Microsoft® System Center 2012 -

Virtual Machine Manager

Infrastructure Planning and Design

Published: July 2012
What Is IPD?
Guidance that clarifies and streamlines the planning and
design process for Microsoft infrastructure technologies

IPD:
• Defines decision flow
• Describes decisions to be made
• Relates decisions and options for the business
• Frames additional questions for business understanding
IPD guides are available at www.microsoft.com/ipd
Getting Started
Microsoft System Center 2012 -
Virtual Machine Manager
Purpose and Overview

Purpose
• To provide design guidance for a Microsoft System Center 2012 -
Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) infrastructure

Overview
• Virtual Machine Manager architecture
• Virtual Machine Manager infrastructure design process
What Is Microsoft System Center 2012 -
Virtual Machine Manager?

Virtual Machine Manager provides:

• Increased operational agility
• Speeds provisioning of new virtual machines
• Reduces IT burden by enabling self-service provisioning
• Organization of virtual assets
• Optimized resource usage
• Provides insight into how workloads perform
• Takes the guesswork out of virtual machine placement
• Facilitates P2V conversion
• Helps fine-tune the virtual and physical infrastructure
• Ensures virtual machines are built to standard specifications
• Organization of virtual machines in the environment
What’s New in System Center 2012 -
Virtual Machine Manager?

New enhancements in Virtual Machine Manager that may affect the

infrastructure choices and design include the ability to:
• Install a highly available VMM management server
• Create Run As accounts to provide the necessary credentials for
performing operations in VMM
• Use the VMM console to configure networking resources (for example,
logical networks, IP address pools, and load balancers) to be used to
deploy virtual machines and services
• Create a custom capability profile to limit the resources that are used by
virtual machines that are created in a private cloud
• Enable self-service users to use the VMM console instead of the VMM
Self-Service Portal to perform tasks such as deploying virtual machines
and services
Virtual Machine Manager Decision Flow

MAP
w/ CAL Tracker
Virtual Machine Manager Architecture Example

ITA
Step 1: Define the Project Scope and
Requirements

• Task 1: Determine the Business Requirements

• Which parts of the organization will participate?
• Applicable business or governance policies?
• Should users be able to perform self-service provisioning?
• Additional locations for geographic failover or disaster recovery?
• Is virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) a requirement?
• Will VMM integrate with Operations Manager to monitor the
health and availability of the virtual machines and virtual
machine hosts that VMM manages?
• What are the availability requirements for VMM?
Step 1: Define the Project Scope and
Requirements (Continued)
• Task 2: Determine the Technical Requirements
• What virtualization technology, if any, will each location use?
• What about virtual machine management technology?
• How many virtual machine hosts?
• How many virtual machines and what type will they be?
• If implementing self-service provisioning, what is the
approximate number of users and where are they located?
• Implement a new update server or integrate with an existing
server, and if so which one?
Step 2: Design the Operations Manager
Integration

• Option 1: Multiple VMM Instances

• Works within the organization of the existing management
groups

• Option 2: Dedicated Management Group for VMM

• Simplifies deployment by using fewer VMM management servers
• Simplifies placing and sizing of VMM management servers
• Enables the organization to consolidate virtual machine
management
Evaluating the Characteristics (Step 2)

• Table 1: Complexity Options

• Table 2: Cost Options

Step 3: Determine the VMM Instances

• Task 1: Determine the Number of Instances

• An instance is defined as a VMM management server or
cluster connected to a unique VMM database instance
• Use the number of hosts recorded in Step 1 to determine
the number of hosts each VMM instance will manage
• Each VMM management server must be on a separate
physical or virtual computer
• Begin with one VMM instance to manage all the virtual
machine hosts, and add more as necessary, based on
factors such as:
• Isolated networks or test environments
• Scaling limits
• Management model
• Organizational considerations
• Disaster recovery
Step 4: Design the VMM Management Server
Infrastructure
• Task 1: Determine Placement of Each Component
• Since the VMM management server must be a member of an
Active Directory domain, place it on the network where that
requirement can be met
• Installing the VMM Self-Service Portal on a domain controller is
not supported
• For better performance, when a VMM instance is managing more
than 150 hosts:
• Use a dedicated computer for the VMM management server
• Add one or more remote computers as library servers and do not use
the default library share on the VMM management server
• Use a separate server for the VMM database and Self-Service Portal
• The VMM management server supports fault-tolerance using clustering
Step 4: Design the VMM Management Server
Infrastructure (Continued)
• Task 2: Apply the Fault-Tolerance Requirements
• The VMM management server is stateless; the state of the
VMM instance is held in the VMM database
• The VMM management server supports fault-tolerance by either
using failover clustering at the host level, or running it in a clustered
virtual machine
• If a VMM management server in the cluster fails, the cluster
automatically fails over to another VMM management server in the
cluster without any data loss

