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Virtual Infrastructure: Platforms of choice LAST UPDATED on 3rd March 2009

This is a reference table for those interested in understanding the characteristics of the various deployment form factors available today for the x86 platform.  

Any feedback please send me a private e-mail to massimo@it20.info.

h: the platform IS NOT a fit

h: the platform IS a fit

 

                    8-socket Rack  4-socket Rack   4-socket Blade 2-socket Rack  2-socket Blade Tower
             
Suitable for small Virtual Infrastructure deployments (i.e. 2-10 vm's) h h h h h h
Suitable for mid-size Virtual Infrastructure deployments (i.e. up to 10-100 vm's) h h h h h h
Suitable for large Virtual Infrastructure deployments (i.e. more than 100-1000 vm's) h h h h h h
Suitable for very large Virtual Infrastructure deployments (i.e. more than 1000 vm's) h h h h h h
             
Space optimization high high very high low very high very low
Acquisition costs high high high low low very low
Total Cost of Ownership low low low high high very high
Helps to increase consolidation ratio (i.e. less physical servers) very high high high low low low
Impact on physical server failure high medium medium low low low
Number of I/O connections supported very high very high high high medium high
Choice of I/O cards high high medium high medium high
Helps to minimize physical cabling costs and complexities very high high high low low low
Suitable for deployments of VMs with many vCPUs h h h h h h
Memory slots available (per core) very high very high high high medium/high medium/high
Dependency on VM live migration techniques for resources optimization/balancing very low low low high high high
Performance impact due to concurrent spikes in VM's resource utilization. very low low low high high high
Helps to reduce license costs for Virtual Infrastructures products licensed per server h h h h h h
Helps to reduce license costs for Virtual Infrastructures products licensed per socket h h h h h h
Suitable for deployment of application software licensed per # of pCPUs h h h h h h
# of VMs per physical server very high high high medium medium medium
             
                    8-socket Rack  4-socket Rack   4-socket Blade 2-socket Rack  2-socket Blade Tower

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