Your How-To Guide To Server Virtualization
Bracing your customers for the sticker shock a virtualization proposal can induce is also important. Though it usually saves companies money eventually, virtualization actually drives spending up in the short run. For openers, customers will have to shell out for a hypervisor, the core software product from vendors such as VMware Inc. and Citrix Systems Inc. that makes virtualization work. Then there are the beefy new servers they’ll probably need to host their virtual machines. Plus, many IT providers urge companies to upgrade their storage and disaster recovery infrastructure when rolling out virtualization. Barebones virtualization solutions encompassing one host server and a hypervisor typically cost less than $10,000, but a five-server system with shared storage might run as high as $90,000 or more. “This is a long-term investment,” observes Andi Mann, a research director at analyst firm Enterprise Management Associates Inc. “You need to be prepared for that up-front hit.”
Some firms outflank funding concerns by virtualizing their clients’ servers in stages. “When it’s done correctly, the benefits become so obvious that future rounds of budgeting tend not to be hard to get,” Cassidy says. His firm can virtualize five to 10 servers on one host machine for as little as $4,000. Spear offers his customers a more elaborate virtualization starter package that comes with shared storage for $50,000. “[It] includes implementation, start-up, two servers, and all the software you need,” Spear says. “That’s a way to get going relatively quickly.”
PRE-DEPLOYMENT PLANNING
Data from analyst firm Info-Tech Research Group indicates that when virtualization projects stumble, inadequate planning is usually the culprit. That’s no surprise to Matt Cavanagh, president of Flytrap Technologies LLC, a data center integrator in Willimantic, Conn. “A lot people just buy stuff,” he says, adding that frustration over unanticipated expenses and sluggish application per formance is often the upshot. “Planning is everything,” Cavanagh argues.
Smart channel pros guide their virtualization customers through extensive preparations before buying or deploying anything. Step one is helping the client carefully map out a virtualization roadmap for the next three years or more, even if they’re initially virtualizing only a portion of their servers. “Sometimes smaller clients don’t have a good vision of what they want to virtualize,” observes Jim Chebin, CEO of Quatro Systems Inc., a solution provider in Horsham, Pa. As a result, they end up purchasing hypervisor licenses piecemeal and missing out on volume discounts. Companies that think further ahead usually wind up spending less, Chebin says.
Step two should be inventorying your customer’s servers. Some hypervisors work only on hardware containing processors with built-in virtualization enhancements, such as those included in Intel’s Virtualization Technology (VT) feature set. Any server purchased within the last 18 to 24 months probably has such chips, but it’s wise to double-check anyway. Better yet, consider prodding your client into buying new hardware with speedy quad-core CPUs and large amounts of memory. Bigger host servers usually produce greater savings on power and administration. “If you’re doing a lot of consolidation, the bigger the platform the more economic benefit you get,” says Mike Grandinetti, vice president and chief marketing officer of Virtual Iron Software Inc., a hypervisor vendor based in Lowell, Mass.
