Community IT Innovators. Established 1993. Serving social mission organizations with integrated technology services you can trust.

At this year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, CITI Director of Professional Network Services Matthew Eshleman, along with Earthjustice’s Peter Campbell, presented a session covering virtualization technology. We’re pleased to announce that their session was included in NTEN’s June newsletter summary of the best NTC sessions, selected based on conference participant feedback on each of the sessions.   A summary article by Matthew and Peter on “Virtualization: The Revolution in Server Management and Why You Should Adopt It” is featured on the NTEN blog. Excerpt:

Most of the discussion related to virtualization has been centered on large data centers and enterprise implementations, but a small network can also take advantage of the benefits that virtualization has to offer. Here are three common scenarios:

• Using a new server running a virtualization hypervisor to migrate an existing server
• Using a new server to consolidate 3-4 physical servers to save on electric & warranty expenses
• Using a storage area network (SAN) to add flexibility and expandability to the infrastructure

In the first scenario, an existing server is converted into a virtual server running on new physical hardware…

Visit the NTEN Blog to read the full article.

When it came time to plan our latest network upgrade at Community IT Innovators we opted to virtualize all our server infrastructure.   As a typical 60 person organization we have file, mail, database, web and remote access servers.  With our systems and software going through the usual 3-5 year replacement cycle, our IT staff was looking for a solution provided the most flexibility going forward.   Virtualization provided the benefits of a smaller server room footprint and a smaller carbon footprint.

We began exploring virtualizing servers when troubleshooting existing installations with performance monitoring tools.  We were consistently surprised by what a small percentage of the processor these hulking servers were using most of the day.  Large in footprint and small in efficiency,  we began exploring products that would allow us to consolidate the need of keeping operating systems separate but on a shared piece of hardware.

Virtualizing the standalone servers on our server room proved to be consistent with the Green IT guidelines that are starting to trickle down to even the smallest organizations.  CDW’s data centers studied the effects of virtualizing servers and power consumption.  A standalone server had 75% percent of the carbon footprint of a mid-sized automobile.    The same functionality virtualized and then sharing hardware had a carbon footprint of 1/6 of the original with no loss in delivering services.

Reduced carbon footprint is nice for the environment and the bottom line.  Most network administrators don’t see the power bills, but I bet most accountants at organizations would like to see that cost reduced.

Virtualization has proven a boon to network administration as well.  Hardware conflicts are few because each virtualized instance has identical hardware.  Virtualizing also reduces fear of applying patches.  Each server is just a file that is easy enough to copy or track the changes of.  If a service pack or update creates problem, reverting to the previous night is just a mouse click away.

Our virtualized infrastructure has created a flexibility for our developers.  If they need a new server stood up to test a configuration no hardware has to be purchased and we can copy an existing setup.  Our testing and lab has now also standardized on virtualized instances.  Our staff is able to stand up the latest products in minutes rather than hours.

Virtualization is a panacea that has solved a number of administrative and technical hurdles for us.  We’ll be continuing to blog about virtualization in coming weeks.  If you’ve heard the buzzwords and been curious we’ll be walking you through setting up your first virtualized server and familiarizing you with the technology.  Virtualization is one of the easiest new technologies to grasp once the initial hurdle is jumped.