Whether you are currently aware of the many benefits of virtualization or not, one fact is clear – virtualization technologies will provide the foundation for future infrastructures and change the model of computing environments as we know them today. Today’s data center is moving towards an “agile computing” environment which decouples your business’ applications from individual and specific server assets. With virtualization, the total collection of your resources – Disk, CPU, RAM, and NIC – comprise a defined pool of resources that are dynamically allocated in real-time to meet the needs of any given task. Further, systems are dynamically moved from one physical server to another when a hardware failure is detected or when more resources are needed than are available in your existing pool. A complete system can be moved across your WAN from New York to Los Angeles automatically and with no apparent impact to the users working on it!
It is no secret that most servers are underutilized by extreme margins. Most servers operate at an average utilization level of about 5-10%. Some of these systems are used once a month to calculate month-end numbers; some are used only at night to perform backups; some are used only during business hours; and some are used all the time as web, file, or domain controller servers that simply do not require much horsepower to operate. Traditional tactics have led companies to purchase a stand-alone server for each application and often for each tier of an application solution. This trend has led to a state of overcrowding in the data center. Companies are running out of physical space in their data centers to locate servers. Power and cooling costs are rising at a rapid rate and in extreme cases the heat produced by systems cannot be contained at all, causing companies to resort to less than desirable solutions to handle excess heat (a box fan is NOT a reliable way to cool a server!).
At its most basic implementation, virtualizing even just a portion of your server assets will yield immediate – and cost saving – results. Compression ratios of 10:1 are commonly realized in early stages of virtualization efforts. This means that you can virtualize ten physical servers and run them all on one physical server at the same time with a target utilization rate of 75-90%. In this scenario alone, you can see how we have reclaimed nine physical servers and all of the operating and maintenance costs associated with them. This represents just the tip of the iceberg by which virtualization technologies may help transform your Data Center into the next generation of agile computing. Most companies can realize similar benefits TODAY.
How Can CTG Help?
If your company is relatively new to virtualization, CTG can perform a Virtualization/Consolidation assessment to show you how your systems are performing and we will identify systems that are ideal candidates for virtualization and/or consolidation.
If your company has already implemented a virtual infrastructure, CTG can perform a health check, identify gaps in efficiency, certify your environment, or help you apply best-practices to the management and operation of your environment.
If you are among those companies that have a mature virtual infrastructure and management methodologies, CTG can help you build Disaster Recovery and a distributed High Availability blueprint for achieving uptime levels that have previously been out of reach.
CTG has developed proven methodologies and practices aimed at assisting companies in realizing an agile computing infrastructure based on virtualization.
For further information or to explore other areas in which CTG can help you save time and money, please contact us today.