What are the most common virtualization design and architecture mistakes and how can you avoid them?

1 Wrong sizing

One of the most common virtualization design and architecture mistakes is wrong sizing. This means either over-provisioning or under-provisioning your virtual machines (VMs), hosts, clusters, and storage. Over-provisioning can lead to wasted resources, higher costs, and lower efficiency. Under-provisioning can lead to performance issues, resource contention, and service degradation. To avoid wrong sizing, you need to conduct a thorough assessment of your current and future workloads, their resource requirements, and their service level agreements (SLAs). You also need to use tools and best practices to monitor and optimize your resource utilization and allocation.

2 Poor security

Another common virtualization design and architecture mistake is poor security. This means neglecting to protect your virtualization environment from internal and external threats, such as malware, unauthorized access, data breaches, and denial of service attacks. Poor security can compromise your data center integrity, availability, and compliance. To avoid poor security, you need to implement a comprehensive security strategy that covers all layers of your virtualization environment, from the physical infrastructure to the virtual network to the VMs and applications. You also need to use tools and best practices to enforce security policies, encrypt data, isolate traffic, and detect and respond to incidents.

3 Inadequate backup and recovery

Another common virtualization design and architecture mistake is inadequate backup and recovery. This means failing to ensure that your virtualization environment can withstand and recover from disasters, such as hardware failures, power outages, natural calamities, or human errors. Inadequate backup and recovery can result in data loss, downtime, and reputation damage. To avoid inadequate backup and recovery, you need to implement a reliable backup and recovery strategy that covers all aspects of your virtualization environment, from the VMs and applications to the hosts and storage. You also need to use tools and best practices to perform regular backups, test restores, and automate recovery processes.

4 Poor performance

Another common virtualization design and architecture mistake is poor performance. This means experiencing slow or unstable performance of your virtualization environment, which can affect your user experience, productivity, and SLAs. Poor performance can be caused by various factors, such as resource contention, network latency, storage bottlenecks, misconfiguration, or compatibility issues. To avoid poor performance, you need to implement a robust performance management strategy that covers all components of your virtualization environment, from the hosts and clusters to the VMs and applications. You also need to use tools and best practices to measure and analyze performance metrics, identify and resolve issues, and optimize performance.

5 Lack of documentation

Another common virtualization design and architecture mistake is lack of documentation. This means failing to document your virtualization environment, such as its configuration, components, dependencies, policies, and procedures. Lack of documentation can lead to confusion, errors, inefficiencies, and inconsistencies. To avoid lack of documentation, you need to implement a clear documentation strategy that covers all aspects of your virtualization environment, from its design and architecture to its operation and maintenance. You also need to use tools and best practices to create and update documentation, store and share documentation, and follow documentation standards.

6 Insufficient training

Another common virtualization design and architecture mistake is insufficient training. This means not providing adequate training to your staff who are responsible for designing, implementing, managing, and supporting your virtualization environment. Insufficient training can lead to knowledge gaps, skills shortages, mistakes, and inefficiencies. To avoid insufficient training, you need to implement a comprehensive training strategy that covers all roles and responsibilities of your staff, from the architects and engineers to the administrators and operators. You also need to use tools and best practices to deliver and evaluate training, provide feedback and coaching, and encourage continuous learning.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?