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October 27, 2005
Server Virtualization Weakens Hard Drives?
Server virtualization is expected to be one of the more disruptive technologies on the horizon. For those that don't know, server virtualization refers to running multiple instances of server OS'es on a single hardware platform. For instance a company could use server virtualization software, such as MS Virtual Server 2005 or VMware, to run virtual instances of both their file and database servers on a
single hardware platform.
Why would you do this? So you can better match your service needs to the available hardware, possibly reducing the number of servers you employ.
The other day our Chief Technologist mentioned to me that while at Microsoft's Product Developers Conference (PDC), Microsoft's presenter commented that when using Virtual PR it's very important to defragment your hard drive. He also noted that the defragger built into Windows croaks on the larger files which are created by virtualization software. Microsoft's speaker was obviously a very smart man
since he recommended using Diskeeper to the audience.
Here at Diskeeper Corporation we've been saying that the mechanical disk drive is the weak link in system performance for years. Obviously when multiple instances of servers access the same storage hardware it's going to aggravate this bottleneck. So if you plan to consolidate your servers with a virtualization solution, make sure your plan also involves automatic defragmentation.
Posted by paul.shomo at October 27, 2005 07:43 AM