For many companies, a big part of digital transformation involves choosing a virtualization solution. Virtualization reduces your server footprint and infrastructure costs, as you can house multiple virtual machines on a single physical server. However, there are drawbacks to this model. Here are eight virtualization management challenges CIOs need to address.
Top 8 Virtualization Management Challenges
Resource Estimate Misfires
If you underestimate the amount of RAM you need upfront, you could shortchange the number of virtual machines you attempt to run on your host hardware.
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Unleashed Virtual Machines
Yes, you can create dozens, or hundreds, of virtual machines on a single host. But without capacity management, some could consume all resources while leaving none for the others.
Sprawl
Creating an an army of virtual machines can also throw workflows off-balance, given the complexities they can bring to provisioning and operational tasks.
Continuity
Unlike a PC environment, virtual machines can’t be backed up to an actual hard drive. That’s why 80% of IT pros say virtualization backup is a top tech challenge.
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Security
Six of 10 IT pros say data protection is a top virtualization management challenge. As virtual machines proliferate, a lack of tech and business alignment on practices and procedures elevates risk.
Backward Compatibility
This is especially challenging for enterprises which still depend upon a wealth of legacy systems.
Performance Monitoring
Unlike physical servers, you can’t monitor the performance of virtual servers with common hardware resources such as CPU, memory, and storage.
Read more on ServerWatch: Server Performance Monitoring: Best Practices for Server Monitoring
Licensing Restrictions
Because virtualization might change the way licensed app infrastructure software behaves, you could violate agreements with your vendor. That may expose your organization, liability-wise.