Server Virtualisation
Virtualisation
Summary
Virtualisation delivers significant business benefits by enabling multiple operating systems to be run simultaneously on a single physical server, where each of the operating systems runs as a self-contained server.
Virtualisation benefits include:
- Greater value from your server investment by maximising usage. With virtualisation one physical server (host) can easily run several virtual servers.
- A reduction in the number of physical servers you require. With reduced power and cooling requirements resulting in lower energy costs and emissions. Fewer servers also mean more free space in your server room and less cabling and switch port requirements.
- Greater resilience and faster recovery. Virtual servers offer better business continuity and disaster recovery support, making it far quicker and easier to restore in the event of a hardware failure (depending upon system design this can be down to a few seconds). Servers can also be replicated to secondary locations.
- Enhanced support for legacy applications and operating systems. Virtualisation offers a great platform for re-hosting legacy applications and operating systems, particularly as older generation hardware becomes more difficult and costly to maintain.
- Simplified management. Fewer servers require fewer KVM (keyboard, video and mouse) switches. In addition virtual servers can be easily managed via the virtual server management console.
- Flexible performance management. Virtual servers benefit from the overall host server performance, and can be easily moved between hosts when loads indicate this would be beneficial.
- Easier maintenance. In the event that a host server requires planned downtime for maintenance, virtual servers can be redeployed onto other hosts quickly and easily.
- Reduced maintenance costs. Fewer servers to support.
With typical server utilisation rates being less than 20%, many existing servers have the capacity to be virtualised and deliver significant benefits.
JMC fully supports both major virtualisation environments – Microsoft Hyper-V Server and VMware.
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Detail
Virtual servers improve operational efficiency by consolidating infrastructure, applications and branch office server workloads, consolidating and re-hosting legacy applications, automating and consolidating software test and development environments, and reducing disaster impact.
Consolidate infrastructure, application, and branch office server workloads
Virtual servers enable workload consolidation for infrastructure services, branch office services, and disaster recovery environments. Resulting in fewer physical systems, a reduced hardware footprint and lower energy costs.
In addition, they help you to enhance your administrative productivity, increase hardware utilisation rates for an optimised IT infrastructure, and rapidly deploy new servers to address changing business needs.
Consolidate and automate your software test and development environment
Virtual servers allow you to consolidate your test and development server farm and automate the provisioning of virtual machines, improving hardware utilisation and operational flexibility. For developers, virtual servers enable easy deployment and testing of a distributed server application using multiple virtual machines on one physical server.
Re-host legacy applications
Virtual servers allow migration of legacy operating systems (such as Windows NT4.0 Server and Windows 2000 Server) and associated custom applications from older hardware to new servers running latest operating system releases.
Virtual servers deliver this capability by enabling legacy applications to run the native software environment in virtual machines, without rewriting application logic, reconfiguring networks or retraining end users. This gives you time to refresh older infrastructure systems first, then either upgrade or rewrite out-of-service applications on a timetable that best fits your business needs.
Disaster Recovery solutions
Consolidating physical servers onto fewer physical machines (running virtual machines) decreases the number of assets that must be available in a disaster recovery location. During recovery, virtual machines can be hosted on machines not affected by a disaster, speeding up recovery times and maximising the flexibility of your organisation.
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