As The Virtual World Turns...Optimize It

Virtual machine technology has rapidly expanded since being introduced a few short years ago. Now virtual servers are launched and perform many different types of tasks, and have moved over to take an important role in storage. Virtual machines are now proliferating to become part of the desktop environment—and it appears that PCs will soon be replaced by ultra-thin clients (aka zero clients) that simply act as interfaces for virtual machines.

It appears that our not so distant future will be ensconced completely in the cloud—and nearly all of our computing actions will be virtual. Technologies continue to be evolved to make this possible; the one thing that users, IT staff and corporate executives will not sacrifice is speed of access to data and rapidity of processing. Hence, anything which gets in the way of such performance must be firmly addressed.

As an ever-increasing amount of our computing becomes virtual, the speed of interaction between hardware hosts and virtual machines becomes more critical. Coordination of virtual machines also becomes vital—especially as the quantity of these increases.

Speed of access is dependent upon a basic computer operation: I/O reads and writes. In fact, that level is so important it can actually have a considerable impact on the entire environment. Many additional I/Os can be required for reads and writes when files are in a state of fragmentation. Originally developed for better utilization of hard drive space, fragmentation causes files to be split into tens or hundreds of thousands of pieces (fragments). Because of the additional I/Os required to read and write fragmented files, performance is seriously slowed down and I/O bandwidth bottlenecks occur frequently.

Within a virtual environment, an I/O request must pass through multiple layers. Because of this, fragmentation has even more of a profound impact in a virtual environment than it does in a strictly hardware platform. Left alone, it can even lead to an inability to launch and run more virtual machines.

Due to the complexity of virtual environments, a simple defragmentation solution won’t properly address the situation. In addition to fragmentation itself, I/Os must be prioritized so that shared I/O  resources can be properly coordinated. Fragmentation in virtual environments also causes virtual disk “bloat”, in which virtual disks are set to dynamically grow but don’t then shrink when users or applications remove data.

State of the art virtual platform disk optimization technology addresses all of these issues. A majority of fragmentation is actually prevented before it occurs. Virtual machine resources are fully coordinated, and wasted virtual disk space is eliminated with a compaction feature.

As our computing world continues to become increasingly virtual and move into the cloud, keep that world turning with competent optimization.

True Efficiency in Computing

Efficiency has always been a key factor in running a business venture. But since the industrial revolution and the amazing cost reductions that accompanied it, efficiency has become a fine art. This was made even more true with the advent of computers—now it wasn't just manual labor that could be mechanized, but also tasks that actually required thinking. Add to that innovations such as lean manufacturing, and efficiency has been moved into whole new realms.

In today’s economy, focus on efficiency is as much of an issue as it ever was, perhaps even more. Equipment is kept in repair and made to last as long as possible. Business processes are scrutinized for waste of time and resources. Job performance is paid careful attention to for the same reasons.

In the area of computers, efficiency has always played a major role. Probably the most obvious advances have been in the realm of form factor: how much computing could be done with how little physical material? Chips became smaller and lightning-fast; storage capacity grew enormously while media steadily shrank; cabinets became rack-mounts, and then came virtual machines which occupy no physical space at all.

There is an area of computer efficiency that can be overlooked, however, and that is the waste of I/O resources. Such waste has a heavy impact throughout an enterprise: Drive space is wasted;  hardware becomes overworked and fails before its time; processes hang; backups fail; and worst of all performance is drastically slowed down, affecting production at every quarter.

One of the primary causes of I/O resource waste is file fragmentation. Unless it is specifically addressed, fragmentation is a natural function of a file system. It is the splitting of files into pieces (fragments) in order to better utilize drive space. It is not uncommon for a file to be split into thousands or tens of thousands of fragments. It is the fact that each and every one of those fragments must be obtained whenever that file is accessed that wreaks such havoc on performance and resources.

For many years, defragmentation was the only method of addressing fragmentation. But because of today’s complex technical innovations, enormous volume and file sizes and unheard-of rates of fragmentation, defrag has now itself become inefficient at tackling the issue. Efficiency now comes in the form of optimization technology, which both maximizes performance and eliminates wasted disk I/O activity. The majority of fragmentation is now prevented, while file optimization and other innovations are combined to round out the solution.

