How to Give Your Cloud Computing a Checkup Before You Buy More Hardware

The chorus begins as a muttering and can crescendo to a loud bellow. “Why is the network running so slow?” Or perhaps it sounds like a long moan, “Why is my memory getting eaten up?” Or maybe it’s a combination, sung in multiple harmonies, “Why is this app and this  software and this internet, all soooo slow?”

When virtual machines need more memory, the easy answer is often an expensive one: Throw more hardware at the problem. Unfortunately, the easy answer is rarely the sustainable one and it may not even offer the results companies want for the short-term. In fact, this is typically how organizations end up with less than optimal systems in the first place -- piecemeal solutions rather than integrated systems that are constantly monitored.

Optimization. But first, analysis

Before businesses sink more money into hardware, they should consider a thorough analysis of their overall IT landscape. Midsize companies spend about 4.1% of their annual budgets on IT. That’s an average of $13,000 per employee. They may be using a combination of custom hardware and cloud computing. As their processes sophisticate, they often run into trouble with efficiencies.

Smart organizations will first optimize their existing environments before adding new equipment. Using management tools and cloud computing to build a private cloud or other configuration tools like Ansible to automate virtual management configurations can help. The typical enterprise server may run 10-12 virtual machines a day at about 30% to 40% capacity. An optimal server utilization rate is usually around 60% to 70%, meaning many servers are made to handle twice the VM load. Not every user needs access to every program and app, after all. Not every department needs to be storing obsolete content in the cloud.

But how to capture the full panoramic picture of virtual systems?

A variety of vendors strive to help with this issue. The software can offer recommended improvements within hours of installation, to monitor operations, run reports and automate fixes. Beyond the inefficiencies, sometimes companies have employed too many virtual managers than necessary. Capacity management tools can help address this issue. When evaluating tools, ensure they can be configured to automate changes in the cloud computing environment, rather than just alerting the virtual manager about recommended changes.

Once companies have a clear picture of what their virtual machine capacity is and how well their existing systems are working, the goal is to adopt more integrated, standardized and automated management processes that can grow as the business grows.

Of course, transformational shifts like this can take a lot of time and effort to orchestrate. Devoting time to automate management of services, or test-drive new software tools is not always within the IT department’s capacity while it is busy keeping up with business as usual. Some companies find it useful to hire a consultant or managed service provider that will be completely dedicated to this transformation.

Is your company’s cloud computing becoming more sophisticated? Have you wondered if an outsourced IT service provider is right for your business? Contact us to receive a free consultation and find out.