2009-09-16

My New Year's Resolutions

According to Jewish religion, the year is based on the lunar calendar and coming up at the end of this week is Rosh Hashanah - the beginning of the new Jewish Year.
No, I am not getting religious on you all, but it is a good time for self refection on what I have done this past year, and what I would like to accomplish in the upcoming year.
I was asked to prepare the vision for where we are going in the next year compared to where we are today.
I though I would share with you the list that I came up with (with no particular order of importance)
Internal Cloud
  • Collaboration of virtual resources across the forest
    • Connect the different virtual Centers together with Virtual Center Linked-mode
    • Allow for check-out - migration - check back in on a different global location
Security
  • Tighten Virtualization security across the board
    • Host
    • Virtual Machines
    • Virtual Center
  • Procedures - Standardize procedures for more conformity and better operations
  • Auditing changes made to the Infrastructure to allow a paper trail
  • Look into utilizing VMSafe for security on the host for virtual machines when they become more widely available
Automation
  • Utilize more scripting for more standardization of procedures (PowerCLI)
  • Make use of Orchestrator for workflows and deployment
  • 3rd party / native tools for monitoring / alerts / problem identification and resolution
Storage
  • Utilize the latest storage technologies for
    • Thin provisioning
    • Storage de-duplication
    • Storage offloaded snapshots
    • Storage replication between sites (SRM)
BCP/DR
  • More efficient backup methods and faster restore time
  • Start testing SRM
Cost / chargeback
  • Define a cost model for each workload we offer
  • Realistic chargeback according to resources consumed
Network
  • 10gb Ethernet for higher throughput using iSCSI/NFS on the backbone network
  • FCOE
  • Integration with Cisco Nexus 1000 for bettor control and conformity of network policies and compatibility in our current Infrastructure
The Human Factor
  • Education to the end user - virtualization does not mean a hit in performance - on the contrary
  • Not every machine needs 4gb RAM 2 Quad cores
  • Virtualization can save money both on CAPEX and OPEX
The Business
  • Continue assistance to R&D / PD with enabling them to perform their job better / faster / easier
  • Lab manager - start to work with these products - for better productivity
  • Help the business with developing a Virtual Appliance Version of our product
Wishing you all a good year with good things to come (also in the virtualization world)
Shana Tova!