This is according to the most recent research conducted by Gridstore. The research asked over 125 IT professionals a number of detailed questions surrounding the issue of SQL Server modernisation and consolidation, including the business challenges driving their changes.
Gridstore Founder and CTO Kelly Murphy stated: “However, the performance impact and unpredictability when SQL Server is virtualised has been a major barrier to enterprises trying to consolidate SQL workloads in virtual environments. SQL Server sprawl across physical servers drives higher costs due to low utilisation of servers sized for peak workloads and licensed per-core. That sprawl is clear from the research we have conducted – not just in terms of the number of SQL Servers in any one data centre, but also in terms of what versions they are running.”
“Our research clearly highlights the drivers for SQL Server consolidation – cost take-out and improvements in efficiency – and yet what also comes out loud and clear from the findings is a desire by IT managers to ensure good performance while virtualising their SQL environment,” added Murphy “And upgrade to the latest version.”
Key findings:
- While cost reduction was the #1 response to what is driving the desire for SQL consolidation, this was tempered by the top three issues concerning respondents when it came to consolidation - Performance (74 per cent), High Availability (51 per cent) and Manageability (40 per cent).
- While some had upgraded to SQL Server 2012 SP3 and were comfortable they were well within their support maintenance period, only 34% of those surveyed had upgraded to SQL Server 2014 SP1 leaving the vast majority faced with expired Main Stream Support end dates, and many of which were perilously close to the expiration of their extended support end dates.
- Of the top versions deployed within their IT estate, SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3 dominated with 59%, SQL Server 2008 SP4 at 32% and SQL Server 2005 SP4 at 17%.
- SQL Server consolidation is being driven by the need to reduce cost in over a third of cases - 34 per cent - followed by a drive to improve efficiencies at 25 per cent and a need to standardise at 21 per cent.
- IT agility also plays a small but significant role in driving consolidation, stated by 10 per cent of the sample as the key business driver.
- The overwhelming majority of the sample stated that they wished to consolidate up to 20 SQL Servers (57 per cent). In just over ten per cent of the sample that figure jumped to 76 SQL Servers or more.
- 65 per cent of the sample stated that the average number of user databases for any given SQL Server was between 1 and 20.
- Security and Resource Management were also cited as issues of concern at 32 per cent.
Gridstore's All-Flash HyperConverged Infrastructure brings a unique combination of cost reduction and performance that is ideal for SQL Server consolidation. This combination plus our unique ability to deliver precision I/O (IOPS) per VM – allows admins to guarantee precise and predictable high performance I/O to each virtualised SQL workload.
“While the data centre has been steadily becoming virtualised over the past decade, most SQL Servers deployments continue to run 1:1 on a physical server due to concerns of predictable performance. With Gridstore’s all-flash HyperConverged Appliances and our granular I/O control per VM, enterprises now can consolidate SQL Servers into a virtualised environment, lowering TCO, along with the ability to control and deliver precise amounts of IOPS to each VM,” added Murphy.
Gridstore HyperConverged infrastructure is optimised for demanding database environments like Microsoft SQL Server. Its all-flash HyperConverged Appliances deliver the performance necessary to enable virtualisation and consolidation of SQL Servers where previously only standalone physical servers would do. Using all-flash storage, the Gridstore HyperConverged Appliances deliver the IOPS needed, along with the scalability and management required. Gridstore is also fully redundant and fault tolerant, which means operations, continue even if a node fails.
“The cost of SQL sprawl is significant and the changes to SQL licensing make this problem even more painful and a top priority for enterprises. Gridstore allows enterprises of any size to reduce infrastructure spend and SQL licensing cost while guaranteeing high performance for SQL workloads. Now customers can have confidence in their consolidation.” concluded Murphy.
