Joe Latrell, IT manager and lead programmer for GetMyHomesValue.com, a real estate data services company in Lancaster, Pa., knows that it's all too easy for even a knowledgeable and experienced IT veteran to make mistakes while managing a complex server-consolidation project. "You have to think about everything," he says. "It can be a minefield."
OK, you've virtualized as much as you can. Now what? Consolidating physical servers through virtualization doesn't address underlying complexities because it doesn't reduce the total number of servers you're managing. Here are three tips for taking it to the next level.
The recession may have forced Media General Inc. to scale back its grand plans for server virtualization in 2009, but like many other businesses, the communications company is planning a major push to make up lost ground this year.
There aren't that many organisations which would consider consolidating 60 servers holding the most critical customer-facing applications down to one mainframe in the space of a weekend.
Financial services firm Veda Advantage has halved the number of x86 servers with a consolidation and virtualisation project.