CTOs and IT managers face the daily stress of having to deliver reliable services while reducing overall cost. Clearly, the natural tension between the dual goals of higher efficiency and lower cost is difficult to resolve using conventional approaches. This is where virtualization can lend a helping hand.
Virtualization technology has resurfaced as a hot topic, thanks to its practical benefits for IT environments. Essentially, virtualization enables one computer to do the job of many by pooling and sharing IT resources, including servers, storage and networking.
While the benefits have been well documented, some businesses are still apprehensive about utilizing virtualization especially in mission critical environments. Banks are a good example.
With the explosive amount of data financial institutions see on a daily basis, their concerns about how virtualization may affect the flexibility, reliability and security of a mission critical environment is understandable.
The challenges they face are shared by other industries which run mission critical services such as IT infrastructures, customer service, accounting, data analytics and application development.
Feeling Insecure?
Much doubt still surrounds the use of virtualization to tackle security issues; one of the biggest concerns for companies running mission critical systems.
Contrary to popular belief, security is actually one of the biggest fields virtualization can serve. Engaging the help of a Virtual Server Environment (VSE) can help solve the conflict between security and usability by isolating corrupted programs, downloads and files to prevent information loss and theft.
VSE’s can replace numerous physical boxes, making maintenance and updates easier since network managers do not have to worry about up-keeping dozens of devices. It provides intelligent control of virtualized environments through integrated planning, management, automation, allowing for the consolidation of multiple applications on a single server, and managing clusters as one entity without compromising performance.
Besides the security element, VSE can also increase server utilization by 60-70 percent, bring new services and applications online faster, balance supply and demand based on business priorities and reduce costs and increase agility at the same time.
With this unique solution, businesses can respond to demands by dynamically supplying computer resources where required, adapting in a matter of seconds with mission critical precision.
A Reliable Source
IT managers are also concerned about the reliability of virtualization in a mission critical environment as a tremendous amount of information passes through the server on a daily basis. For businesses today, servers need to be resilient against hardware defects and external virus attacks.
For a virtual environment to maintain its reliability, servers still require daily backup and restore operations like their physical counterparts. Through better positioning of hardware, better uptime can be achieved, making it easier for servers to keep running when moving from one virtual machine to another. By doing basic daily virtual server housekeeping, organizations will be empowered with the ability to execute 24x7 lights-out computing, allowing people, processes and technology to work together more dynamically.
Readily available assistance for mission critical systems is also imperative for virtual environments to stay reliable, scalable and secure. Proper support will help companies achieve their business and IT objectives through continuous service improvements. Access to 24-hour service and other proactive essentials will also help to improve the effectiveness of the company’s IT environment and assets.
Managing Virtualization: A Vital Key
Managing multiple virtualized servers can turn into a nightmare if it is not controlled from a unified view. Too many virtual servers increase management complexity. If left unaddressed, this can lead to virtual machine sprawl – uncontrolled flexibility that defeats the objectives of virtualization.
The users in a mission critical environment get the best returns from their virtualization investments by having a comprehensive management strategy in place that addresses hardware, software, power, and administrative costs. Choosing proper management tools will help to effectively administer and maintain the virtual environment by offering granular visibility into resource availability, security and utilization.
Managing virtual servers is not highly complex, but it does call for a different set of skills compared to those used in a traditional server system. IT managers will need to learn how to look at a multi-system environment within one console. Doing so will increase their confidence in managing virtual spaces and consequently reduce complexity, increase operational efficiency and ensure IT investments are optimized. Besides better server utilization, successful management of a virtualized continuum may also enable documented returns on investments and enhance productivity across the company.
Seeing Results
The resulting flexibility of tools management is impressive. Users with privileged access can create and deploy a new virtual machine or server in minutes. For example, with it, it is possible to install multiple virtual single-CPU servers and on the same physical server quickly. It is also possible to define I/O devices as either shared or dedicated to the virtual machine as required by the situation.
Proper management of mission critical server environment can transform a virtualized data center into a dynamic, real-time IT infrastructure. IT processes will be simplified with a standardized application server providing centralized support. The agile infrastructure will also reduce downtimes, increase operational and energy efficiency. It can even generate incremental revenue by improving application productivity by way of uptime, performance and other enhancements. But most importantly, mission critical operations will be able to operate on a safe, reliable and flexible platform they require.
By seamlessly managing both physical and virtual worlds, companies will begin to overcome their IT challenges and benefit from the rewards virtualization provides.
The author is Vice President & General Manager for Business Critical Systems, HP Asia Pacific & Japan |
