Virtual Server Monitoring

By Author: lexorrod
Total Articles: 33
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Advantages to Virtual Server Monitoring

Server Virtualization by VMware offers advantages that traditional server environments can’t match. In particular, virtualization requirements allow companies to allocate a smaller amount of physical space for servers. This enables them to save money, time, and energy. With the capacity to run multiple virtual machines on one physical server, companies can consolidate the management of their server resources and still operate as though they had the presence of the actual physical servers.

Even though organizations now have less servers to maintain, they still face unique challenges related to virtualization. For example, virtualization of multiple machines to one server has led to virtual server outbreak. With a small number of clicks to the mouse, a particular application and an operating system on a virtual machine can be duplicated, or the entire machine can be cloned. Manually monitoring the original machine and its duplicates is time consuming and expensive, which, in the long run, could prove to be more costly than operating traditional servers.

Given these ...
... capacity planning management challenges, the manual upkeep and monitoring of these systems could eventually prove to be too cumbersome even for the most proficient support department. However, automated monitoring of systems provides the level of maintenance needed to keep the virtual server infrastructure well-monitored. The benefits of this setup far outweigh the cost, and the monitoring can be carried out without disturbing the end users. To illustrate automated VMware monitoring performance, the following lists just a few areas where this type of virtual server performance monitoring would prove effective.

Security

Virtual servers are vulnerable to the similar security risks as standalone servers. Monitoring these machines for viruses, malware, and hackers would be a full time job with no automated process. Even though traditional monitoring software can be installed on each virtualized machined to monitor every unit’s unique risks and dangers, the collection of multiple machines on a server introduces new security holes unseen on standalone systems. In particular, the environment between the virtual machines must be protected, not just the individual machines. Automated virtual server monitoring gives you this cross-security protection, along with providing log information that can be later analyzed.

Backing Up Data

Backing up data is part of normal server maintenance. Before server virtualization, each of these severs had to be individually backed up, which, in many instances, led to more physical servers. Even though virtualization has condensed hardware requirements, monitoring the backup of multiple virtual machines has its challenges as well. To meet specified guidelines for backups as well as to ensure redundancy measures are in operation in case of a disaster, each virtual machine requires a certain number of backups. Handling these requirements is made more manageable through virtual server monitoring. With monitoring, data duplication can take place in real-time or at predefined intervals, whichever model best suits the server requirements.

Services

Virtual machines can run using the same or completely different applications and operating systems. For instance, one virtual machine could be running a DNS server, while another machine is devoted to running a mail server, and yet another machine is running a file server. However, all of these services need to be monitored. Monitoring these environments individually is an unrealistic expectation for most IT departments, not to point out expensive. Automated monitoring can perform continuous checking of these services and immediately notify administrators of problems.

Memory, Disk Space, CPU

Having multiple virtual machines on a server requires monitoring the performance of the equipment used to run the machines. Each machine needs a certain amount of memory, disk space, and CPU usage to function effectively and efficiently. Manually monitoring each virtual machine is a flawed task, which is why automated VMware monitoring offers the best option for monitoring the hardware resources of the server. Automated performance monitoring can be used to schedule additional power to the virtual CPUs, as well as maintaining adequate distribution of memory amid the machines.

Capacity Planning

Lastly, data gathered from these automated processes permits for monitoring capacity planning. Even though monitoring capacity planning is not an automated process, the information collected from automated monitoring can help users plan for potential capacity growth. This enables forward-thinking individuals to examine and predict how VMware and other deployment solutions can better assist a organizations needs.

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