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Server Virtualisation
Most organisations have numerous numbers of servers spread across multiple locations and departments, each typically running only a single application. This results in expensive duplication of resources, inefficiency, management complexity and unnecessary IT hardware and software spend.
The true cost of delivering server infrastructure to the business is almost impossible to estimate but undoubtedly it represents a substantial part of the total IT budget. This is an area where potential savings and improved return on investment (ROI) can be significant.
Server virtualisation dramatically reduces the number of physical servers in an organisation by enabling multiple ‘virtual servers’ to be run on a single or reduced number of shared machines. These are typically located in a centralised data centre facility, where the management, control and security of the server infrastructure can be more easily managed and supported.
Each virtual server has its own operating system, applications will run as normal, and users have access via the network as usual. Multiple virtual servers are managed via a single management layer, or ‘hypervisor’.
The number of servers can be reduced by a ratio of between 5 and 15:1, while the associated savings in hardware, licences, management, storage and particularly power consumption are enormous. ROI is extremely fast.
Server Issues:
• Do you have multiple individual servers each supporting a single application such as accounts, Exchange, web, mail...?
• Are you already running a primary data centre or considering consolidating and centralising your servers?
• How much expensive energy is being used to power and cool these servers – are you concerned about power availability and the rising price of electricity?
• How quickly can extra capacity be provided to meet business demand?
• How hard do your servers work? Is your processing power and storage capacity locked up on individual servers and going to waste?
• Who controls your servers: the central IT function or end-user departments? Will the launch of a service or branch generate a burst of new server activity?
• Do you have new applications to be rolled out?
• Should a server go down, how fast and effective would disaster recovery be?
Server Virtualisation Benefits:
• Virtualisation leads to significantly higher resource utilisation by sharing hardware and common infrastructure – everything is reduced, simplified and shared. Licences are provisioned for concurrent, not physical users.
• Virtualisation cuts the number of servers and related IT hardware, reducing expensive space, power and cooling requirements – this significantly lowers IT costs.
• Improved operational flexibility and responsiveness: virtualisation offers a new, streamlined way of managing IT infrastructure.
• Being able to securely backup and migrate entire virtual environments with no interruption in service eliminates planned downtime and enables quick recovery from unplanned outages.
• Reducing the number of physical servers directly reduces power and cooling consumption and related emissions. Businesses save hard cash and take control of their ‘green’ agenda.
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