It's time to get more out of your servers. Most businesses buy servers that run at only a fraction of their capacity. Nowadays, even a small business can afford a dual processor server that can serve many more users than their application typically demands. If a server runs at 25% of its rated processor capacity, then you are using only half to one-third of the power you paid for.
This means your cost in terms of equipment, the staff to manage it and the physical space for it will tax your business every day. You can tell how much your system is working by opening a performance monitor and looking at processor executions. All operating systems ship with a performance monitor. You can buy even more sophisticated monitoring tools from third parties.
Vendors have been selling storage virtualization tools for a while now, but server virtualization techniques have largely centered around installing thin client/fat server products in which all the applications run on the server. Who wants to work on a thin client these days? And, more importantly, most small and medium-sized businesses have their employees doing a range of tasks that don't fall into any one neat category.
Server virtualization options
Products like Microsoft's Virtual PC let you run a PC on a Macintosh. Others use it to run legacy versions of Windows on their Windows PCs.
VMWare, a company now owned by EMC Corp., offers VMWare Workstation and VM Server (there are several versions) specifically for servers. These products let you run a complete operating system within a virtual machine. A virtual machine on a server lets you create another instance of an application server separate from the first. When you mix and match instances, you can achieve much greater server utilization. As for cost, look at it this way: If you're already spending money on extra equipment and people, the additional cost of a virtual machine, an operating system and the application is inexpensive. You would be spending most of that money on another setup anyway, so you might as well maximize your processor's capacity.
Using a virtual machine is not without its issues, however. You have to be careful about which applications you run, check their stabilities and run tests. But you can download a 45-day evaluation copy of the VM software from the company's Web site at VMWare.com.
Barrie Sosinsky is president of consulting company Sosinsky and Associates in Medfield, Mass. He has written extensively on a variety of computer topics. His company specializes in custom software (database and Web-related), training and technical documentation. Barrie can be reached at barries@sosinsky-group.com.
