Tackling VMware Sprawl - controlling the virtualisation explosion..... The explosion of Virtual Servers can overwhelm resource constrained IT staff, leading to reduced service levels...

The proven benefits of software-based server virtualisation on x86 platforms over the past few years have made virtualisation an important element in customer IT environments. Companies of all sizes and from all industries have begun to leverage virtual machine technology. We find there have been two primary benefits of virtualization: improved hardware utilisation and server consolidation due to virtual machine containment and improved time to deployment because of the portability of virtual machines.

As with all new technologies, however, there is a support, training, and management burden associated with the rapid spread of virtual environments. Support and operations teams, already overburdened in many companies, have to develop new approaches to the management of rapidly proliferating virtual environments. In addition, as virtual machines are deployed increasingly into production environments, where performance and response times are critical, the need for dynamic, real-time management solutions is even greater.

In fact, virtualisation introduces several new challenges into user environments. The rapid proliferation of virtual machines can overwhelm resource-constrained IT staffs, which are not able to manage these images efficiently enough to meet end-user demand.

Such virtual image sprawl leads to delays both in provisioning and deploying new virtual images as well as in maintaining and updating existing ones. In addition, IT teams will find it difficult to reallocate resources dynamically in response to shifts in demand, meaning that higher priority applications may not always get access to their "fair share" of system resources.

Taken together, these issues will result in lower productivity and higher operating costs.

Fifthwave believes that companies adopting widespread virtualisation should explore innovative IT management solutions that address the challenges posed by these highly flexible, dynamic environments.

These management solutions should provide both automation and service-level monitoring, to improve IT staff response times while maintaining adherence to policies and service level agreements.

The incorporation of policy-based automation solutions can have a significant impact on the performance and cost of IT operations and can enable companies to protect as well as derive even greater benefits from their investments in virtualisation technologies.