It is by these methods that true computer efficiency, in all aspects, is fully brought to reality.

Eliminating Waste of Computer Resources

Up until fairly recently, we have been a wasteful society. Cutting down forests, piling trash into landfills, burning as much energy as we could possibly consume—these have been the indexes of our lifestyles. It is only in the last few years that we as a culture have begun to realize that eventually such waste comes back to haunt us in the worst ways imaginable, and how vital conservation of resources is to our survival.

Computer resource management has paralleled the trend in waste. A relatively short time ago, “more power” was the mantra of computing—with no regard whatsoever to the burning of energy. As hardware prices dropped, hardware resources could be added and wasted without a thought, just as long as the system was kept up and running as efficiently as possible.

Today, most of us have realized the errors of our ways. Form factors have shrunk to be able to accommodate data and processes that used to require ten times as many resources. Technology has now evolved so that servers can be launched without any extra hardware whatsoever. Computers have become far more energy efficient so that the same or even more work can be accomplished using less.

One area of waste in computer resource management still being addressed is the waste of I/O resources. This particular type of waste has significant ramifications including waste of drive space, wasted hardware purchases, waste of hardware in general, and even waste of manpower.

Such waste comes about when files are left in a fragmented state and not properly optimized. Fragmentation is the splitting (fragmenting) of files into thousands or tens of thousands of pieces, in order to better utilize drive space. Many extra I/O requests are required to read—and to write—files that exist in such a state. Additionally, processes take far longer, users have to wait, and performance generally suffers.

While defragmentation for a long time was the only method of dealing with these problems, today’s complex technological innovations, along with enormous volume and file sizes and highly increased rates of fragmentation, make simple defragmentation outmoded.  Optimization technology now exists to maximize performance while eliminating wasted disk I/O activity. A majority of fragmentation can now be prevented, making it a non-issue, and file optimization and other solutions are combined to make a total solution.

With this technology utilized in all enterprises, the waste of I/O resources is eliminated altogether. It is one major step in our overall conservation of computer resources.

Enterprise-Level Fragmentation Solutions

File fragmentation has been a plague on modern computers since their inception. In one form or another—from backup-and-restore to various levels of defragmenters—fragmentation has always been fought.

Today, however, with computers at the very center of business operations, and with technology having risen to such amazing heights as Network Attached Storage and virtual servers, it really does matter what fragmentation technology is applied to deal with the problem. It truly does take enterprise-level solutions to deal with enterprise-level issues.

There are three primary factors that should be evaluated when assessing the effectiveness of a defragmentation solution.

The first of these would be, how robust is the solution in dealing with your particular levels of fragmentation? Today’s fragmentation levels are higher than ever, and additionally file and drive sizes are many times that of yesterday. Some fragmentation solutions have limits as to the amount of fragmentation they can effectively handle; after a point, they simply grind on and on and the result of a defragmented drive is never actually achieved. It is therefore beneficial to seek out a solution that you know will be able to actually deal with and eliminate the fragmentation on your systems.

Second would be the toll the solution takes on system resources. Many fragmentation solutions  require that no users be on the system while the solution is running, because user processes are severely interfered with while the solution is operating. The best solutions available today operate invisibly in the background, with otherwise-idle resources, while users are active on the system. This type of operation eliminates the need for maintenance “time windows” which have virtually disappeared in today’s environments.

Third would be the impact the solution has upon the resources of your organization. That is, how much human interference does it take for the solution to run? Especially today, IT resources come at a premium. If an IT person must take the time to run the fragmentation solution, or even to find the time to schedule it, it can take a serious toll on an already overburdened staff. A fully automatic solution that requires no manual running or scheduling leaves the IT personnel free to attend to their actual jobs.

One other factor to examine would also be resource-related. Today, there are solutions available that actually prevent a majority of fragmentation from occurring in the first place. In addition to the elimination of the need to defragment after files have been written, write performance is also substantially improved.

To sum up, an enterprise solution would be one which effectively eliminated fragmentation as a problem for the organization, that never negatively impacted system resources, and also that required no human intervention after the fact of installation. Organizations would do well to expect at least these benefits from any fragmentation solution.