Despite all that has been said about the benefits of server virtualization, most IT organizations have only virtualized a small portion of their servers - if any. According to Philip Dawson, a research vice president at Gartner only about 10 percent of today’s physical servers are virtualized, but within three years, that number could grow to 60 percent.
The reason is virtualization allows IT administrators to run multiple applications and operating systems on a single server, which helps organization reduce costs and increase efficiency. As virtualization continues to be a growing force in data centers, IT managers need the right strategies to successfully reconfigure their servers and prepare for the ripple effects on related technology infrastructure, such as storage and networks.
Here are six steps to successful server virtualization.
1) Be a bore, plan some more
Rather than being a one-size-fits-all solution, server virtualization must address the unique goals and resources of each agency that implements the strategy. The primary goal of a virtualization project might be reducing the number of physical servers, improving hardware use, cutting power consumption, bolstering disaster recovery capabilities or a combination of those objectives. Information technology managers must clearly define a practical endpoint and strategy based on the organizations existing resources and any restrictions imposed by budget and staff expertise.
2) Do not over-provision server hardware
Established techniques for determining the right amount of server horsepower might not work in a virtualized data center. Avoid falling into the trap of the two configuration extremes: Underpowered virtual servers fail to meet an organization’s processing needs, and over-engineered systems waste money on unnecessary resources, thereby diluting potential cost savings.
3) Know which applications are right for virtualization
Virtualization doesn’t work for all applications. To determine which programs are right for virtualization, experts suggest identifying their relative importance to the organization, their processing requirements and staff member’s expertise in managing them. And making those determinations can “take longer than the vendors suggest,” Dawson said.
4) Keep in mind that the server virtualization market is expanding
There are now more choices for virtualization software, with Citrix Systems, Microsoft, Virtual Iron and others making inroads on market leader VMware. Before entering into long-term commitments, IT managers should consider which vendors offer the best deals and technology features. Each platform has different capabilities, with some offering high-availability features and others promoting ease of management, analysts and contractors say.
5) Don’t leave storage out of the equation
Centralized pooled storage is essential for high availability and the ability to dynamically allocate virtual-server resources. That storage pool can be delivered using Internet SCSI-based network-attached storage or Fiber Channel-powered storage-area network (SAN) appliances. When data resides on hard drives in physical servers, hardware failures can bring down virtualized applications even when the agency designates a second virtual server as a backup. “The secondary box has no way of knowing where to pull the data from,” Ventura said. “But with centralized storage, there is still access to the data” from functioning servers.
6) Be prepared to add tools for disaster recovery
For many organizations, improved disaster recovery is a prime reason they are attracted to virtualization. But some agencies find their virtualization platform doesn’t meet all their needs, so they supplement their continuity-of-operations portfolio with third-party technology for automatic failover and data replication.
In the end successful virtualization adopters count careful planning and reconfigured storage systems among the top keys to success. For a list of action plans for each of these steps check out this article by Alan Joch of FCW.com
Posted under Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Strategies
This post was written by admin on December 8, 2008
