I'll Have The Soup, Server, and SUV Please

I take a great amount of pride and time when I pull together my blog posts. Why? I don't want to waste your time. Sure I could pull together some meaningless dribble each month, perhaps just poaching links and re-blogging what others have said. What would be the point right? So instead, like a good chicken soup, my blogs are hand-crafted using an original recipe and the finest ingredients. Most important, it is never rushed and allowed to simmer a little bit. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I will sample it a few times, walk away, and come back. It'll be done when it is done. By the way, be sure and click the links in this blog. Makes everything taste better.

Blacksmith and the artist, reflect it in their art. They forge their creativity, closer to the heart - Rush

Virtualization. By far THE most important network technology that you don't know about. It is all around you, hiding in plain sight. I bet you are using it right now, just didn't know it. It's big. Really big! Bigger than tablets? Most definitely. More important than Facebook or Twitter? You bet. It is pretty safe to say that if you use any tablet, PC, laptop or smartphone, you are using it. Scratching your head? A bit confused are you? Not to worry. Have a seat, grab your tin foil hat we'll chat about it. 

Let's start from the very beginning. A very good place to start. When you read you begin with A,B,C. When you count your servers you say 1,2,3…and 4 and 5 and beyond. Jeez. This server room seems to fill up like John Belushi at the Faber College lunch buffet in Animal House. Need to store some data, order a server and add it to the network. Want to start using that new accounting system? No problem. Get with Dell or HP and a new server will arrive about ten days later. Your company needs to move from an old version of Microsoft Exchange to a new one. Call IT and tell them to order a few more of those metal monsters . Before long, your server "corner" became a server room. And it isn't a little PC with a power strip any longer. No, your server room now looks like the bridge of the starship Enterprise. You can't help but stare at it and say "jeez, when did we get so advanced?" Then, in the next breath you exclaim, "how the hell did anyone get anything done before?" 

We in the biz call this "server sprawl." That apparently endless growing footprint of dedicated server hardware. And how did this happen? Blame it on software. Software is kind of like that spoiled kid you knew in high school that talked like a Valley Girl; a bit selfish, slightly conceited, and a prima donna. See, long ago, everyone in the software business pretty much decided that their software was special. So special that they started requiring their own dedicated server. For the software companies, it was a rather obvious (albeit expensive for the customer) way to reduce the amount of headbanging in the support department. Put another way, if my software, and only my software is running on this here server, nothing else should interfere with it. That should give me stability and troubleshooting should be easier. There is validity in this thinking. However, this widely adopted practice led to many a propeller head having to stack companies full of single, dedicated servers, with lots of computing power. When they worked, they worked hard; yet they spent a fair amount of time kinda hanging out; waiting...waiting...Bueller...Bueller. Unfortunately, there wasn't much we could do about it. Remember, you expect us IT guys to predict the future. What do I mean? Well, we're given a budget to buy gear; we're also given a directive that it must last for five years, perhaps longer. Therefore, we need to anticipate heavy and light work days; we have to be ready for a company that grows, adding new or even temp employees at a moment's notice; we must have enough power to push through the crush of end-of-month reporting or the addition of 10,000 new SKUs. And of course, we know how to place phasers on stun. So while you believe we all speak Klingon, or think that we sit around half the day debating whether the technology in Star Trek or Star Wars is actually better, there is usually logic, knowledge, and a bit of clairvoyance behind our decisions. Your servers, each and every one of them, were likely sized right given the rules by which we played. But man there was so much computing horsepower sitting around not really being used all the time. If only there was a way for one server to use the idle resources of another server; if only we could just fuse these metal boxes together instead of duplicating or triplicating the same resources across all these individual servers. Now that is a technology you would jump all over, right? I feel the water in the soup pot heating up a bit. Read on.

