Going Green
Going Green with Virtualisation
What is Virtualisation?
Virtualisation is the ability to run more than one server from one physical server. In the past a network would traditionally start with a domain controller that would look after all of a company’s needs, as the company grew and other server based applications were required another physical server would be purchased, a database is a good example of this, every time a new server based application was required another physical box would be purchased. Part of the reason for this was that hardware was very expensive and it was cheaper to buy lots of smaller servers than try and buy one or two large servers.
With a Virtual system you purchase one larger more powerful server and then use virtual server software that allows you to create multiple virtual servers all running their own applications as before, they all share the physical server resources such as CPU, Memory and Hard disk space.
What has changed?
Fortunately two things have come together to make this now accessible to SME’s, firstly not only is hardware much cheaper than before allowing more powerful servers to be bought more cheaply but hardware in terms of power is ever increasing, meaning that most single servers out there running a single application are underutilized, giving us an opportunity to share the resources. The second thing that has happened is the software that allows the sharing of these resources has come down in price drastically and in some cases is now FREE.
What benefits does Virtualization have?
- Every server can cost up to £500 per year in electricity so the first benefit of virtualisation is saving money on electricity and obviously this has a positive green aspect.
- The cost of one larger server is less than the cost of multiple smaller servers
- You only need one warranty for one server
- If you want to add another virtual server you just add resources to the physical server and you are ready to install.