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Develop a solid virtualization capacity planning strategy
Editor's note
The role of an IT capacity planner isn't entirely unlike that of an oracle. For all intents and purposes, both are expected to predict the future -- the only difference is that rather than prophesy the future of heroes and demigods, capacity planners prophesy the future of the data center. This remarkably less mystical -- yet no less difficult -- task entails using careful calculations to estimate space, hardware and software resources to develop a capacity planning strategy that ensures an IT organization sufficiently meets the workload demands of its end users.
Virtualization further complicates the already daunting task of devising a capacity planning strategy for the data center. Compared to traditional physical servers, virtualized servers consume more resources. Virtualization makes it easy to migrate workloads from one physical server to another, but the process of moving multiple VMs at a time can result in resource shortages. With so many moving parts, it's easy to see how an administrator might face difficulties when provisioning computing resources. It's essential that capacity planners accommodate for the additional challenges virtualization poses when predicting data center needs.
This essential guide helps capacity planners determine what to look for when putting together a comprehensive virtualization capacity planning strategy, how virtualization fits into the picture, what potential problems they might encounter and which tools they should use.
1Common virtualization capacity planning challenges
Virtualization presents a unique challenge to capacity planning because virtual servers run multiple workloads simultaneously and consume significantly more compute resources than traditional physical servers. Failing to take this into account when developing a capacity planning strategy can have serious negative consequences. Poor systems management techniques also pose a serious threat to capacity planning, and set even the best-laid plans awry. This section deals with common virtualization capacity planning challenges, how they affect resource use and performance and how to overcome them.
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Article
Virtualization throws a monkey wrench into capacity planning
Capacity planning is a tricky task on its own; it gets even more difficult when virtualization enters the mix. Here's why as well as ways to overcome this challenge. Read Now
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Podcast
Expect the unexpected with capacity planning
Chris Crosby, CEO of Compass Datacenters, discusses the challenges that the rapid evolution of data center technologies creates when planning resource use. Listen Now
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Article
Overcome these common virtualization challenges
Virtualization can reduce some of the physical issues involved with data center management, but it has flaws, especially related to capacity planning and provisioning. Read Now
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Article
Ways to manage data to balance capacity
The rapid expansion of data has made data capacity a chief concern with storage. How can IT find cost-effective ways to meet data capacity requirements? Read Now
2Capacity planning management, tools and best practices
Finding the right virtualization capacity planning tool is a tall order -- it has to pull data from physical and virtual servers, make predictions, understand other apps in your data center, navigate common virtualization challenges and more. Even if you find the perfect tool, your work isn't done: You now need to figure out what to do with the data received and how it can help you create a better capacity planning management system. In this section, we'll look at some popular capacity planning and performance monitoring tools and best practices, and how they improve functions in your data center.
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Article
Tools and tips to streamline mainframe system management
Capacity planning, performance monitoring and mainframe tools go a long way to help increase the efficiency of mainframe systems. Read Now
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Article
Put an end to virtual data center challenges with these tools
An issue like VM sprawl is bound to arise during the move to virtualization. The key is to stay one step ahead with the right management tools. Read Now
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Article
These popular APM tools address capacity planning
These five application performance monitoring tools can give developers an edge when planning resources. Are you using them? Read Now
3What are some key capacity planning terms?
An understanding of what capacity planning is and what it involves is essential to create a solid virtualization capacity planning strategy. Read up on this technology to stay in the know.
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Definition
capacity planning
In information technology, capacity planning is the science and art of estimating the space, computer hardware, software and connection infrastructure resources that will be needed over some future period of time. Read Now
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Definition
data center capacity planning
Data center capacity planning ensures that an IT organization has enough facility space, power and computing resources to support average and peak workloads. Read Now
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Definition
server virtualization
Server virtualization is a process that creates and abstracts multiple virtual instances on a single server. Read Now
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Definition
virtual server
On the Internet, a virtual server is a server (computer and various server programs) at someone else's location that is shared by multiple Web site owners so that each owner can use and administer it as though they had complete control of the server. Read Now
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Definition
workload
In computing, the workload is the amount of processing that the computer has been given to do at a given time. Read Now
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Definition
virtual provisioning
Virtual provisioning is a term used by vendors, such as EMC, to describe a process of efficiently provisioning space in storage area networks (SAN). (Continued...) Read Now
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Definition
overcommitment
Memory overcommit (or overcommitment) is a hypervisor feature that allows a virtual machine (VM) to use more memory space than the physical host has available. Read Now
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Definition
virtualization sprawl (VM sprawl)
Virtualization sprawl is a phenomenon that occurs when the number of virtual machines (VMs) on a network reaches a point where the administrator can no longer manage them effectively. Read Now
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Definition
IT automation
IT automation is the use of instructions to create a repeated process that replaces an IT professional's manual work in data centers and cloud deployments. Read Now
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Definition
virtual machine lifecycle management (VMLM)
Virtual machine lifecycle management is a set of processes designed to help administrators oversee the implementation, delivery, operation, and maintenance of virtual machines (VMs) over the course of their existence. Read Now
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Definition
application lifecycle management (ALM)
Application lifecycle management (ALM) is an integrated system of people, tools and processes that supervise a software application from its initial planning through retirement. Read Now
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Definition
application performance monitoring (APM)
Application performance monitoring (APM) is the collection of tools and processes designed to help information technology (IT) professionals ensure that the applications users work with meet performance standards and provide a valuable user experience (UX). Read Now