Virtualization and related technologies like hypervisors, which create virtual machines on a single hardware machine, and containers (also known as zones), which create virtual operating systems running on a single operating system, are a totally new area for many system administrators. Oracle reg; Solaristrade; 10 System Virtualization Essentialsprovides an accessible introduction to computer virtualization, specifically the system virtualization technologies that use the Oracle Solaris or OpenSolaris operating systems. This accessible guide covers the key concepts system administrators need to understand and explains how to Use Dynamic Domains to maximize workload isolation on Sun SPARC systems Use Oracle VM Server for SPARC to deploy different Oracle Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris environments on SPARC CMT (chip multithreading) systems Use Oracle VM Server for x86 or xVM hypervisor to deploy a server with heterogeneous operating systems Use Oracle VM VirtualBox to develop and test software in heterogeneous environments Use Oracle Solaris Containers to maximize efficiency and scalability of workloads Use Oracle Solaris Containers to migrate Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 workloads to new hardware systems Mix virtualization technologies to maximize workload density Starting with a discussion of system virtualization in general terms-the needs of consolidation, the benefits of virtualization, and a description of the most common types of computer virtualization-this book also covers many of the concepts, features, and methods shared by many implementations of system virtualization. Oraclers"s computer virtualization technologies that are directly related to the Oracle Solaris OS are described in detail along with a discussion of the factors that should be considered when choosing a virtualization technology. Finally, several examples of these technologies and an overview of virtualization management software are provided, as well as a history of virtualization.

<>Jeff Victor is the principal author of Oracle^® Solaris 10 System Virtualization Essentials and a principal sales consultant at Oracle Corporation. Prior to joining Oracle, Jeff was a principal field technologist for Sun Microsystems. He is an OpenSolaris Zones Community Leader, the creator of the zonestat open-source program, and a regular author, contributor, and speaker at corporate and industry events. His blog can be found at http://blogs.sun.com/JeffV. Jeff received a bachelor of science degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In his spare time, he builds and launches high-power rockets. Jeff lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

 

Jeff Savit has more than 25 years of experience in operating systems, virtualization, and performance on multiple platforms, and is a principal sales consultant at Oracle Corporation specializing in these areas. He was previously a principal field technologist at Sun Microsystems with a similar focus. Before joining Sun, Jeff was a vice president at Merrill Lynch, where he had roles in development, systems management, market data, and web applications. He also managed a department responsible for the firm’s virtual machine systems, wrote market data portions of Merrill Lynch’s Internet trading applications, and created one of the Internet’s first stock quote websites. Jeff is the author of the Sun Blueprint Energy Efficiency Strategies: Sun Server Virtualization Technology, and the virtualization chapter of the Datacenter Reference Guide Blueprint. Jeff has written or coauthored several books, including Enterprise Java, VM and CMS: Performance and Fine-Tuning, and VM/CMS Concepts and Facilities, and his work has been published in SIGPLAN Notices, a journal of the Association of Computing Machinery. He has a master’s degree in computer science from Cornell University.

 

Gary Combs is a SPARC specialist at Oracle Corporation. He specializes in midrange and high-end SPARC servers, which include the popular M-Series. Gary also covers virtualization technologies that are implemented on these platforms: Dynamic Domains, Logical Domains, and Oracle Solaris Containers. Prior to joining Oracle, Gary was with Sun Microsystems. He has more than 15 years of direct sales support experience as a systems engineer. For the last 10 years, Gary has held marketing positions in product management, product definition, and technical marketing.

 

Simon Hayler is a principal sales consultant for Oracle Corporation. Previously, Simon was a principal field technologist for Sun Microsystems. Simon has a telecommunications engineering background, encompassing the design, configuration, and implementation of multitiered information systems. His role at Sun over the past 12 years has included pre- and post-sales consulting, architectural design and implementation for both high-end commercial and high-performance computing, and, more recently, specialization in virtualization solutions.

 

Bob Netherton is a principal sales consultant at Oracle Corporation specializing in Oracle Solaris, virtualization, open-source software, and Linux interoperability. Prior to joining Oracle, Bob was a principal field technologist for Sun Microsystems, and was one of the architects and content developers of the Solaris Boot Camp and Deep Dive seminar series. In addition, he has developed several best practices guides for Solaris as well as an advanced Solaris training curriculum. Bob is also involved in several OpenSolaris users groups in the American Midwest and Southwest. Bob received a bachelor of science degree in applied mathematics from the University of Missouri, and he is a regular blogger on Solaris, virtualization, and open-source technologies.

Foreword         xi

Preface         xv

Acknowledgments         xxi

About the Authors         xxiii

 

Chapter 1: Introduction to Virtualization        1

1.1 Definitions and Motivations   1

1.2 System Virtualization Models   26

1.3 Summary   41

 

Chapter 2: Hard Partitioning: Dynamic Domains         43

2.1 Partitions   44

2.2 Domain Implementation   44

2.3 Managing Domains   59

2.4 Summary   76

 

Chapter 3: Oracle VM Server for SPARC         77

3.1 Overview of Logical Domains Features   77

3.2 Logical Domains Implementation   80

3.3 Details of Domain Resources   84

3.4 Installing Logical Domains and Building a Guest Domain   89

3.5 Domain Mobility   104

3.6 Physical to Virtual Conversion   106

3.7 Ease-of-Use Enhancements  108

3.8 Comparison with Oracle Solaris Containers   110

3.9 Summary   110

 

Chapter 4: Oracle Solaris 10 as an x86 Guest         113

4.1 Overview   114

4.2 Oracle VM Server for x86     116

4.3 xVM Hypervisor   118

4.4 Citrix XenServer   120

4.5 VMware ESX   121

4.6 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V   123

4.7 Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization   125

4.8 Summary   127

 

Chapter 5: Oracle VM VirtualBox         129

5.1 How Oracle VM VirtualBox Works   131

5.2 Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Platform   134

5.3 Oracle Solaris as an Oracle VM VirtualBox Host   145

5.4 Oracle Solaris as an Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest   149

5.5 Creating and Managing Oracle VM VirtualBox Guests   151

5.6 Summary   167

 

Chapter 6: Oracle Solaris Containers         169

6.1 Feature Overview   170

6.2 Feature Details   181

6.3 Solaris 8 Containers and Solaris 9 Containers   219

6.4 Network Virtualization in OpenSolaris   222

6.5 Strengths of Oracle Solaris Containers   225

6.6 Summary   226

 

Chapter 7: Choosing a Virtualization Technology          227

7.1 Review of Strengths and Limitations   227

7.2 Choosing the Technology: Start with Requirements   235

7.3 Virtualization Decision Tree   236

7.4 Choosing the Technology: Examples   237

7.5 Summary   239

 

Chapter 8: Applying Virtualization         241

8.1 How to Configure for Dynamic Domains   241

8.2 Consolidating with Oracle VM Server for SPARC (Logical Domains)   254

8.3 Deploying Oracle Solaris 10 with Oracle VM Server for x86     258

8.4 How to Enable xVM Hypervisor Live Migration   268

8.5 Running Microsoft Windows in an Oracle Solaris Container   276

8.6 Consolidating with Oracle Solaris Containers   285

8.7 Security Hardening with Oracle Solaris Containers   290

8.8 Summary   300

 

Chapter 9: Virtualization Management         301

9.1 VE Life-Cycle Management   303

9.2 Opportunities for Business Agility and Operational Flexibility   306

9.3 Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center   315

9.4 Summary   326

 

Appendix: History of Virtualization and Architectural Evolution 327

 

Index 345