| By :
Dirik Hameed
There are several reasons why you may want to consider server virtualisation for your company or business. The following article will discuss some advantages of server virtualisation and highlight some areas to consider before going ahead with virtualisation. Virtualised data on a virtual server is independent of the hardware it runs on, which means the data can be moved easily, which in turn means it's easier and quicker to do disaster recovery or application backup or recovery on a virtual server than on a physical server. To get an application that is running on Windows on a physical server onto another server, you first need to install Windows on the new server and then install the application and configure it for the new server. It's significantly faster to do the same process between virtual servers. Some applications though don't run well or at all on a Linux VPS host for example. Applications that are linked to a piece of hardware, for example scanner software, do not transition well to virtualisation. It is therefore a good idea to check which of your applications will undergo virtualisation well before you start the virtualisation process. If a company is going through or considering refreshing their hardware, upgrading applications or wanting to improve their disaster recovery strategy then it's probably a good idea to do server virtualisation. Server virtualisation can free up IT staff to work on other tasks and it can free up premise space as one virtual server can replace several physical ones. Businesses often run only one application on a physical server because they don't want to risk the application crashing and bringing down other applications on the same server. Many physical servers only run at an average of 10% to 15% of their total capacity. A physical server can however turn into a multitasking one through server virtualisation. Businesses can spend a great deal of money on powering server capacity that is not being used. Server virtualisation reduces the number of required physical servers, which in turn reduces the cooling and power costs associated with the physical servers. If you have fewer physical servers, you can spend less time on manual maintenance. Storage virtualisation allows numerous network storage resources to be combined into what appears as one storage device, which means these resources can be more easily and efficiently managed. Through these means backup, archiving and recovery is more rapid and simplified. Virtualisation is very good for scalability, allowing businesses to add resources to virtual servers instead of changing or installing additional physical servers. In addition companies can have lower hardware costs by sharing the resources amongst the virtual servers. Managing virtual servers is similar to managing physical ones, but if a company has a small IT team it may be necessary to bring in a virtualisation expert to help get things up and running. The range of server virtualisation skills required includes server skills, networking skills, application skills and storage skills. You can obtain some virtual servers for free through downloads and you can buy other virtual servers. Speak to other business owners about the virtual servers they use, and contact vendors and integrators whose expertise is business virtualisation to get advice from them. Find out what the vendors' or integrators' experience is and whether they have had previous business dealings with a company the size of yours and also remember to get references before hiring virtualisation experts.
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