Why Use Logical Servers; Logical Servers In An Hp Bladesystem Environment - Compaq BL10e - HP ProLiant - 512 MB RAM Introduction Manual

managing logical servers with procedural, structured processes. The software includes capabilities
to determine ideal placement of logical server workloads.

Why use logical servers?

Because logical servers are abstracted or decoupled from the underlying platforms, the underlying
hardware takes the identity presented by the logical server profile. An administrator will be able to
move a logical server from one physical machine to another or from a virtual machine to another in a
matter of minutes. For example, an administrator can define a logical server for an application/OS
stack, and then move that logical server to a different set of resources (an "x-to-x" or "like-to-like"
change). Administrators can also change the definition of that logical server to accommodate
changing business needs (an "x-to-y" or "like-to-unlike" change).
As a result of a logical server being defined through a logical server profile, administrators can tackle
problems in ways previously impossible:
• Assign and manage logical server profiles based on business function rather than server technology
• Accelerate time to production by quickly re-purposing test and development hardware without
complicated re-installation or archiving test environments for re-use
• Create affordable, easy-to-configure high-availability systems by using spare capacity within
existing infrastructure
• Transform large-scale consolidation projects that used to take years into a more simple, ongoing
process of re-purposing the infrastructure
The "fluid architecture" of logical servers enhances operational efficiencies and accelerates the speed
of IT change throughout every process in the data center: planning, setup, ongoing maintenance, and
changes due to capacity or availability.

Logical servers in an HP BladeSystem environment

HP logical servers offer the strongest value when implemented in the BladeSystem c-Class environment
because it was designed from the ground up to facilitate resource sharing. HP Virtual Connect
technology, unique to the HP BladeSystem, is the enabling technology used to deploy logical servers
directly on physical machines in a resource pool. See the appendix for background on Virtual
Connect technology.
In the future, resource pools can be logically grouped together at the data center level, or from site-to-
site, using a CMS. After resource pools are logically grouped, a logical server could be moved
beyond the boundaries of its physical resource pool for planned upgrades or disaster recovery
solutions.
In addition, HP Virtual Connect enhances the capabilities of virtual machines. Virtual Connect
provides specific improvements to a virtual machine environment:
• Makes moves within the resource pool (Virtual Connect domain) transparent to network and
storage; no coordination is required between an administrator of logical servers (typically a server
administrator) and the Ethernet network or storage area network (SAN) administrators. This
simplifies and speeds up common server management activities including provisioning, upgrades,
technology refresh, consolidation, and server failover.
• Expands the ease of migration across a physical resource pool. The hardware boundary for a
physical resource pool (Virtual Connect domain) may consist of many servers, their storage, and
many BladeSystem c-Class enclosures. As of this writing, a Virtual Connect domain can include up
to 100 BladeSystem c7000 enclosures using Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager software. As a
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