of the season? This section goes over four reasons virtualization
is so important
Trend #1: Underutilized hardware
Today, many data centers have machines running at only 10 or
15 percent of total processing capacity. In other words, 85 or
90 percent of the machine’s power is unused. However, a lightly
loaded machine still takes up room and draws electricity, so
the operating cost of today’s underutilized machine can be
nearly the same as if it were running flat-out.It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that this situation
is a waste of computing resources. And, guess what? With
the steady improvement in performance characteristics of
computer hardware, next year’s machine will have twice as
much spare capacity as this year’s (and so on, for the foreseeable
future). Obviously, there ought to be a better way to
match computing capacity with load. And that’s what virtualization
does — by enabling a single piece of hardware to
seamlessly support multiple systems. By applying virtualization,
organizations can raise their hardware utilization rates
dramatically, thereby making much more efficient use of corporate
capital.
So, the first trend that is causing virtualization to be a mainstream
concern is the unending growth of computing power
brought to us by the friendly folks of the chip industry
Trend #2: Data centers run out of space
The business world has undergone an enormous transformation
over the past 20 years. Business process after business
process has been captured in software and automated,
moving from paper to electrons.
The rise of the Internet has exponentially increased this transformation.
Companies want to communicate with customers
and partners in real-time, using the worldwide connectivity of
the Internet. Naturally, this has accelerated the move to computerized
business processes.
The net effect of all this is that huge numbers of servers have
been put into use over the past decade, which is causing a
real estate problem for companies: They’re running out of
space in their data centers. And, by the way, that explosion of
data calls for new methods of data storage. These methods go
by the common moniker of storage virtualization, which, as
you may guess, means making it possible for storage to be
handled independently of any particular piece of hardware.
Virtualization, by offering the ability to host multiple guest
systems on a single physical server, allows organizations to
reclaim data center territory, thereby avoiding the expense
of building out more data center space. This is an enormous
benefit of virtualization, because data centers can cost in the
tens of millions of dollars to construct.
over the past 20 years. Business process after business
process has been captured in software and automated,
moving from paper to electrons.
The rise of the Internet has exponentially increased this transformation.
Companies want to communicate with customers
and partners in real-time, using the worldwide connectivity of
the Internet. Naturally, this has accelerated the move to computerized
business processes.
The net effect of all this is that huge numbers of servers have
been put into use over the past decade, which is causing a
real estate problem for companies: They’re running out of
space in their data centers. And, by the way, that explosion of
data calls for new methods of data storage. These methods go
by the common moniker of storage virtualization, which, as
you may guess, means making it possible for storage to be
handled independently of any particular piece of hardware.
Virtualization, by offering the ability to host multiple guest
systems on a single physical server, allows organizations to
reclaim data center territory, thereby avoiding the expense
of building out more data center space. This is an enormous
benefit of virtualization, because data centers can cost in the
tens of millions of dollars to construct.
Trend #3: Green initiatives demand better energy efficiency
Power costs used to rank somewhere below what brand of
soda to keep in the vending machines in most company’s
strategic thinking. Companies could assume that electrical
power was cheap and endlessly available.
The assumption regarding availability of reliable power was
challenged during the California power scares of a few years
ago. Although later evidence caused re-evaluation about
whether there was a true power shortage, the events caused
companies to consider whether they should look for ways to
be less power dependent.
Furthermore, the impact of the green revolution has meant
that companies are increasingly looking for ways to reduce
the amount of energy they consume — and one of the places
they look first is their data center.
The cost of running computers, coupled with the fact that
many of the machines filling up data centers are running at
low utilization rates, means that virtualization’s ability to
reduce the total number of physical servers can significantly
reduce the overall cost of energy for companies.
soda to keep in the vending machines in most company’s
strategic thinking. Companies could assume that electrical
power was cheap and endlessly available.
The assumption regarding availability of reliable power was
challenged during the California power scares of a few years
ago. Although later evidence caused re-evaluation about
whether there was a true power shortage, the events caused
companies to consider whether they should look for ways to
be less power dependent.
Furthermore, the impact of the green revolution has meant
that companies are increasingly looking for ways to reduce
the amount of energy they consume — and one of the places
they look first is their data center.
The cost of running computers, coupled with the fact that
many of the machines filling up data centers are running at
low utilization rates, means that virtualization’s ability to
reduce the total number of physical servers can significantly
reduce the overall cost of energy for companies.
Trend #4: System administration costs mount
Computers don’t operate all on their own. Every server
requires care and feeding by system administrators. Common
system administration tasks include: monitoring hardware
status; replacing defective hardware components; installing
operating system (OS) and application software; installing OS
and application patches; monitoring critical server resources
like memory and disk use; and backing up server data to other
storage mediums for security and redundancy purposes.
As you can imagine, these tasks are pretty labor intensive.
System administrators — the people who keep the machines
humming — don’t come cheap. And, unlike programmers,
system administrators are usually co-located with the servers,
because they need to access the physical hardware.
As part of an effort to rein in operations cost increases, virtualization
offers the opportunity to reduce overall system
administration costs by reducing the overall number of
machines that need to be taken care of. Although many of the
tasks associated with system administration (OS and application
patching, doing backups) continue even in a virtualized
environment, some of them disappear as physical servers are
migrated to virtual instances. Overall, virtualization can
reduce system administration requirements drastically,
making virtualization an excellent option to address the
increasing cost of operations personnel.
requires care and feeding by system administrators. Common
system administration tasks include: monitoring hardware
status; replacing defective hardware components; installing
operating system (OS) and application software; installing OS
and application patches; monitoring critical server resources
like memory and disk use; and backing up server data to other
storage mediums for security and redundancy purposes.
As you can imagine, these tasks are pretty labor intensive.
System administrators — the people who keep the machines
humming — don’t come cheap. And, unlike programmers,
system administrators are usually co-located with the servers,
because they need to access the physical hardware.
As part of an effort to rein in operations cost increases, virtualization
offers the opportunity to reduce overall system
administration costs by reducing the overall number of
machines that need to be taken care of. Although many of the
tasks associated with system administration (OS and application
patching, doing backups) continue even in a virtualized
environment, some of them disappear as physical servers are
migrated to virtual instances. Overall, virtualization can
reduce system administration requirements drastically,
making virtualization an excellent option to address the
increasing cost of operations personnel.
No comments:
Post a Comment