Database Reference
In-Depth Information
of two servers. Because at 50% utilization, the overall footprint was, at most, half
utilized. By right-sizing, an organization should be able to save money in licensing and
physical equipment costs. When you add onto this the additional capabilities a
virtualized infrastructure offers an organization, there is a very powerful business case
to be made.
The Right Hypervisor
SQL Server has been around for quite a while, but in 2005 Microsoft was finally able to
compete with Oracle. I became a real fan starting with SQL Server 2005. To me, it was
when Microsoft finally had a database that could give Oracle a run for its money. This
was when an average company could put its database workload on SQL Server and it
would meet or exceed all their needs. The product has only gotten better over the years.
On a personal note, we are really excited over SQL Server 2014 and its in-memory
capabilities.
When you go to virtualize your mission-critical SQL Server database, it's important to
use a version of vSphere that was built with a database in mind; this means starting with
VMware vSphere 4 or higher, which was built to handle the demands of a SQL Server
database and business-critical applications.
Figure 3.4
outlines the difference in
capabilities through the generations of VMware product. Just as SQL Server 2000 was
a great database and you could do a lot of great things with it, so were the earlier
versions of ESXi. Today, the most demanding of databases can be virtualized without
fear.
Figure 3.4
Overview of vSphere ESXi capabilities.
When you consider that the average application requires only one or two CPUs, less
than 4GB RAM, and less than 5,000 IOPS, and contrast that with the ability of the latest
release of vSphere and its ability to use over a million IOPS as well as 1,000GB of
RAM and 64 CPUs, then even the largest, most mission-critical SQL Server databases
can be virtualized as long as it's done correctly. The limitation has not been the
hypervisor for a very long time; instead, it's the underlying hardware.
