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The Dell guiDe To

Virtualization

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“ through 2012, Virtualization will be the highest-impact trend in infrastructure and operations.”

— thomas bittmangarTner DaTa CenTer ConferenCe:

“Server virTualizaTion: TrenDS, BeST PraCTiCeS, anD The fuTure” novemBer 2007

virtualization is changing everything, from how you manage resources to the way you support your business. it addresses many of today's iT challenges—cost, responsiveness, availability, disaster recovery— and is a key element for achieving a more automated, agile infrastructure.

at the same time, everything is changing with virtualization. Technologies are evolving, competition is exploding, and new choices are making virtualization accessible to a wider range of organizations. This rapid rate of change can make it difficult to take advantage of today's technology without limiting tomorrow’s options.

Dell helps you virtualize at the speed of your business, with solutions tailored for who you are, what you’re doing, and where you need help.

Virtualize at the speed of Your business

tailored Virtualization solutionsMany are turning to virtualization to consolidate servers. This can help reduce costs related to hardware acquisition, management, power and cooling, and data center real estate. But virtualization benefits extend well beyond cost reduction. It also plays a strategic role in improving your quality of IT service and agility by enabling cost-effective and easy-to-manage solutions for disaster recovery, high availability, dynamic workload balancing.

Whether you’re a small organization trying to extend the value of the assets you already have or a large data center pushing the envelope in automation, Dell delivers solutions that make sense for your budget, staff, and business.

designed for Your business Dell can customize a solution that best meets your needs. Here are just a few ways we can deliver the right combination of products and services to help improve your efficiency:

Cost Effective, Easy-to-Manage Solution for Small or Remote Environments

• Dell™ PowerEdge™ 2950 III, PowerVault™ MD3000 or MD3000i, and Citrix® XenServer Enterprise or VMware® Infrastructure 3: Help maximize the utilization of your hardware investment with high availability options that are critical when running multiple applications on the same system.

• Dell ProSupport Remote Advisory Services provides direct access to technical experts who can help with every step of your virtualization implementation.

Scalability and Business Protection for Medium to Large Environments

• Dell PowerEdge R805, Dell EqualLogic™ PS 5000, and VMware Infrastructure 3 with Site Recovery Manager: An end-to-end virtualization solution, providing seamless scalability of server and storage capacity with advanced disaster recovery functionality built in.

• Dell’s Fast Track Infrastructure Consulting Services, include Virtualization Workshops, Readiness Assessments, and Design and Implementation to help you migrate to and optimize a virtualized infrastructure.

High Performance and Business Continuity for Large Data Centers

• Dell PowerEdge R900, Dell/EMC CX3, VMware Infrastructure 3, MirrorView™, and SnapView™: Established business continuity solution for your mission-critical applications and data, with the flexibility to take advantage of the cost-effective simplicity of managing data across an IP network.

• Virtualization Operational Readiness helps you understand and adapt to the operational impact of virtualization on your data center, including administration, chargeback, and change management.

DELL iS tHE onLy SyStEM vEnDoR DESignatED a vMwaRE EntERPRiSE viRtuaLization autHoRizED ConSuLtant.

“ Virtualization is a powerful technologY…we'Ve cut the total cost of ownership, and [Virtualization] enables fast deploYment of new serVices. dell has deliVered a phenomenal solution.”

— jean holleYexeCuTive viCe PreSiDenT anD Cio, TellaBS*

“ we now haVe a sYstem that offers efficiencY, redundancY, and consolidation. Virtualization supports our critical applications. it is the heart of operations for our citY.”

— anthonY jonesChief informaTion offiCer, CiTy of new orleanS*

a smarter path to VirtualizationIn a market as dynamic as virtualization, choices that make sense today can become barriers to change tomorrow. Dell provides a path to virtualization that is grounded in choice and defined by industry standards. We offer the latest technologies, from both Dell and our partners, that can simplify your operations without limiting your options.

Servers

Dell has been deploying virtualization on PowerEdge servers since VMware released its first server hypervisor in 2001. Over the years, our engineering and marketing teams have collaborated closely to advance integration and functionality. We’re optimizing our entire portfolio for virtualization—not just on blades—to provide you with choices to meet your density, flexibility, and performance needs without locking you into proprietary infrastructures.

The result? PowerEdge servers that hold the top VMmark performance scores for 2-socket rack, 2-socket blade, and 4-socket rack servers.1

Storage

Shared storage is required to take full advantage of virtualization, including workload management, high availability, and disaster recovery. With Dell, you can choose from a broad portfolio of Fibre Channel and iSCSI-based storage platforms designed to meet your specific needs.

The Dell EqualLogic PS5000 series is an exceptional iSCSI SAN to complement your virtualized server infrastructures. You get an easy-to-scale architecture that automatically balances workloads across all available resources as you scale capacity and performance. These capabilities, as well as comprehensive data protection, are included with your storage platform purchase.

Dell/EMC CX storage arrays provide excellent flexibility for SAN, offering both Fibre Channel and iSCSI protocols within the same array. This allows you to utilize existing investments in Fibre Channel fabrics for your most critical applications, while maximizing the flexibility benefits of managing data across an IP network.

virtualization Software

For over seven years, Dell and VMware have jointly designed, tested, and implemented virtualization solutions worldwide. Our successful collaborative approach to solution deployment has resulted in Dell becoming one of VMware’s top resellers—and VMware is Dell’s preferred virtualization software partner.

