The Age of Network Operations Management Software Defined Data Centers Author: Bill Erdman VMware’s Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) is a reference architecture designed to deliver important business outcomes in a scalable, highly flexible manner. SDDC enables intelligent operations from apps to storage. Learn how to unlock the business value of SDDC for your enterprise, experiencing gains in key areas such as: - Securing your infrastructure - Speed and agility - Time-to-market - Compute capacity utilization

1. The Age of Network Operations
Management in Software Defined
Data Centers
Bill Erdman

2. Topics
• Virtual Networking Core Concepts
• Virtual and Physical Networking Combined
• Networl Operations challenges with SDDC
• VMware Operations Mgmt Product Offering
• SDK for integrating with networking technologies
• Integration examples
– HP
– Kemp Load Balancing
– Netflow Analyzer
– NSX for vSphere

3. Topics
• Virtual Networking Core Concepts
• Virtual and Physical Networking Combined
• Networl Operations challenges with SDDC
• VMware Operations Mgmt Product Offering
• SDK for integrating with networking technologies
• Integration examples
– HP
– Kemp Load Balancing
– Netflow Analyzer
– NSX for vSphere

4. Topics
• Virtual Networking Core Concepts
• Virtual and Physical Networking Combined
• Networl Operations challenges with SDDC
• VMware Operations Mgmt Product Offering
• SDK for integrating with networking technologies
• Integration examples
– HP
– Kemp Load Balancing
– Netflow Analyzer
– NSX for vSphere

5. SDDC Network Evolution
Software
Hardware
Virtual
Machines
Virtual
Machines
Compute
Capacity Network Storage
Applications
Server
Virtualization
Server
Virtualization
• Intelligence in the virtualization layer
• Vendor independent x86 capacity
• Transformative operational model
• Automated configuration & management
• Scalable capacity
• Micro-segmentation
• Unified visibility and impact analysis
Intelligence in hardware
Dedicated, vendor specific infrastructure
Manual configuration & management
Automated Operational Model
Programmatically
Create,
Snapshot,
Store,
Move,
Delete,
Restore
Pooled compute, network and storage capacity
Vendor independent, best price/performance
Simplified configuration & management
Network
Virtualization
Network
Virtualization

6. Business Value of SDDC Networking
Business/IT Execs
Speed and Agility
Secure Infrastructure
Time-to-Market
Competitive Advantage
IT Operations
Efficiency of
change
IT Infrastructure & Security
Data Center Micro-segmentation
Scale-out DMZ
Network hardware choice
Compute capacity utilization

7. SDDC Layered View
Internet

8. Efficiency of Virtual Networking

9. The Power of Distributed Network & Security
Services & Policies

10. There is a BIG difference…

11. Virtual and Physical Networking
Internet
• Leaf spine design
• L2 with LACP and MLAG
• L3 with ECMP and OSPF
• L4-L7 tenant services within
virtual layer: Software defined
• L2-L3 for general capacity,
delivery, reachability

12. SDDC Networking Operation Impacts
• Network health resides within the X86, hypervisor layer
• Packets are copied, not forwarded
• Additional layers of virtualization for E2E troubleshooting
– Physical: VLANs, Subnets, mac and route tables
– Virtual: port groups, virtual switches, virtual uplinks, VXLANs, VTEPs,
re-usable addresses
• High availability and forwarding relationships are harder to trace
– LACP, MLAG, ECMP are the growing prevailing standards
• Automated configuration of L4-L7 services, tenant level
– Added automatically w/o network ops involvement
• Mobility and VM tracking
– Where within the virtual and physical network are the VM’s
– How to pinpoint service disruptions
• Capacity mgmt real time and pro-active
– X86, uplink, bisectional bandwidth, edge appliances,

13. Organization Impacts
• Shared or dedicated ownership?
– X86 resources as both compute and network
• Cross training
– Networking is complex (L2-L7)
– Virtual and physical integration
• Outage conditions and triage
– Pinpoint problem and assess impact
– SLA’s based upon redundancy, automated recovery
• Current and Future Capacity
– Over subscription analysis
– Load distribution and balanced resources
• Design verification and Compliance
– Security isolation
– No single points of failure

