Server Virtualization Assessment

You may think that server virtualization only works for large enterprise companies. But it’s also a technology that may be useful to companies with 50 to 200 end users that have one to 10 servers running on their networks.

If you have a server that is heavily loaded, slow and runs a mission-critical application, virtualizing this type of server will just make a bad situation worse.

However, you probably have one or more servers carrying a relatively light load that could benefit from virtualization. That could provide better security, improved restores and fault tolerance, and a reduction in server maintenance and costs.

To determine whether server virtualization would work in your environment, there are eight critical areas that you should evaluate:

1. Current average server CPU utilization rate
2. The number of different server architecture/OS combinations that exist on your network
3. The annual server growth rate you expect over the next three years
4. The predictability of your server growth rate
5. Where your physical servers are located (in remote or branch locations)
6. The percentage of your servers that cannot be included in the consolidation effort due to departmental requirements or other nontechnical reasons
7. The amount of time your organization spends testing a server before moving it into production
8. The target level of network availability in terms of the amount of uptime required to run your business