First Ingredient: Hypervisor

Back in the 60's, IBM had an idea. Yes, your Uncle Ricky is about to tell you yet another sad tale of how an IBM-developed technology has benefited everyone…except IBM. So, here is the quick story. IBM mainframe systems (those room-sized servers of long ago) needed a way for multiple operating systems (think Windows, Android, and iOS) to run on one piece of hardware all at the same time, without stepping on each other. What does this mean? Think of it this way. You have your head with two ears and one mouth. Everything you hear comes into your ears roughly at the same time. That is, you hear most things in stereo, right? Seems like a bit of a waste when you consider you have two perfectly good ears and a pretty smart piece of meat between them (aka your brain). Try this. Take two of my favorite tracks from live albums. Start with "One Way Out" by the Allman Brothers - Live At The Fillmore. Just play it in your left ear. Then, in your right ear, crank up "Mean Woman Blues" by Jerry Lee Lewis - Live From Star Club. Now, try to sing along to each song individually while they are playing at the same time. Can't be done. By the way, please don't try this in public. It will resemble a bad imitation of Evan Baxter from "Bruce Almighty." Anyway, this is basically what IBM was trying to do with its servers. Remember, this is a time when a server cost more than a neighborhood of three bedroom homes. Before long though, a group of fellas in IBM's research center figured out a clever way to do it. And they called their creation a Hyper-visor (nowadays just called hypervisor); the "hyper" part came from the way this special code worked above everything else; and "visor" was short for supervisor. What made it uber cool was that the hypervisor was small. So small that today's version easily fit on a $10.00 USB thumb drive. So, in 1972, IBM introduced this technology to the world. Doing so meant that two, three, or four different software versions could independently run on the same mainframe at the same time. All of a sudden, they could place four customers on one mainframe, dividing the cost among them. This was a very, very big deal. They were very proud of this achievement and coined the phrase "virtualization." Now then, for some 20 years, IBM didn't have a single competitor in virtualization. Decades ahead of the competition. Then in late 1990, a company named VMware came up with its own hypervisor which worked with Windows-based systems; Microsoft would follow suit in 2008. Once again IBM was caught sleeping at the wheel of the getaway car, losing the chance to capitalize on a technology they invented. VMware and Microsoft are now seen as the leaders in virtualization technology…not IBM.

Second Ingredient: Core Technology

So why did virtualization take so long to hit the mainstream? Because back in the '90s and early 2000s' the price of server hardware was still pretty expensive. Same was true for the price of hypervisors. So while this virtualization technology looked promising, it was still cheaper to have multiple dedicated servers. So we bought servers. A lot of them. And while we were all bopping down the network road with all these servers humming along we learned a few things. First, like anything else, it takes money and expertise to maintain them. Second, about every five years, they need to be replaced with something newer and faster. 

See, for all these years, we had been taught to chase the fastest processor (aka CPU) possible. After all, the faster the processor, the quicker the server. Then we were taught that two processors were better than one. And just like Noah did with the Ark, we started buying servers with processors two-by-two. Man these suckers were pricey. Thousands of dollars just for the CPUs alone. Did it matter? Not so much. Those multi-processor servers never seemed to really give us that gut-wrenching speed we wanted, let alone paid for. Ugh. We needed a technology that could deliver and also be affordable. A VW with the horsepower of an aircraft engine. Flash forward to 2005. Intel and AMD introduced the masses to something called core processors. You'll notice I said "introduced the masses." Guess who actually developed the first known core processors? Yup…IBM. You don't need to know anything else about that story except to say it ends like the last one I just told you.

Anyway, remember those two processors I was just talking about? Well, they take up a lot of space inside of a server, mostly because they stand side by side. And if you think space is at a premium in a server, think about a tiny smartphone. Which begged the question of why go wide when you can go up? And Intel did just that; they took two processors, stripped them down to the core and, instead of setting them side by side, they stacked them right on top of each other just like you stack dishes in a cabinet.  Doing so used much less space and power, reduced heat, and gave us lightning fast performance. And, thanks to shedding all that extra baggage, prices dropped significantly. What started as a stack of 2 cores in 2005 has moved up to a stack of 10 cores now. Just unbelievable. My friends, this was the turning point. Core technology is the Emancipation Proclamation for virtualization. What happens next is quite amazing. 

Mixing It Together

So now we have this hypervisor thingy and we have servers which contain all of these cores inside. What can we do now? Say we have a single server with a processor containing four cores and a bunch of memory. We can now run say four different servers, and electronically divvy up the cores and memory amongst them, with each one running Windows all by itself. In olden times, we would need four physical servers to get this done. Not any longer. 

Hmmm I just re-read all that stuff and maybe this is a bit hard to wrap your mind around. Try this out. Think of your software programs as people. Naturally, people share some of the same attributes. Things like arms, legs, eyes, and feet. Yet, we're also all rather unique. Software is exactly the same. It is common in terms of compatibility. That is, hundreds if not thousands of programs are written to work with Windows. Yet, they are unique in what they do for you and your business. I have software for email, accounting, even for playing music and movies. They are all compatible with each other (ie attributes) yet do very different things. Now then, think of  servers as small cars, perhaps Mini Coopers. Cars hold people just like servers hold programs. Get it? Good. Let's keep going.
So, imagine that you have a group of people, each in their own little cars, who all work together on the same floor. We typically call them a department. Like a Sales Department. In the computer world, a group of programs (ie people) that each run on their own servers (ie cars) are linked together to form a network (ie department). Now you've got it. Stay with me here. These people all take the same highway to and from work, and, on most days, are all sitting in traffic together. And we all know about traffic; it slows you down at the worst time…all the time. Believe me, I am a connoisseur of traffic; I live in Atlanta. Everyone drives their own car. Hence the reason for the traffic. I get it though. You have your own space, your own music, and you don't have to interact with anyone unless you wish to do so. So we have all of these "cars" full of "people" that make up the "department" that is your network. And, like the interstates, networks have their share of traffic and congestion. Sometime the speed is good while other times it is slow. When rush hour comes and you are hammered in gridlock traffic, you can't help but wonder what the heck we are doing. All these cars. All this gas. All these people. All driving their own cars. Down to your bones you know there is a better way. There is, it's called carpooling. In the network world, when servers are allowed to carpool, it is called virtualization! I know, I know, it just clicked. Keep going.

