Veritas InfoScale™ 8.0 Virtualization Guide - Linux

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (8.0)
Platform: Linux
  1. Section I. Overview of Veritas InfoScale Solutions used in Linux virtualization
    1. Overview of supported products and technologies
      1.  
        Overview of the Veritas InfoScale Products Virtualization Guide
      2. About Veritas InfoScale Solutions support for Linux virtualization environments
        1.  
          About SmartIO in the Linux virtualized environment
        2.  
          About the SmartPool feature
      3. About Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology
        1.  
          Kernel-based Virtual Machine Terminology
        2.  
          VirtIO disk drives
      4. About the RHEV environment
        1.  
          RHEV terminology
      5.  
        Virtualization use cases addressed by Veritas InfoScale products
      6.  
        About virtual-to-virtual (in-guest) clustering and failover
  2. Section II. Implementing a basic KVM environment
    1. Getting started with basic KVM
      1.  
        Creating and launching a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) host
      2.  
        RHEL-based KVM installation and usage
      3.  
        Setting up a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) guest
      4.  
        About setting up KVM with Veritas InfoScale Solutions
      5. Veritas InfoScale Solutions configuration options for the kernel-based virtual machines environment
        1.  
          Dynamic Multi-Pathing in the KVM guest virtualized machine
        2.  
          Dynamic Multi-Pathing in the KVM host
        3.  
          Storage Foundation in the virtualized guest machine
        4.  
          Enabling I/O fencing in KVM guests
        5.  
          Storage Foundation Cluster File System High Availability in the KVM host
        6.  
          Dynamic Multi-Pathing in the KVM host and guest virtual machine
        7.  
          Dynamic Multi-Pathing in the KVM host and Storage Foundation HA in the KVM guest virtual machine
        8.  
          Cluster Server in the KVM host
        9.  
          Cluster Server in the guest
        10.  
          Cluster Server in a cluster across virtual machine guests and physical machines
      6.  
        Installing Veritas InfoScale Solutions in the kernel-based virtual machine environment
      7. Installing and configuring Cluster Server in a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) environment
        1.  
          How Cluster Server (VCS) manages Virtual Machine (VM) guests
    2. Configuring KVM resources
      1.  
        About kernel-based virtual machine resources
      2. Configuring storage
        1.  
          Consistent storage mapping in the KVM environment
        2. Mapping devices to the guest
          1.  
            Mapping DMP meta-devices
          2.  
            Consistent naming across KVM Hosts
          3.  
            Mapping devices using paths
          4.  
            Mapping devices using volumes
          5.  
            Mapping devices using the virtio-scsi interface
        3.  
          Resizing devices
      3. Configuring networking
        1. Bridge network configuration
          1.  
            Host network configuration
          2.  
            Configuring guest network
        2.  
          Network configuration for VCS cluster across physical machines (PM-PM)
        3.  
          Standard bridge configuration
        4.  
          Network configuration for VM-VM cluster
  3. Section III. Implementing Linux virtualization use cases
    1. Application visibility and device discovery
      1.  
        About storage to application visibility using Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager
      2.  
        About Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) virtualization discovery in Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager
      3.  
        About Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) virtualization discovery in Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager
      4.  
        About Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization discovery
      5.  
        Virtual machine discovery in Microsoft Hyper-V
      6.  
        Storage mapping discovery in Microsoft Hyper-V
    2. Server consolidation
      1.  
        Server consolidation
      2.  
        Implementing server consolidation for a simple workload
    3. Physical to virtual migration
      1.  
        Physical to virtual migration
      2.  
        How to implement physical to virtual migration (P2V)
    4. Simplified management
      1.  
        Simplified management
      2. Provisioning storage for a guest virtual machine
        1.  
          Provisioning Veritas Volume Manager volumes as data disks for VM guests
        2.  
          Provisioning Veritas Volume Manager volumes as boot disks for guest virtual machines
      3. Boot image management
        1.  
          Creating the boot disk group
        2.  
          Creating and configuring the golden image
        3.  
          Rapid Provisioning of virtual machines using the golden image
        4.  
          Storage Savings from space-optimized snapshots
    5. Application availability using Cluster Server
      1.  
        About application availability options
      2.  
        Cluster Server In a KVM Environment Architecture Summary
      3.  
        VCS in host to provide the Virtual Machine high availability and ApplicationHA in guest to provide application high availability
      4.  
        Virtual to Virtual clustering and failover
      5.  
        I/O fencing support for Virtual to Virtual clustering
      6.  
        Virtual to Physical clustering and failover
      7.  
        Recommendations for improved resiliency of InfoScale clusters in virtualized environments
    6. Virtual machine availability
      1.  
        About virtual machine availability options
      2.  
        VCS in host monitoring the Virtual Machine as a resource
      3.  
        Validating the virtualization environment for virtual machine availability
    7. Virtual machine availability for live migration
      1.  
        About live migration
      2.  
        Live migration requirements
      3.  
        Reduce SAN investment with Flexible Shared Storage in the RHEV environment
