Six unfavorable factors of data center virtualization and its coping methods

It is certainly a certainty that no changes will be made to the data center. As virtualization becomes a permanent ingredient in new and refurbished enterprise systems, it must be acknowledged that there are some things to be cautious about. We provide a list of warning flags to consider when planning to implement virtualization.

It is certainly meaningful to virtualize a desktop computer, server, storage array, or an entire data center for better efficiency and power savings. As more companies complete their own testing and quality assurance programs, these companies are applying virtualization technology to production, whether this virtualization technology is market-leading VMware, Citrix's XenSource, Microsoft's Hyper-V, or less-well-known governance software.

The server virtualization logic of the data center is tempting. Organizations are consolidating their entire data centers and remote sites for Windows, Linux, and Solaris systems that are not virtualized. This will allow businesses to save valuable ground space and reduce power consumption. Over time, these efficiencies will add real savings to the bottom line of the enterprise's profit and loss.

The reality, says Bob Waldie, chief executive of the next generation IT Infrastructure management company Opengear, is that basic management techniques are mature, powerful, and efficient, contrary to the safety concerns that have been sporadic.

In general, virtual servers are now hosted on a reliable hardware platform, Waldie said. These hardware platforms are designed to meet the intensive network communication, performance, and security needs of virtualization. Server virtualization in data centers is growing as hardware and software are now ready for primary applications. However, a virtualization layer adds complexity. This integration increases the density.

Both of these attributes have many hidden costs and disadvantages as well as risks. Therefore, the seductive value of virtualization does not apply to all situations. Virtualization technology is generally not applicable to smaller data centers and computer rooms.

Based on the above ideas, Waldie summarizes some of the key "red flags" that should be considered by IT administrators and chief technology managers before implementing the virtualization of data center systems and some systems.

Red Flag 1: Are you sure virtualization can actually provide you with a positive ROI?

The fact is that when you consider the total cost of the data center, you have to consider two factors: 1. The cost of purchasing the system is declining. 2. Power and cooling costs are on the rise. However, this is the increase in management and execution costs.

This new and complex layer of management virtualization entails a significant increase in costs. This cost may far outweigh the cost of saving power and space. This is a factor that must be considered in every virtualization project.

Warning Red Flag 2: Do you have IT staff to handle this added complexity?

Integration gives the impression that you are reducing your workload because fewer physical servers need to be managed. However, the fact is that you have increased the number of servers. This is because you still need the same number of servers to run the same applications, but these servers are now virtualized and managed more complex. You cannot manage with simple tools such as serial/KVM. In addition, your IT staff needs to manage a new layer of management software now.

Warning Red Flag 3: Do you need to manage the growing demand?

Virtualization makes it easier for businesses to add more it functionality. You can run more applications without having to go through the process of complex purchasing of new hardware by the enterprise. These applications can be installed and run faster without waiting for delivery and installation. The downside to reducing these barriers is that virtualization always increases the need for new and expanded services, so you need to be prepared for that.

Red Flag 4: Is your data center layout and power and cooling facilities/management level sufficient to manage this consolidation?

Fact: Only a small number of data centers monitor power consumption and the temperature of each rack. Many do not even have a planned layout in the data center. This planned layout allows them to manage the "hot spots" that are generated by integration.

While this flaw is pleasing to shareholders in the Schneider Electric Company in Paris, it is indeed a place for managers to listen to expert advice before implementing virtualization. Virtualization often introduces more energy-efficient blade servers and hardware that ensures high availability. This will lead to a 10 times-fold increase in power consumption per rack and more hot spots.

Warning Red Flag 5: What will virtualization do to your service levels?

Keeping your physical server running will be more important when you're concentrating multiple workloads on a single server. Therefore, it is important to plan for a highly available solution. Multiple network and power fault tolerance measures should be planned from the beginning of implementation.

If you are running VMware ESX, you need to have some plans for how to use tools such as vmotion to transfer your servers/services to perform the most important tasks in order to implement maintenance and disaster recovery.

Red Flag 6: Do you have the tools (next to the rack/remote) to monitor/manage your new, sensitive and complex environment?

The truth is: in virtualized servers, you can't rely on simple tools such as serial consoles, KVM switches, LCD drawers, etc. that you used to use. These tools are good for controlling older servers that configure physical keyboard mouse ports and real operating system environments, but these tools have no value for accessing service processors in headless blades or virtual Linux/windows servers running on hypervisor.

In addition, your cabinet outlet and uninterruptible power supply are now an important component of this infrastructure and need to be controlled in each rack. Therefore, you need to consider new tools such as Opengear KCS. You need tools that do not depend on vendors, because while VMware is currently dominant in virtualization, Sun Microsystems, Red hat and Microsoft will also be important vendors in the next few years. You need to be able to monitor and manage all of these devices alongside the rack and remotely.