Important factors to consider before going for Virtualization

[Sashi]

Hello Folks,

Could someone send me the list of deciding factors to consider whether to go for virtualization of the application server..Got the steps from net, but need real time steps where its been implemented and followed.... like taking metric memory usage report etc..

[vmroyale]

Hello.

Check out the P2V Decision Tree over at the VIOPS site.

Good Luck!

[mittim12]

You can check out some of the capacity planning tools that will scan and monitor servers for potential virtulization.

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[Sashi]

Thanks for your answer.. Im looking for important deciding factors to consider for virtualiziing the server.. Yes ofsourse, we can go for tools which are available.. but basically looking key points to consider for virtualization. if my manager asks me, i would be in position to answer quickly with some key factors / points.

[mittim12]

Ok, just for clarification here. Are you looking for what % resources should be utilized before going to virtual, the counters used to determine if you should be virtual, or just reasons to take a machine virtual?

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[DSTAVERT]

I would just use the VMware information from http://www.vmware.com/solutions/smb/smb_home.html

The marketing message isn't that different from reality.

[Sashi]

Yes.. Looking for what % resources should be utilized before going to virtual.. Say i have one important Platinum (SLA) based application which needs to be virtualized... exact factors to be consider to virtualize app server..

[mittim12]

I don't know if there is a rule regarding this. vSphere 4.1 scales high so it can handle a 8 vCPU machine and 255 GB of memmory per virtual machine. If you need resources higher than that then no it isn't a good fit.

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[DSTAVERT · Accepted solution]

You really need to monitor the app server in question to see whether it is a good candidate for virtualization. If the current physical app server is using 90 % of the CPU and memory resources of the physical hardware and you want to use that physical hardware as a virtual platform then it isn't a good idea. There aren't too many servers that don't make good candidates provided that they will be running virtualized on a current multi core multi CPU server with a decent storage subsystem.

[DSTAVERT]

Have a look at this as well. http://www.vmware.com/solutions/business-critical-apps/

Unless you have a very high load app today and don't plan on putting good hardware underneath it you should be fine. What is your app? How heavily loaded?

[Sashi]

Thanks for the answer.. These are the points im looking for...(current physical app server is using 90 % of the CPU and memory resources of the physical hardware )..

Any other points to consider like database size of the application etc ??

[DSTAVERT]

The link to business critical apps should help answer other questions. What is the app? What is the hardware it is running on?