What are the differences between Consolidation and Virtualisation?
Database consolidation and server virtualisation are both techniques used to reduce the number of physical servers in an environment, therefore saving money on licenses, power, cooling and maintenance. Choosing the right technique (either consolidation or virtualisation) depends on a number of factors, including the hardware resources required by the database or application, vendor support and complexity of the environment. The table below summarises the main similarities and differences between consolidation and virtualisation.
| Virtualisation |
Consolidation |
|
| Same | Goal to reduce physical servers | Goal to reduce physical servers |
| Savings on power, licensing, maintenance | Savings on power, licensing, maintenance | |
| Can Improve High Availability and reduce recovery times | Can Improve High Availability and reduce recovery times | |
| Performance concerns | Performance concerns | |
| Different | Same number of Operating Systems | Fewer Operating Systems |
| Same databases per instances | More databases per instance | |
| Same number of instances | Fewer instances | |
| No Windows or SQL Server Upgrade | Could upgrade Windows and SQL Server | |
| ‘Black-box’ approach | Application knowledge and Engineering effort required | |
| Additional layer of technology | More mixed workload | |
| Hardware abstraction | Tight hardware integration |
In March 2010, Justin Langford - Coeo's Director of Managed Services will present at the Microsoft Architect Insight Conference on SQL Server consolidation. Sign-up to hear more about undertaking a consolidation project.
