Vmware Appliance, Virtualization Technology Support: Underutilization of computing power can be costly. Studies show that for many companies, their IT infrastructure investment has yet to achieve the financial objectives anticipated or provide the expected boost in corporate productivity planned. A key objective of business is to maximize productivity while minimizing expense, yet many are failing to fully utilize their IT resources.

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Introduction

Underutilization of computing power can be costly. Studies show that for many companies, their IT infrastructure investment has yet to achieve the financial objectives anticipated or provide the expected boost in corporate productivity planned. A key objective of business is to maximize productivity while minimizing expense, yet many are failing to fully utilize their IT resources. Or they have simply overlooked the under-tapped capabilities they already have on the racks in their data center. As a result, computing power is wasted simply because servers are under-utilized. IT costs increase because new resources are added, rather than fully utilizing existing resources. On average, daytime utilization across Microsoft® Windows® servers is less than 5%, while corresponding aggregate daytime utilization of UNIX® servers is usually in the range of 15-20%.

The challenge facing most companies as they cope with increased demands on their infrastructure is not how to add computing power— but how to efficiently harness the computing power in their data center.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how you can:

• Better utilize the resources in your data center.
• Avoid unnecessary infrastructure expansion.
• Improve network reliability and server utilization.
• Better manage IT expenses.

Why is improved utilization of IT resources important?

Some companies are uncertain of how best to address growing IT demands—ones that may appear to being spiraling out of control. Growth often requires the expansion of IT resources. More applications are required to manage the growth. Additional applications may require more computing power (additional servers) to drive them, with more storage space for increased data. Increased computing power inflates IT costs. Data center growth requires more housing. A larger IT staff may be required. Maintenance costs may rise.

All of the above can drain a business’s resources and upset its bottom line, while giving the false perception that IT demands are insatiable and always costly.

IT demands may appear to be a never-ending and costly spiral:

• As the business grows, more computing power is required.
• Data center costs increase as more servers are added.
• Installation and maintenance cost increase as more servers are added.
• Deployment of additional servers and applications may require additional IT support.

But the spiral can often be stopped simply by fully utilizing the business’s existing IT resources. The solution is to use all of the computing power of those servers already humming along in the racks of an existing data center. In a word, the solution is "Virtualization."

How can you add computing power without adding computers?

Fully utilize the untapped power that is already in your data center rather than add more servers. It is an IT paradox that modern servers, as they became more powerful and faster, spend more time waiting for new instructions than they do computing. Virtualization can unleash that unused computing power. Individual servers can be virtually configured as multiple servers. Each virtual machine (VM) performs, responds, and is managed just as if it were a separate physical machine. Each VM can be driven by separate and unique operating systems, and can perform commands and run applications independent of other VM computing on the same physical server. Thus, one server may be able to do the work of many physical servers without requiring more space in the data center or additional IT resources.