IT Provider Uses Hypervisor Solution to Build B2C Virtual Computer Service in the CloudService Using Hypervisor Solution

OverviewCountry or Region: Republic of KoreaIndustry: IT services

Customer ProfileA subsidiary of the LG Group, LG CNS provides global IT consulting and services for systems integration, outsourcing, enterprise resource planning and business intelligence, and infrastructure solutions.

Business SituationLG CNS needed to evaluate, test, and implement a robust business-to-consumer (B2C) cloud infrastructure to support its forthcoming CloudPC virtual computer service.

SolutionTo promote the company’s goals for high performance, quality, stability, and cost-effectiveness, LG CNS fully assessed and deployed Windows Server 2012 R2 and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 as the backbone of its CloudPC infrastructure.

Benefits Performance to support large-scale

cloud services Robust data protection Lower storage costs through

deduplication

“We are very pleased with the performance of Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2. On average, it took just four to five seconds for the virtual machines to load on the host server.”

Byun Jun Kwon, Director, LG CNS Cloud Department

LG CNS is building a Virtualized PC services called CloudPC (cloudpc.lgcns.com) that gives consumers their own Windows-based virtual computer that they can access anytime, anywhere through any device—including Windows-based and Mac computers, smartphones, and tablets. The service needs to meet the company’s high standards for performance, stability, and cost-effectiveness. LG CNS first extensively tested and then chose to build much of its CloudPC service on Windows Server 2012 R2 and its Hyper-V technology, and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2. The solution supports a multiple-hypervisor environment, complementing third-party virtualization technologies. This Windows Server infrastructure offers faster virtual machine booting times, more virtual machines per physical server, smaller storage pools using standardized equipment, and lower storage costs through Windows Server deduplication.

Situation In late 2013, LG CNS planned to launch a Virtualized PC Services called CloudPC, through which consumers would be able to connect to their own virtual Windows-based PC. They would also be able to access the service from anywhere at any time, using many different devices—computers, smartphones, and tablets running the Windows or iOS operating systems, for example—and to run Windows-based applications, such as Microsoft Office.

Because CloudPC targets consumers who use a variety of devices, the service has to function as a second operating system accessed by those devices. With extensive capabilities to run on multiple platforms, the CloudPC service generated a lot of buzz even before its official release. Media and competitors seem particularly interested in the company’s strategy to configure and operate a sophisticated virtual infrastructure that runs efficiently, takes advantage of economies of scale, and ensures high performance and stability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

LG CNS recognizes the importance of designing its IT infrastructures and drawing up testing procedures well before releasing a large-scale cloud service.

Additionally, LGCNS has put a lot of energy into building and operating an infrastructure that stays open to multiple hypervisor platforms and technologies. The idea is not go too far in favoring (or becoming dependent upon) one vendor versus another.

To deliver on its multiple-hypervisor strategy, LG CNS has evaluated and deployed third-party solutions, in addition to Microsoft products, throughout the configuration and planning of CloudPC. The company has expertise in the major virtualization environments, so testing them along with the latest versions of

Windows Server operating systems is an essential part of this effort.

Consequently, LG CNS needed to execute a testing plan to quickly but thoroughly assess the technologies that would go into CloudPC.

SolutionIn early 2012, LG CNS set up and configured a beta version of CloudPC to operate with the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Later that year, the company tested and assessed the performance of CloudPC using Windows Server 2012 and then moved on to Windows Server 2012 R2 in early 2013. By looking at multiple versions of the operating system over a relatively short period of time, LG CNS was able to thoroughly evaluate Windows Server as having the capabilities to support the cloud infrastructure it was building.

In general, LG CNS believes that it will achieve economy, efficiency, performance, and stability by always using the latest version of Windows Server. This conclusion is reflected in the details of how the company assessed Windows Server 2012 R2, its Hyper-V technology, and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 data center solutions. (Hyper-V provides software infrastructure and basic management tools to manage a virtualized computing environment.)

Specifically, LG CNS deployed virtual computers in client environments that are accessed by a variety of devices and device operating systems. Testing was thorough, starting with lower-level data backup and restoration tasks and moving to higher-level automation of day-to-day administrative tasks—all as part of plans to reduce costs.