14. Automation
Service Catalog
Governance
Release Automation
Operations
Service Health
Capacity Optimization
Configuration Standards
IT Business
Cost Transparency
Benchmarking
Service Quality
VMware SDDC Cloud Management
Compute
Physical
Hardware
Private
Clouds
Public
Clouds
Hybrid Cloud
VMware &
vCloud Datacenter Partners
Virtualized Infrastructure
Abstract & Pool
Compute Abstraction
= Server Virtualization
Storage
Storage Abstraction =
Software-Defined
Storage
Network
Network Abstraction
= Virtual Networking
Applications Modern SaaSTraditional

15. Operations Management in the Cloud Era
Purpose built for mobile/cloud era
• Self-learning predictive analytics and smart alerts
• Capacity optimization across virtual and physical stack
Policy based automation
• Automated root cause analysis with compliance visibility
• Granular access control and orchestrated workflows
Fast time to value
• Fast and easy deployment as a virtual appliance
• Best for vSphere and supports multi hypervisors
1
2
3
“Intelligent Operations from Apps to Storage”
Virtualization at the core
• vSphere, vCenter, Virtual machines as first class objects
• vCenter, VSAN, NSX, as core adapters (MP’s)
• Rich object model with correlation across these
• Increasingly ESXi agnostic
• SDK for integration with adjacent technologies
• Virtual and physical
4

16. Evolution of Operational Analytics Technology
ProactiveReactive
Automated
Manual
Hyperic, SCOM,
Nagios, …
Traditional
Monitoring
Data collection
(Metrics, logs, …)
• Static thresholds
• Alerts
Specific
Generic
Predictive
Analytics
vRealize
Operations Insight
• Detect complex
issues from multiple
symptoms
• Remediation and
automation engine
• Scale-out, data-
agnostic platform
Data CollectionData collectionData collection
Event
Correlation
BMC, HP, CA,
IBM, …
• Aggregation
• Masking & filtering
• Rules-based alert
suppression
Data CollectionData collectionData collection
Performance
Analytics
VC Ops 1.0-5.x,
Netuitive, …
• Self-learning
• Dynamic thresholds
• Super metrics
Data collectionData collection
10x Alert
Reduction

17. vCenter Operations Management SuitevCenter Operations Management Suite
Operations ConsoleOperations Console ExtensibilityExtensibility
Integrated Management DisciplinesIntegrated Management Disciplines
PerformancePerformance ComplianceComplianceConfigurationConfigurationCapacityCapacityAvailabilityAvailability
Resilient, Scale-Out PlatformResilient, Scale-Out Platform
App VisibilityApp Visibility Logs*Logs*AnalyticsAnalytics
Reporting/
Alerting
Reporting/
Alerting
AutomationAutomation SDKSDK
Management
Packs
Management
Packs
APIsAPIs
  
Quality of
Service
Quality of
Service
vCenter Operations Management Suite Overview
Operational
Efficiency
Operational
Efficiency
Visibility and
Control
Visibility and
Control

18. Common Model for Managing Operations
• A simple and intuitive model using three concepts Health, Risk, Efficiency
• Rationalizes a variety of information and relates it appropriately
• A simple and intuitive model using three concepts Health, Risk, Efficiency
• Rationalizes a variety of information and relates it appropriately
Immediate
Problems
Future
Problems
Opportunities to
Optimize

19. LUNS
Admin gets alerted
that Oracle App is
slow
Oracle VM has
performance issue
Oracle VM has
performance issue
Storage LUN health
is red
Storage LUN health
is red
VNX | Target HBA Resets
Target HBA Resets is high,
limiting application
performance
Target HBA Resets is high,
limiting application
performance
Check LUN Details
(EMC VNX: LUN44)
IO OUTSTANDING
DISK IO
(870/1024)
High I/O
outstanding
High I/O
outstanding
Check EMC VNX Analytics
SP-A is redSP-A is red
11 22
3344
Transaction latency
above normal
Transaction latency
above normal
Troubleshooting Across App, VM, and Storage

20. Smart Alerts and Guided Remediation
Combine multiple symptoms to
show actual issue
Combine multiple symptoms to
show actual issue
Symptoms not limited to
badges: any object, any metric
Symptoms not limited to
badges: any object, any metric
Which symptoms across
the stack are causing this
problem?
Which symptoms across
the stack are causing this
problem?
What are the
recommendations to
resolve this issue?
What are the
recommendations to
resolve this issue?
What automated actions
can I take to remediate?
What automated actions
can I take to remediate?

