Easy PartitioningEasy Partitioning

Most business-technology managers know it's easier to manage a small number of servers. That rule has been difficult to follow in the world of Intel-based servers, where businesses are more likely to buy additional servers than to squeeze more work onto existing ones. But that's beginning to change.

Partitioning Intel-based servers into smaller virtual servers has been difficult because the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems have no partitioning intelligence built in, Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff says. What's been required is software that fools applications and operating systems into thinking they have access only to a portion of a server's resources. This lets IT managers create multiple virtual servers within a single physical server, consolidating management and using a greater portion of a server's overall resources.

Intel's newest Xeon processor MP increases the value of partitioning Intel-based servers with speed and memory increases. "The faster and bigger the server, the more interesting partitioning becomes," Haff says.

Partitioning Intel-based servers is the best way for the Nebraska State Legislature to squeeze efficiency out of its eight-way Dell PowerEdge 8450. It's using GSX partitioning software from VMware Inc. to carve the PowerEdge into 12 virtual servers that perform a variety of functions, including Web-site serving and running Citrix Systems Inc. terminal-server software. It takes only a few minutes to create and delete a virtual server, says Daren Gillespie, the state legislature's network administrator.

Dallas energy provider TXU Corp. wants to use partitioning to increase the efficiency of its Intel-based IBM x440 servers. "As you get faster processors, a lot of applications don't take advantage of the speed unless you've got them consolidated on one box," says Chris Schuttger, TXU's IT infrastructure architect.

These capabilities have been available on mainframe and Unix servers and are increasingly being used to take advantage of newer Intel chips. "There's always excess horsepower and memory utilization," Schuttger says. "If I can share the memory, CPU and I/O, I can drive average utilization to the area of 85%, up from an average of 50%."

Software for partitioning from VMware and competitors such as Connectix Corp. and SWsoft starts at about $2,000 per CPU.