Link: vmMBA.com: Refresh Now!.
Why would you replace a server that runs fine, meets SLAs, and is not fully depreciated?
This is a common obstacle to replacing a physical server with a
VM when it is not yet "ready" to be refreshed. Historically, people
have had a hard time producing a business case for these servers. Here,
I present a framework that can help justify a "refresh now" plan, and
it is based upon a few key requirements:
- Energy costs are real. …
- Shared Storage costs are decreasing. …
- Multi-core processors have an impact in two areas: …
When you take into account some of the above factors,
it’s often quite easy to produce a strong business case for
virtualizing servers that are not yet due for a refresh.The following spreadsheet
shows a per-VM analysis that determines the breakeven point, in months,
for virtualizing a server that still has useful life remaining.
