers in a resource pool, which can include up to 32 physical hosts (in a VMware HA* or VMware DRS* cluster).  Using larger, scalable servers would simply expand the capacity of those resource pools due to the additional memory, processors, I/O, etc. 

5. Better Utilization of Limited Data Center Resources

Many data centers are operating at or near the limit of their power, cooling and networking capacity. By using larger, scalable servers to increase consolidation ratios, IT can reduce power and cooling requirements and share local area network (LAN) and storage area network (SAN) ports more efficiently – all of which can help defer the high cost of new data center construction. 

Let us know what you think…

Following my earlier blog, I promised to share answers to some of the more common questions I get from customers on 45nm and mostly about the newest product we have on 6-core 45nm: the Xeon processor 7400 series.

1. What does 45nm really mean? A nanometer represents a distance that is one billionth of a meter in length. 45nm represents the width of a single transistor and is used to describe the manufacturing technology Intel uses to create our latest generation of processors. Because of the small 45nm transistor size, Intel is able fit 2 million transistors on the period at the end of this sentence.

2. Are all 45nm transistors the same? No. Materials used in silicon manufacturing process can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Intel switched over to a high-k dielectric material (Halfnium) that helps dramatically reduce leakage current – improving the performance/watt characteristic of our processors.

3. What OEM products feature 6-core 45nm products? Servers based on the processor are expected to be announced from over 50 system manufacturers around the world, including four-socket rack servers from Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu-Siemens, Hitachi, HP, IBM, NEC, Sun, Supermicro and Unisys. There are four-socket blade servers from Egenera, HP, Sun and NEC and there are server designs that scale up to 16-sockets from IBM, NEC and Unisys.

4. How does 6-core affect my software licensing? Just like with other multi-core processors, licensing will depend on the software vendor. With quad-core most ISVs elected to license by socket or processor meaning that the performance enhancements came “for free” as the number of cores are increased. Recently VMware updated their definition of a “processor” to include up to 6-cores per processor (learn more) meaning that with VMware ESX 3.5 update 2 and Intel Xeon processor 7400 series, IT can deploy a higher density of virtual machines per server without an incremental increase in licensing costs. Everyone does it differently – so do your homework.

Other common questions circle around IT usage trends and how this technology can really be applied. Here is an interesting (and somewhat long) video where Intel VP and CIO Diane Bryant discusses with executives from Yahoo, Oracle, MySpace and Verisign about the challenges they face and how technology is helping them. If you choose to listen you will find answers to questions (paraphrased) like?

• What are some of the top challenges IT faces today? How can technology help?

• Is 6 core performance too much? Does IT have the ability inside their environment to take advantage of this additional compute capacity?

• Is the software ecosystem is ready for multi-core? Can today's applications take advantage of it?

• How are customers using Virtualization today and how do they see it changing over time?

• When virtualizing ... how does IT view MP servers (4 socket) vs DP (2 socket)?

• When deploying next generation technology, how important is the power capacity of the IT environment when selecting technology?

• Are Intel Xeon servers powerful and reliable enough to consider moving away from RISC or other proprietary architectures?

If I missed your burning question, just ask … I’d be happy to share. Chris

Saying more good things about Dunnington ( Intel Xeon 7400 ) feels a bit like piling on. There are a myriad of posts out there about how great Dunnington is. If you are looking for some data to support enterprise selection of the 7400, the article in Anand Tech Intel Xeon 7460: Six Cores to Bulldoze Opteron is very compelling. One of the exciting parts of this article is in the section on ESX performance, especially with vm's configured with multiple "virtual cpu's". This is a configuration some of my large enterprise customers seem married to - even when not needed... The 7400's use of highly efficient 45nm penryn cores delivers the dominant performance for this usage model. There is a lot more to this processor than "2 more cores".

To quote from the article "This 45nm Intel core features slightly improved integer performance but also significantly improved "VM to Hypervisor" switching time. On top of that, synchronization between CPUs is a lot faster in the X74xx series thanks to the large inclusive L3 cache that acts as filter. Memory latency is probably great too, as the VMs are probably running entirely in the L2 and L3 caches. That is the most likely reason why we see the X7460 outperform all other CPUs."

The ESX section concludes with "Xeon X7460 is again the winner here: it can consolidate more servers at a given performance point than the rest of the pack"

Xeon 7400 is the processor for virtualization.

Each year for the last 10 years, the innovators of VMWare, have hosted a users and partner conference to discuss virtualization technologies, ideas and services for the IT industry. This years event, in Las Vegas, brought together over 14,000 of the world's foremost thought leaders, developers and users from around the world. As the "Virtualization World" converged on Las Vegas their was a prevailing forecast that has begun to permeate our virtualization landscape: Cloud Computing. Paul Maritz, in his initial keynote address as CEO of VMWare, outlined the importance Cloud computing and the role that VMWare and their customers will play in defining the Enterprise Computing "forecast" over the next several years. It was a thoughtful direction for the world's leading innovator in virtualization software technology. I personally found it rather gratifying to see Mr. Maritz thoughtful demeanor and acknowledgement of the VMWare Co-Founders Diane Greene and Mendel Rosenblum, role in shaping this new direction. His understated prose also failed to acknowledge the role he himself has played over the years in establishing this direction.....it also clearly placed in my mind why he may be the ideal leader to help us realize the forecast for cloud-based compute models.

So what does it all mean? Cloudy forecasts are always difficult to predict and predictions can become self-fulfilling prophecies or embarassing missteps. What is clear, in my opinion, is that Cloud computing will drive meaningful change across a wide range of industries in rapid succession.

