Data Center Strategies for the CIO
Access "Prevent server over-consolidation with optimal VM resource allocation"
This article is part of the February 2012, Vol. 37 issue of Maximizing virtual data center consolidations
Although there is no denying the benefits of server virtualization, it’s possible for this technology to become too much of a good thing. IT managers have learned that the best way to make the most out of their server hardware budget is to seek the highest possible density -- packing virtual machines on each physical server. The problem is that this principle is often taken to the extreme, leading to over-consolidation that can actually threaten server performance and stability. Looking for server over-consolidation So how can you tell if your virtual machines have been over-consolidated? One way to find out is through the use of performance monitoring. Microsoft provides a number of metrics that Windows Server administrators can use to determine whether or not servers have been allocated sufficient resources. For example, Windows administrators might look at the Memory/Available Bytes counter to ensure that the server is not running short on memory. Although the Performance Monitor does not exist in Linux, there are plenty of utilities like vmstat, free and... Access >>>
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What's Inside
Features
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What not to do when you’re consolidating: Five common VM mistakes
by Mike Laverick, Contributor
Get better consolidation ratios by avoiding these typical problems.
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Prevent server over-consolidation with optimal VM resource allocation
by Brien M. Posey, Contributor
The push for high utilization can cause serious VM performance issues, but proper VM resource allocation can prevent server over-consolidation in virtual data centers.
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What not to do when you’re consolidating: Five common VM mistakes
by Mike Laverick, Contributor
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Defining an ideal virtual server consolidation ratio
by Alex Barrett
Finding the best virtual server consolidation ratio is difficult, and larger, virtualization-friendly servers do not necessarily ease the process.
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Defining an ideal virtual server consolidation ratio
by Alex Barrett
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Columns
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Not all data centers are created equal
by Christine Cignoli
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to data center servers and technology.
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Not all data centers are created equal
by Christine Cignoli
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