TechNet Flash, Volume 13, Issue 3 - February 9, 2011
TechNet Flash Editor's Note from Mitch Irsfeld
Virtualization Delivers the ROI Trifecta
With IT departments wedged between limited budget growth in 2011 and the expectations for new services - especially cloud computing - getting in the virtualization game can position your organization for the RIO trifecta with benefits that are high on the hit list in most executive suites. Reduced overhead, increased sustainability and faster response to changing business conditions should get everyone's attention. Laying the foundation for cloud migration is an added bonus. TechNet Magazine author Joshua Hoffman provides a rundown of all those benefits, and the key Microsoft technologies that together deliver them. His article Sustainability and Savings Go Hand-in-Hand with Virtualization also highlights additional benefits such as unified management tools like System Center Virtual Machine Manager and the ability to create new servers on the fly and reallocate capacity for peak loads.
Hoffman touches on the environmental sustainability benefits of running virtual machines, but for a more focused discussion of virtualization's role in facilitating a greener IT environment, check out the video from Microsoft Learning, Green IT and Virtualization. This "Learning Snack" describes the Hyper-V server role and the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) tool, which provide a virtualized infrastructure in Windows Server 2008.
You Say Green IT, I Say Sustainability
Speaking of green IT, that moniker makes it hard to pin down the uptake of "green" initiatives, simply because a lot of companies don't apply the label. Dennis Anderson takes a look at this phenomenon and offers his own insight in his TechNet Learn article With Sustainability Rising on the C-Suite Agenda, Is Green IT a Game Changer? He shows why green IT should be part of a broader sustainability strategy that goes beyond a company's carbon footprint and energy efficiency to encompass cost reduction, compliance, and extending the lifecycle of products.
Microsoft knows first-hand the role of virtualization in reducing its carbon footprint. Its executive strategy brief Environmental Sustainability describes its sustainability commitment and how Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 enables server consolidation result in measureable reductions and energy consumption and carbon emissions.
TechNet also includes specific scenarios in its Virtualization Scenario Hub that guide you through the resources and tools for planning, deploying and configuring the technologies to accomplish a specific business goal. In particular, the scenario How to Save on Power Consumption by Consolidating Servers Using Virtualization explains what needs to be considered when planning to consolidate servers in a virtualized infrastructure.
Two other scenarios to put on your reading list:
And speaking of RDS, take a look at Greg Shields "Geek of All Trades" column in TechNet Magazine, Add Hyper-V to RDS for Inexpensive Virtual Desktops.
Deploying virtual machines presents a different set of challenges and Microsoft has put together some tools and best practices to facilitate your shift from physical to virtual resource management. Brian Marranzini's TechNet Magazine article Prepare to Virtualize addresses the challenges you can face when deploying virtual environments - from new licensing models, to identifying candidates for converting to virtual machines, and the hardware considerations for handling cumulative workload.
And for guidance on balancing your virtual server workloads, read William Stanek's TechNet Magazine article Partition and Conquer. He describes a dynamic approach to hardware partitioning enabled with Windows Server 2008 that allows you to allocate and adjust partitions and resources while the system is running for better availability and serviceability.
Thanks for reading,
Mitch Irsfeld
Editor, TechNet Flash
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