28
It was following a recom- Server & Storage Beneath enhancements in
mendation from his peers in Virtualisation using VMware functionality it delivers other
Oxford University’s and DataCore Software. “We benefits to the colleges:
1-2-1
Computing Services Team consulted with NCE as well “Consolidating servers to a
that Dave began to discuss as Oxford University virtualized solution has pre-
his objectives with resources to identify both sented quantifiable savings.
DataCore’s authorised part- advantages and disadvan- Once complete, a total of
ner, NCE. Dave confirms: “As tages of virtualisation. around 20 servers will have
a reseller for both ESX and been rationalised and moved
Datacore products, NCE were There is always a fear of the over to the virtualized solu-
recommended to us by a unknown but the learning tion. We estimate that the
T team at the University curve was seen as necessary cost of running each server
Computing Services who to achieve a more secure & (power, cooling, spares etc.)
were themselves managing a reliable back-office system, is around £700 per annum,
VE HAR
large scale virtualisation Dave says. which timed by 20 repre-
DA
project.” sents a significant saving
“We took advantage of trial over a period of several
Dave explains: “Our initial periods of both ESX and years.”
goal was to address server SANMelody to carry out an
consolidation, disaster extensive period of testing The storage efficiencies
recovery and introduce a to make sure we were com- obtained are similarly
platform for further expan- fortable before signing off impressive. “Pre-Datacore
sion,” explains Dave, “We any purchase orders!” our storage utilisation rate
currently have about 30 Dell was around 25%,” Dave
Servers and 200 PCs across Server virtualisation explains. “However, this
both college sites and From a server virtualisation does not give the complete
approximately 1,000 staff perspective, there are a pair picture as some physical
and students – with an envi- of VMware ESX Servers in servers were often teetering
ronment that is continually each college running on the brink of no storage
growing and making increas- Vmotion, DR and HA. “This space, whilst other systems
ing demands on the IT infra- provides the colleges with a had vast amounts that went
structure.” greater level of resilience untouched.
than the previous structure,”
Working with NCE, Dave has Dave adds, “and also a “Post-Datacore and with the
now implemented a solution quicker path to Disaster implementation of new
that encompasses both Recovery.” guidelines and end-user pro-
FEB 09 WWW.SNSEUROPE.COM
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