What is Server Consolidation?
As its name suggests, server consolidation is the process of putting together various servers into one physical server. The reasons behind it and the benefits at stake are stated in this article.
Server consolidation is one of the best things that a company can do when it comes to saving on cost for hardware and software license. It also allows companies to save some space in their office or home.
Reasons for doing Server Consolidation
There many reasons why a company should go for server consolidation and they are the following:
To reduce cost – server consolidation will help IT departments to reduce cost whilst maintaining and even improving they level or service they can offer as the business and economic conditions nowadays are becoming competitive and demanding.
The need to update legacy system – as IT professionals need to update their systems; they are automatically given the chance to consolidate their servers in the process of doing so.
Improved hardware and Software – newly released hardware systems as well as software are powerful enough to cater consolidation while keeping its cost at an affordable rate.
Improved bandwidth availability – the increased in bandwidth reduce the need of locating servers to different remote locations just to make sure of adequate system response time. With just a remote control software corporate data centers can already access remote locations.
Increased in vendor competition – many vendors are now promoting server consolidation.
The Advantages of Server Consolidation
Not only that they can reduce cost, IT departments can enjoy various benefits that server consolidation can offer. A few of the long-term benefits include:
Improved facilities – with server consolidation, there is no need to have many hardware for server purposes. IT departments can use remote connection solutions in order to access a certain remote computer from the data center. Meaning, there will be less requirement of room for specialized power, conditioning, and physical security.
Improved security – because there will be less physical servers to monitor, it would be easier for IT personnel to monitor possible security problems.
Improved management – other than security, it would also be easier to IT people to maintain consolidated server because there will be less administrator to manage. In addition, fewer servers promote faster data backup operations.
The Disadvantages of Server Consolidation
Despite of the advantages, server consolidation also has various disadvantages including, complicated cost allocation, lack of control for users, infrastructure upgrade requirements, and sophisticated management skills requirements. This is why any company that is considering server consolidation needs to first assess their needs in order to determine whether this would be the right kind of solution for their needs.
