VMware White Paper Sample

The IT Challenge Today
Today, IT infrastructure organizations are working diligently to solve the problems created by the explosion in the scope and complexity of IT platforms adopted in the 1990’s. The migration of application architectures to thin-client multi-tier architectures, the introduction of multiple generations of Windows servers and the rapid growth of Linux have swept across IT organizations in successive waves over the last ten years. These waves caused explosive growth in server counts, network complexity and storage volumes throughout geographically distributed IT organizations. The policies and procedures adopted to gain back control of the infrastructure have often introduced their own challenges. Some of the resulting symptoms reported by IT organizations include:

• Large numbers of under utilized “one-application per box” x86-based servers
• Pervasive over-provisioning caused by policies that size all servers for “worst-case” workload scenarios
• Long delays between change request submissions and operational changes
• Long provisioning cycle times for new servers, storage and networking
• Narrow scheduled downtime windows are over-subscribed with maintenance activities
• Inconsistent, non-reproducible server builds due to a lack of build policies, or an inability to enforce them
• Rushed patch roll-outs that break application functionality or performance because the patch-testing systems do not match production systems
• Multiple infrastructure management systems for distributed Linux, Windows and NetWare servers
• Incomplete information for equipment counts, status and ownership