General question(s) regarding server consolidation
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We are upgrading all of our NT4 boxes to W2000, it the process I would like to eliminate 1 set of production servers to end up with 1 primary data server and a standby.
I have roughly 10 application databases, none of them larger than 1 gig. Does it make sense to run them all on one server (4-way)? Or am I running a risk by putting all of my eggs in one basket?
Would multiple instances make sense? Any experience running SQL Server on VMware?
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Hi,
That’s not an easy question to answer. There are a lot of variables that need to be understood before any decision can be made. Mow mission critical are the applications? What is the load like (per database)? Would you be able to split the databases among separate instances and still balance the load? What is an acceptable amount of downtime (maintenance and patches)? Will you ever need to recycle the server? Send me an email if you want to discuss. psihog@hotmail.com
Tom
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Tom – Thanks for the response. I know there is no cookie cutter answer to my question… I am just looking for some high level opinions/experiences regarding hardware consolidation.
I work for a large company that has regional datacenters where the trend lately has been to buy larger machines to serve as “pure” database servers. All of our production servers have a standby in another datacenter, therefore every separate database server I eliminate kills 2 birds with 1 stone. I feel that a lot of our hardware is under utilized and can handle the additional load of a few more databases and consolidation dramatically simplifies DR, user admin, disk management, backups etc…
The obvious cons are that downtime affects more apps, disk i/o, memory, cpu and the list goes on. One solution on the table right now is VMware which would allow us to partition a physical machine into many instances running their own OS. Sounds good… but we’re still dealing with the physical limitations of the hardware and vendor support is an issue.
Any thoughts?
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mhenriks,
On the surface it sounds like a good idea. And like others have posted, hardware, risk assessment, maintenance, etc., are all issues you must think about. With all of your DB's being less than 1 GB I would guess these things will not be much of an issue; especially since you want a standby server as well...of course, a calculated guess is still a guess..
"Keep Your Stick On the Ice" ..Red Green -
One monster machine will make the DBA more invaluable to the company!
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