Gain Control over Virtual Infrastructure

The basics of managing virtualized infrastructure ensure that you aren’t virtualizing for the sake of simply removing physical barriers. Taking greater advantage of virtualization requires some standardized processes and analysis capabilities such that efficiency is realized. CiRBA provides answers to the critical management questions facing every organization with virtualized infrastructure, including:

How can I optimize efficiency within existing virtual infrastructure?

Rebalancing. Virtual infrastructure may require regular rebalancing. CiRBA can help you do this more effectively and can save 30-50% of hardware costs for virtualized environments, and 20-40% on physical hardware refreshes.

Where can I put new workloads?

Forward consolidation. Occasionally you will need to deploy new workloads into an existing virtual environment. To do this, you will need to determine where the workload may fit by examining utilization levels, technical constraints and business policies (e.g. business service, application, service tier, change freeze windows, etc.). CiRBA enables you to establish a gating process that prevents over-subscription of resources and ensures availability and SLA requirements are met within shared infrastructure.

When will I run out of capacity?

Forward-looking analysis. Once you have virtualized, it is very important to frequently look into the future and ensure you will be able to service workloads. This is done by examining trends and fixed growth rates to model future capacity requirements. CiRBA prevents SLA penalties and outages caused by capacity shortfalls.

What hardware do I really require?

Server refresh. As you procure hardware for your environment, it is important to match the purpose of that hardware with its specifications. CiRBA enables What-if analysis of different server specifications to determine optimal options. This saves 20-40% on hardware purchases by avoiding mis-configuring systems, including over-specifying memory or using rack mount servers where blades will do.

How can I report back to the lines of business on resource consumption and requirements?

Business service roll up. Internal clients often prefer a view of their infrastructure in terms of the business service. CiRBA enables you to aggregate configuration and utilization data across applications and entire business services. This provides visibility into infrastructure from a business perspective, reducing virtualization-induced paranoia among lines of business and enabling key reports such as chargeback, etc.

How can I track configuration risks in my environment?

Standardization. Virtualization can create difficulties in tracking configurations and standards. Using CiRBA you can continuously analyze to identify deviations from standard images or similar peers. This promotes compliance (both internal "gold standard" and regulatory), reduces operational risk, and increases server-to-admin ratios.