SPOKANE, Wash.-IT managers are going to love how virtualization makes it easy to manage computer servers, but they are also being urged to watch out for three potential hazards: storage options, server sprawl and paranoid end-user.
"Manageability is the biggest benefit of virtualization," explained Scott Baldridge, network administrator at the $1.5-billion Spokane Teachers Credit Union (STCU), which began virtualizing workload servers five years ago.
When a physical server fails or needs maintenance, Baldridge said he can instantly move all the virtual machines to a functioning physical server-even in the middle of the business day. "I have very little downtime."
Recovery efforts are faster than with virtual servers, he added. "I can back up and restore my servers as a complete unit instead of putting on the operating system first and then the apps. Disaster recovery testing takes one day, whereas, with physical servers, sometimes you can never fully test them."
The fifth year of virtualization is delivering "big-time payback," Baldridge said. "Server hardware has to be replaced every five years with big upfront expenditures. If we hadn't begun virtualizing 90% of our physical servers five years ago, all of that hardware would have had to be lifecycled by now." Virtual machines aren't subject to the same replacement lifecycle as physical servers.
Virtual deployments reduce licensing costs, he said. "If you're using the data center version of Windows Server, for example, you can use Microsoft Hyper-V. That server virtualization product allows you to run all your services on one Windows Server and only pay for that one license of Windows Server."
Make sure to choose a suitable storage option when virtualizing your workload servers, Baldridge suggested. "Most credit unions aren't big enough to have an internal SAN (storage area network) expert. Your biggest mistake can be storage. Hire a consultant to help you get started."
STCU relies on Internet protocol (IP)-based storage using the iSCSI standard, he said. iSCSI communicates via a switch infrastructure within the SAN. "That eliminates the complexity of Fibre Channel," which requires special cabling.
IP-based storage eases the disaster recovery burden, said Baldridge. "We can quickly connect to the data we need whether they're stored here at headquarters or at our recovery site."
The Fervor For Servers
Virtualization makes building new servers easy-too easy, in fact, he said. A new virtual server only takes a couple hours to "spin up." When users need several servers to test new applications, it's easy to accommodate their requests. "That leads to server sprawl. Suddenly, you've got all these new servers to maintain."
Use a monitoring system designed to help control virtual server sprawl, such as Insight Balance or Veeam Monitor, suggested Baldridge. And consider charging back the cost of managing the servers to the business unit that requests them.
Be ready for business users to dig in their heels when server virtualization is mentioned, observed Baldridge. "Some users feel that they own their business applications and the servers they run on. They get scared if a hardware application is going to run on a virtual machine. They don't want to fuss with it."
Assure users that most banking vendors have, by now, successfully adapted their applications to virtual server environments, and that the transition to virtual will be smooth, said Baldridge. "The users begin to see the benefits when they don't have to refresh the hardware every couple years to keep up with the application updates."
