Server Virtualization
Consolidation of physical servers through virtualization is a proven method of cutting costs, saving time, and increasing redundancy. Server virtualization is at
the heart of Net Fusion's efficiency offering as a low risk, high return investment
that almost any business can make.
Server virtualization is at the heart of Net Fusion's efficiency offering. Almost any business can afford—and benefit from—the investment.
Hardware is often unmatched with the software running on it. Often, the hardware is vastly overpowered for the applications it is running, yet due to the need for
physical isolation, multiple applications should not be run on the same operating system. Other applications require greater power or redudancy than one physical
machine can provide. Still other scenarios entail hardware that must scale up and down rapidly.
Virtualization is applicable to all of these scenarios. A virtual server is a machine that is isolated by strong software boundaries that is self-contained and can
be run on the same physical hardware (called a host) as other virtual machines. Its resources can be dynamically allocated and managed by the host, and all hardware
is abstracted by an underlying operation system called a hypervisor. Hardware resources are shared across virtual machines. The hypervisor is also responsible for
synchronizing the virtual machine with other phyiscal machines for redundancy purposes.
Simple Example of Server Virtualization
Let's say your environment consists of four physical servers: a domain controller, an email server, a file server, and an application server. All four servers are
out of warranty, and the email server is slower than desired due to high usage. A quick perusal of hardware prices shows that you can get a powerful new server
for a very reasonable price, but buying four new machines is not an option for your business.
Instead, you purchase one new server and use a partner like Net Fusion to perform a physical to virtual conversion on each of your existing machines. All your data
is preserved; when you log onto the machine, things look exactly the same as they did prior to virtualization. More resources are allocated where they are needed,
and not wasted where they are not needed. The performance problems you noticed are gone, and your power consumption has been cut by at least 50%.
Backup and Recovery
Backup and restoration is important in any environment, and virtual servers can simplify the process. A virtual machine is simply a file; that file can be mounted
and booted on any compatible hypervisor. An increasing number of vendors offer tools to efficiently backup the deltas in those files on a near real-time basis.
This necessitates proper backup hardware and configuration.
Building Scalable Environments
Virtualization is highly scalable from the simplest single server scenario to massive enterprise deployments consisting of thousands of virtual machines. It lowers
the bar for achieving high availability, giving you maximum uptime and performance while still saving money.
Example of High Availability with Virtualization
It doesn't matter how big or small your environment is; virtualization can be used to meet uptime requirements. In this example, let's assume that your environment
has a dozen servers. Some are older than others, and some are more critical than others, but a failure on the least represents a big inconvenience, and a failure
on the most critical would be catastrphic to your business.
This scenario would likely be addressed by a standard virtualization configuration: three hosts (physical servers), and a Storage Area Network (SAN). Each host is
assigned one or more virtual machines to manage, and all storage is handled by the SAN. If a server fails, its virtual machines are shifted to another host. No
data is lost, and the interruption of service is minimal.
Twelve servers have been consolidated into three, and through resource allocation and balancing, performance is equivalent or better than before. Power consumption
is reduced, and cooling systems are less taxed.
It becomes apparent how important a good storage strategy is in this scenario; our
team can help.
The Net Fusion Edge
Virtualization done well requires significant domain expertise.
Net Fusion helps businesses use virtualization in several ways:
- Planning
- Choice of virtualization platform
- Choice of server hardware
- Choice of storage solution
- Backup and recovery strategy
- Implementation of new server and storage hardware
- Implementation of backup solution
- Migration of the current environment
- Expert assistance with VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V
- Ongoing support via our managed services team