      4. About Flexible Storage Sharing
        1.  
          Flexible Storage Sharing use cases
        2.  
          Limitations of Flexible Storage Sharing
      5.  
        Configure Storage Foundation components as backend storage for virtual machines
      6.  
        Implementing live migration for virtual machine availability
    8. Virtual to virtual clustering in a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environment
      1.  
        Installing and configuring Cluster Server for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) virtual-to-virtual clustering
      2.  
        Storage configuration for VCS in a RHEV environment
    9. Virtual to virtual clustering in a Microsoft Hyper-V environment
      1.  
        Installing and configuring Cluster Server with Microsoft Hyper-V virtual-to-virtual clustering
    10. Virtual to virtual clustering in a Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM) environment
      1.  
        Installing and configuring Cluster Server for Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM) virtual-to-virtual clustering
      2.  
        Storage configuration for VCS support in Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM)
    11. Disaster recovery for virtual machines in the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization environment
      1.  
        About disaster recovery for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization virtual machines
      2.  
        DR requirements in an RHEV environment
      3. Disaster recovery of volumes and file systems using Volume Replicator (VVR) and Veritas File Replicator (VFR)
        1.  
          Why select VVR over array-based replication solutions
      4.  
        Configure Storage Foundation components as backend storage
      5.  
        Configure VVR and VFR in VCS GCO option for replication between DR sites
      6.  
        Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) virtual machines for disaster recovery using Cluster Server (VCS)
    12. Multi-tier business service support
      1.  
        About Virtual Business Services
      2.  
        Sample virtual business service configuration
      3. Recovery of Multi-tier Applications managed with Virtual Business Services in Veritas Operations Manager
        1.  
          Service Group Management in Virtual Business Services
    13. Managing Docker containers with InfoScale Enterprise
      1.  
        About managing Docker containers with InfoScale Enterprise product
      2. About the Cluster Server agents for Docker, Docker Daemon, and Docker Container
        1.  
          Supported software
        2.  
          How the agents makes Veritas highly available
        3.  
          Documentation reference
      3. Managing storage capacity for Docker containers
        1.  
          Provisioning storage for Docker infrastructure from the Veritas File System
        2. Provisioning data volumes for Docker containers
          1.  
            Provisioning storage on Veritas File System as data volumes for containers
          2.  
            Provisioning VxVM volumes as data volumes for containers
          3.  
            Creating a data volume container
        3. Automatically provision storage for Docker Containers
          1.  
            Installing the Veritas InfoScale Docker volume plugin
          2.  
            Configuring a disk group
          3.  
            Creating Docker Containers with storage attached automatically
          4.  
            Avoid noisy neighbor problem by using Quality of Service support
          5.  
            Provision to create snapshots
          6.  
            Configuring Veritas volume plugin with Docker 1.12 Swarm mode
        4.  
          About using InfoScale Enterprise features to manage storage for containers
      4. Offline migration of Docker containers
        1.  
          Migrating Docker containers
        2.  
          Migrating Docker Daemons and Docker Containers
      5. Disaster recovery of volumes and file systems in Docker environments
        1.  
          Configuring Docker containers for disaster recovery
      6.  
        Limitations while managing Docker containers
  4. Section IV. Reference
    1. Appendix A. Troubleshooting
      1.  
        Troubleshooting virtual machine live migration
      2.  
        Live migration storage connectivity in a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) environment
      3.  
        Troubleshooting Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) virtual machine disaster recovery (DR)
      4.  
        The KVMGuest resource may remain in the online state even if storage connectivity to the host is lost
      5.  
        VCS initiates a virtual machine failover if a host on which a virtual machine is running loses network connectivity
      6.  
        Virtual machine start fails due to having the wrong boot order in RHEV environments
      7.  
        Virtual machine hangs in the wait_for_launch state and fails to start in RHEV environments
      8.  
        VCS fails to start a virtual machine on a host in another RHEV cluster if the DROpts attribute is not set
      9.  
        Virtual machine fails to detect attached network cards in RHEV environments
      10.  
        The KVMGuest agent behavior is undefined if any key of the RHEVMInfo attribute is updated using the -add or -delete options of the hares -modify command
      11.  
        RHEV environment: If a node on which the VM is running panics or is forcefully shutdown, VCS is unable to start the VM on another node
    2. Appendix B. Sample configurations
      1. Sample configuration in a KVM environment
        1.  
          Sample configuration 1: Native LVM volumes are used to store the guest image
        2.  
          Sample configuration 2: VxVM volumes are used to store the guest image
        3.  
          Sample configuration 3: CVM-CFS is used to store the guest image
      2.  
        Sample configurations for a Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) environment
    3. Appendix C. Where to find more information
      1.  
        Veritas InfoScale documentation
      2.  
        Linux virtualization documentation
      3.  
        Service and support
      4.  
        About Veritas Services and Operations Readiness Tools (SORT)

