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Virtualizating Applications — SQL, Microsoft Exchange

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One challenge and area of angst we continue to hear from our customers is around virtualizing tier-1 applications, specifically Microsoft SQL and Exchange.  Because fewer physical servers running more virtual machines (VMs) are increasingly being used to support their tier-1 applications, scalability and uptime requirements for virtual server infrastructures have become even more critical.  Assuring optimal performance and protection levels for these applications within the virtual data center is challenging and can be a major adoption barrier for IT departments.

clip_image002At vmworld 2009 and specifically with VMware’s recent vSphere 4.0 launch, which quadruples the amount of memory available to virtual machines, triples network throughput and doubles the maximum I/O operations to more than 200,000 per second, we’re seeing even more interest in deployment and design best practices for these applications.

As an example of the momentum, VMware sees over 56 percent of users running SQL in a VM and Gartner sees 73 percent of x86 customers using virtualization for tier-1 apps.  At Dell’s booth (#1801) we’re demonstrating solutions exclusively designed to accelerate deployment of these apps within a vSphere 4.0 environment.  From the new 11th generation of Dell PowerEdge servers with vSphere 4.0 that deliver up to 168 percent greater performance than previous generation platforms (Check out the graph) to the integrated application data and VM protection included with EqualLogic SANs  (Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware and Microsoft Editions) to the tested and validated workloads/configurations that our engineering teams have developed-Dell is focused on SIMPLIFYING these deployment models for you.

Many of you came by the Dell booth for a live technology demo on how to provide granular application data and VM level protection for your tier-1 apps or even meet & whiteboard your own solution with one of our services professionals.

If you weren’t at the show, check out all of our materials inside our ‘virtual booth’ at www.VMworld.com/Dell including reference architectures for deploying MS SQL in a VMware environment.

About the Author: Andrew Gilman

Andrew Gilman is the Chief Revenue Officer at Immuta, a pioneer in data management for AI, where he’s responsible for global sales and marketing. He brings 15 years of experience leading go-to-market (GTM) strategy and operations at successful venture-backed and publicly-traded enterprise technology companies. Prior to Immuta, he was Actifio's General Manager and led GTM operations for the SaaS and Software portfolio. Previously at Actifio, Andrew was the founding member of the marketing team, where he built and operated the demand generation, inside sales, corporate and channel marketing teams globally - growing the company from pre-revenue to more than $1B valuation in 2014, while scaling to over 1,000 customers across 30 countries. Before Actifio, Andrew led GTM strategy and virtualization programs for EqualLogic (acquired by Dell for $1.4B). Before Dell, he held a variety of product marketing leadership roles at EMC including leading product marketing for the mid-range storage software portfolio, and completing the 2nd Marketing Leadership Development Program (MLDP) class. Previously Andrew worked in both technical and marketing capacities at several successful startups. He frequently contributes articles to industry publications, can be found speaking at industry events and has served as an advisor/mentor to emerging technology startups. Andrew earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the Boston University School of Management. He lives just outside of Boston with his wife, son and daughter.