Reduce server spend. Reduce software spend

The rise in virtualization in the IT industry has had major impacts on reducing IT costs not to mention ease of operation and the management of resources. For example, some virtual SAN (Storage Area Network) vendors claim clients can save up to 40% on possible hardware and software costs if they invest in a virtual SAN as opposed to pursuing the hardware storage route.

What is required for virtual storage?

Essentially, two software packages are required:

• A hypervisor such as VMware’s vSphere or Microsoft’s Hyper-V
• A virtual SAN package

The hypervisor and the virtual SAN work in conjunction with each other. The virtual SAN creates more storage capability from existing hardware resources, so there’s no need to buy more expensive server equipment to meet increased demands.

Through virtualization, it’s unlikely an organization such as a hosting company would need to replace their existing servers as the leading hypervisors above, and many virtual SAN vendors, provide widespread compatibility with x86 type servers. Check StorMagic.com as an example for information on SAN hardware compatibility.

The storage resources are configured easily from a console to make the most of existing hardware, and these can be altered at any time in the light of changing demands, hardware going down and other reasons.

Saving on remote location support

Some virtual SANs provide huge savings for organizations needing to service and support remote locations such as branches and retail outlets. Instead of hardware, dedicated software and human resources in the form of skilled personnel needing to be located on each individual site, it’s possible to provide the necessary support from one location.

This can be especially invaluable in difficult to reach locations - particularly those subject to severe weather conditions such as oil rigs and remote weather stations.

Managing growth costs

An unfortunate by-product of growth is the need to invest in improved systems and infrastructure to meet increased demands. It can also be a major upheaval: re-equipping a data centre with new hardware takes time and can often cause disruption and a need to shut some or all of the systems down. This can sometimes add to the expense of re-equipping.

A virtual set up, by contrast, can respond quickly and very inexpensively to changing needs. Often it’s no more than a session at the console re-configuring some of the system with no need to shut anything down.

Maintaining uptime

Another concern with hardware dominated environments is the possibility of downtime caused by some sort of failure or power outage. With some virtual SANs and hypervisors, there are plenty of safeguards and facilities to detect outages, re-deploy resources and generally keep things running. Much of it can be automated, so the likelihood of expensive downtime is reduced.

The virtual solution

There’s no doubt virtualization of storage and other aspects of IT is a big step forward. It increases agility, flexibility and scalability and makes for IT that’s easier to manage and far less costly to own and operate.