Dell also offers Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V to give you flexibility in your virtualization deployments.

Management

As organizations deploy virtualization in more varied ways, new opportunities and challenges emerge around management. With Dell’s OpenManage™ systems management portfolio, you can build a management solution that is centered around your operations, not around our products.

We continue to enhance our systems management tools with functionality to simplify the management of your virtual environment. Dell also works with the industry’s top management solutions—including Symantic®/AltirisTM , Microsoft,® and VMware—to add hardware management functionality to their tools. That way, we can help you maximize your existing investments or design a new management solution that can help solve your unique challenges.

DELL inStaLLED MoRE iSCSi aCCESSED DiSk aRRayS in tHE woRLDwiDE ExtERnaL ContRoLLER-BaSED (ECB) MaRkEt in 2007 tHan any otHER vEnDoR BaSED on unit SHiPMEntS.2

“ with altiris, Vmware, and dell, i haVe a unified View of mY entire infrastructure, which simplifies management of the entire enVironment.”

— larrY lemieux aSSiSTanT DireCTor of TeChniCal ServiCeS, ryerSon univerSiTy*

the right serVices, right when You need themVirtualization impacts more than just your server strategy—it also has implications on your storage, network, management tools, and operational practices. Understanding how to effectively apply virtualization can be a challenge.

Dell provides help when and where you need it. Our services are designed to simplify technology transitions and empower your staff, not take over your operations.

We collaborate with you to pre-scope all work so you can be confident it will be done on time and on budget. Select the services you require, and scale up or down as needed. No hassle, no army of consultants, just a solution that delivers results.

With more than seven years’ expertise designing and deploying virtualization solutions, we have developed extensive virtualization expertise, innovative tools, and automated analysis, to help ensure your transition to virtualization will be smooth and efficient.

Dell ProSupport

ProSupport services give you the opportunity to directly align support to address critical challenges, such as maximizing the uptime of your server and storage infrastructure.

ProSupport Remote Advisory Services provide fast access to technical experts for hourly consulting on virtualization implementations.

“ we were alwaYs going to select dell because that’s who we know and trust.”

— paul bressington aSia-PaCifiC heaD of iT, BT gloBal ServiCeS*

“ with Virtualization, our it infrastructure has become significantlY more flexible. it capacities are used to the full, management has been substantiallY simplified and performance bottlenecks are a thing of the past.”

— erich lottes heaD of iT, mB-holDing, germany

SUPPORT

TRAINING

IMPLEMENTATION

WORKSHOP

DESIGN

DIRECT FROM DELL

ASSESSMENT

DELLSOLUTIONLIFECYCLE

Dell Global Infrastructure consultnG

Dell infrastructure Consulting works with customers worldwide to provide workshops, readiness assessments, structured design, and implementation to

deliver a practical solution built to your specific needs.

as fast as You need itDeploying new solutions can be time-consuming. Product lead times, software installation configuration, and testing command key resources can slow IT responsiveness to new business requests. Alternatively, buying excess capacity to allow room for growth ties up your capital in idle assets that may not be used before the technology becomes out of date.

With Dell, you can easily buy and deploy additional capacity as you need it, helping to minimize over-investment in equipment or staff. Dell helps you become more efficient, freeing you to focus on your business.

Streamlined Purchase Path

Dell.com is one of the premier e-commerce engines in the industry, giving you one place to go to quickly and easily configure, purchase, and upgrade your Dell virtualization solution.

Dell’s online Virtualization Advisor tool provides a simple way to build validated configurations for your virtualization deployments. Dell Premier Pages can speed procurement and simplify asset management. You can build custom portals from which you can lock down orderable configurations and track your assets to help maintain IT governance.

Ready to Deploy from the Factory

Dell platforms are ready to deploy straight from the factory. Your solution arrives tested and certified to work within your environment. Custom Factory Integration services extend the efficiency of Dell’s build-to-order process to include your custom hardware and software specifications.

You can order PowerEdge servers with a choice of a factory-validated, integrated hypervisor, allowing you to deploy virtualized servers with just a few clicks. With Dell EqualLogic storage, you can potentially go from box to operating a SAN in minutes. Expansion is linear—you can scale not only disk drives but also controllers, ports, cache—and performance as the environment grows.

“ dell premier pages allows us to place our it procurement under global control to optimum effect. it coordinates future plans, streamlines costs, and deliVers a more efficient serVice to the business.”

— kurt sieglDireCTor of iT anD finanCe ProjeCTS, magna inTernaTional*

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Virtualize at the speed of your business

Dell.coM/Virtualization

Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc. ©2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.

* All customer quotes and results stated represent individual customer experiences. Your results will vary.

1 Based on VMmark 2-socket rack, 2-socket blade, and 4-socket rack results for the PowerEdge 2950 III, M600, and R900 compared to all results published on http://www.vmware.com/products/vmmark/results.html as of May 22, 2008.

2 Gartner, Inc., “Quarterly Statistics: Disk Array Storage, All Regions, All Countries”

the dell differenceDell helps you virtualize at the speed of your business, customizing solutions for who you are, what you're doing, and where you need help.

• Tailored solutions for every customer, because every customer has different needs.

• A smarter path to virtualization by providing choices today that won't limit flexiblility tomorrow.

• Services designed to simplify transitions and empower your staff, not take over your operations.

• Deploy as fast as you need it. Dell enables you to rapidly scale capacity without over-investing in resources, hardware, or staff.