Virtualization is a hot topic in the IT industry, but like many hot topics, is there a clear benefit for your business? The simple answer is a resounding YES.
VMware is the market leading virtualization pioneer, though several other companies have their own excellent virtualization technologies, including Microsoft and Citrix. For even the smallest business with just a single server, virtualization makes sense. In these environments, we recommend VMware's ESXi platform, which believe it or not, is also FREE! Price is no issue here.
ESXi leverages hardware resources very efficiently and does not require much more overhead than a traditional single server. All that is really necessary is a little extra memory and fast hard disks, neither of which will add significantly to the cost of a new server, depending how you configure it.
Running your server virtually offers many benefits, some that are "green" in nature and others that are quite practical from a business point of view. Say you need to add a new server to your environment, either for a line of business application like a document management server, or to provide more robust remote access, like a terminal server. With a virtualized foundation, you don't need to install another physical server, rather you can leverage your existing server hardware and simply setup the new server right alongside the existing one, within the virtualized environment. Upgrades and backup become a snap, as in snapshot. You may easily take snapshots of your virtualized environment to help speed the efficiency of your upgrade process or to provide enhanced disaster recovery capabilities.
As your business grows, a virtualized environment will serve you well in terms of flexibility and expandability. You may decide to graduate into a more robust virtualized environment that will provide advanced management and features like redundancy. Instead of having to scrap your existing infrastructure, you will be able to smoothly migrate into these new technologies.
So, if you will be considering any type of server upgrade, be sure to evaluate virtualization and it's many benefits for your business. It will serve you well.