LG CNS set up and configured its host testing environment on blade servers to match the environment that the beta version of CloudPC would require. The

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“Deduplication [in Windows Server 2012 R2] can be performed not only on disk images but even on backups, and this helps to further reduce overall storage costs.”

Byun Jun Kwon, Director, LG CNS Cloud Department

virtual client machine specifications included 2 gigabytes (GB) of memory on two virtual computers for standard CloudPC service and 4 GB of memory on four virtual computers for premium CloudPC service, with both having 50 GB of disk space. The same client/server configuration was used to evaluate other virtual environments to compare their performance with the Windows Server and System Center setup.

The assessment also included client computers that connect to virtual machines through a wide range of devices and operating systems. LG CNS performed the tests using a virtual machine with Windows 8 installed, a machine with Windows 8 Pro and RT installed, a machine with Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed, and Dell Thin Client and Wyse Zero Client devices using Windows Embedded 8.0 and Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry.

As part of the testing, LG CNS focused on two key factors that apply to the virtual machine templates that are generated when a customer signs up for the CloudPC service. First, when the tests included Remote Desktop Services (RDS) on the

Windows Server host, the virtual machines booted more quickly, compared with other (non-Windows Server) host environments. Second, Windows Server supports 320 logical processors on each host, with 4 terabytes (TB) of physical memory, and it can run up to 1,024 virtual machines. That means Windows Server takes full advantage of the virtual machine capacity of each host.

For testing of the IT administrative environment, LG CNS included components of System Center 2012 R2—many of which the company had not used before. Along with any test results, the company had to consider the costs of the various licensing options for System Center.

A newer licensing structure brings all System Center capabilities under one license, which LG CNS found preferable to the previous single-product licensing scheme.

LG CNS evaluated several deployment scenarios: in addition to System Center Virtual Machine Manager, which the company has used before, LG CNS looked at how it might use other System Center

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With CloudPC, consumers access their own virtual Windows computer in the cloud—from any device, including Macs and smartphones.

components, such as Operations Manager, Configuration Manager, Data Protection Manager, and Orchestrator in a real-word production environment.

The primary scenario that LG CNS envisioned was to use Virtual Machine Manager and Orchestrator to automatically provision a virtual machine every time a customer submits a new sign-up request. Using Virtual Machine Manager, the company tested an automated workflow through Orchestrator and verified that the automated procedure can be implemented without creating multiple cumbersome shell scripts.

Based on this scenario’s success, LG CNS deployed Orchestrator in late 2013, followed by more System Center components, including Operations Manager and Data Protection Manager, onsite, in 2014. The company is also putting IT procedures and tools in place to better support server administration, backup and recovery, and security that can be applied to the Hyper-V environment. These procedures and tools are unified through System Center to provide more

convenient IT operations and to reduce IT costs. LG CNS is using vendor-provided administrative tools for each hypervisor environment that it evaluates and deploys, along with tools developed in-house to monitor and administer the overall IT infrastructure. For example, Windows Server puts information collected on the overall IT infrastructure (by Configuration Manager, Operations Manager, the Active Directory service, and so on) into a centralized configuration management database (CMDB). The benefit of this approach is flexibility: LG CNS finds that it’s easy to develop tools that access the CMDB to better understand the Hyper-V environment. Consequently, the company will draw on the information in the CMDB to support a variety of solutions that the company is developing in-house.

Also during the testing of Windows Sever, LG CNS looked at how data deduplication technology streamlines data storage. With this feature, Windows Server finds and removes duplicated data by replacing it with a pointer to a single copy of the data. The company also looked at how Windows Server uses failover and failback processes to protect data. (Failover refers to one computer taking over for another that has a problem. Failback refers to restoring the computers to their original condition.)

Benefits By first assessing and then building its CloudPC solution on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Hyper-V technology and by using Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 software to manage and monitor the company’s virtual environment, LG CNS gains several benefits, including ample performance to support the CloudPC service and robust data protection and failover capabilities, all with cost-effective data storage.

Performance to Support Large-Scale Cloud Services Through its assessment of Windows Server, LG CNS has found that the operating

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The virtual computer offers a Windows desktop and runs Windows applications, such as Microsoft Office.

system provides optimum performance and stability for its CloudPC service. For example, Byun Jun Kwon, Director, LG CNS Cloud Department, says, “We are very pleased with the performance of Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2. On average, it took just four to five seconds for the virtual machines to load on the host server.”

