A Comprehensive Report on Virtualization in Hewlett Packard Enterprise

This report provides an in-depth analysis of virtualization within Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), focusing on software-based approaches. It critically examines three popular virtualization software options: VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Windows Virtual PC, considering their feasibility, risk factors, advantages, disadvantages, and cost implications for HPE. The report discusses the standard configuration of software-based virtualization, including hardware requirements and cost factors, and evaluates the suitability of virtualization for HPE's data storage service offerings, highlighting array, network, and server-based data storage techniques. It also explores the advantages, such as improved resource utilization and centralized network storage management, and disadvantages, including potential complexity and initial costs, associated with implementing virtualization within HPE, ultimately providing recommendations on the most appropriate virtualization strategy for the organization.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................2
Standard configuration of software based virtualization:............................................................2
Hardware requirements:...............................................................................................................3
Cost factors for standard configuration:......................................................................................4
Analysis of three most popular virtualization software’s:...............................................................5
VMware vSphere:........................................................................................................................5
Microsoft Hyper-V:.....................................................................................................................5
Windows virtual pc:.....................................................................................................................6
Appropriate virtualization software for Hewlett Packard enterprise:..............................................7
Advantages and disadvantages of implementing virtualization within HPE:.................................9
Advantages:.................................................................................................................................9
Disadvantages:...........................................................................................................................10
Suitability of virtualization for HPE:.............................................................................................12
Conclusion and recommendations:................................................................................................13
References:....................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction:
In the world of computing, virtualization refers to the process of the creation of a virtual
version of particular object that also includes physical platforms of computer hardware.
Different computer hardware’s such as hard disk drives, network peripherals as well as storage
devices that act as important resources can be virtualized using virtualization software’s as well
as other software’s. Data security in the cloud servers can also be ensured using the strategies of
virtualization. Virtualization is extremely helpful for the organizations.
In today’s world, virtualization is being incorporated by most of the companies across the
world. Virtualization ha different advantages such as improved security of the data, provided it is
implemented in the proper way. There are two main types of approaches to implement the
virtualization steps within an organization, which are the hardware approach and the software
approach. The following report will highlight the software-based approach and will critically
discuss the different aspects of three most widely used virtualization software that can be used
within Hewlett Packard enterprise (HPE) considering the feasibility as well as the risk factors
that the organization itself has as well as the ones related to virtualization. By the end of the
report, the reader will have a clear understanding of the pros and cons, cost factors and other
aspects associated with each of these virtualization software’s. There reader will also develop an
idea if or not the virtualization strategy will at all be helpful for the organization.

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Discussion:
Standard configuration of software based virtualization:
The prerequisites for standard configuration of operating system based or software-based
virtualization are the types of server virtualization, necessary virtualization that is hardware
based.
In a standard virtualization that is operating system based, the kernel file enable the user
space instances that are isolated and makes them existent. The virtualization software is installed
on the preexisting operating system that is already installed in the computer, which is also known
as the host operating system. In a standard configuration, the installed virtualization software
helps the user to be generated as well as used on different virtual machines. The virtualization
helps the user to directly access any given virtual machine on the network. The host is capable of
providing the required support to the as a result of which, virtualization of the operating system
can cause hardware computability issues at the time of configuring. There can be issues in case
the drivers of the hardware is not properly allocated in the software for virtualization. Since the
host operating system is itself an operating system, the different services that are operating
system based can be made available as management of the organization.
Hardware requirements:
The hardware requirements for installing a standard virtualization software such as
Windows Server 2012 is stated below as:
- A 64-bit processor with a minimum speed of 1.4 GHz.
- Minimum 512 MB Random access memory (RAM).
- Disk Space should be minimum 32 GB.

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While installing the system over an organizational network, computers that have more
than 16 GB of Random access memory will need more disk space for performing tasks such as
paging and hibernation. Some additional hardware requirements are:
- A mandatory DVD Drive
- A super VGA monitor with a resolution of 800x600 or higher.
- Compatible pointing devices such as mouse, keyboard and internet access.
Cost factors for standard configuration:
The total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis that is associated to the standard
configuration of virtualization mainly focusses on four important areas: the hardware as well as
software prices, budget associated to the IT operations, costs associated to server downtime
recovery and business administration costs. Cost as well as the number of hours on an average
basis as well as planned and unplanned downtime have their own associated costs (Zhou et al.,
2014). The advantages, disadvantages, computer requirements, initial costs as well as the future
saving in implementing virtualization within an organization is shown below in a tabular format:
Advantages Disadvantages Computer
requirements
Initial costs Future
savings
It causes decrease in
energy usage and
eliminates
unnecessary clutter.
Minimizes hardware
purchase for the
organization thereby
Upfront costs are
quite high.
Software licensing
also has to be taken
into considerations
and includes
pricing (Martins et
Minimum 4 GB
RAM and 64-bit of
minimum speed of
1.4 GHz. Disk Space
should minimum be
of 32 GB.
Cost of RAM
expansions
licensing prices
of virtualization
software’s
(Mijumbi et al.,
2016). Cost
Extensive cost
of hardware
upgrades can
be saved if
virtualization
is adopted.

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saving money as
well as physical
space in the
workplace.
al., 2014). It can
also create
availability as well
as scalability issues
in the organization.
associated to
the IT
departments and
virtualization
experts.
Analysis of three most popular virtualization software’s:
VMware vSphere:
Pros:
- Performance and scalability: VMware vSphere is one of the fastest virtualization
platforms as compared to the VI3 from CPU to storage as well as networking. It has
much improved as well as performance, which immensely helps the applications to run
faster and allowing better density of virtual machine (VM) on the different host servers.
- Features and add-ons: It has much-improved features such as Fault Tolerance, vShield
Zones, VMware Data Recovery as well as Distributed/third-party vSwitches. Fault
tolerance ensures that the critical virtual machines are still available even when there is
an occasion of host failure. vShield Zones provides network security for all the virtual
machines using network firewalls. VMware Data Recovery feature helps in providing
disk-to-disk structured backup and helps in protecting the data of the virtual machines
(Lee, 2014). The distributed/third-party vSwitches allow easier vSwitch administration as
well as improved integration with the help of Cisco Nexus 1000v.
Cons:
- Extremely expensive as compared with the market competition.
- Random bugs in the application that often slows down or freezes operations.

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- The events do not generate alerts to notify the administrator.
- The Flash web client is lacks efficiency and should be developed.
Microsoft Hyper-V:
Pros:
- It is much cheaper than its competitor VMware vSphere.
- It uses dynamic management of memory thereby running multiple virtual machines at the
same time.
- The maintenance of Microsoft Hyper V never results in downtime unlike other
virtualization software.
- Simple real tie migrations to this platform. Less complexity for the system administrators.
- Easy data backup techniques.
- Optimum information security using active directories.
Cons:
- The interaction with the host operating system is far more challenging than using the
VSphere.
- Hyper V poorly supports Linux operating systems.
- The biggest drawback of the Hyper V virtualization software package is that it requires
all the virtual machines to be offline while restarting, during installation of routine
security path updates within the operating system (Xavier et al., 2013). The administrator
interface is extremely simple with minimum options, which is again a drawback.
Windows virtual pc:
Pros:

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- It is a much cheaper alternative to its market competitors such as VMware vSphere and
Microsoft hyper V
- It is extremely simple and user friendly with limited features and options in the user
interface.
- Virtual machines can be easily transported from Virtual PC to the Virtual Server using
this virtualization software.
- Support sound drivers even on the virtual machines thereby allowing users to listen to
audio as and when required.
Cons:
- Lesser documentation related to Windows Virtual PC is available for research as well as
study.
- The designs as well as the architecture are extremely streamlined that hides the additional
features as well as the complicated configuration of the systems.
- When the host operating system such as Windows 7 or older versions are used the
performance benchmarks for Windows Virtual PC is quite lower than that of VMware.
- No USB devices apart from keyboard and mice are supported using this software.
- Other advanced features offered by its market competitors such as snapshot manager
from VMWare are missing in Windows Virtual PC.
Appropriate virtualization software for Hewlett Packard enterprise:
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is one of the largest computer services providers that
supports, certifies as well as offers VMware software platform. It offers these for the HPE
ProLiant as well as BladeSystem servers. The VMware vSphere from HPE provides
comprehensive and complete virtualization suite solutions, which aims at providing support and

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solution for designed expressly for mission critical computing operations within the enterprises.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise ensures to include either a 1/3/5 year of unlimited 24x7 computing
support for which VMware vSphere is the most appropriate option (Jain & Paul, 2013). With the
kind of a support and quality that is ensured by HPE, the end users get assisted in installation
configuration as well as troubleshooting for the servers installed. HPE also provides VMware
software integrated with the HPE Insight Control application developed by the organization.
Figure 1: Virtual server environment of HP (Tran, 2013).
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has developed the VMware OEM portfolio by using the
VMWare vSphere virtualization software, which could not have been otherwise possible using
other virtualization software’s. HPE offers a very wide range of virtualization solutions through
which its clients can choose the most relevant path as well as timeframe to add increased levels
of virtualization of resources to their existing IT infrastructures. This can only be ensured by
using an efficient virtualization software such as the VMWare vSpehere (Han et al., 2015). Some

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of the most important features of this integrated virtualization systems are explained below in the
following points:
- All VMware vSphere editions of the core server’s editions and the related kits of
acceleration are included in this package.
- Hyper converged kits of infrastructure kits from VMware vSphere
- Licenses can be upgraded within the core editions of the servers
- Management products from the VMware vCenter that include Site Recovery Manager or
SRM.
- vRealize products that include vRealize operations and suite.
- VMware horizon products.
- HPE Insight control integrated with the enterprise plus version of the VMware vSphere.
Figure 2: HP virtualization environment using VMWare vSphere (Rehman et al., 2014).

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Advantages and disadvantages of implementing virtualization within HPE:
Advantages:
- Hewlett Packard enterprise defines three main types of virtualization in its data storage
service offerings, which are array, network as well as server-based data storage. In the
array-based technique, a single array controller is used to allow dynamic allocation of the
physical capacity. Network-based virtualization techniques are incorporated in SAN
appliances, intelligent switched in the storage network, network-attached storage or NAS
file systems servers or even in their combinations.
- Another biggest advantage for virtualization in HPE is that these solutions to have the
ability operate across the entire organizational storage network to ensure higher
availability of virtual systems, better utilization of resources as well as a centralized
network storage management for instance, array controllers that are SAN-attached and
NAS file system servers. Virtualization intelligence that is server-based is incorporated
within the host, which has the capacity of pooling any amount of physical capacity that is
connected to the particular server (Guthrie, Lowe & Coleman, 2013). It includes storage
that is SAN-attached as well as direct-attached storage or DAS. These virtualization
solutions offered by HP can be ensured using the VMWare vSphere software solution,
which in turn gives these added advantages for the organization.
Disadvantages:
- Even though the number of advantages of virtualization in HPE is much more compared
to the number and severity of the disadvantages, yet they must be taken into
consideration before implementing virtualization using the VMWare vSphere
virtualization software. High Risk in Physical fault is one of its major disadvantages. It is

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a great idea to run and host all the HPE servers as virtual servers within fewer physical
servers, however the impact of failure in that one of those fewer physical servers can
cause huge problems within the organization. It will result in all the virtual servers to be
offline therefore bringing all-important tasks to a complete stop for a very long time.
- Although physical servers can be used that has similar configuration and centralized
storage systems such as Network Access Storage to run the virtual servers in a cluster
environment whereas single failure of a physical server on the network will not affect the
operations of the virtual servers. However, it is an extremely expensive solution for HPE
and involves considerable risk for the centralized storage systems. Its high cost of
implementation as well as maintenance is one of its biggest disadvantage.
- There is also a safety concern that should be taken into consideration since if the rack or
the server catches fire, the entire network of virtual systems connected to that physical
server will be inaccessible and can cause other physical accidents within the organization.
- Some of the most important HPE applications including some database management
applications such as HPE Adoption Readiness Tool (ART) and the HPE Agile Manager
cannot be virtualized. They are not yet designed to be integrated with the virtualization
strategies (Kazan, Perneel & Timmerman, 2013). Sometimes the operating systems in the
workstations may themselves face issues by acting differently on the virtual machines
without throwing any errors. That can cause issues for the system administrators as well
as network personnel to identify the problems.
- Performance levels are also not same. For instance if 4GB RAM and two virtualized
CPUs each of 3GHz are allocated to a virtual server within HPE work operations, the
server as well as the application cannot give the same performance as in a physical server

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that has 4GB of RAM and 2 CPUs each of 3GHz processor speed. This is because the
virtual operating system environment cannot fully communicate with the interface of the
physical hardware as if it is in physical servers (Pearce, Zeadally & Hunt, 2013). There
will be performance as well as lagging issues in the virtual systems.
Suitability of virtualization for HPE:
Hewlett Packard enterprise is committed towards ensuring optimum security of the
information of all its clients as well as its end users. Therefore, it is extremely important for the
company to migrate to virtualization strategy since virtualization ensures improved data
protection and security form the hackers in the outside world. HPE is a multinational
conglomerate that has different data centers all across the world and stores the most important
and confidential data such as tax sheets, financial reports of all its clients from all over the world
in its cloud servers. Therefore, it is extremely important that the data are properly backed up in a
secured way and a proper disaster recovery plan is present in the working operations of the
organization to ensure that there is no data loss even in unforeseen conditions such as server
break down or even natural disasters and no data is loss (Morabito, Kjällman & Komu, 2015). A
proper disaster recovery plan can also be ensured by virtualizing and automating most of its
organizational tasks as well as operations to ensure that the organization performs well in even in
unforeseen conditions. Therefore, it is extremely suitable for the organization to shift to
virtualization in all its data centers all across the world.
Among other benefit, Virtualization can provide HPE better access to the centralized
information stored in the centralized databases and ensure that all the departments can properly
coordinate among each other and the employees find no difficulty in finding the right
information at the right point of time to enable them to take better business decisions. This in

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turn can improve employee job satisfaction as well as their productivity in the work place
(Chang et al., 2013). Therefore it is an absolutely a right decision for Hewlett Packard Enterprise
to invest in adopting virtualization in its work operations due to its multifold advantages for the
future.
Conclusion and recommendations:
From the above report it can be concluded that even though there are different advantages
of virtualization within an organization, there are different disadvantages and drawbacks as well
that has to be taken into consideration by the organizations before implementing virtualization in
the work operations. There are aspects that of virtualization such as cost factors as well as the
complexity of the different approaches of incorporating virtualization in the systems. The
employees of the organization should be properly trained regarding the concepts of virtualization
in order to ensure that in cases of unforeseen situations such as server breakdown as well as
natural disasters there is no chaos within the organizations and the normal work operation can
continue smoothly. Virtualization can help in ensuring optimum data security within the
organizations and ensure there is s proper data back up and disaster recovery plan within the
organization. This in turn will help the organizations build customer trust and ensure
improvement in internal factors such as employee job satisfaction and ease of task flows.
Virtualization can help in automating most of the tasks and the employees from all the data
centers and branches can easily access the centralized data and resources.
It is recommended that lesser number of large virtual machines be used as opposed to the
usage of numerous smaller virtual machines. For instance, a single virtual computer that has
eight CPUs will deliver much better performance than four different virtual machines each with a
couple of CPUs. In the process of configuring failover, high availability as well as separate

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Server of ArcGIS sites, it is always best to use smaller virtual machines while the system uses
dynamic allocation of vCPU. The performance curve of virtualization is an asymptote.
Therefore, while adding more vCPU, the gain for the overall system is less. A most common
recommendation is to allow 4 GB for each of the vCPU’s. 3 GB I a good consideration but 4 GB
is recommended to keep the gain under 80%.

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virtualized consolidation ratio in cloud computing system. Journal of Information Hiding
and Multimedia Signal Processing, 4(3), 192-200.
Fayyad-Kazan, H., Perneel, L., & Timmerman, M. (2013). Benchmarking the performance of
Microsoft Hyper-V server, VMware ESXi and Xen hypervisors. Journal of Emerging
Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, 4(12), 922-933.
Guthrie, F., Lowe, S., & Coleman, K. (2013). VMware vSphere design. John Wiley & Sons.
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Challenges and opportunities for innovations. IEEE Communications Magazine, 53(2),
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function virtualization: State-of-the-art and research challenges. IEEE Communications
Surveys & Tutorials, 18(1), 236-262.

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Morabito, R., Kjällman, J., & Komu, M. (2015, March). Hypervisors vs. lightweight
virtualization: a performance comparison. In Cloud Engineering (IC2E), 2015 IEEE
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solutions. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 45(2), 17.
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