When it comes time to start thinking about Virtualization, here are 5 important factors to think about:

1. Platform: Which is the most Suitable Platform?

There really are only three major competitors: VMWare, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Parallels Virtuozzo. Each one of these platforms offers Competitive advantages as well as different pricing models.  For Example, running Microsoft Hyper-V allows you to run unlimited Windows Operating Systems under a single License which would lower the license costs for your organization, but might it may not be the best candidate if you are a Linux based organization. 

2. Number of Containers: How many virtual servers can you fit on each Server?

This really depends on the current CPU/RAM usage of your current environments.  One commonly made mistake is overloading the host server with too many Virtual Instances which will cause poor performance. 

3. Domain Controller Placement

Another thing to take into consideration is failover and proper disaster recovery for your Domain Controllers.  Placing your Primary and Secondary DNS server on Separate Virtual Nodes is best practice as well as having enough failover machines to handle the event of a Virtualization Host Failure. 

4. Migration Strategy

Determine a Migration Strategy and evaluate all your current candidate applications to migrate to your virtual environment.  Note that not all applications should be migrated to virtual environments.  For example, some versions of Microsoft Exchange are not supported on select Virtual Platforms.  Doing your homework  is one of the most important step that needs to be taken before moving to a new environment and/or platform.

5. Failover and Backup Plan

Now that you are running more environments on fewer servers, backup and disaster recovery become even more critical.  Setting up a proper backup strategy for all of your Virtual Environments is crucial.  On the disaster recovery side, even if you run your virtual servers in house, you should secure a failover Virtual environment.  At LogicalSolutions.net, we offer failover Virtual Environments that will run your applications in the event of a failure.

I am proud to announce that LogicalSolutions.net has partnered with BackupSpace.com to offer a secure way to back up your important data off-site. BackupSpace is a Simple, Safe and Secure way to backup all your sensitive business and personal data.

To say I am passionate about backups and disaster recovery is an understatement; in 1997 my apartment fell victim to Arson and was destroyed. I lost years of e-mail and files that were on my computer. All my data, backed up on 100MB ZIP disks, was destroyed in the fire as well. It gets better - in 2002 my house in Atlanta flooded and my computer that sat on the floor was engulfed in water and ruined. All of my Digital pictures I had not backed up to DVD were gone. (Ironically, the same house is again underwater in Atlanta's flooding this last month.)

I hope you will share in my lesson learned without having to experience a data disaster on your own. Off-site backups are mandatory to prevent against Natural Disaster, Hard Drive Failure and Data Loss. BackupSpace allows for instant data restore, Nightly Backup notifications, Automated Scheduling, and file versioning. Your data is 256-Bit Encrypted and stored across multiple RAIDed drives in LogicalSolutions.net Enterprise Class Data Center. Try it out for you business or personal files today.

The Economy is brutal, trust me, I get it.  My mentality is to save money now, and find places to cut costs and reduce spending.  No more daily Starbucks for me!

Implement new Infrastructure to cut costs?    I own a small log cabin in the Georgia Mountains that has an old propane heater.  The cabin costs me $700 a year to heat.  I really did not want to spend the $200 on a new heater as money is tight.  Then the inevitable happened, she finally broke down. 

Last season, with my new propane heater, it cost me $350 to heat, not $700.  The first year alone I cut my heating bill in half!  Now why didn’t I do this years ago?

Does your company have an old propane heater?  Probably not.  Does your company have more than 2 servers running?  Probably.  Here is my point: moving your servers to a Virtual Environment will save on power instantly, just like my new heater.  Moving to a Virtual Managed Environment will save on support costs instantly as well.

I have been helping Fortune 500 Companies cut operational costs and become more efficient for years with SAP, but am now focusing on the smaller companies with Virtual and Managed Solutions.  With small companies you can see the cost savings immediately, and get an IT upgrade in the process. 

Moral of the story?  Consider your IT Operational, Infrastructure and Support Costs when looking for a place to reduce expenses immediately.  Feel free contact me for IT Cost cutting, or if you are in the market for a Log cabin with low heating costs.