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Abstract
Without proper planning, even a technically brilliant virtualization effort is destined to meet an unwelcome fate. Lack of attention to process and people factors are often to blame. For business-critical IT services, the stakes are high because objectives such as improved disaster recovery capabilities are at risk. This paper identifies common mistakes in project planning and project management, and explains how to keep them from diminishing virtualization’s benefits and even undermining your entire initiative.
How Virtualization Changes the Rules
Virtualization brings benefits by breaking the mold. One physical server is no longer limited to playing host to a single operating system. And with virtual machines supported by virtual infrastructure, an application need no longer be tied to a particular physical server. In the simplest terms, what happens is that a physical machine that used to do one thing can now do more than one thing. And you can retire the hardware you no longer need.
The virtualization hypervisor, which runs on a computer server to manage physical hardware and I/O devices, is the mechanism that breaks these traditional bonds. Because functions including storage configuration, network configuration and management capabilities exist at the virtual layer, they are configured and managed through that hypervisor.
As undisruptive as this may seem, lines of responsibility are crossed. Applications, networking, storage and backup have traditionally been distinct domains in larger IT organizations. Each one has been handled by separate specialists. Failing to adapt to the way that virtualization blurs these boundaries is at the root of many problems, as we will soon see.
That is why you have to plan well for the changes that virtualization will bring. Not only do you have to ensure the success of the virtualization initiative, but also you must ensure that business-critical IT services will function at the levels of uptime and performance your company expects.
Omissions and mistakes during project planning have repercussions at every subsequent step, from implementation, to migration, to day-to-day operation.
In practice, the following steps are frequently not given the time and attention needed to ensure project success.
Virtue #1: Define and Measure Success
Congratulations: Your company’s virtualization initiative has been approved. Many stakeholders eagerly await the results. But what _ and who _ is driving the decision to virtualize IT infrastructure? Perhaps the CFO or CIO is seeking the cost savings in electricity, cooling and space that come with server consolidation. Perhaps the IT team sees virtualization as a valuable way to protect the business continuity of critical applications, by implementing faster backup and recovery (restore) capability.
For example, organizations are increasingly interested in virtualization as a vehicle for cost-effective disaster recovery because the hardware at the disaster recovery site does not have to be identical to the main production site. In fact, Forrester Research found that 49% of surveyed decision-makers from North American and Europe regarded improving disaster recovery and business continuity as a “very important” driver for x86 server virtualization.
For a business-critical service that requires end-to-end performance and high availability or better, virtualization must be done in a manner that aligns with the needs of the business. There will be service levels to meet; business continuity and disaster recovery objectives to support. To assess the potential impact if a business process were to become unavailable or to operate at reduced performance, prepare a business impact analysis (BIA) that identifies risks such as monetary loss and damage to brand reputation.
In short, assess and document business and technical objectives that form the criteria for the project’s success. Include a gap analysis to document where you are today and where you intend to go. What’s more, establish measurable goals to minimize any disputes over the outcome.
Virtue #2: Get Buy-In
Whether the push to virtualize starts from the top down or the bottom up, or the initial drivers are business or technical, one point is certain. Every stakeholder affected by the decision to virtualize will have ideas about what matters.
To define and measure success in terms that stakeholders will agree with, first you have to get everyone to the table. Lack of buy-in will cause delays in your project or even derail it altogether.
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