Web Applications is well and fully in the Virtualisation game these days. Virtual Reality sadly continues to lack any business relevance though it’s something I’ve always wanted to try. A girl can dream.
At the moment we have a sum total of 35 servers; 29 of those servers are now on just three boxes. Simply put, this translates into 90% saving off running costs when electricity, hardware degrading and air conditioning costs are added together.
Making these servers virtual gives us a lot of wiggle room, and Web Apps doesn’t like to be held down. At any given moment we have the option to increase or decrease memory, processor power, the number of network adaptors and hard disk space. We also have the flexibility to build a new server in a matter of minutes.
If through some unforeseen event something happens to one of the boxes and the hardware fails, we can migrate the servers to one of the other boxes quickly and efficiently; there are no hardware compatibility issues to speak of, minimising the chance of unforeseeable issues. Web Apps can effectively maintain the integrity of the server components, and last but not least…
We can continuously monitor the state of the servers easily as well as manage them all in one place with the new favourite toy: Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager. The Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager has a number of key benefits that are important to us here at Web Applications. Some of those benefits include its Performance and Resource Optimisation (PRO) – this enables the dynamic management of virtual resources through management packs that are PRO enabled. Other benefits are that it easily groups multiple physical servers onto virtual hosts and quickly prepares and optimises new and existing virtual machines.
Virtualisation is one of those things, it’s good for us and it’s good for our clients. We have total flexibility and can rapidly change and adapt to whatever the needs of the moment require. Virtualisation allows for optimised hardware resources. This means that multiple workloads can coexist on fewer servers, saving energy, money and space. Windows Server virtualisation especially allows for easy integration into existing server management tools which enables more control and flexibility of datacentres. Everything is easier to maintain, simple to configure and deploy, and best of all it’s a great for disaster recovery. Web Applications continues to do everything it can to be prepared for all contingencies.
If virtualisation is something that you might want to look into, why don’t you send our systems department an email at systems@webappuk.com. We’d love to hear from you.