QLogic 2600 Series vSphere 5 Virtual Server Engine - Manual (Page 4)

The Great VM Proliferation
With many server admins working on their 3rd and
4th generation of virtualized servers, the focus has
changed from interoperability and learning the
behavior of vSphere 5.1, to increasing VM density
(#VMs/Physical Host Server). With the availability of
servers based on Intel’s E5 processors (multi-core,
768GB of RAM, PCI Express® Gen3), a new, game-
changing compute platform was introduced. This
new platform allows for new levels of VM density
and for the first time Tier-1 applications that
previously required dedicated server hardware can
now run on virtual servers, achieving improved
performance, scalability and efficiency.
While vSphere 5.1 and multi-core processor based
servers are seeing significant deployments in many
enterprise datacenters, the I/O and network
infrastructure to support these new technologies
lags far behind. In a survey conducted by IT Brand
Pulse, IT professionals said the average number of
VMs per server would almost double in the next 24
months. Approximately 25 percent of IT
professionals surveyed also said what they need
most to increase the VM density is more I/O
bandwidth.
The purpose of this industry brief is to provide a
planning guide to help enterprises deploy Tier-1
applications with adequate bandwidth in a dense
vSphere 5.1 virtualization environment.
Increasing VM Density
Approximately 25 percent of IT professionals surveyed said
what they need most to increase the density of VMs per server
is more I/O bandwidth—QLogic’s core competence. VM
Density
IT Brand Pulse
The average number of VMs per server in
my environment:
What I need most to increase the density of
VMs per physical servers is more:
IT Brand Pulse