As enterprises move towards a digital-first strategy, they rely much more on their IT infrastructures. An organization’s infrastructure drives the entire business and thus must be aligned with the organization’s business goals. This crucial task of managing an enterprise’s infrastructure brings its own share of difficulties to the table.
However, the primary concern is to ensure the infrastructure’s scalability and optimal performance. This is where the virtualization approach comes in. Using virtualization, you can create virtual machines that ensure effective resource allocation and utilization while also taking scalability concerns off your hands.
What are virtual machines?
A virtual machine (VM) is a virtual emulation of a physical device. A type of software called a hypervisor emulates different VMs from the same physical host. Resources are allocated based on the needs of the VMs with the help of the hypervisor. This process of using a hypervisor to emulate different virtual instances from the same physical host is known as virtualization.
Why should you monitor your VMs?
VMs are becoming increasingly popular due to their efficient resource allocation and utilization. However, they must be managed effectively for optimal functioning of the network. Ineffective VM management might lead to complexities such as VM sprawl and VM escape, which might affect the functioning of the system or expose it to potential security vulnerabilities.
What are the challenges of monitoring a virtual machine network?
1. Multi-vendor environments
Most likely, an enterprise network will have VMs from different vendors. A multi-vendor VM network will be considerably harder to monitor since the virtual machine monitoring solution must be compatible with VMs from different vendors.
2. Hybrid infrastructure monitoring
An enterprise’s IT often has a hybrid infrastructure that consists of both on-premises and virtual infrastructures. Monitoring and managing both infrastructures is of utmost importance since they drive all the business operations.
3.Host availability and performance
For any VM to function smoothly, it is imperative for the underlying hardware host to be available and at its optimal functioning levels. If the underlying hardware host goes down, the VMs associated with it will go down, too. Thus, while monitoring a VM network, it is also crucial to monitor the availability and performance of the hardware hosts on which the VMs are running.
4. Comprehensive resource allocation and utilization strategies
The whole point of virtualization is to improve resource allocation and utilization while ensuring the optimal functioning of the network. However, poor virtualization strategies might do more harm than good. Ineffective resource allocation might lead to an increase in the number of idle VMs or might overload existing VMs. Both these scenarios are highly undesirable. Thus, before adopting virtualization, network admins must have a clear resource allocation and utilization strategy in order for the virtualization of their infrastructure to be effective.
How does a virtual machine monitoring solution help you monitor your VM networks effectively?
Using a virtual machine monitoring solution, network admins can:
- Automatically discover the VMs in their network.
- Monitor the availability and performance of their VMs.
- Gain a clear understanding of the idle and overloaded VMs, which helps them with resource allocation and utilization.
- Understand the relationships between their VMs.
- Have holistic visibility into their virtual and on-premises infrastructures.
- Identify potential network bottlenecks and remediate them even before they happen.
- Predefine the best possible course of action to take in the event of a mishap.
Virtual machine management is made easy with OpManager
ManageEngine OpManager is an enterprise network monitoring solution with powerful virtual machine monitoring capabilities. With OpManager, you can monitor and manage not only your virtual devices but also your physical devices.
Moreover, with OpManager’s seamless integrations with other ITSM tools, you can remediate issues by taking them to the concerned person as soon as possible. You can also automate workflow actions based on predefined criteria.
Learn more about OpManager’s virtual machine monitoring capabilities. To download OpManager, click here.
