Seagate 15K.2 Storage Strategies for Server Virtualization

Introduction

Server virtualization delivers IT benefits that are every CIO’s dream:

greatly simplified management, better business responsiveness,

higher application availability, reduced hardware and software

costs, lower power consumption, and a cooler data center.

Is this technology too good to be true? Some say there is a

downside: an acceleration in data growth and thus storage costs.

Deploying a new server is now “free,” removing one of the factors

providing at least a little drag to rampant application growth rates.

Without the server deployment speed bump, data and the storage

needed to keep it can grow even faster. Without adjustment for this

new reality, storage infrastructures and their associated costs can

become a problem.

The good news: storage architectures can be configured to support

a virtualized server environment without breaking the IT budget.

Risky investments in unproven technologies are not required.

Thoughtful application of the storage tools available within today’s

leading storage systems is enough to deliver scalable and efficient

virtual server storage. Best-in-class storage deployment can result

in lower storage costs than the pre-virtual data center environment,

despite virtualization-driven data growth.

How to Make Storage Work for Virtual Servers

Rule 1: Get out of the way.

Before virtualization, storage was not the primary bottleneck for

business applications. Storage allocation efficiency matched or

exceeded server deployment efficiency.

Virtualization has moved servers out of the critical path for

application deployment. Successful storage for a virtualized

environment must at all costs keep up with server deployment.

Storage Strategies for

Server Virtualization

Getting the Most From Virtualized

Environments Without Breaking

Your IT Budget

Technology Paper