Storage Choices For Virtual Server Environments, Q1 2011

Virtual server technology is a unifying technology in IT infrastructure around the world. As maturity increases, more critical production applications are being deployed virtually, raising the stakes for getting the architecture right. Storage remains a complicated aspect of virtual server deployments, with numerous technology and vendor choices to make. It's important to remember that the benefits of server virtualization are dependent on each element of infrastructure that goes into the environment. Forrester updated its January 2009 survey on storage for virtual server environments. The results show continued trends toward consolidation and simplification and a shift from "just making it work" to streamlining operations. So what does all this mean? Infrastructure and operations professionals should re-evaluate vendor choices, single-source when possible, and explore alternative storage protocols — and NFS in particular — as cheaper, more efficient alternatives to Fibre Channel.