| The decision around whether or not to Virtualize | | | | it cost, who will analyze it? |
| the IT environment is not an easy one. There are | | | | There are many ways to generate 100% |
| so many factors to consider, so many questions | | | | unbiased information from your businesses |
| to ask, and so many myths to disperse. | | | | infrastructure in order to make the calculated |
| * Will my existing infrastructure be suitable for | | | | decision regarding virtualization. Capacity planning |
| Virtualization? | | | | will provide you with exact information regarding |
| * How do I know how many physical hosts I will | | | | your systems performance, total storage, |
| need? | | | | processor utilization, disk I/Os and much more - |
| * What is the best option for storage? | | | | even down to server makes, models and serial |
| * Will my critical applications be at risk? | | | | numbers! |
| * Will the initial outlay be too high to justify the | | | | In the early days of virtualization, there was a |
| later cost savings? | | | | significant cost associated with the capacity plan |
| * How will I convince the board to invest in the | | | | process, either for the end user or the engineer |
| project? | | | | analyst. This is no longer the case, many |
| Ultimately, only one thing will answer all these | | | | organizations, including mine, are offering the |
| questions and enable an informed decision to be | | | | service free of charge, on the basis that you |
| made - The Capacity Plan. | | | | consider a quotation for a consolidation |
| Interestingly though, the capacity plan itself raises | | | | containment implementation once the process is |
| many questions - who to do it, how much might | | | | complete. |