PNNL

Abstract

Virtualization is a hot buzzword right now, and it’s no wonder federal agencies are coming around to the idea of consolidating their servers and storage. Traditional servers do nothing for about 80% of their lifecycle, yet use nearly half their peak energy consumption which wastes capacity and power. Server virtualization creates logical "machines" on a single physical server. At the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, using virtualization technology is proving to be a cost-effective way to make better use of current server hardware resources while reducing hardware lifecycle costs and cooling demands, and saving precious data center space. And as an added bonus, virtualization also ties in with the Laboratory’s mission to be responsible stewards of the environment as well as the Department of Energy’s assets. This article explains why even the smallest IT shops can benefit from the Laboratory’s best practices.