IBM is pairing up its new eServer x440 Intel-based server with virtual machine software from VMware, to create a new platform for server consolidation. Users who have tried the combination are reporting that it both lowers costs and eases the process of server consolidation.
IBM introduced the x440 in April of this year. The new system, which runs from four to 16 Intel Xeon processors, features a mainframe-inspired "building block" approach to expansion that allows customers to pay for computing power incrementally as they need it.
VMware ESX, from VMware Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., runs on top of the X440's bare hardware, providing a virtualization layer that allows multiple virtual servers on a single machine. Users can mix and match virtual servers running different operating systems on the same machine. VMware ESX supports Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, FreeBSD, Red Hat Linux, SuSe Linux, and .Net Server.
That's a useful feature for department store retailer Saks, Inc., of Birmingham, Ala., which is using an x440 systems and VMware ESX as part of a server consolidation effort. Saks has identified 30 to 40 aging servers, running a mix of Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000, that are due for replacement in the near future. The servers host a variety of applications, including inventory and retail buying analysis applications, as well as database and Web servers. Rather than replace them with individual computers, Saks plans to consolidate the servers on a single x440 running VMware.
Consolidating multiple systems on one x440 with VMware will provide better system utilization as well. "Right now, many of those servers sit idle a lot of the time," says Clint Parrish, systems architect and lead system administrator at Saks, Inc. VMware allows system resources to be dynamically allocated to any operating system based on immediate need. It also lets users set specific service levels, so high-priority applications can be guaranteed access to CPU time, memory and disk or network I/O.
Bottom Line Benefit
Consolidating smaller servers onto an x440 running VMware is already benefiting the Saks bottom line, according to Parrish. The retailer has moved 20 company programmers off Intel servers and onto an eight-way x440 connected to an IBM Shark storage area network. Each developer has his or her own virtual server on the x440.
Saks calculated that replacing the 20 Intel servers with individual new servers would have cost about $100,000, plus another $50,000 for network cards and other peripherals. The x440 with 32 GB of memory and VMware ESX set Saks back just $85,000.
While VMware says that under certain circumstances, its software can add a performance hit, Saks did not experience that. In fact, says Parrish, it found just the opposite. When it transferred one application off of a virtual Microsoft Windows server on an IBM computer running VMware, where it had been developed, onto an identical system running native Windows, performance dropped. The company had to tune the new system to get the same level of performance.
The x440 and VMware platform is the result of a joint development agreement announced by IBM and VMware earlier this year. The two companies this week extended that agreement; IBM will now resell VMware ESX and provide support for it. Through IBM Global Services, IBM will provide a single point of contact for the entire system, offering support for the hardware, VMware ESX software, as well as for Microsoft and Linux operating systems running on the system.
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