Virtual Servers Are On The Verge of Outnumbering Physical Servers
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Enterasys Networks, a Siemens Enterprise Communications Company, is a premier global provider of wired and wireless network infrastructure and security solutions. With roots back to their founding as Cabletron in 1983 their solutions enable organizations to drive down IT costs while improving business productivity and efficiency through a unique combination of automation, visibility and control capabilities.
Today, I’ll be interviewing Mark Townsend, who is the Director of Solutions Management for Enterasys Networks.
What kinds of changes do you see in the virtualization space for 2011?
Server virtualization is going to increase in adoption and virtual servers will outnumber physical servers. This shift will stress organizations that have not adopted processes and tools to manage the lifecycle of virtual servers.
Companies should be concerned about server sprawl and the effect it has on performance of the virtualized environment; and the potential for compliance issues by the unintentional hosting of virtual machines with different security postures/profiles on the same host.
There are solutions available today that connect the virtualization platform with existing lifecycle workflows and compliance tools. Enterasys Data Center Manager is a great example of such a solution.
How can companies use virtualization to help contain operational costs?
There is an immediate benefit from the reduction in the number of systems that previously served the organization. Consolidation of virtual machines provides consolidation of hardware, not only the physical servers but also adjacent systems such as the network.
This consolidation provides annual OPEX benefits in lowered recurring maintenance and operational (power, cooling) costs. There are also benefits in staffing costs with the reduction in managed devices.
How does virtualization improve business agility?
The elasticity virtualization provides offers companies the ability to expand and contract services in the data center based on demand cycles. Virtualization also accelerates the ability of an organization to add new services in near real-time.
For example, in the past, time would be spent specifying, ordering and implementing the hardware to run a particular service. Today, it is often as easy as cloning an existing system and deploying the new service within minutes or hours versus what was previously days or weeks.
It is important, however, to not lose sight of good process. The ease with which new services are added can degrade virtualization’s performance. Good lifecycle processes should be brought forward from the physical to the virtual environment.
How does virtualization help with business continuity?
The ability to move virtual machines from one host to another, often without powering down the VM, removes the fallibility of hardware. Larger data centers benefit from orchestrating the virtualization platform with the network ensuring services are available to end-users.
How can companies maximize the ROI on their virtualization investment?
Companies can maximize the ROI on their virtualization investment by having server and network teams improve their collaboration in order to reduce problems associated with the new systems, utilize existing infrastructure and stay on top of compliance standards.
How can companies ensure that their virtualized environment works in harmony with other external systems? Can you give some examples?
The larger the environment, the larger the benefit by integrating the virtualization environment with adjacent systems such as network and storage. The dynamic nature of the virtualization environment encumbers these systems with the ability to “keep up” with mobility of VMs.
Enterprises need the assurance the systems model of the virtual environment is consistent with the physical network it replaced. Compliance and security models must be replicated. This can be difficult as these controls have traditionally been static and lack the malleability needed to keep pace with the dynamic nature of virtualized environments. The traditional physical controls need to be able to bend with the virtual environment but not break.
Anything else you’d like to add?
While the focus has been principally on server virtualization, desktop virtualization initiatives will strain data centers that fail to integrate the virtualization environment and external systems such as network infrastructures. We’ve seen desktop to server ratios for large businesses at 25:1.
Companies that fail at implementing good processes for server virtualization are not setting a good foundation for future desktop virtualization initiatives.
More About Enterasys:
Enterasys Data Center Manager integrates with leading virtualization platforms today from VMWare, Citrix and Microsoft. The Enterasys Data Center Manager product provides the utility needed to unify the virtual and physical environments to ensure a harmonious experience for both. As virtual machines are added, redacted or moved within the data center; Enterasys Data Center Manager orchestrates the configuration of both virtual and physical networks. This orchestration ensures that proper life cycle controls are followed (adding new machines), that posture/profiles are kept in sync with original design (not mixing VMs from different domains on a single host) and that service level agreements can be met.
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