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Virtualization in a Data Center
The four stages of data center development include consolidation, standardization, virtualization, and utility. In order to provide a services based model, data centers cannot hold back on any of these four steps, especially virtualization. Virtualization is the initial step after the straightforward optimization and is no simple task. Data center managers understand that certain applications will perform poorly, even on servers dedicated. Sometimes this is due to poor coding, but other times it has to deal with machine resources.
They may choose to migrate the application over to a virtualized server, however many factors must be considered prior to making this decision. There is a chance that it will slow things down, or make the performance even poorer. In fact, it is very likely that virtualizing the infrastructure under the application will slow the performance. Performance drops vary from 3% to as much as 15% when changing from a dedicated server to a virtualized server, if all specifications are equal. However, there are many situations in which factors are not equal.
The first benefit of virtualization is short term, and deals with the improved management and maintenance available with the virtualized system. It is easier to avoid downtime on the application, which can be a significant benefit depending on the situation. Essentially, it is trading performance speed for better maintenance and availability. For applications that do not need top notch performance rates but do need stability, virtualization provides a great short term benefit in that regard.
In the longer term, the company must consider how they can maintain the performance and think about how to gain it back if they do integrate new hardware into their resources. Virtualization provides this long term benefit of upgrading hardware, because migrating the application environment to new systems will be significantly easier. This is a big deal for some companies and one of the greatest benefits of virtualization. Overall, virtualization is an integral part of planning and operating a data center and should not be taken for granted. It provides an alternative solution to specific situations that call for it, and can be a useful tool and resource if used correctly.
They may choose to migrate the application over to a virtualized server, however many factors must be considered prior to making this decision. There is a chance that it will slow things down, or make the performance even poorer. In fact, it is very likely that virtualizing the infrastructure under the application will slow the performance. Performance drops vary from 3% to as much as 15% when changing from a dedicated server to a virtualized server, if all specifications are equal. However, there are many situations in which factors are not equal.
Benefits of Virtualization
Enterprises will move to production use of virtualization on newer servers, often blades servers, for these specific application purposes. This is because any loss in performance due to the overhead of virtualization is compensated for by the upgraded, new servers. In situations where upgrading to new servers is not available, there are still two benefits that companies can consider.The first benefit of virtualization is short term, and deals with the improved management and maintenance available with the virtualized system. It is easier to avoid downtime on the application, which can be a significant benefit depending on the situation. Essentially, it is trading performance speed for better maintenance and availability. For applications that do not need top notch performance rates but do need stability, virtualization provides a great short term benefit in that regard.
In the longer term, the company must consider how they can maintain the performance and think about how to gain it back if they do integrate new hardware into their resources. Virtualization provides this long term benefit of upgrading hardware, because migrating the application environment to new systems will be significantly easier. This is a big deal for some companies and one of the greatest benefits of virtualization. Overall, virtualization is an integral part of planning and operating a data center and should not be taken for granted. It provides an alternative solution to specific situations that call for it, and can be a useful tool and resource if used correctly.
