Virtualisation
Most servers use only a small fraction of their overall processing capabilities. Network administrators usually dedicate each server to a specific application or task. Many of these tasks don’t play well together so each one needs its own server.
Server virtualization allows the conversion of one server into many virtual machines to take advantage of the unused server resources.
It makes sense to reduce the required space, power consumption, generated heat and required cooling by virtualising servers into fewer physical hardware devices.
Virtualisation lends itself nicely as an efficient Business Continuity Planning tool. Physical and virtual machines can easily be converted and moved into another virtual environment if required.
Which vendors?
The main vendors in this space are Citrix XenServer, VMWare ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V and are, surprisingly, giving away some or all of their virtualisation products!
Citrix are currently giving away their Enterprise product for free. VMWare provide their ESXi platform for free and Microsoft includes Hyper-V for free with their Windows server license.
The 3 vendor options have their advantages and disadvantages but regardless of which one you choose they have all proven themselves as reliable and stable platforms. Rosh-Tech IT currently supports multiple customers running these platforms.
The main trigger for considering virtualisation has been the purchase of new hardware. Customers should be advised correctly that virtualisation is a good option to consider, especially if there is more than one server required for the network.
With a typical HP or IBM dual Xeon server costing approximately $10k, a practical virtualisation scenario is that you can run three virtual servers on the one physical server, whereas previously you would have had to purchase three x $10k servers.
Virtualisation summary
- Run multiple operating systems on a single server
- Save on hardware, power and cooling costs
- Enable easier back up and restores
