Everything You Need to Know About Server Sprawl

It is always difficult to effectively manage new technology deployment. Enterprises try to deal with this by buying more equipment. They spend a lot of time in finding the perfect equipment for their server. But, most of the enterprises don’t think about the impact of this equipment on their operational cost. Server sprawl is one of the biggest factors that you need to consider before upgrading your equipment.

What is server sprawl?

Most enterprises are using multiple servers in a single data center environment. They are using these servers for meeting their storage, networking and processing needs. These servers ensure that your applications are always up. But, in most of the cases, their server resources will exceed the actual business needs. Server sprawl means that you are not using your servers to their full capacity. Thus, you are wasting a lot of computing power. If you have a good server consolidation ratio, then your servers won’t waste a lot of space, power, and cooling. All of this will help you in decreasing the operational costs of your company.

For example, suppose that you have five different servers. You may be using these servers for running your applications or for storing your data. If three of your servers are not running at their full capacity, then you are wasting a lot of computing power. You can use these servers for improving your deployment capacity. Maybe you can use only two servers for running your applications and the third server for meeting the storage needs. But, your company is paying for five servers. This is a classic example of server sprawl. Most of the computing power is not used by your applications.

It is important to have some extra computing power available. You can use this extra computing power for dealing with traffic spike. Also, this will offer flexibility to your IT infrastructure. But, this additional computing power can be very expensive.

Your server might be only using 20 percent of its computing resources but it will still run at 100 percent power. Thus, your cooling costs will still remain the same. If you are not dividing the server workload, then you will end up spending a lot more money on cooling and power costs. Thus, you must deal with server sprawl.

How to deal with server sprawl

There are some simple methods that you can use for avoiding server sprawl. These methods will ensure that you are using your servers to their full potential.

1. Server Consolidation

Server consolidation is one of the best methods to avoid server sprawl. First, you should determine where your workload is located. Also, you need to check how your servers are managing your data. This will help you in understanding how your data center is interconnected. Server consolidation is very important for old applications. Most of the companies don’t reassess their workload after adding new hardware. You should reassess your workload and try to optimize the performance of your applications. This will ensure that you are using your resources to their full potential. Virtualization technology is one of the best methods to deal with server sprawl. You can set up multiple different virtual machines on a server. This will help you in improving the efficiency of your server. But, your IT team also needs to deal with virtual machine sprawl.

2. System Sprawl Vulnerability

It is also important to avoid system sprawl vulnerability. If you are purchasing new servers, then you should always try to look for good servers. Thus, you should always give more preference to quality. This will help you in avoiding system sprawl vulnerability. Organizations think that it is best to buy a lot of inexpensive servers instead of buying expensive servers. If the capacity of both the servers is the same, then cheap servers will look more appealing to users. But, they forget about the quality that these expensive servers offer. The actual cost of the server is determined by the cooling and power costs. If your servers require more power, then they will end up costing more in the future. Thus, it is always best to buy powerful servers. These servers will help you in avoiding the server sprawl costs.

3. Educate your IT Team

Most enterprises rely on their IT departments for delivering innovative solutions. These solutions will help them in growing their business. Due to these demands, your IT department will sometimes try to focus on future technologies. Thus, they will overestimate the computing needs. They will think that they are improving the flexibility of your infrastructure. But, they are actually creating opportunities for server sprawl. Also, they need to deliver solutions quickly. This will force your IT team to implement some rapid fixes without thinking about their efficiency. These fixes can increase your cooling and power costs. Thus, it is important to educate your IT team about the server sprawl. They should know about how to avoid the server sprawl. Your IT department can also implement server consolidation. This will ensure that your servers are running at their full potential.

Conclusion

If you are not avoiding the server sprawl, then it can increase the operational costs of your business. Most organizations don’t think about server sprawl when buying new equipment. Server sprawl can lead to a significant increase in power and cooling. All of this will increase the operational costs of your business. It is important to avoid server sprawl. You can use virtualization technology for avoiding the server sprawl. It will help you in dividing your server into multiple virtual servers. This will ensure that you can use your server to its full potential. Also, you must always look for good quality equipment. This will help you in avoiding the system sprawl. If you need more information about server sprawl, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.