Server Consolidation
Server consolidation is the process of migrating network services and
applications from several computers onto one computer.
This consolidation can be from multiple physical computers to one
physical computer, or from multiple physical computers to multiple
virtual machines on one host computer.
Administrators may consolidate computers for several reasons, such as
to minimize power consumption, simplify administration, or reduce
costs.
Consolidation can also increase hardware resource utilization,
increasing the return on investment for the computing environment of an
organization.
Service consolidation involves moving multiple network services onto a
single computer.
However, distributed services, such as Domain Name System (DNS) and
Active Directory, have issues, such as availability, security, and
network topology.
Consequently, organizations may not want to consolidate these network
services onto a single physical computer.
Application consolidation involves moving several line-of-business
(LOB) applications onto the same physical computer.
If an organization has invested in high-availability hardware to run a
single LOB application, it makes sense to use that hardware to run
multiple applications, as long as the application requirements do not
conflict. However, this approach is not possible if the applications
run on different operating systems.
Virtualization provides the ability to consolidate applications onto a
single physical computer and avoids operating system and other
resource conflicts.
By using the virtualization model, administrators can create multiple
virtual machines that map to the original physical computers.
The host computer then runs these virtual machines as if they were
still separate physical computers and the application environments
remain unchanged.