Having worked in both large and small server based environments, one truth always remains prevalent.The majority of servers in a company’s production line up are severely under utilized!
More times than not an organization will purchase a piece of server hardware to serve a single process i.e. a work flow for a database, antivirus, patching etc.
These types of services are not “resource hogs” and most times barely make a footprint in comparison to what the said piece of server equipment is capable of handling.
Enter Virtualization:
Virtualization is a technology is being adopted by all types of forward thinking business entities, large, small and even SOHO or home based business.
“There is nothing small about small business”.
The only difference in most situations is budget. The cost of information systems on all levels can be pricey at times and often hard for a small business and especially a sole proprietorship to budget in.
The current cost of hardware, though decreasing over the years is only one of the main benefits to virtualize. Consolidation of physical machines reduces your hardware footprint and enables easier management. Power requirements are reduced, not just on the level of current that the server hardware is pulling, but at the air conditioning level (Which to me is a bigger savings)
Here is an example:
Shark PC is basically…..well…me. I am a sole proprietorship located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Like a majority of small office/home office (SOHO) businesses, to keep overhead cost down I operate out of my home. I run my own website and Exchange email services along side of my file and database entities.
At one point I had a half rack (25U) of equipment to cover my infrastructure needs (perhaps excessive I know). This amount of equipment not only was noisy, but produced a decent heat signature that caused the AC in my home during the spring and summer to run 24/7!
I was running at that time seven physical rack mounted servers and a switch.
Using VMware ESXi, I was able to reduce that to one physical server (host) and the switch. I was able to perform a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion of my existing server (Including Exchange) and shut down the all the unneeded hardware.
After only one month I was able to realize the savings potential when I received my power bill and saw the amount drop from the high $400 range to about $225…..really.
Aside of the obvious savings in my utilities, I am now able to “stand up” a new server entity (VM) in a fraction of the time of a physical one.
This is just skimming the surface here! There are many different VMware or Microsoft Virtual server implementations and configurations which I will cover in future blogs.
Though virtualization has been around for a bit, a lot of people are unfamiliar, not entrusting or misinformed when it comes to its usefulness and benefit.
I am always happy to answer any questions that people might have or find the people who have the answers I can’t give.
I will just leave you with these reasons to virtulize to chew on.
1. Reduced Hardware Expenditures & Better Use of Hardware
2. Reduced Power Expenditure
3. Reduced IT Department overhead
4. Easier provisioning of appliances
5. Power of a dedicated server with benefits of Virtualization
If you really want a sensory overload on virtualization technology you can get it straight from the masters themselves at the following links:
http://www.vmware.com/
www.microsoft.com/virtualization
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