• The VMM database can be made fault-tolerant by using a

clustered SQL Server®
• It is recommended that the VMM database be installed on a separate
failover cluster from the failover cluster used for the VMM
management server
Step 4: Design the VMM Management Server
Infrastructure (Continued)
• Task 3: Determine the Hardware Configuration
• VMM management server
• VMM management server minimum and recommended hardware
requirements for less than 150 hosts:

• VMM management server minimum and recommended hardware

requirements for more than 150 hosts:
Step 4: Design the VMM Management Server
Infrastructure (Continued)
• Task 3: Determine the Hardware Configuration
• VMM database
• VMM database minimum and recommended hardware
requirements for less than 150 hosts:

• VMM database minimum and recommended hardware

requirements for more than 150 hosts:
Step 5: Design the VMM Library Server

• Task 1: Determine Placement of the Library Server

• Each VMM instance must have at least one library server, and
VMM instances cannot share library servers because each library
server runs a VMM agent

• Task 2: Determine the Number of Servers

Required for Scaling
• A VMM management server can be connected to more than one
VMM library server
• The number of VMM library servers required may vary depending
on a number of factors, including the quantity and size of the
files that will be stored in the library
Step 5: Design the VMM Library Server
(Continued)
• Task 3: Apply the Fault-Tolerance Requirements
• Clustering can increase the fault tolerance of a single VMM
library share
• VMM does not provide a method for replicating physical files in
the VMM library or metadata for objects stored in the VMM
database. Physical files must be replicated outside of VMM and
metadata must be transferred by using scripts or other means
• Task 4: Determine the Hardware Configuration
• VMM library server minimum and recommended hardware
requirements:
Step 6: Design the Update Services
Infrastructure

• Option 1: Integrate with WSUS

• Integration of VMM with Windows Server Update Services
(WSUS) allows VMM to scan servers that are a part of the VMM
fabric, including Hyper-V® hosts, Hyper-V clusters, or VMM
library servers
• The organization must then decide whether to deploy a new
WSUS server dedicated to VMM, or use an existing WSUS
server that is part of a Configuration Manager environment

• Option 2: Not Integrate with WSUS

• Users can still take advantage of the configuration baselines
and remediation that Configuration Manager provides
• Users must rely on two consoles instead of one
Step 7: Design the App Controller
Infrastructure
• Task 1: Determine the Number of App Controller
Instances Required
• Each VMM instance will require its own App Controller server
(and corresponding App Controller database and library)
• A single App Controller server supports the following scale limits:
• Up to 5 VMM management servers
• Up to 75 concurrent users
• Up to 10,000 jobs run in a 24-hour interval

• Task 2: Determine the Placement

• The App Controller server will transfer large files between the
App Controller Library servers and the VMM library servers
• Ensure that these servers have sufficient bandwidth for handling
these large files
Step 7: Design the App Controller
Infrastructure (Continued)
• Task 3: Apply the Fault-Tolerance Requirements
• App Controller server
• Install multiple App Controller servers behind a load balancer using a
hardware load balancer or Network Load Balancing (NLB)
• App Controller database
• Install the database on a clustered SQL Server

• Task 4: Determine the Hardware Configuration

• App Controller server minimum and recommended hardware
requirements:
Summary and Conclusion

• This guide summarized the critical design

decisions, activities, and tasks required to
successfully design a VMM infrastructure
• See the IPD guide appendix for job aids to
assist in recording decisions
• Provide feedback to [email protected]
Find More Information
• Download the full document and other IPD guides:
www.microsoft.com/ipd
• Contact the IPD team:
[email protected]
• Access the Microsoft Solution Accelerators website:
www.microsoft.com/technet/SolutionAccelerators
Questions?
Addenda
• Benefits of Using the Microsoft System Center 2012 -
Virtual Machine Manager Guide
• IPD in Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0
• System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager
in Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization
Benefits of Using the Microsoft System Center
2012 - Virtual Machine Manager Guide

• Benefits for Business Stakeholders/Decision Makers

• Most cost-effective design solution for implementation
• Alignment between the business and IT from the beginning of the
design process to the end

• Benefits for Infrastructure Stakeholders/Decision Makers

• Authoritative guidance
• Business validation questions ensuring solution meets requirements
of business and infrastructure stakeholders
• High-integrity design criteria that includes product limitations
• Fault-tolerant infrastructure
• Infrastructure that is sized appropriately for business requirements
Benefits of Using the Microsoft System Center
2012 - Virtual Machine Manager Guide
(Continued)
• Benefits for Consultants or Partners
• Rapid readiness for consulting engagements
• Planning and design template to standardize design and peer reviews
• A “leave-behind” for pre- and post-sales visits to customer sites
• General classroom instruction/preparation

• Benefits for the Entire Organization

• Using the guide should result in a design that will be sized, configured,
and appropriately placed to deliver a solution for achieving stated business
requirements
IPD in Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0

Use MOF with IPD guides to ensure that people and process
considerations are addressed when changes to an organization’s
IT services are being planned
System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager
in Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization