01.21.07
Use VMware Server to Reduce your Provisioning Time
This post is about an idea I had working for a dedicated server provider. Each server recycle took 1-3 hours depending on the OS the new customer requested. This seriously hurt our ability to step up production in response to increased demand. Using VMware server running on a stripped down Linux OS, it would be possible to reduce the provision time on a server to 30-45 minutes, no matter what OS the customer requests. You can dedicate all of the machine’s resources to the single virtual machine, as well as almost all of the hard drive space. This would make recycling a server a simple process of removing the “old” virtual machine and copying the “new” one into place, then booting it and doing post-install configuration.
Running a stripped-down-to-bare-essentials version of Linux is simple to either script, or just image using normal linux tools. You can use a reference machine, with Linux, and VMware Server installed and configured. Provisioning a server would be as simple as booting from a cdrom and running some commands. Using tools like dd, gzip, and netcat you could load the Linux partition onto the new server, ready to run. Rebooting into the OS, you could set a serial number for VMware server, and then copy a compressed virtual machine onto it, and boot it as normal. Once it’s booted you can configure the new virtual machine OS however you would normally on a new install. This process could mostly be scripted to almost completely automate the entire task.
The amount of time this process could save would more than make up for the initial labor of getting all the pieces into place for production. This process could be expanded, with tools written that would allow it to be generic enough to use for almost any sort of setup you’d like. For instance, you could include two nics with every server, but only give the virtual machine guest OS access to one nic. The second nic you could configure for an internal subnet, in the host OS, and allow VPN access to clients for remote administration if something happens to the network config on the guest OS. You can use virtual network cards to allow a customer to use 2 virtual machines to firewall the dedicated server without having to add any other hardware. The possibilities are really endless.
I actually tried to implement using Norton Ghost and partition images to speed up the recycle process. That was a huge mistake. Mainly because at the time I perfected this solution for production, our hardware moved from IDE to SATA. Ghost doesn’t do SATA at all from what I could determine. They may have fixed this issue in recent releases, but at the time I was using it, SATA was not an option. Because of this I spent some time thinking about this issue, and then VMware released Server for free. I had a bit of a flash of inspiration and pitched the idea to the boss. Being established with the policies and procedures that were in place, he wasn’t inclined to make this type of jump. I don’t blame him, but I needed more. I left my position once I figured out I would never be more than a glorified PC tech, doing reinstalls, and provisioning new servers.