Datacenter Virtualization

The virtualization of server hardware and operating systems has a huge impact on the way datacenters are set up and managed. By using virtualization, it is possible to consolidate multiple physical servers to a powerful physical server, on which multiple operating systems can run side by side on the same operating system as logical servers. The core of virtualization is the (strong) increase of the occupancy rate of IT equipment and in particular servers.

Traditional strategies are not sufficient for data center virtualization. Datacenter virtualization requires more knowledge and skills from your organization. Do you opt for a cloud solution or for a Hybrid solution? Can everything be virtualized? Questions where H2B is the prefect partner to assist you.

Step 1. Find the right virtualization solution

Currently, many virtualization solutions are available on the market. So far, VMware dominates the virtualization market with more than 150,000 customers. No-one else comes close to VMware when it comes to offering, reliability or implementation speed. When looking for the right virtualization solution for your company, you should consider the following points:

Do not opt for the latest and greatest, nor for the seemingly cheapest solution.
Look for a solution that has been available for some time to ensure that the technology has been tested in a combination with a wide range of applications.
Look for a solution that has proven itself amply in production environments.
Choose a solution that is flexible and offers features that meet your specific business needs

Step 2. The applications

One of the objections we often hear from administrators who have not yet virtualized their servers is that they think their applications may not be virtualization-friendly. Although there are a number of cases where this is indeed the case, the number of servers that can not be virtualized is negligible in relation to the vast majority of servers that can be virtualized.
If you have a good understanding of the application in question, there should not be any problems to consolidate a physical server into a virtualized environment.

Step 3. The costs

It is not more than logical that before your organization starts a virtualization process, it first analyzes the costs and potential cost savings (the return on investment or ROI).

The more physical servers are available to virtualize, the higher the cost savings will be. In addition, the payback period or the time required for break-even on the investment is usually one month in a consolidation project with 20 servers. From how many other IT projects can you still say that? Some examples of the cost savings are:

Less servers
Less infrastructure costs cooling, UPSs, generators
Less power consumption
The infrastructure takes up less space
Less time spent on server management
Respond faster to changing business needs

In addition, it is important to analyze how much time and skills are needed to virtualize the infrastructure.

Benefits of virtualization

The benefits of data center virtualization are:

Time saving: Managing virtualized servers takes considerably less time than managing physical servers
Cost savings: No matter how you look at it, virtualization inevitably results in cost savings. You can save costs by reducing the time spent on management, the lower infrastructure requirements and a reduction in power consumption
Simplified management: Virtualization offers advanced features such as source optimization, high availability and server snapshots
Disaster recovery: A reliable backup plan is essential to ensure business continuity. Virtualization provides hardware independence and reduces the recovery time in case of a calamity or failover

Do you want to introduce data center virtualisation intovyour the organization?

Please feel free to contact us.