[Web4lib] How many virtual servers fit on the head of a pin?

[Mutch, Andrew]

Don,

That sounds about right. As you have with physical servers, you want to
strike the balance between having too many servers that create
unnecessary administrative busywork and extra costs to support and
having too few servers where you end up with all your eggs in one
basket. We've virtualized a number of our servers and doing so has
allowed us to get away from scenarios like you had with the physical box
where you had a number of services, not all related, running on a single
box. The virtualized environment allows us more control over scheduling
upgrades as we don't have to worry about taking out other services with
server reboots, software upgrades, etc. It also allows us to better
segregate services for security purposes so a server like the EZProxy
box can be moved out to the DMZ while other servers can live interally
on the network. It also helps you limit the number of potential threats
against any one server by spreading out the services to distinct boxes.
If it was me, the only other need I would see is for a test server
environment where you could load and test new applications, upgrades,
etc. Otherwise, from what you've described, the outline below sounds
reasonable.

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Don Hamilton
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 6:54 AM
To: web4lib
Subject: [Web4lib] How many virtual servers fit on the head of a pin?

Hello, all.
 
Has anyone found, or developed, guidelines for how many virtual servers
a 'typical' library should/would want to have? I'm trying to strike a
balance between 'one server for each app' and 'one server to do it all' 
 
We currently run one four year old server locally to handle the library
website. It runs Apache, IIS, Drupal, php, ezproxy, mysql, and mssql
servers, plus a variety of open source packages such as mrbs and
mediawiki.  Rather than have me upgrade the physical server, campus
computing has offered a number of virtual servers.
 
We're working toward the following production setup:
 
- one server for all mysql databases
- one server for apache and drupal, the primary website
- one server for ezproxy
- one server for IIS and mssql ( a purchased app and some coldfusion
scripts)
- one server for the rest (mrbs, web collab, et al)
 
Does this seem reasonable? Thoughts?
 
Don (too much of a good thing?) Hamilton
 
 
Don Hamilton
Library Information Systems & Technology Manager Wilfrid Laurier
University Library
75 University Ave W
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
519-884-0710x3336
 
'I'm expected to be an expert in everything, including things I know
nothing about'. Ray Norton
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