Be careful: Ten common mistakes when consolidating servers

As enterprises look to improve their IT infrastructure to save costs, CIOs and data center managers are turning to server consolidation to achieve savings. In fact, doing so is not easy. As enterprises look to improve their IT infrastructure to save costs, CIOs and data center managers are turning to server consolidation to achieve savings. In fact, doing so is not easy.

Although server consolidation is valuable from a financial perspective, it does not mean that the project is easy to implement. Several misconceptions make it difficult to control costs and build an efficient data center.

Consolidation means buying new hardware

Integration doesn't mean buying expensive new hardware. Integrating with your existing products can save money, which in many cases is the first thing you should consider. If you're already maximizing your existing products, you might consider purchasing new ones.

Consider only general workload patterns <br /> Although workload is an important factor when considering consolidation. However, it only means what should be compatible to ensure smooth operation, and does not reflect server compatibility and what should be virtualized. Furthermore, workload analysis is often oversimplified. When analyzing, you should consider how the server is running most of the time, including what time of day the server has the largest workload. Server workload patterns usually show peak times of operation. If you can find that the server peaks at different times of the day, then while the average workload may imply that the workload cannot be consolidated, the underlying analysis shows that the workload can Merge.

Failure to consider non-technical limitations

Rapid server consolidation or virtualization conversion without considering non-technical factors can also create problems. Although it is tempting to move many applications to the same physical server, if you do this, you put all applications under the influence of the same hardware. Problems can arise if these applications have different service level requirements or update windows.

Implement planning based on outdated information

Server consolidation analysis can be a months-long project. In some cases, you will need to ask a professional services company to guide the analysis project. The result of this work is usually a report. It is risky to carry out projects guided by the results of this type of survey. You have to consider the speed of updates from service providers. It is critical to act guided by the latest information.

Clarify intent before collecting data

IT staff may feel that integration is not a good idea. Some may feel that it will lead to a decrease in their importance and influence because they have less content to manage. Some may even feel that the implementation of the integration project will cause them to lose their jobs. There has been such a thing: some companies let employees find their own way out during the engineering analysis stage to ensure the efficient operation of servers in the future. The best way is to first collect some relevant information from around you, and then talk to employees to clarify your intentions.

Consider virtualization as the only path to consolidation

When consolidating servers, many CIOs regard virtualization as the only way. This idea is too limiting. Virtualization is powerful and flexible, but approaches such as integration of application software and operating system (storage) stacks are also attractive because they do not increase management overhead and do not require complex virtualization processes. . In addition, some servers are not suitable for virtualization due to their application software, thus reducing the range of servers that can be virtualized.

Exclude database server from consolidation scope

I/O constraints mean that database servers are not suitable for virtualization. Database server expansion is a major issue for many enterprises; with the right integration analysis and implementation, many methods can significantly reduce the number of database servers.

Exclude application servers from consolidation

Many consolidation plans do not consider application servers, which is wrong. The integration of application software servers (J2EE environment and network servers) will also bring additional benefits to enterprises.

Exclude detection/development environments from merging

Development and testing environments are often the culprits of hardware and software sprawl issues. Because they are not user-facing, they are also the least sensitive to workload issues. In many cases, a specific number of database servers can be consolidated without affecting utilization or productivity.

Failure to consider in depth the impact of financial profits and changes on ROI

There are many factors that can affect the financial results of a merger. For example, because the consolidated database server is easier to operate, the cost savings are significant. The integration of complex applications that require specific detection may result in zero return on investment because of the time and labor required. So make sure you choose the right target.