This is the 2nd in a 3 part series of video blogs that looks at Virtualization, Grids and Cloud computing. Follow this link for the first part: Part 1

The videos explore these concepts first individually and then try to show that taken together the combination is greater than the sum of individual deployments of the techologies. In reality, all three are required to begin to realize the vision of the dynamic, efficient datacenter but I would caution that these are necessary but not sufficient to realize this full vision ... well ... is a topic (set of topics?) for another day.

As you view the video please bear in mind that there are a couple of underlying assumptions in the statements I make in the video - unfortunately these got eliminated in the editing in trying to meet video duaration constraints. A quick recap of the assumptions:

a) the target environment is the enterprise (both enterprise IT and enterprise data centers) - some of the thoughts apply to SMBs but may not always.
b) the discussion on clouds is really focussing, primarily, on "Internet" clouds and not "Private" clouds (there is a reference to and a motivation for "Private clouds" when the technologies are brought together but in this discussion on clouds the focus is on Internet clouds unless mentioned otherwise).
c) The perspective on Grids in the video is broad - Most folks are used to associating Grids with HPC - it would be very helpful in this video to suspend this association (at least while watching the video and if I can get you to, maybe, into the future as well). This association with HPC is very limiting and represents a use of Grids and does not illuminate what Grids really are or, more importantly, their potential.

This and the previous video introduces the concepts as I see them. Some tangible examples in how they may come together is presented in the next video ... promise ...

So here is the video:

Now that you have heard and seen the video .... a few more observations not discussed in the video ...

• Grids represent an infrastructure management paradigm - actually once you step beyond the base machine virtualization (where the opportunities for real differentiation are fast dimnishing) you will find that solutions that most vendors have or are developing to manage these VMs borrow heavily and, in some cases, almost entirely from Grid technologies - but they won't tell you that. (Once you take the "broader view" it becomes apparent that many Intel platform technolgies become very relevant to Grids and so Intel platforms can be deployed as more than just the "simple and commodity" hardware that they are currently viewed and deployed as)

• Another point to note is that Clouds and Grids are closer than one may think. In many cases a cloud is realized by a simplification of a Grid that is made possible by application to a defined context determined by the cloud service offered. Furthermore some of the complexities of Grid computing (under the covers) have been masked by the introduction of a portal or some other simplifying assumptions and implementations. Many of the well known clouds are implemented using Grids. Nonetheless it is very important to keep Clouds and Grids distinct so that one can understand these paradigms and extract maximum value. The moniker cloud represents a use paradigm (against an highly elastic service) whereas Grids represent an infrastructure paradigm.

• On a larger note: One way to bring these topics together conceptually is to see virtualization as the paradigm to substantiate the entities (resources or otherwise) that can be/are visualized in a context, Grids as the paradigm to manage these virtualizations and Clouds as the paradigm for use of these managed virtualizations.

• What do Grids and Clouds mean to you?
• Do the views represented here make sense or are there other ways in which one may approach these topics?
• What are some interesting ways you have used these technologies in your line of work? What are some problems that were solved or new usages created?
• Are Grids as a topics of discussion dead/passe or are they as relevant today as they were a few years ago - why?

Everyone is talking “green-energy” and “power-efficiency” these days. Reducing carbon footprint, renewable energy, CFLs, solar power, biking instead of driving, etc… the list goes on forever. Many people are excited to do something to change power consumption, but as a server administrator - are the proper tools in place?

Many of you have probably experienced the power/efficiency example at home. When the summer gets hot - many of us run to the thermostat and set it accordingly. When it's REALLY hot outside, we tend to twist the dial cooler - knowing all along, that our electric bill will most likely be higher at the end of the billing cycle. So, what do we do?

Some of us just live with the higher bills, some of us turn off the A/C and struggle in the heat - but I'd hope that most of us set the thermostat to a 'livable' temperature - it may not be the coolest, but it's enough to do the job and keep the electricity bills at a more moderate level - in a sense, it's a happy medium. In today's modern age, thermostats are programmable - taking a lot of the guesswork out of our hands and automating many of the old day-to-day temperature functions that our parents had to follow... Intel server platforms are evolving in this realm as well!



As a server admin, do you have the tools and technologies to reduce power consumption? There are several avenues addressing this issue, and I suggest reading the post from Lori Wigle on Data Center Efficiency. The datacenter is different from the desktop… server admins aren’t likely to enable sleep states to save energy – but rather, increase utilization on fewer servers to maximize your performance output in relation to your server footprint.

When was the last time you looked at your server’s power footprint? Do you even know how much power you’re using? Some of you may have some power meters and can monitor a server (or a few servers) at a time… but how many of you can monitor a rack or servers or a datacenter?

What if this capability was built into your current generation Xeon server platform? The good news is that modern processors DO have power management capabilities. Based on the ACPI specs:

As these performance notches are set, the processor will lower it's power envelope and reduce the power needed in order to save energy. Just as a note, EIST must be enabled in the BIOS for this performance enhancement to work on your platform.

