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Virtualization has been hailed as the Holy Grail of data center efficiency, yet some IT managers have concerns about this emerging technology. Drew Robb overviews a new survey.
A new survey by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG) in Beaverton, Ore., reveals that although users are continuing to move to virtualized x86 infrastructures, there are signs that the runaway train of virtualization may well be slowing down.
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But first the good news: Most users report the biggest benefit for virtualization is that it allows them to get more use out of existing systems. The vast majority, too, have virtualized some of their servers. However, less than half have managed to surpass the 50 percent mark in terms of overall server virtualization.
Perhaps more troubling is a survey finding about service level agreements (SLAs). Virtualization has long been touted as the way to increase IT efficiency and the path to a cloud Nirvana where resources are dispatched on a utility-like basis. Just hit the switch and the desired amount of processing power is made available instantly. Unfortunately, it isn’t working out like that in the real world. According to GCG, only about half of around 200 respondents find virtualized systems easier to manage or help them meet their SLAs.
Dan Olds, principal of GCG, said he believes this relates to virtual server sprawl. It’s so easy to set up a virtual machine (VM) that IT departments are spawning thousands of them and losing track of them in the process.
Read the rest about virtualization trends at ServerWatch.