The company attributes this performance improvement in part to the operating system’s support for deduplication, which affects not only general data files but also virtual machine images. Specifically, the contents of the user’s virtual hard drive is rapidly transmitted in a streamlined form to the virtual machine as soon as the host server has booted up. By combining the software installed on a virtual machine, such as the operating system and application programs, into one image file, the virtual machines load faster.

The company also gave high marks to Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2 for its live migration speed (the speed with which Hyper-V moves running virtual machines from one group of servers to another, with little or no perceived interruption in service). It is now possible to rapidly compress and transmit the disk contents of a virtual machine, to better support remote access, and to complete migration quickly without a reduction in server performance. In fact, LG CNS reports speed improvement of twice that of Windows Server 2008 R2.

Robust Data Protection and Failover for Uninterrupted Service Users of the CloudPC service store their files on a 50 GB hard drive. LG CNS has taken the necessary precautions to safeguard valuable customer data in circumstances such as natural disasters and equipment breakdowns. LG CNS expects Windows Server 2012 R2 to reduce the company’s data-protection burden. The company previously used a third-party backup tool, but as part of its assessment of the operating system, LG CNS has

verified that it will no longer need the tool in the Windows Server environment.

Robust data protection is also key for failover and failback protection to work effectively. And again, third-party solutions will no longer be required to provide this capability. Chang Hyun Shin, General Manager of the Cloud Business says, "Because CloudPC is a B2C [business-to-consumer] service, fast failover and failback are critical. We have previously used specialty tools to support server redundancy, but with Windows Server 2012 R2, we can now consider a variety of scenarios, such as implementing Hyper-V cloning with Data Protection Manager for robust, cost-effective disaster recovery.” He also notes that Hyper-V cloning (making copies of virtual machines) can be set in 30-second, 5-minute, and 15-minute intervals to flexibly control how much many failover/failback copies (and thus how much data) will have to be stored.

Additionally, LG CNS now has a way to perform high-speed continuous data protection throughout its large-scale host infrastructure: the company will execute automated data protection procedures for multiple-node cloning (copying multiple groups of computers) using Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager. The company’s tests also confirm that using Data Protection Manager for these purposes offers higher performance than traditional storage area networks (SANs). LG CNS is deploying Data Protection Manager in 2014.

Lower Storage Costs Through Deduplication In the example above, failover/failback can now operate with less reliance on SANs, which are expensive to buy and maintain, so LG CNS saves money. As another example, the operating system and standard applications, such as Microsoft Office, represent a large part of each virtual machine’s image. Maintaining just one image of these common data elements will

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“Fast failover and failback are critical…. With Windows Server 2012 R2, we can now consider a variety scenarios … for robust, cost-effective disaster recovery.”

Chang Hyun Shin, General Manager of the Cloud Business Team of LG CNS

not only reduce storage requirements for the machines themselves but also for backups, which further reduces costs. Byun Jun Kwon says, “On Windows Server 2012 R2, it is possible to perform deduplication even if a virtual PC is locked during use, and so storage capacity can be optimized. Deduplication can be performed not only on disk images but even on backups, and this helps to further reduce overall storage costs.”

Byung Jun Kwon additionally notes that overall, the deduplication method is much more efficient than traditional incremental backup approaches. He is pleased to deploy this and other technologies in the Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2 environment that simplify IT management, offer higher performance, and reduce storage requirements. Taken together, these benefits make CloudPC a more cost-effective product for LG CNS and a better experience for its customers.

Empower People-Centric ITEmpower employees to work virtually anywhere on the PCs and devices they prefer, while providing IT with a single tool for easy, consistent, and more secure management. Solutions such as Microsoft System Center and Windows Server 2012 simplify user and device management, reduce costs, and improve productivity while taking advantage of existing IT infrastructure.

For more information about empowering people-centric IT, go to:www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/pcit

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about LG CNS products and services, visit the website at:www.lgcns.co.kr

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published March 2014

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Windows Server 2012 R2− Microsoft System Center 2012 R2

Technologies− Hyper-V

Hardware Dell Thin Client Wyse Zero Client