Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.5
OLTP and batch workloads combined.
The benefits of this integration are better physical server utilization, improved
consolidation ratios, less physical equipment to patch, service, and maintain, less
power, less cooling, less cabling, cost savings due to a reduction in licensing—and the
list goes on.
Let's be realistic. Today, the business is pressuring IT to perform better, deploy systems
faster, all while cutting budgets year over year. If you are able to put an initiative in
place where you show tangible increases in efficiency that lead to OPEX optimizations
and reduction in cost, then the conversation changes and the way IT is viewed by the
business also changes. Whether you want to admit it or not, you are competing against
cloud providers out there who claim they can do it better, faster, and cheaper than
internal IT can.
Soapbox
When you are virtualizing SQL Server and Tier 1 workloads in general, the
emphasis on virtualization ratios must be deemphasized. Although virtualization
of SQL can yield cost savings, consolidation, and other great benefits, this is not
the primary reason for virtualizing SQL. If management is basing virtualization
success by consolidation ratios, it is time to adjust expectations because
virtualizing brings more to the table than just consolidation and cost savings. It
can help improve service levels overall.
As part of a virtualization architecture design, it is important to consider workload type
and factor this into the design. Use the features present within the VMware vSphere
platform, such as Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), Affinity, and Anti-Affinity
rules, to either keep virtual machines together on the same host, such as batch and OLTP
