Having clear visibility into a virtualized datacenter can mean the difference between wasted resources and effective workload management. The challenge for IT administrators is to manage and to utilize computing resources that span the entire environment, often including physical, virtual and cloud resources.

Almost all of today’s data center environments have or will have some form of virtualization deployed. This demands additional considerations when deploying a virtualized physical platform. In this article, I discuss resource planning and issue mitigation as means of optimizing resource use.

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Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

As I’ve mentioned before — an intelligent infrastructure is a flexible one. That sometimes means the successful coexistence of rival technologies. Still, in today’s modern datacenter, running virtualization platforms such as XenApp 6.5 and XenDesktop 5.5 are very much possibilities. Not only that, there are best practices written around the deployment.

Each of these Citrix tools can help administrators consolidate hardware, improve flexibility and manage their environment better. Running XenApp or XenDesktop on VMware vSphere can help you boost performance and implement desktop or application virtualization in your infrastructure. Some tools are easier to combine with vSphere than others, and Citrix’s supported products are a good place to start.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

With high utilization rates modern datacenters are tasked with staying up longer. A bit part of that is keeping an eye on the system running within the DC. Making the right decisions can improve server health and data center efficiency. On the other hand, overlooking simple things, like monitoring data center power consumption, can have detrimental and costly effects on the environment.

There are several tips and best practices to consider when it comes to keeping a healthy server environment. Remember, datacenters – cloud-based or local – must maintain a certain up-time for true efficiency to occur.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

There  has been a big change in datacenter technologies over the past few years. Administrators are now working with a very distributed architecture with a cloud presence all over the world. One of the biggest shifts from the traditional data center is that all data is stored, managed and administered in a private cloud. This is where monitoring a cloud environment becomes even more important.

Effective datacenter and cloud is a proactive administrative activity that must be taken very seriously. Remember, monitoring can capture performance issues before they happen. The more an administrator knows about their own cloud initiative, the better the solution they can deliver down to the end-user.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

One of the biggest trends that I’m seeing for 2012 is the integration of a private/public cloud. Many organizations see the benefit of delivering entire workloads over the wide area network to the end user who can then utilize their own personal device. This technology demands a strong central data center with a good core set of servers.

A major technological advancement for 2012 will be the increase in server density. New processors, better RAM and more efficient virtualization techniques will help create a more robust data center. Some of these improved server densities will come in the form of better blade chassis systems. I’m also looking for big advancements with products such as the Cisco UCS line. Onboard hardware profile virtualization allows for quick provisioning of entire blades and this technology will create better cloud-ready infrastructures.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on the TechTarget.com Advisory Board Q&A*

BYOD has been on the minds of many administrators. However, there are several considerations that must be made before an organization implements a bring your own device (BYOD) program.

BYOD can be a powerful supplemental solution for any organization. The ability to deliver full desktops with a variety of personalized elements can create a great end-user performance experience. Still, there are cautions that need to be examined before such a program is rolled out.

But if an organization implements BYOD poorly, it can lose control over its infrastructure and, even more importantly, its data.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

Desktop environments, especially in large organizations, can grow to be complex management challenges in many environments. IT administrators are tasked with numerous assignments, such as antivirus deployment and application patching. At this time, there are great software tools available to help ease the desktop management process. However, with virtualization, there needs to be a mind-shift from desktop management to workload management.

Virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), with centralized storage and management, has forced IT professionals to look at endpoint devices differently. End-point management has become easier in the sense that a lot of the data is now stored centrally. However, there still needs to be clear visibility to the client machine.

As VDI continues to expand, professionals have to broaden their management minds and focus on making desktops more robust. It has become even more important to understand and manage workloads as the virtualized environment grows.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

Windows Server 2008R2 has always been a powerful platform. Now, many organizations have begun their own BYOD initiatives. They main idea behind BYOD is to give control of the endpoint device to the end user while managing applications and workloads centrally in the data center. With this in mind, administrators can focus on improving their Windows Server environment – thus also improving the end-user experience.

Still, engineers are beginning to see a logistical workload nightmare in managing these virtual desktops, applications and sessions. The question quickly becomes: How can we manage all of these users, their environment and virtual sessions within our existing Windows Server environment?

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

In today’s evolving virtualized state, there are only a small number of vendors who are able to deliver an entire cloud-ready solution. Citrix’s cloud products allow enterprises to build out a flexible and scalable infrastructure in the cloud and deliver it to the end user.

Utilizing Citrix’s entire product stack – everything from the hypervisor (XenServer) to the desktop delivery controller (XenDesktop) – IT administrators can manage and deliver a powerful solution down to the end-user. Best yet, is that all of the components can be virtual.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*

Monitoring datacenter activities has evolved into a proactive task that must be efficiently managed. Administrators must monitor and watch over virtual workloads, physical hosts, system performance and other datacenter variables.

With this evolution of management tasks modern data centers need a more holistic monitoring strategy. The key here is a plan that embraces environmental factors like temperature and humidity – not just within the room – but at a granular level within racks and servers.

**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**

Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies

*As seen on TechTarget.com*