Part 4 - Architecting vSphere - Remember the Design Dimensions & Process - From My vForum Prezo!

This article is the Part 4 of the Series "Architecting vSphere Environments". Here are the other 3 parts which I would highly recommend to read:-

• Part 1 - Architecting vSphere Clusters - A scoop from my vForum Prezo!

• Part 2 - Architecting vCenter Single Sign On (SSO) - A Scoop from my vForum Prezo!

• Part 3 - Architecting Storage for vSphere Environments - A Scoop from my vForum Prezo!

I have a very strong feeling that this should actually be the Part 1 of this entire series. In this article we will have a quick look at the different facets of a vSphere Design and also throw some light on the processes and procedures one needs to follow to create a successful architecture for a vSphere or that matter any IT infrastructure.

While I write this, I realize that processes can be a little boring as compared to technical stuff. However in my experience, no matter how technical one is, unless and until you have a correct approach to an architecture, you will end up failing 9 times out of 10. This approach to architecture forms the Process.

Let us have a quick look on some of the dimensions or facets which are involved in designing and architecting a vSphere Environment and briefly discuss them before looking at the stages in  design process. This time around I would like to give the content credit to VMware vSphere Design Book authors - Forbes Guthrie, Scott Lowe & Maish Saidel-Keesing. The way they explain this topic in the mentioned book is absolutely fantastic. The slide below depicts the same:-

I have seen articles about this concept from this book before. I still wanted to include this in my presentation and this article since I experience these facets on a daily basis while doing projects of  small to large scale. 

If you take up any environment which you need to architect, you would need to consider the Technical Facet, Organizational Facet & the Operational Facet. With each facet you need to ask yourself and the project members, questions would help you to create a design which not only help meet the requirements but also helps you define the scope of the project.

• With Technical Dimension, you would go into your favorite questions which would usually be questions with "WHAT"?

• With Organizational Dimension, you start looking at Responsibility, Authority and Accountability related concerns, hence the questions begin with "WHO"

• &, With Operational Dimension, you look at the most important part of an Architecture which might impact the Operational Procedures and Processes.

Therefore, the above mentioned facets are very important and it is critical that we give them utmost importance in the entire process of Architecting a vSphere environment. With this, let's see what are the various stages in a design process:-

If you carefully walk through all the stages in the design process, you would end up with a successful Design and the right tools to implement and validate the design. With this I will close this article and I hope the recommendations in this article will help you adopt the right strategy when you architect a vSphere environment for any organization.

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vSphere Architecture Design Review Process - Things to do!!

In my current project I am roped in to work on reviewing the existing architecture of a client with a large install base of vSphere. In the process I developed a small review process which I have represented in a form of a flowchart.

I thought it would be helpful for VMware consultants and customers in the field in order to review there existing designs and see how that design decision which was taken some time back, impacts the current operations of a VMware Virtual Datacenter.

For those who have worked on vSphere Designs would know that each design choice has to go through a decision tree which will then allow you to chose what is best for your vSphere Infrastructure. These decisions are taken on the basis of Requirements, Constraints, Assumptions and Risks involved in a design. 

The design review process works on the similar lines, however along with the Requirements, Constraints, Assumptions and Risks, you also have the opportunity to get the current state of the infrastructure through Assessments. In most of the cases you will notice that there are deviations from the standard design due to unforeseen constraints, requirements of even sprawl of virtual machines. The design review process involves this other angle which allows you to fix things in the architecture so that it holds good for the current requirements, constraints, assumptions and risks.

Enough of talking. Here is how I believe the process should be:-

Hope this will help the people who are making those tough choices in the world of VMware Virtualization.

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