Posted on Mon, Mar 01, 2010 @ 06:55 PM
Are you getting out of your x86-based server hardware what you are putting in (return on investment)? Is the size of your datacenter shrinking or growing (carbon and physical footprint)? How quickly can you recover from a disaster (disaster recovery and business continuity)? How long does it take, and how much does it cost to bring a new server online (flexibility and adaptation)?
The Datacenters of Yesterday
The datacenters of yesterday are not the datacenters of today. In years past, mainframe and midrange servers ruled the datacenter. In the datacenters of yesterday, the AS400 and UNIX operating systems were preferred.
Today, it is a different story as X86-based servers are beginning to dominate the datacenter, and the preferred operating systems are Microsoft Windows and LINUX. With that said, the rules that governed the datacenters of yesterday need to be adjusted to meet the needs of quickly advancing business and technology demands.
The Datacenters of Today
For a business to stay relevant in today's market, it must adapt quickly to change. If you are not moving forward then you are falling behind! The demands of business and technology do not wait for anyone. The datacenters of today have become more like an aircraft carrier than a jet fighter - powerful but difficult to manage and navigate (i.e. multiple servers and multiple locations without a centralized management system can make for inefficiency in IT).
Although different in appearance from the datacenters of yesterday, the static nature of today's datacenters make change and adaptation difficult to say the least.
What does the Static Datacenter look like?
- Single Application X86-based servers utilizing, on average, 15% of available resources.
- Rigid and costly disaster recovery (DR) run books are difficult to manage and test.
- Power and cooling costs are going up, not down.
- High carbon and physical footprint caused by too many underutilized physical x86-based servers.
- Adoption of new technology and the retirement of old is a long and drawn-out process, requiring downtime and the potential loss of productivity.
The low utilization of resources, costly DR run books, large carbon and physical footprints, and the drawn out adoption and retirement process makes change difficult, if not impossible, in a static datacenter.
The Datacenters of Tomorrow
The datacenters of tomorrow must be agile and flexible. The highest possible uptimes, even when faced with a disaster, are critical. The datacenters of tomorrow must have a smaller physical footprint as well as a smaller carbon footprint, and must provide an aggressive ROI. They will also require strategic and efficient policies and procedures for the adoption of new technology, as well as the retirement of old physical assets and technologies that are no longer relevant to the strategic goals of your business.
How will all of those things be accomplished? The answer to that question lies in the creation of a dynamic datacenter through X86-based server virtualization and consolidation.
Server virtualization is not a new concept. It was developed in the 1960s by IBM as a way to partition large mainframe systems so that multitasking could be used to run multiple applications and processes on the same physical mainframe. X86-based server virtualization is no different. The consolidation of x86-based servers onto individual hypervisor based physical server(s) will not only increase server resource utilization but also shorten the capital expenditure ROI.
What else can you expect from a dynamic datacenter?
- 75% to 85% physical resource utilization when you virtualize and consolidate your underutilized physical x86-based servers onto a host server.
- Flexibility, reliability, and lower-cost DR run books. This includes the ability to test your run book at anytime and on almost any x86-based server hardware.
- Reduction in the number of physical servers, resulting in the reduction of power, cooling, and physical space requirements.
- The ability to bring new virtual servers online quickly for production, development, and troubleshooting increases your ability to change proactively with your business, and not just reactively as others move ahead of you in the market.
- The ability to retire or repurpose physical x86-based server assets with no downtime or impact on day-to-day operations.
- Centralized management of all x86 based servers is baked in.
As the speed of business increases, so must a business's ability to change and adapt. DR and business continuity are critical regardless of your organization's size. Plus, the business requirements around becoming more "green" (i.e. carbon footprint reduction through decreases in datacenter power and cooling) are a reality in today's world. Server virtualization and a dynamic datacenter can help you to achieve these goals.
Are you ready for the datacenter of tomorrow? How quickly can you recover from a disaster? How"green" is your datacenter? In today's economy, these are all very important questions.
If your management team asked you these questions today, what would be your response?
Jason Dell is a Converged Network Solution Consultant at MCPc, and is responsible for developing and programming custom solutions for clients. Connect with Jason on LinkedIn.