Application migration strategy and planning to VMware virtualized platform

[vKiller]

1. What are the top 10-20 questions to be asked to know whether a application running in physical environment can run properly in virtualized platform (vSphere or VI 3.5)? The questions should help reveal the "No" part rather than "Yes".

2. Is/Are there any best pratice guide talks about the strategy to move application to virtual from physical environemt such as P2V or other?

3. Do we generally need any code level change to be done to the application if we plan to move it to virtual environment?

[amvmware]

This is openended.

My experience is the main question is will my software vendor continue to provide me with the same levels of support if i virtualise the application - is it even suitable for vitualisation, it might be a fax server for example.

MS has a support policy for their apps - so you know where you stand and you can make the decision based on that - but specialised apps are more of an issue as the vendors may not have performed any testing. I generally colour code these types of apps from green through to red and then sit down with the business and determine the suitability for virtualisation based on technical, commercial and business requirements.

Second point - there are many ways to slice and dice the migration of the application servers - you need to speak to a local vmware partner once you have identified the applications that are suitable candidates for virtualisation. As you will see on these forums there are many ways of achieving it - some work some don't., some are a bit hit and miss.

The last point - i would hope not - never had it happen yet.

Don't forget to leave points for helpful/correct posts.

[vKiller]

Thanks for the response. As you mentioned "sit down with the business and determine the suitability for virtualisation based on technical, commercial and business requirements."

In this regard, I would like to know what all possible questions do we ask to know first hand whether the application is suitable to be in virtual environment or not (mostly technical and commerical). I understand that there could be few openended answer but is there any way to know whether it qualifies e.g. as you mentioned fax server.

[amvmware]

To be honest what you are asking for is impossible to answer in a forum - I known nothing about your business, the applications you have deployed or the scale and size of your virtualisation requirements - so any answer can only be generic.

1. Does the app have any hardware dependencies that cannot be provided in a virtualised environement.

2. Does the app require ram or processing power that is more than vSphere can provide to a vm.

3. What are the technical and business issues in virtualising the app - is it in a remote site, is there a suitable P2V window,. do you need to P2V or is create from new the best approach.

The list could go on and on - I would recommend you need to liase with a local vmware partner and discuss your requirements with them.

You might find the following useful.

http://viops.vmware.com/home/docs/DOC-1253

Don't forget to leave points for helpful/correct posts.