The benefits of virtualization are fairly well known and have been broadcast though most of the usual IT modes of communication. So, what about virtualizing Meditech? Is there a benefit? I would argue that not only do all of the same benefits apply but there may even be a few extra benefits to a virtualized Meditech. Since I am most familiar with VMWare, that is the software I will reference most.
Let’s start with some of the basic benefits. Ease of management, VMWare gives you a nice piece of software that lets you remotely manage all of your virtual servers. This isn’t just limited rdp or vnc type connections this is the full blown console that you have access to. You have one central place for all of your server management needs. Reboots, power offs, even reconfigurations of the virtual hardware are all done from this one piece of software.
Not only does it reduce the headaches of managing so many servers, but it cuts your physical server footprint and therefore costs several fold. I know that it was not uncommon for me to have 10 or more servers running comfortably on one dual processor server, these were not even high end servers. So right there I cut out the need for 9 servers. Imagine that repeated throughout your entire infrastructure. Also, since there is no longer the need for the infrastructure and cost of additional servers, it does make it so much easier to split servers/programs each onto their own virtual server so that you no longer have to worry about incompatibilities and other issues from multiple programs on one server. You can even script VMWare to create new servers on the fly for whatever needs you have. Another big cost saver is that your Server OS license will sometimes cover several servers instead of the just one it does now (be sure to check with your license dealer as EULA’s are constantly changing.)
So let’s say that cost isn’t an issue for you, what other benefits does virtualization bring to you? How about up time? VMWare has what is called vMotion and DRS. What these two programs do is to allow you to automatically move virtual servers to physical machines that have lighter loads when needed. Say that you have a database server and a application server both residing on the same physical server. Let’s assume that it is month end and the database server is just getting hammered with requests and this is taking up all of the machines processes and starting to have a negative impact on the other virtual machines. DRS(Dynamic Resource Scheduler) sees this and will automatically start moving virtual servers to different physical servers to load balance the machines and make sure the end user is never the wiser. Another nice feature of this is that if one of your physical servers dies VMWare will allow you to bring that server back up on a different physical server within minutes. With VMWare I was able to maintain 99.99% uptime on 60+ virtual servers.
Disaster recovery is always a huge issue in IT so how can virtualizing help you there? Let’s take a look at how I used AppAssure’s Replay software (again I will be talking about one software package that I am most familiar with, but I am sure there are more out there) to create a disaster recovery option. Replay works by creating an on the fly snapshot of your servers that can be switched to on a moment’s notice. On my network I had setup two sets of servers, one in our main server room and one in our power plant, with the power plant servers set as my backups. Depending on the virtual server I set the snapshot time to between 1hr up to 1 day. An application server doesn’t always need as fresh a copy as a data server. After Replay has all of its base images and snapshots made it is then ready to go. You set how quickly you want Replay to kick in or you can even do it manually, but automated is much nicer to your evening or on call people.
To test Replay I would literally yank the power cables from my testing server and sit back and let it go. In just a matter of minutes (most of which was windows booting) my servers were back up and running with data exactly as it was at the last snapshot. When your original is ready to come back up you just tell Replay to switch back and it takes care of it.
So you tell me which is best, a 5 minute Meditech downtime or being down a day or more waiting for a new server and then having to reinstall everything and then getting Meditech to dial in to make sure all of the settings are still correct and making any modifications they may need to make?
Like I said, there are many other vendors out there with software that performs a similar task, these are just the ones that I have firsthand experience in managing and running. So find what works best for you, and don’t get caught unprepared for a disaster. You may even help your budget out along the way.
Michael Davis
Senior Consultant