Server Consolidation, Disaster Recovery with Virtual Machines

1. Discover Server Inventory
Use PlateSpin PowerRecon to remotely collect server inventory and performance data with no need to physically touch data center servers. PowerRecon's run-once inventory collector gathers comprehensive server inventory data while performance data is collected agentlessly via standard OS instrumentation capabilities.

2. Collect Utilization Data to Develop a Workload Profile
Use PowerRecon to monitor and collect data over days, weeks or months to get a clear profile of running workloads, peaks and valleys in server utilization, and anomalies in CPU, disk, memory and network utilization rates. Each instance of PowerRecon can monitor up to 2,000 servers. Data can be aggregated from multiple PowerRecon data collectors for centralized analysis, reporting and planning or to accommodate large enterprises.

3. Analyze Workloads
The PowerRecon Planning Module automatically analyzes the five critical dimensions of workload – CPU, disk, memory, network and time – across thousands of servers simultaneously to provide server consolidation plans that maximize utilization while minimizing resource contention.

4. Identify Consolidation Candidates
PowerRecon’s rich data modeling and reporting helps you make better consolidation choices based on sophisticated analysis of resources, workloads and utilization trends. Quickly identify consolidation candidates based on resource utilization trends and compare workload characteristics before and after consolidation.

5. Develop a Consolidation Plan
PowerRecon allows you to automatically generate server consolidation plans based on concrete data and workload analysis to ensure the optimal fit between server workloads and virtual resources. Stagger multiple workloads evenly across virtual hosts and account for hourly peaks and valleys inherent in server utilization trends to create an optimal consolidation plan. Compare and contrast potential power and cooling cost savings and ROI derived from different consolidation scenarios and use forecasted data to accommodate growth.

6. Test the Consolidation Plan
Reduce the risks associated with server consolidation by using PlateSpin PowerConvert to execute and test your consolidation plan. Perform an initial workload migration to the target virtual host and test the workload in the new location while continuing to run the source. The ability to perform live testing of workloads in the virtual environment with zero disruption to source workloads ensures that you can identify common issues such as driver incompatibilities or improperly sized or configured virtual resources prior to cutting over the workload. With PowerConvert’s live testing and Server Sync features, you can be certain that your workloads will run as expected in their virtual environment with minimal downtime.

7. Migrate and Sync Workloads
Once the consolidation plan has been tested and you know your consolidated workloads will run in their virtualized environment, you simply perform a final PowerConvert Server Sync to capture and synchronize any source workload changes that have occurred during the testing phase. Once this final sync is complete, you are ready to cut over the workload and power it up in the virtual environment. You may opt to minimize downtime by continuing to run the source system during the Server Sync or minimize data loss by shutting down the source system briefly to capture a perfect snapshot of the source system for migration to the target virtual host.

8. Optimize Workloads
Workloads and their demand on resources changes over time. Your consolidated virtual environment will require ongoing monitoring and adjustment to ensure that it is running at optimal efficiency. Resources allocated to a workload may need to be resized or a given workload may need to be moved back to a physical server if its resource demands exceed that of the virtual host. The combination of PlateSpin PowerRecon and PowerConvert allows you to proactively monitor, rebalance and relocate workloads at will between physical and virtual infrastructures to accommodate changing demands and business growth. PowerRecon also provides powerful management features to automate IT chargeback reporting and avoid virtual infrastructure sprawl.

Solutions PlateSpin data center automation solutions optimize the use of server resources across the enterprise. Our virtualization solutions include physical-to-virtual (P2V) server consolidation, disaster recovery, server optimization and test lab automation.
Server Consolidation Eight Steps The Playbook Consolidation Value Pack	Server Consolidation Eight Steps for a Successful Consolidation Initiative PlateSpin’s enterprise-ready server consolidation solution and best-practice methodology allows organizations to rapidly, safely and cost-effectively consolidate physical servers to virtual environments. Consolidate Servers in Eight Easy Steps 1. Discover Server Inventory Use PlateSpin PowerRecon to remotely collect server inventory and performance data with no need to physically touch data center servers. PowerRecon's run-once inventory collector gathers comprehensive server inventory data while performance data is collected agentlessly via standard OS instrumentation capabilities. 2. Collect Utilization Data to Develop a Workload Profile Use PowerRecon to monitor and collect data over days, weeks or months to get a clear profile of running workloads, peaks and valleys in server utilization, and anomalies in CPU, disk, memory and network utilization rates. Each instance of PowerRecon can monitor up to 2,000 servers. Data can be aggregated from multiple PowerRecon data collectors for centralized analysis, reporting and planning or to accommodate large enterprises. 3. Analyze Workloads The PowerRecon Planning Module automatically analyzes the five critical dimensions of workload – CPU, disk, memory, network and time – across thousands of servers simultaneously to provide server consolidation plans that maximize utilization while minimizing resource contention. 4. Identify Consolidation Candidates PowerRecon’s rich data modeling and reporting helps you make better consolidation choices based on sophisticated analysis of resources, workloads and utilization trends. Quickly identify consolidation candidates based on resource utilization trends and compare workload characteristics before and after consolidation. 5. Develop a Consolidation Plan PowerRecon allows you to automatically generate server consolidation plans based on concrete data and workload analysis to ensure the optimal fit between server workloads and virtual resources. Stagger multiple workloads evenly across virtual hosts and account for hourly peaks and valleys inherent in server utilization trends to create an optimal consolidation plan. Compare and contrast potential power and cooling cost savings and ROI derived from different consolidation scenarios and use forecasted data to accommodate growth. 6. Test the Consolidation Plan Reduce the risks associated with server consolidation by using PlateSpin PowerConvert to execute and test your consolidation plan. Perform an initial workload migration to the target virtual host and test the workload in the new location while continuing to run the source. The ability to perform live testing of workloads in the virtual environment with zero disruption to source workloads ensures that you can identify common issues such as driver incompatibilities or improperly sized or configured virtual resources prior to cutting over the workload. With PowerConvert’s live testing and Server Sync features, you can be certain that your workloads will run as expected in their virtual environment with minimal downtime. 7. Migrate and Sync Workloads Once the consolidation plan has been tested and you know your consolidated workloads will run in their virtualized environment, you simply perform a final PowerConvert Server Sync to capture and synchronize any source workload changes that have occurred during the testing phase. Once this final sync is complete, you are ready to cut over the workload and power it up in the virtual environment. You may opt to minimize downtime by continuing to run the source system during the Server Sync or minimize data loss by shutting down the source system briefly to capture a perfect snapshot of the source system for migration to the target virtual host. 8. Optimize Workloads Workloads and their demand on resources changes over time. Your consolidated virtual environment will require ongoing monitoring and adjustment to ensure that it is running at optimal efficiency. Resources allocated to a workload may need to be resized or a given workload may need to be moved back to a physical server if its resource demands exceed that of the virtual host. The combination of PlateSpin PowerRecon and PowerConvert allows you to proactively monitor, rebalance and relocate workloads at will between physical and virtual infrastructures to accommodate changing demands and business growth. PowerRecon also provides powerful management features to automate IT chargeback reporting and avoid virtual infrastructure sprawl.