21. vCenter Operations and Log Insight
Leverage all your IT data for comprehensive visibility in one place
• Intelligent operations through predictive analytics across all machine data
• Policy-based automation enables proactive management and automated remediation
• Unified management for visibility from vSphere to Hyper-V, AWS and physical infrastructure
Structured DataStructured Data
MetricsMetrics AlertsAlerts EventsEvents
VMware vCenter Operations
Capacity, Performance and
Configuration Management
VMware vCenter Operations
Capacity, Performance and
Configuration Management
Events
Launch in
Context
Unstructured DataUnstructured Data
LogsLogs MessagesMessages
VMware vCenter Log Insight
Log analytics, aggregation,
and search
VMware vCenter Log Insight
Log analytics, aggregation,
and search
Public
Cloud

22. The Software-Defined Data Center
Transform storage
by aligning it with
app demands
Management
tools give way
to automation
Expand virtual
compute to all
applications
Virtualize the
network for
speed, service
agility, visibility

23. AWS Mgmt Pack
Database Mgmt Pack
CloudCloud
ApplicationApplication
VirtualVirtual
VC Ops
UI
Analytics
Engine
Collector
Network Mgmt Pack
vCenter Operations Management Pack Design
Storage Mgmt Pack
Dashboards
Policies Adapter vSphere
PhysicalPhysical
Compute
HyperV
Azure
OpenStack
VM VM
DB
Middleware
App Server
Web
Virtual
Network
VM VM VM VM
Packaged Apps
(SAP, Oracle)
AWS
Converged Infrastructure
Storage Network
Management Packs are
built for each product,
software, or service in
each domain
Mgmt
Packs are
installed in
vC Ops
MgmtMgmt
Smarts
…
SCOM

24. Developer Center
All the resources developers need to design and build
solutions for the Software Defined Data Center
developercenter.vmware.com
Built for
Developers and
DevOps!
Provides SDKs,
API References,
Tools & Docs
Blogs, Forums,
Samples and
Github integration
SSO with “My
VMware” account
Personalized,
private content for
partners
One-on-One case
management
(DCPN)
Architecture
Diagrams
@vmwaredevcenter
Programs,
Services &
Certifications
OpenOpen PartnerPartner

25. VMware Solutions Exchange
25
• Common site for management
packs
• Vendor choice regarding
entitlement
• Description, download files,
support link etc
• Verified by VMware prior to
posting
• Interoperability matrix
• Updated on per posting basis
• Evolve with tighter linkages into
core product for install

26. HP OneView Integration
• Integrated server, storage, and
network devices
• Visualization of the connectivity
between compute, storage and
virtual workloads (VM’s)
• Basic network health and
performance representation
• Available through HP
• Management pack access via
VMware Solutions Exchange
(VSX)
• https://solutionexchange.vmware.c
om/store/products/hp-oneview-for-
vmware-vcenter-operations-
manager

27. Loadmaster Heath Snapshot

28. Loadmaster Resource View

29. Loadmaster Resource Metrics

30. Trace Analysis via Flow Data
Solution Requirements
 NetFlow, IPFIX, and sFlow
meta-data from the virtual and
physical network devices
 NetFlow Logic VMReady
Virtual Appliance
 vCenter Operations Advanced
 NetFlow Logic Network
Metrics Management Pack
Solution Requirements
 NetFlow, IPFIX, and sFlow
meta-data from the virtual and
physical network devices
 NetFlow Logic VMReady
Virtual Appliance
 vCenter Operations Advanced
 NetFlow Logic Network
Metrics Management Pack

31. NetFlow Integrator Data Ingestion

32. NSX Operations Data Integration
Requirements NSX Protocols/API’s VMware Tools
Traffic Flow visibility
IPFIX / Netflow
Flow Monitoring
vCenter Ops Mgmt Pack Plug In
(Netflow Logic others tbd)
Traffic Analysis per VM
RSPAN/ERSPAN (VM Traffic)
Packet Capture and Wireshark
Plugins for VXLAN
vCenter Ops Mgmt Pack Plug In
(ExtraHop, others tbd)
Network Inventory, Fault
Management
NSX Manager, SNMP (MIBS for
ports, Switch etc)
vCenter Operations Outbound
Alerts to Smarts
Multi-level logging, Event
tracking & Auditing
Syslog Export Log Insight
Transport (Overlay) Health
NSX Manager Connectivity
Check
NSX Controller Central CLI, Per
host CLI
vCenter Operations
Comprehensive Visualization, Error checking, Path tracing

