Virtual servers save real money on hardware and time on maintenance for stressed IT departments at small and midsize businesses
When Stephen Bakerman joined Owen Bird Law Corp., in Vancouver, British Columbia, nearly nine years ago, the IT infrastructure was a "mishmash of everything."
To clean things up, Bakerman -- Owen Bird's information technology manager and one-man IT department -- has taken the 88-employee law firm virtual. He is currently running 17 hardware servers and recently purchased four more to be dedicated to virtualization. His intention is to run 17 virtual servers on five hardware boxes.
But exactly what does it mean to have a virtual server? Basically, virtualization is all about a server being a logical entity, not a physical one, and running one or more of these logical (or "virtual") servers on a single physical computer.
As Bakerman explains it: "To virtualize a physical server, you take another server that is normally used for another app; load on a virtualization program, then [load] a program like Virtual Iron that allows you to emulate little compartments on the physical server. You take the simulated computer and load your OS on it, and it runs in its own world independent of the other OSes that are also running on that box. Think of virtualization as creating little compartments on the physical server: One might run Windows, another may run Linux. If one compartment gets corrupted, nothing else is affected."
Even better, the configurations can be dynamic, automatically adjusting to changing loads and the availability of physical resources. Put it together and you've got an easy way to optimize your company's use of expensive hardware.
Owen Bird, a full-service, midsize law firm, uses virtualization technology from Virtual Iron, and it's made a big difference to Bakerman. "The infrastructure for me was key, and I worked at changing the servers that were problematic," says Bakerman.
DON'T MISS: 5 Simple Rules For Going Virtual
While all IT professionals seek ways to save time and money, for those at small and medium-sized businesses the quest can be even more critical. Small staffs are pressured to put out fires all day and still find the time to perform time-consuming yet mundane maintenance tasks. They also need reliable systems in place to protect their data and applications.
Next Page: The Evolution of Virtualization
