Configuration changes are the number one cause of application disruptions in the vSphere environment, according to the CloudPhysics annual VMworld IT user survey.
The findings clearly highlight the complexity VMware admins deal with on a daily basis. Complexity prevents them from seeing the consequences of configuration changes: both immediate impacts on applications and the creation of hidden risks that degrade the infrastructure over time. Managing change in a complex environment is beyond unaided human judgment; analytics must accompany and drive optimizations to protect against disruptions to business operations.
Key findings of the survey:
■ 68% of respondents indicated that the top cause of disruptions are configuration changes, highlighting the complexity facing VMware admins.
■ Adding to the challenge, more than 50% are trying to manage their virtual environments with VMware vCenter alone, unaided by dedicated operational management tools.
■ While admins recognize the value in additional management tools, more than 65% reported taking more than a month to implement an on-premise management solution, and of those, more than 45% reported it taking more than three months.
■ Operational challenges vary by segment: while the top initiative for large enterprises is creating a software-defined datacenter (SDDC), commercial organizations and SMB companies are focused on hardware and OS upgrades – 44% and 48% of respondents, respectively.
More than 1,000 attendees at VMworld US participated in the survey.
John Blumenthal is Co-Founder and VP of Strategy at CloudPhysics.