If you attended Intel’s IDF (Intel Developer Forum) you may have run into a few demos in regards to Datacenter Power Management, my booth showcased 4 current generation Intel Servers based on Bensley/Starlake Xeon DP boards and Xeon 54xx Series (codename Harpertown) Processors.

Here’s a quick video showcasing the demo – and just a note - we’ll be redoing this in a higher-quality format soon – so stay tuned!

Hopefully if you’ve watched the video – you’ve got some questions! The good news is that we have a new website from the Intel Software Network that is focused on Intel® Dynamic Power Datacenter Manager. The site lists the features, system requirements, downloads, and FAQ to get you started!

I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions!

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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

Back at IDF for Day 2 and still wrapping up some exciting news coming out yesterday. I met with Robert Zuber (IBM WW Marketing Manager)and Mike Moreno (Intel) and we talked about how IBM and the DB2 team, along with XEON 7400-series processors achieved this milestone of the Industry's First 1M+ TPC-C result. Here's a video with Robert and Mike in the Technology Showcase.

Check out the official Transaction Processing Council Site for details on the system configuration and full results.

Update: 3:55pm.

More from the event.....currently debating "Container" DataCenter v. Traditional "Brick & Mortar...here's our esteemed panel



Panel members include Jud Cooley (SUN Micro), Conor Malone (Rackable), Sigurd Anderson (IDC Architects), Bruce Myatt (Critical Facilities Solutions), & Phil Reese (Research Computing Strategist, Stanford Univ.)

Prior to that the debate was around High v. Low Density in the datacenter, here's the panel:


Panel members are David Driggers (Verari Systems), David Moss (Dell), David Segar (IDC Arch.), Christian Belady (Microsoft), James Shuder (Oracle)& Mukesh Khattar (Oracle)

Hi all,

Jason and I are "Live' from the Great Debates. The ICT Metrics Panel just concluded. Here's a photo from the event:

Panel members including Kathrarine Kaplan(EPA), Andy Rawson (AMD), Kathleen Fieher (Intel), Magnus Herrlin (Ancis), Ray Pfeifer(SynapSense), and Bill Tschudi (LBNL). Good discussion around specific performance metrics that should be taken into account for measuring data center performance. Also, some interesting discussion on what the EPA is doing around the Energy Star program for IT.

Check out the live webcast here: Eco-Tech Great Debates LIVE

Admin Note: This is a repost on behalf of Ravi Subramaniam.

This is the first video in a 3 part series - In this video series, I touch upon the topics that are in the news - Virtualization, Grid computing and cloud computing - each have had their day as or are the current hot/hyped topic. In this first video, I focus on virtualization.

I am looking forward to an interesting dialogue on these videos and the topics and to learn from your insights as I hope you will from mine. I would really like to get your feedback/thoughts and other topics/considerations that would be relevant and important here.

The intent here is to try and demonstrate these topics are in some way inter-related though the implementations/embodiments are distinct and relevant to solving the problems in their respective topic/domain. By understanding the connections, my hope is that, one can visualize new solutions/products (to solve new or higher order problems) that may be created through some appropriate compositions or by novel (re)organizations of the implementations and technologies in these respective topics. Well... I am getting ahead of myself here ...

To stimulate discussion for this blog I would like to add/highlight a few points/questions ...

• Virtualization (at least for me) is a broad concept and as, highlighted in the video, has many modes, facets or aspects - many of the topics of current interest are sort of related by the application of some aspect of virtualization. For the sake of time/brevity, I choose to briefly mention the broader aspects and relate quickly to the notion of virtualization that most accept i.e. what I would call 'machine virtualization'. Do you agree with the broad view of virtualization? An elaboration on your response (for or against) will be much appreciated.

• Virtualization implies a relationship to the entity (physical or virtual) that the virtualization virtualizes - the ability to bind, manipulate and manage these relationships is what helps realize virtualization benefits like agility, consolidation, right sizing etc. The foil in the video "How to create virtualization?" describes some of the relationships (i.e. creating a virtualization establish the relationship describing the mode of creation). Do the ideas in "How to create virtualization?" section of the video make sense - do you agree - thoughts? Are there additional relationships (modes of construction) one may need to consider in the context of virtualization? Are there any product/product area that Intel could enhance by adding one of these virtualization modes/relationships i.e. that would solve (or improve solution of) a problem that you have (say emulation for example)?

• Machine virtualization - is currently SW based with HW assists for performance and security. What do you see as the next inflection for machine virtualizations? Is there an increased role for HW (as different from the current role of enhancing SW solutions)? Are there any models for virtualization that you see that are better suited for implementation in silicon rather than SW?

Last week, the first part this video series focused on the energy efficiency benefits of 45nm. The 2nd part of this video (below) is focused on the benefits of 45nm for virtualization and the intel processor roadmap including what's next in 45nm processor technology - the Dunnington and Nehalem-EP products

Is this information useful to you? why or why not?

Chris