Virtualization & The Cloud

Question 1

Benefits of Virtualization

Answer 1

Power saving
Hardware consolidation
System management & security
Research (multiple OS support; 1 machine)

Question 2

Benefits of Virtualization:

System management & security

Answer 2

New employees can easily be set up with a department-specific VM.

Malware/hacking done on VM will not affect physical machine. (VMs still need anti-malware/strong pws)

VMs allow snapshots/checkpoints, which saves the exact state of the machine at the time, allowing one to return to it later.

Question 3

Supervisor

Answer 3

Handles low-level interaction among hardware & software.

Hardware > OS > Supervisor > Processes

Question 4

Hypervisor

Answer 4

Full virtualization requires an extra layer of sophisticated programming (hypervisor) to manage the vastly more complex interaction.

                                   VM Hardware > Hypervisor ^  v   >VM
                                       VM

Question 5

Virtualization Software

Answer 5

VMware (Win/Linux)
Microsoft Hyper-V (Win) - Free
Oracle VM VirtualBox (Win/Mac/Linux) - Free
VMware Fusion (Mac)
Parallels Desktop (Mac)
KVM (Linux) - Free

Question 6

Virtualization (What it does)

Answer 6

Takes the hardware of the host system and allocates some portion of its power to individual virtual machines.

(Cannot turn Intel system into Nintendo 3DS)

Question 7

Emulation (What it does)

Answer 7

An emulator is software/hardware that converts the commands to an from the host machine into an entirely different platform.

Question 8

Client-Side Virtualization

Answer 8

Running a VM on your local system regardless of whether the VM file is stored locally or on a server that can be accessed via the network.

Question 9

Creating a VM (4 Steps)

Answer 9

1) Set up your system’s hardware to support VMs and verify it can meet the resource requirements.
2) Install a hypervisor on your system.
3) Create a new VM that has proper virtualized hardware to support the guest OS.
4) Start the new VM & install the new guest OS exactly as you’d install it on a physical machine.

Question 10

Hardware Virtualization Support

Answer 10

Every hypervisor runs better if you enable hardware virtualization support.

Intel = VT-x
AMD = AMD-V

Can be turned on/off in BIOS/UEFI system setup.

Question 11

Importance of RAM

Answer 11

Each VM needs just as much RAM as a physical machine.

Add enough RAM so that every VM & physical machine will run adequately.
Make sure mobo supports enough

Question 12

VM Storage

Answer 12

VM files can be huge because they include everything installed on the VM. (Snapshots require space too)

Question 13

VM Storage Recommendations

Answer 13

Make sure to have plenty of storage for all VMs.

Plan ahead to protect VM files with good RAID arrays & regular backups.

Use SATA or NVMe SSD for best performance.

Question 14

Internal Networking (Virtualization)

Answer 14

Used in order to create a network in which the VMs inside the hypervisor are connected to one another (nothing else).

Set virtual NICs to internal network in VM software.
(Every VM on hypervisor will act as though connected to its own switch)

Question 15

Bridged Networking (Virtualization)

Answer 15

Used to connect to the internet. (Virtual NIC bridges the real NIC to get out to the network).

VM uses same network as host machine.
(VM is subject to all the same security risks)

Most VMs use bridged networking by default.

Question 16

How to Enable Hyper-V

Answer 16

Control Panel > Programs & Features >

Turn Windows Features On/Off > Check Hyper-V

Question 17

Bare-Metal Hypervisor

Answer 17

AKA: Type 1 Hypervisor

Removing the host OS altogether and installing nothing but a hypervisor.

Type 1: Hardware > Hypervisor > VMs
Type 2: Hardware > Host OS > Supervisor > Hypervisor > VMs

Question 18

ESX

Answer 18

Now ESXi (VMware Bare-Metal Hypervisor)

A tiny OS/hypervisor that’s often installed on something other than a hard drive (typically flash memory).

Everything is mostly done through a web interface.

Question 19

IaaS

Answer 19

Infrastructure as a Service:
Using virtualization to minimize idle hardware, protect against data loss & downtime, and respond to spikes in demand.

Using providers like AWS (Amazon Web Services) to launch new virtual servers using an OS of choice on demand for pennies an hour. (Billed by usage)

Great for web applications (can add as many virtual servers as needed with unlimited storage, caching, media hosting, and more)

Question 20

PaaS

Answer 20

Platform as a Service:
PaaS provider gives programmers all the tools they need to deploy, administer, & maintain a web app.

Provider starts with some form of infrastructure (IaaS) and builds a platform. Platform is a complete deployment & management system to handle every aspect of a web app.

Allows developer to just focus on the web app itself, and removes repetitive, tedious tasks.

Question 21

SaaS

Answer 21

Software as a Service:
Basically any web app accessed through the internet that provides a service.

No ownership, no installation, no download.

Easer to budget & keep users up to date.

Question 22

Public Cloud

Answer 22

Software, platforms, & infrastructure delivered through networks that the general public can use (The Cloud)

Not publicly owned, just publicly accessed.

Question 23

Private Cloud

Answer 23

An internal cloud where the user has complete ownership of the data.

Suitable for security-minded companies with enough budget. (Data doesn’t have to be sent over the internet; less worry for where data is going)

A third party can be contracted to host it.

Question 24

Community Cloud

Answer 24

A private cloud paid for and used by more than one organization (i.e. a group of organization with similar goals/needs).

Question 25

Hybrid Cloud

Answer 25

A combination of public, private, & community clouds that allows communication between them.

Can mean not having to maintain a private cloud powerful enough to meet peak demand.

Question 26

Cloud Bursting

Answer 26

An application can grow into a public cloud instead of grind to a halt (hybrid cloud).

Question 27

Why Cloud? (9 Reasons)

Answer 27

Virtualization
Shared Resources
Rapid Elasticity
On-Demand
Resource Pooling
Measured & Metered Service
Cloud-Based Applications
Cloud-Based Virtual Desktops
Cloud File Storage Services

Question 28

Why Cloud?: Virtualization

Answer 28

The cloud could not happen without virtualization’s ability to save power, resources, recovery, & security.

Question 29

Why Cloud?: Shared Resources

Answer 29

Hardware can be combined and shared.

Resources can be both internal/external & apply to one or many machines (provides flexibility).

Question 30

Why Cloud?: Rapid Elasticity

Answer 30

You can start with a single server and get your new web app out to the public.

If app gets popular, you can easily expand your resources (ex: # of servers)

Question 31

Why Cloud?: On-Demand

Answer 31

You can change server capacity based on demand.

The application can adjust according to current demands

Question 32

Why Cloud?: Resource Pooling

Answer 32

You can consolidate systems’ physical & time resources.

Question 33

Why Cloud?: Measured & Metered Service

Answer 33

Service charges can be based on web traffic, or for the time that each of the servers are running.

Question 34

Why Cloud?: Cloud-Based Applications

Answer 34

Software can be accessed without need for installation/upgrading manually.

Virtual App Streaming (Makes apps available for smart devices connected to internet)

Question 35

Why Cloud?: Cloud-Based Virtual Desktops

Answer 35

Accessing a VM through the cloud.

Can access a very powerful machine from a basic laptop.

Question 36

Why Cloud?: Cloud File Storage Services

Answer 36

Include synchronization apps so you can have the same version of every file in multiple places (desktop/laptop/online).