Service Group Management in Virtual Business Services

Service group management improves business resiliency by providing a method to bundle hardware, software, applications, databases and networks into a single entity with dependencies. By monitoring the health and performance of these service groups, through proactive notification, pending issues can be quickly addressed. VOM reports on the relationship of applications to virtual machines, physical servers and clusters and provides coordinated failover of services that span virtual machines and physical machines for multi-tier applications. In the past, customers who wanted this functionality had to build scripts to automate these procedures but this method was complex to manage and test.

To help customers address these issues, Veritas introduced Virtual Business Services (VBS). Virtual Business Services combines the power of VCS, AppHA and VOM to provide complete multi-tier business service management and High Availability. VBS now enables management of multi-tier business services on top of VOM and VCS which allows VOM to be used as a single tool for availability management.

Virtual Business Services achieves the following:

  • Co-ordinates the start and stop across different operating systems and/or platforms

  • Provides fault management and propagation between tiers

  • Manages multi-tier Disaster Recovery support

  • Enables automated Disaster Recovery of a complete Virtual Business Service and Virtual Machine management support (start and stop)

High Availability is primarily managed within each tier. The cluster is responsible to keep services highly available within the cluster. The boundaries for an application are the cluste instance. Logically, a VBS can be seen as a container that allows service groups to be built into a single object. To enable VBS, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Environments must have VCS installed on the physical server. For the other operating environments within the VBS, it is required that each tier has VCS, Microsoft Cluster Server installed.

In order to deploy VBS, there must be at least one VOM Central Server installed in the data center. The VOM Central Server is used for configuration, visualization and management of VBS. However, after the initial configuration of a VBS, it can be managed using a CLI as well. VBS functionality does not depend on VOM Central Server. CLI operations work regardless of whether the VOM Central Server is available or not, and the member nodes of a VBS will operate autonomously of the VOM Central Server once VBS is deployed.

Application DR can be between VMs or from a Virtual to Physical DR and vice versa. During the failover of Virtual Machine there is an automatic update of VM (IP, DNS, netmask) to ensure user access to the new instance.

An example of how DR operates across a multi-tier environment

Figure: DR in a multi-tier environment

DR in a multi-tier environment

Veritas Operations Manager also includes the ability to associate different Virtual Business Services into a Disaster Recovery Plan. This feature enables another level of automation because it allows the customer to combine service groups, Virtual Business Groups and manual scripts into a single procedure. It provides the sequence of operations that will be performed at the DR site, in the event of a disaster. The GUI allows you to choose items to include into the plan and provides single click failover of an entire data center to a secondary site.