Preface

Computer virtualization has become a core component of the server industry; many organizations use virtualization in more than 75% of their servers. The portion of workloads running in virtual environments has increased in tandem with the maturity, number, and flexibility of virtualization options. Further, virtualization has become a required enabler of cloud computing.

Oracle^® Solaris 11 System Virtualization Essentials presents the multiple technologies that the Oracle Solaris operating system uses to virtualize and consolidate computing resources, from hardware partitioning to virtual machines and hypervisors to operating system virtualization, commonly called “containers.” The intent of Oracle^® Solaris 11 System Virtualization Essentials is to discuss computer virtualization in general and to focus on those system virtualization technologies provided by, or that provide support to, the Oracle Solaris operating system. Oracle Solaris 11 supports a rich collection of virtualization technologies:

Physical domains

Oracle VM Server for SPARC (previously called Logical Domains)

Oracle VM VirtualBox

Oracle Solaris Zones (previously called Solaris Containers)

Virtualization offers a tremendous opportunity to add computing workloads while controlling operational costs and adding computing flexibility. For the system administrator, this new knowledge area requires skills with new technologies such as 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 complete operating system.

Oracle^® Solaris 11 System Virtualization Essentials describes the factors that affect your choice of technologies. Along the way, it explains how to achieve the following goals:

Use physical domains to maximize workload isolation on Oracle SPARC systems

Use Oracle VM Server for SPARC to deploy different Oracle Solaris 11 environments on SPARC systems

Use Oracle VM VirtualBox to develop and test software in heterogeneous environments

Use Oracle Solaris Zones to maximize the efficiency and scalability of workloads

Use Oracle Solaris Zones to migrate Solaris 10 workloads to new hardware systems

Mix virtualization technologies so as to maximize workload density

Oracle^® Solaris 11 System Virtualization Essentials contains nine chapters. Chapter 1 discusses system virtualization in general terms. This material includes the needs driving consolidation, the value and benefits of virtualization, and the most common types of computer virtualization. In addition, Chapter 1 also describes many of the concepts, features, and methods shared by many implementations of system virtualization. The concepts introduced in Chapter 1 are subsequently explored in much more detail in the other chapters.

Modern virtualization has been put to many varied uses. Chapter 2 introduces a few of those uses from a generic standpoint, tying benefits to features and providing simplified examples.

Chapters 3 through 6 hone in on Oracle’s computer virtualization technologies that are directly related to the Oracle Solaris operating system. The large-scale deployment of virtual environments has created new system management challenges. In two different contexts, Chapter 7 reviews automation and management tools that can ease the pain of adopting virtualization solutions. Chapter 8 discusses the factors that should be considered when choosing a virtualization technology or combination of technologies, and suggests a process of analysis that can be used to choose a virtualization technology or combination of technologies. Assembling all of the pieces, Chapter 9 walks you through several real-world applications of those technologies. Finally, the Appendix offers a whirlwind tour of the history of virtualization.

Because this book focuses on system virtualization technologies, technologies and methods that do not virtualize a computer system are not discussed. These topics include, for example, storage virtualization and application virtualization.

If you are not presently a practicing system administrator but want to become one, this book provides an excellent introduction to virtualization. In fact, most of the examples used in this book are suited to or can be adapted to small learning environments such as a home computer. Thus, even before you venture into corporate system administration or deploy Oracle Solaris 11 in your existing IT installation, this book will help you experiment in a small test environment.

Oracle^® Solaris 11 System Virtualization Essentials is especially valuable to several specific audiences. A primary group is generalists who desire knowledge of the entire system virtualization space. The only assumed knowledge is general UNIX or Linux administrative experience. Another key audience is current and future data center staff who need an understanding of virtualization and use of such technologies in real-world situations.

Data center architects will benefit from the broad coverage of virtualization models and technologies, enabling them to optimize system and network architectures that employ virtualization. The extensive coverage of resource controls can lead to better stability and more consistent performance of workloads in virtualized systems.

Computer science students with UNIX or Linux experience will gain a holistic understanding of the history and current state of the system virtualization industry. The breadth of virtualization models discussed provides a framework for further discovery, and the real-world examples prepare students for data center careers.

Technical support staff who troubleshoot virtualized systems will gain an introduction to system virtualization and interactions between virtualized systems. This background can shorten the time needed to diagnose problems, and enable personnel to readily distinguish between problems related to virtualization and ones that are independent of virtualization.

If you already understand virtualization but want to learn about virtualization using Oracle Solaris, you should skim through Chapter 1 to understand the context of the rest of the book as well as the definitions of terms used throughout the book, and then read Chapter 2 and the introductory sections of Chapters 3 through 6. Chapters 8 and 9 will also be especially useful.

If you are implementing virtualization technologies on many systems, you should read Chapter 9 to understand the unique problems that must be addressed as part of this work and to identify software that can significantly reduce the complexity of large virtualization farms.