33. Abstracting as Management Constructs
Compute VDSCompute VDS Edge VDSEdge VDS
Ap
pV
M
DB
VM
We
bV
M
We
b
VM
vSphere Host vSphere Host vSphere Host vSphere Host
10.144.139.2
03
10.144.139.9 10.144.138.6
2
10.144.139.1
6
VXLAN Transport Zone Spanning Two Clusters
Compute Cluster 1 Management Cluster
NSX
Edge
192.168.100.0/24
Logical Router
Control VM
192.168.9.0/29
.
1
OSPF
192.168.20.0/24
192.168.30.0/24
192.168.10.0/24
192.168.9.2 and
3We
bV
M
192.168.10.11 .1
2
.1
3
192.168.30.11
RelationshipsRelationships
Thresholds/e
vents
Thresholds/e
vents
Collection
Interface
Collection
Interface
GUI’sGUI’s
ReportsReports
Configuration
violations
Configuration
violations
ObjectsObjects
Impact
Analysis
Impact
Analysis

34. NSX Object and Metric List
NSX
Manager
Object
NSX
Manager
Object
Health CPU,
Disk, memory,
status
Health CPU,
Disk, memory,
status
API calls, health,
response,
latency
API calls, health,
response,
latency
Back-up, NTP,
HA
Back-up, NTP,
HA
NSX
Controller
Object
NSX
Controller
Object
Heath CPU, disk,
memory, status
Heath CPU, disk,
memory, status
Number active,
network capacity,
utilization
Number active,
network capacity,
utilization
Admin status,
syslog
configured,
Admin status,
syslog
configured,
NSX
Transport
Zone
Object
NSX
Transport
Zone
Object
Network
multicast traffic,
ingress, egress
packet counts,
packet drops
Network
multicast traffic,
ingress, egress
packet counts,
packet drops
Network
broadcast traffic,
ingress, egress
packet counts,
packet drops
Network
broadcast traffic,
ingress, egress
packet counts,
packet drops
Network unicast
traffic, ingress,
egress packet
counts, packet
drops
Network unicast
traffic, ingress,
egress packet
counts, packet
drops
NSX
Logical
Router
Object
NSX
Logical
Router
Object
Status including
uplinks
Status including
uplinks
Interface capacity
used and
available
Interface capacity
used and
available
VM’s attachedVM’s attached
Neighbor router
relations
Neighbor router
relations
NSX
Edge
Object
NSX
Edge
Object
Health including
CPU, memory,
disk
Health including
CPU, memory,
disk
Network
utilization
Network
utilization
NTP, MTU, HA,
overall admin
status
NTP, MTU, HA,
overall admin
status
NSX
Load
Balancer
Object
NSX
Load
Balancer
Object
Capacity: Pools
consumed and
available
Capacity: Pools
consumed and
available
Traffic
consumption:
Ingress, egress,
total traffic, top N
traffic by type
Traffic
consumption:
Ingress, egress,
total traffic, top N
traffic by type
Session by traffic
type, maxed
observed etc
Session by traffic
type, maxed
observed etc

35. Management Pack for NSX
vC Ops 5.8 +
vC Ops
Collector
NSX Adapter
vCenter Adapter
NSX Manager
NSX REST API
vCenter Server
vCenter VIM API
Version 6.0.3 or greater
Version 5.5

36. Management Pack: Networking Visibility from NSX
Open AlertsOpen Alerts
Top N logical
networks and VMs
Top N logical
networks and VMs
Health of the NSX
components
Health of the NSX
components
Heat map of the hypervisor
in NSX Transport Zone
Heat map of the hypervisor
in NSX Transport Zone
All NSX resourcesAll NSX resources

37. Object to Object Path Trace
• Logical and physical
• On demand, action based by selecting any two objects
• Logical shows all of the NSX virtual services in path
• Physical shows a filtered view of multiple physical paths

38. Topology Representations
38
• Logical and physical
• On demand, action based by selecting any two objects
• Logical shows all of the NSX virtual services in path
• Physical shows a filtered view of multiple physical paths

39. NSX for vSphere Content Pack
Work in Progress