Imagine that instead of the Mini Cooper you have a Suburban. A big, beefy SUV that can easily seat eight people. Plenty of horsepower to handle the weight of all the people as well as pull a small three-bedroom home down the street at 70 mph. Since all the people work at the same office and park together, their route to work is identical. This carpool idea is sounding pretty good. But here is the catch (and you knew it was coming): even though these people are carpooling, they want to appear to their co-worker as driving their own cars. After all, carpooling may be cool but having your own wheels is cooler. And, while these people are cordial to each other, they don't necessarily wish to talk amongst themselves all the time. They want, in fact they actually need, the ability to have their own space when they want. Put another way, they want to throw on a set of headphones and jam to their own tunes while riding in the Suburban, without offending anyone else. Ok, that's very do-able. So here's what we've got. We've got a big Suburban with say eight people inside. They are all co-workers and pretty friendly. However, while they are carpooling, they pretty much keep to themselves. Yet they ride together, split the cost of the Suburban and the gas to go to and from work. 

Now, each "person" no longer needs a car. That is a huge savings. Second, we're making better use of the one resource we are sharing, in this case the Suburban. Take space for instance. The space within the Suburban can be dynamically assigned to each of the people based on their needs on any given day. If they are travelling light, they don't need as much space. If they have a laptop bag, luggage, a projector, they can take up more space. It's ok, everyone understands and we've got some room to spare here. Now, let me hook the fish for you and bring it all together.

In the networking world, this means you don't have to buy as many servers. See, thanks to core technology, the performance that used to require multiple servers is now available in one large server…for less money than say eight smaller ones. And the performance is better. Much better. Fewer servers also means less infrastructure to buy and maintain; less infrastructure means lower operating costs; lower operating costs means savings for everyone. Cloud services would not have become reality without virtualization. The cost of buying servers alone would have placed the cost of these services out of reach for most people. Ever asked yourself how services like Gmail or Dropbox are offered for near nothing? Because they can now put upwards of fifty dedicated servers (aka virtual machines) inside of one robust server (aka host server). That wasn't a typo. Fifty. To the users and the software there are fifty different servers. And that remains true. However, they all live in one physical piece of hardware about three inches tall. Ponder that for a moment. An eight foot tall stack of individual servers reduced to a single box less than three inches in height. With virtualization you really get the chance to use the server you have paid for. Here is another advantage: suppose you wish to test a new email program or accounting package. That used to mean buying another physical server. That is a pretty expensive investment considering you are unsure which program you will actually use. With virtualization, it's easy: just add another virtual machine to the host. Easy. Like adding another person into the Suburban. What if you want to upgrade the host server? Or perhaps it fails due to a hardware issue? This used to be a catastrophe. Days spent reloading the server, your programs, and all your data. Not any longer when you are virtual. Here is how easy it becomes. Get a new server, plug in your USB thumb drive and start up your virtual machines. No restaging, no day-long slow Internet due to massive Windows updates. You are back in business in hours instead of days.

See, I told you it was hiding in plain sight. You didn't know what you didn't know. Now that you know, a little advice. For your IT jock, be sure and listen to him the next time he tells you that you need to virtualize. It will change the way you buy and use servers and your network…forever. And yes, he will save you money by doing so. As for your friends and colleagues, here is where you can have some fun. The next time you are around the poker table, on the golf course, or even at dinner, boldly proclaim that you have proof that a Suburban is more efficient than a Mini Cooper. Perhaps you can take it a step further and say that the technology that makes it happen has been right under their noses for the better part of their lives. Take note of the stares you get afterwards. I bet they will resemble the old RCA dog with its head cocked sideways. Expect one of your friends to yell something about a government cover-up, claiming the technology came from Area 51. Others will say you've lost your "green" marbles. Hey, there are a few in every crowd. After a dramatic pause, assume the roll of Dr. Seuss, saying:

I'll tell you a tale of soup, servers, and SUVs. 
A story which is sure to please. 
And if you will pardon the tease, 
I'll impress you with my expertise.