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Sunday, September 14, 2008

All About Virtual Dedicated Servers

By Adam Gufarotti

Even though this practice has been around a long time, with the insurgence of dedicated servers to handle the demand of more and more bandwidth needs, virtualization of existing dedicated servers has become a welcome solution.

Cramped offices with low-end equipment such as non-profit organizations and entry level businesses with low budgets have opted for this practical utilization of their existing dedicated servers.

Accomplishing Virtualization

Virtualizing can be accomplished through either the software or the hardware. The software or operating system runs as if it were on its own stand-alone hardware platform. The hardware is partitioned to create as many virtual dedicated servers as the physical server can handle. An example to demonstrate this concept would be the Parallels or Bootstrap applications to partition the hard drive on a Mac that runs the windows o/s in one partition and the Mac o/s on the other. Each runs independently from the other and each can have its own technical issues so you need to be prepared for the maintenance of the virtualization you are deploying.

Although virtualizing your dedicated servers can reduce your IT costs and overall expenses while eliminating the need to add space for your ever growing server environment, there are some challenges to set up and maintenance.

Transition Time

There is a period of initial transition that will be supported the by your virtualization service. You may also opt for replacing your low end designated servers with ones that can maximize the advantages of virtualization. Experts recommend that you never let a server exceed 50% CPU utilization during peak loads. You can double the amount of virtual machines with high end dedicated servers without increasing the CPU utilization. You will have to look carefully at you needs and budget to see how to incorporate virtualization into your dedicated server environment.

Sometimes one physical dedicated server runs just two virtual private servers, one to host the website and one to store the backup copy, using the copy to update and test new applications. This is a Sandbox testing practice for untried software from unverified third parties and not-trusted users.

Entry level dedicated servers usually consist of low quality grade hardware, slower performance, increased need for ongoing maintenance and non-existent levels of redundancy. Virtual private dedicated servers are offered by many vendors in their environment eliminating the burden of having to deal with server sprawl in an already cramped office. These vendors offer all the services of a dedicated server host service including packages with dedicated processor cycles and memory, detailed resource statistics analyzing your memory, CPU and network utilization. You still have remote control enabling you to reboot from any location anywhere in the world.


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