Virtualization Creates Need for More-Resilient Servers

Computerworld - As IT managers virtualize their x86 servers and consolidate applications on a smaller number of systems, they're demanding more from the hardware they buy: more memory, certainly, but also added high-availability features such as multiple power supplies and cabling ports.
Some businesses have even gone a step further. Purdue Pharma LP last year started buying Stratus Technologies Inc.'s fault-tolerant servers, similar to those used by financial services companies and 911 emergency call centers, to run Microsoft Corp.'s Active Directory and other applications in a virtual environment.
That was the drug maker's first foray into fault-tolerant servers, and it came after the Stamford, Conn.-based company decided to use VMware Inc.'s virtual server technology, said Stephen Rayda, director of architecture at Purdue.
Rayda said last week that he didn't want Purdue's IT administrators to have to answer the following question if the virtualized system failed: "When they lose 30 servers on a single box, they're going to get asked, 'What could we have done to avoid this?' "
Andres Carvallo, CIO at Austin Energy in Texas, said he's buying fewer servers now and focusing his budget for Intel-based machines on systems "with higher capacity and more fault-tolerant-type features." He embarked on an 18-month project last year to reduce his server count from about 250 systems to 80, largely through virtualization.
Christopher Kowalsky, CIO at Education Management Corp., a Pittsburgh-based company that operates a variety of academic institutions with a total of about 66,000 students, is evaluating VMware's software and Microsoft's rival Virtual Server offering. "We're the same as most organizations," he said. "We have a lot of servers and a lot of processors, and we're continuing to try to figure out how to best utilize them."
But Kowalsky added that if his company does adopt virtualization technology, he will run the software on fault-tolerant, highly resilient systems that are capable of failing over to another box. Having servers with high-availability features is "going to be a big part" of any move to virtualization, he said.
Impact on Server Sales?
Although virtualization and grid computing technologies can increase server utilization and reduce the need for new boxes, worldwide revenue from server sales grew 5.5% last year, according to IDC. Analyst Stephen Josselyn said he doesn't think virtualization will hurt server revenues.
Virtualization is more about better utilization of resources, Josselyn said, adding that he expects users to continue to scale out their system installations more than they scale up single systems.
But Gartner Inc. has a different take. In a report presented at