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2010
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The rise of server virtualization
Much talk of server virtualization today, but after all, what benefits this technology back to business?
Remember the time when the applications were client-server? Usually you have a client installed on your desktop that was connected to a server database. Cool, we had a server for an application.
With the advent of the internet to transform these old applications in web applications has become very attractive, because the installation of client software on the desktops no longer necessary, the applications became accessible from anywhere, and least expensive upgrades (just to name some benefits). But on the other hand, increased the number of servers, add another layer in the architecture.
Currently we are moving toward SOA (service oriented architecture), which should add some more layers in applications. New layers in a world without virtualization means more servers, and tell by the way, means more servers, increasing management costs, increased energy consumption (not just servers, but primarily by cooling them), increased complexity of the environment, this includes cabling, backup strategies, and even increasing the MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) ...
In contrast, servers are becoming ever more processing power, especially with the current multi-core technology. Now, servers with high processing power and applications with increasingly distributed applications do not mean great performance? Yes, that's true, but with an increasingly high cost. Not just for the pockets of businesses but also for the environment, as this also means that the energy efficiency of equipment is becoming smaller, since they increase the processing power and reduce the tasks of each server. It is estimated that on average only 10% is used in processing power of an x86 server during a work day. Have you thought about?
Well, this whole story was not to frighten anyone, much less to express opposition to such change in architecture. The aim was to show how the environment have grown exponentially, and from here you can show clearly the great benefits of server virtualization.
As seen in the post "Understanding Server Virtualization - Part I", server virtualization enables the creation of virtual machines from hardware sharing. Hmm, interesting that. We can create isolated servers in the same equipment, this means that we will increase their energy efficiency without harming the application and without running the risk of conflicts that could lead to a consolidation. Genial!
Here we touch on one of the main points of server virtualization. The optimization of IT infrastructure. This optimization leads to consolidation and containment of servers.
By creating a virtual infrastructure, we can put "N" virtual servers on one physical server, increasing the energy efficiency of equipment and reduces the complexity of the environment. This "N" in a production environment, you can easily reach 15 or 20. Have you ever wondered how much savings reduce by 15 times the number of physical servers bring your company? Let us cite a few:
Reduce the physical space needed to store them;
Reduction of energy consumption of appliances;
Reduction of heat dissipation, and therefore the need for refrigeration (villain of consumption); (The environment thanks:)
Reduction of network cable connections. Less wiring means lower number of switch ports required;
Reduction of sockets and power cords;
Reduction of Fiber Channel Switches and HBAs for access to storage
With all this, we reduce the complexity of the environment, and indirectly centralized management.
And there's contention, which means that when you need a new server, all you need do is create a new virtual machine, which significantly reduces the time for provisioning new servers. Virtual machines are files, and is very simple machines to create models that become new servers in minutes.
Must remember that new servers will not mean spending the acquisition of equipment, increased complexity, etc, etc?
But what if the server does not handle more virtual machines? Simple, add another physical server in your farm, increasing the pool of resources!
Well, this represents a cost savings of around 60%. Okay, but does not end there!
Server virtualization makes virtual machines independent of physical hardware, then we got to the second great advantage of this fantastic technology. The facility to promote business continuity and disaster recovery time down.
The hardware independence means that your backup site need not have identical equipment and stopped waiting for the crash site. This greatly reduces the cost of a backup site, and also the complexity of it. With a well designed model is possible in less than 20 minutes to have a data center of a large company running on the backup site in case of an accident. How long your company would take to get services in the air in the event of an accident?
The hypervisors more advanced, have other elements that also substantially reduce the downtime caused by failure of a physical device. In the case of planned stops, they can even avoid the unavailability of services, and promote high-availability to all servers without the need to purchase expensive software clustering.
Now with all this does not get much easier to achieve desired service levels? So for those companies that have outsourced their environment, this would also reduce the cost of contracts!
Well folks, this post was already too extensive. Certainly there are other benefits not mentioned directly, but as you could see, virtualization is changing the concept of data centers and helping to form the so-called next-generation data centers. Gave to understand why so much talk in this technology now?
About the Author
Philip Daniel, web developer by Global Chain, Sao Paulo Brazil.
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