According to VMware, the endpoint of the virtualization journey should ideally be enterprise-wide IT as a Service. The lure of large cost savings, flexibility, and even the eco-benefits of a virtualized data center should be driving organizations to quickly expand their initial virtualization projects into enterprise implementations. But more often than not, virtualization deployments sputter, leaving the organizations with hybrid virtual and physical infrastructures.
CA Technologies’ Andi Mann recently coined the term “VM Stall,” defining it as “the tendency of virtualization deployments to stall once the ‘low-hanging’ fruit has been converted (typically around 20% - 30% of servers).” Mann observes that while some organizations “are able to power through it,” the majority become stuck (often permanently) in VM Stall. Mann and others pinpoint several possible causes, including risk avoidance, resourcing, scalability, manageability, process, and coordination issues, plus lack of ISV support, but I submit that the underlying problem is generally adopting a tactical, rather than strategic, approach to virtualization.
The Tactical Road to VM Stall
VMware started the virtualization revolution as a small company with a unique go-to-market plan: it strove to get an evaluation copy of ESX in the hands of every techie willing to take it for a spin. Inevitably, the techies would be enthralled by the product – and their enthusiasm became evangelism, resulting in additional purchases of ESX in pockets throughout the organization.
This strategy worked surprisingly well. VMware’s sales raced ahead as ESX quietly became the de facto virtualization standard. But even as the company matured and began pitching VI3, and then vSphere, as a data center platform, customers continued to commonly deploy it as a point solution for test/dev and low-impact machines instead of developing a comprehensive virtualization plan. These tactical implementations work great in limited deployments, but because they were designed without the requirements of enterprise architecture in mind, they tend to fail miserably when serving as a foundation for a virtualized data center (vDC). In addition to the scalability and management limitations that Mann highlights, these limited deployments typically lack the capability to remedy even basic enterprise virtual infrastructure concerns such VM sprawl, I/O performance issues, and efficient virtual infrastructure provisioning.
A Physical Mindset Leads to Data Center Gridlock
Because the huge costs and inefficiencies of existing physical infrastructure continue to consume the lion’s share of financial and staffing resources, IT administrators inescapably view their world through a physical filter, meaning that virtual machines are relegated to the status of tertiary infrastructure. It’s a case of the squeaky wheel getting all – or at least most of – the grease, and in the transition to a virtual data center, physical servers do a lot of squeaking: they still need upgrading, rack space, switch ports, UPS slices, cabling, power, and cooling. And tasks such as testing, adding hardware, remote access, performance monitoring, troubleshooting, patching, and capacity planning require far more time than in a vDC.
While the virtual machines clearly reduce some costs and staffing requirements, a hybrid physical/virtual environment leads to an overall increase in staffing demands and complexity. IT now has many more objects to manage, including virtual machines, virtualization hosts, vSwitches, and vAdapters – all with resources typically limited by the need to contend with physical infrastructure. Even simple bottlenecks in the virtual environment commonly force IT back to the well multiple times for additional licensing, memory, ESX hosts, or storage funds. This reactionary approach to virtualization ensures that any expansion of the environment will be slow and painful – assuming, of course, that it doesn’t stall altogether.
Accelerating the Virtual Shift by Emphasizing ROI
Doing virtualization right requires making a commitment to the technology as the data center standard. The virtualization platform must become the rule and the remaining physical servers the exceptions. Whether implementing innovative workarounds for lack of ISV support or facilitating effective coordination among functional silos, with a changed organizational mindset – and the necessary preparation – IT can address the challenges of a vDC by deploying the appropriate resources, equipment, tools, and processes.
An ROI analysis showing discounted cash flows on a yearly basis can convince senior management to change their way of thinking and invest in the hardware, software, and services necessary for a successful vDC. Financial people are familiar with this format, and it allows them to easily compare the expected return from a strategic virtualization initiative with other opportunities for the organization’s funds.
Fortunately, virtualized data center transformation tends to produce a remarkable return on investment that attracts a good deal of attention. The economic enthusiasm is augmented by emphasizing additional benefits in areas such as high availability, enhanced “green” initiatives, and superior disaster recovery. Including a roadmap to private cloud/ITaaS, complete with self-service portal, monitoring, metering, and chargeback can further excite senior executives and free up the funding with surprising ease. When the point of driving hard to a virtualized data center is made clear to those who hold the keys, VM Stall roadblocks are eliminated, dramatically accelerating the virtualization journey.
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