4. Reasons to Virtualize
1.Reduce Data Center Footprint - Power & Cooling
2. Faster Server Provisioning
3.Reduce Time Spent on Routine Admin Tasks
4. Increase Uptime & Improve Disaster Recovery
6. Is Virtualization the Right Solution?
➔Multiple Single Workloads on Multiple Servers
➔Workloads Lend to Running in Virtual Environment
➔Too Much Time on Admin & Maintenance of
Multiple Platforms
➔High Availability & Scalability Difficult to
Implement
7.
8. Determining if the Time is Right
➔Business Pressures Increasing Need for Uptime?
➔Shortened Timelines for New Services?
➔Has Server Sprawl Made Management Impossible?
➔Is Disaster Recovery Time-Consuming & Difficult?
Hello, and thank you watching this installment in Aventis Systems’ webinar series, ‘Virtualization - Is It Right for You?.’
My name is Kelsey Tarver, Online Marketing Coordinator at Aventis Systems. I have with me today, Brad Artlip, to give us helpful information for virtualizing environments.
Brad is one of our Solutions Engineers where he serves as a trusted technical advisor to our IT buyers, overcoming and removing all technical barriers that may arise
Welcome Brad!
Thank you Kelsey…
I think it’s safe to say that virtualized workloads are present in most decent sized IT environments these days. The adoption of this relatively new technology has been overwhelming. It doesn’t matter if you’re using x86 hardware or a proprietary platform, the reasons to virtualize are compelling.
Here are a few that come to mind:
1.Reduce the data center footprint which also reduces power & cooling
2.Faster server provisioning
3.Reduce the time spent on routine administrative tasks
4.Increase uptime and improve disaster recovery
The result of all of these being cost savings.
That being said, is it right for all workloads in every IT environment? As much as solution providers love to push a new technology we may feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon.
Kelsey Interjection - Even as consumers, we feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon!
Brad Response - Exactly!
Here are some key questions about your workloads to help you determine if virtualization is the right solution for you:
Are you running multiple single workloads on multiple servers?
Do your workloads lend themselves to running in a virtual environment? Web, application, database and Exchange servers are typically good candidates.
Do you spend too much of your time administering and maintaining multiple platforms with dissimilar management interfaces and storage subsystems?
Are high availability and scalability desired but difficult to implement in your current environment?
Kelsey: Ok, so assuming our workloads are ideal for virtualization; how do we know the time is right for implementing it?
Brad: Good question!
Here are some key questions for your productivity needs to help you determine if is is the right time to move towards virtualization:
Are business pressures increasing the need for higher levels of uptime?
Are you also pressured to shorten project timelines for delivering new services?
Has “Server Sprawl” made managing your current environment cumbersome or even impossible?
Is Disaster Recovery difficult and time consuming to accomplish due to the need for an exact hardware match on recovered systems?
Kelsey: So Brad… if virtualization seems like the right technology and there are timing factors driving an organization toward it, what might get in the way?
Brad: I’m glad you asked. First, let’s cover the basic project steps involved in virtualizing an IT environment and then look at a few factors that I feel could be a hindrance to doing so.
Evaluate your current server workloads.
Define your system architecture.
Select your virtualization software and hosting hardware.
Migrate your existing servers to the new virtualization environment.
I feel the major stumbling blocks to implementing a virtualized IT environment boil down to resources:
Uncertainty of what workloads can or should be virtualized.
Lacking an IT staff with the time to devote to virtualizing the environment.
IT staff lacks expertise with implementing the necessary technology.
If virtualization seems like the right direction but the making the transition is difficult due to the size or experience level of your organization’s IT staff, Aventis Systems Advanced IT Services can help. We can review your current environment and provide unbiased advice on how to move forward.
We also offer hypervisor and virtual machine deployment services that include:
Server resource pool planning
Virtual machine resource allocation
Conversion strategy for physical servers
Installation of virtual machines
Virtual machine inventory report
In addition, we also can provide cloud migration services and offer hosting in our own cloud environment as well.
We invite you to take a closer look at our Virtualization Solutions offerings.
Please visit us at AventisSystems.com for additional information.
You can also find us on Facebook or on Twitter @AventisSystems.
Aventis Systems is an industry leader in developing customized and comprehensive IT hardware, software, and services solutions.