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Is there a need for automation and sophisticated management such as clon-
ing and mobility?
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Is there additional budget for licensing add-on virtualization technologies?
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Is an automated process needed for migrating from legacy unconsolidated
environments or older operating system levels to a more current system?
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Is the processor chip architecture or operating system environment already
dictated by application or business requirements?
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The last question is a popular starting point: Because virtualization provides
virtual platforms for applications to run on, an obvious consideration is whether
the application requires a particular platform architecture or operating system. Is
a SPARC solution needed, or an x86 solution? Or is the chip architecture unspeci-
fied? Is the operating system environment exclusively Oracle Solaris or a mix of
operating systems? If Solaris is the sole operating system, is there a need to sup-
port multiple kernel update levels?
While platform architecture may drive virtualization choices, this is not a one-
way process. The virtualization capabilities of each platform can influence plat-
form selection as well. For example, standardizing on Solaris makes it possible to
leverage Containers regardless of the chip architecture employed. This approach
provides a no-extra-cost solution that takes advantage of the best resource granu-
larity and scalability of the available technologies, and makes it possible to use
either SPARC or x86 systems. Conversely, selecting SPARC makes it possible to
leverage the built-in domaining capabilities of modern SPARC processors without
incurring additional licensing expenses.
The following simple decision tree may be useful when you are trying to select a vir-
tualization technology, based on the preceding considerations. Actual decisions will
probably be more complex than this decision tree suggests, of course, and external
factors such as existing company standards may dictate some choices. Nevertheless,
these questions can help frame the considerations, leading to a better choice.
Consider using the SPARC environment:
If the highest priorities include vertical scale, single-thread performance,
and complete fault isolation for separate Oracle Solaris instances, then use
M-series' Dynamic Domains.
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