Let me explain the logic: Organizing and managing compute, network and application usage models has been a very elusive endeavor for many years. IT departments cannot always predict application load, network requirements and storage availability. If you provision for the worst (or highest use) case scenario you often over build. In other cases, application popularity or changing business conditions create under capacity and infrastructure failure. Those of us who have launched Application Service Provisioning infrastructures bear the scars of failures, excitement of success and hope for the future. VMWare, Microsoft, EMC, Google, Amazon and many others have made a concerted effort to "get it right" this time. Cloud infrastructures using virtualization technologies are providing a opportunistic ways for developers and end users to test scalability theories of traditional client/server compute models. These same "Clouds" are providing internal cost reduced resource infrastructures to make available vast computing, network and application resources for everyday usage with relatively low entry points (a la Amazon's EC2). However, determining which part of the "Cloud" to make available for public vs. internal consumption will be defined by innovative new technologies that have yet to be announced. Interoperability, compatibility, performance and scalability are all design points which the industry must consider.

Visionaries in this space abound: Vin Cerf (deserves more credit than he is given), Ray Ozzie, Reuven Cohen (you may not of heard of him yet), Alan Gin, Marc Benioff, Ed Bugnion, K.B. Chandrasekhar, Pete Manca and many others have been working diligently for years behind the scenes to make the promise of Cloud computing real. Industries such as Big Pharma, Telecom, Financial Services and Oil & Gas will reap tremendous benefit from well defined industry "clouds". The role of ethernet will be a critical design point for these next generation infrastructures as 10Gbe+ reduces latency, response times and delivers application QoS. At Intel, we are very proud of our engineering and process manufacturing prowess for the development of multi-core compute technologies, rightfully so in my opinion, but the future of the "Cloud" will challenge us to re-examine our design methodology, increase our price-performance-per watt cadence and deliver exciting new innovations throughout our server/client platforms.

Virtualization innovation has provided a "sliver lining" for today's Cloud infrastructures. Where there is transitions or inflection points in the technology industry, there is opportunity. At VMWorld 2008, the virtualization industry has begun the process of delivering technologies in a world beyond the hypervisor. Virtualization 2.0 as outlined by Doug Fisher, Intel VP of Software and Solutions Group and Steve Herrod, CTO of VMWare is a step towards providing the innovation required to make Cloud infrastructures real. The next steps, the new pioneers ( a la Simon Crosby of Citrix) are building tools which provide increased ROI in decreased cycle times for IT managers. The future of the IT cloud is in their capable hands and in the hands of the IT innovators within each company focused on providing compute infrastructures designed to scale (and shrink) with the businesses we serve. VMWorld has yet to disappoint, in 2008, VMWorld reminds us that even on a "Cloudy" day there is a chance for change.

Here's a short video talking to Dave Martin of VMware around VT Flex Migration....

Virtualization is the big thing, everybody is doing it - just read the in-flight magazine to see why you should be virtualizing your data center... While it is true that Virtually everyone in the fortune 500 has begun to virtualize their data center, it is also true that most servers are still not virtualized.

i.e. The data center landscape is still mostly an opportunity. The software is mature, there are multiple viable solutions, but there are still many questions about how "best" to proceed.

As an enterprise engineer working with enterprise customers, I am inevitably asked where the sweet spot is. The reality is, there isn't one. Or "It Depends". In general larger ( 4 socket servers) provide an edge in efficiency as there are more shared components - board, memory, power supplies, etc. Large servers can also provide more head room if most of your VMs are low utilization, but any of them can spike way up. The launch of Intel's six core Xeon 7400 series based servers ( and their record breaking virtualization performance) have added to the interest - is it time to go big?

What does it depend on?

• How big are your VMs? Machines today are quite powerful. We have seen a 10X growth in compute capacity in just the last 6 years. The application that filled 37% of your 2003 vintage server won't even make a dent in a modern Xeon based server. i.e. Most VMs are much smaller than your server 2 socket or 4 socket. There are still tasks - like decision support that scale as big as your machine will go, but with average enterprise utilization down around 12% ( on old hardware) most physical machines fit tidily inside a VM.

• How spiky are your VMs ( in resource demand - compute, memory, network)? By doing some resource profiling, you can understand where your servers fit best.

• How many VMs do you want on each PM(physical machine)? You can put more on 4 socket hardware ( efficiency) but have greater redundancy on a bunch of 2 socket hardware ( depth).

Fortunately you do not have to solve this linear programming problem before you start. In reality the tools are making it easier you solve. Using your favorite VMM manager (choosing this is another discussion). With Intel's VT Flex Migration Technology you can pool together 1, 2, 4 socket current and future generation Xeon platforms and move the workloads ( automatically, or manually) to optimize your resource utilization.

IDF SF08-Online gaming and sports leagues are growing every day and here at IDF this week we had the opportunity to see how Intel is making an impact. I was visiting the Virtualization Community in the IDF Showcase where I met Bjoern Metzdorf, Director of Information Technology at Turtle Entertainment who was speaking with Alan Bumgarner of Intel. Check out the video for a major success story including an 18:1 server consolidation ratio, 85-90% power savings and no observable latency for the gamer, this is cool stuff!

If you want to learn more about Turtle Entertainment and the Electronic Sports League (ESL) Click Me

After coming back from IDF a couple weeks ago, I've had some time to go through the mountains of online material, presentations mostly and a few interesting videos. This video is from Pat Gelsinger's keynote address and features Mendel Rosenblum from VMware. Pat and Mendel discuss new technologies in virtualization and demonstrate "Flex Migration", just hit the play button below to view...

This is very interesting for those IT shops with multiple legacy platforms and new generation servers coming online. We will have more discussion on this topic in the future, and so in the meantime, let us know if you have questions on how this could benefit your datacenter.