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Google+Top 10 Reasons to Migrate to Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 With Emulex
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Server consolidation and optimization - Hyper-V > MORE
With the unrelenting escalation of costs for power, cooling and data center footprint, data centers are under pressure to extract even more performance from their information technology hardware and software. Hyper-V, the nextgeneration server virtualization technology for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, allows a single physical server to do the work of multiple under-utilized servers. Recent studies have shown that 60% of virtualized servers are connected to a Fibre Channel SAN, enabling storage-ondemand, rapid migration of virtual machines and fail-over cluster support. Emulex Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FcoE) Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) are the optimum storage connection for Hyper-V and Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2.
Emulex has released a management pack for Hyper-V that supports performance and resource optimization (PRO) for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM). The Emulex Management Pack monitors I/O usage relative to maximum available bandwidth and provides the option to migrate virtual machines to improve application response times.
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Installation option for minimized server roles - Server Core> MORE
Most servers in the data center are managed remotely from a single console and do not require a full complement of local management applications. The server core options for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 provide a streamlined installation of minimum operating system components, simplifying administration and patch management for production servers. The Emulex AutoPilot Installer® program automatically detects a server core installation and does a command-line installation of the driver and minimum components to support remote management of Emulex adapters.
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Boost efficiency with enhanced interrupt handling - MSI-X
> MOREWith the proliferation of server virtualization, it is increasingly important to achieve maximum CPU utilization. Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 supports message signaled interrupts-extended (MSI-X), a new technology that allows CPU interrupts from multiple devices to be processed in parallel. With MSI-X, CPUs can process multiple interrupts with minimum idle time spent waiting for individual interrupts to complete. MSI-X is supported with Emulex LightPulse® 8Gb/s HBAs and provides maximum efficiency when redundant HBAs are installed for failover and load balancing.
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Leverage multi-processor architecture for better performance - NUMA support > MORE
Today’s leading multi-core and multi-socket systems implement nonuniform memory access (NUMA) that provides separate memory for each processor, avoiding the performance degradation with older multiprocessor servers that share memory. NUMA-based servers achieve improved system performance if the instructions and data are in memory that is local to the processor that will use them. Using MSI-X support in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, Emulex 8Gb/s HBAs running the latest Emulex Storport Miniport driver direct interrupt processing back to the processor node that initiated the I/O, reducing interrupt latency and improving cache effectiveness.
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Automate administrative tasks with new command-line scripting - PowerShell
> MOREWindows PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting technology to automate system administration tasks and increase IT productivity. The Emulex OneCommand™ Manager application (previously called HBAnyware®) provides comprehensive command line support that can be incorporated into PowerShell scripts to automate management of Emulex adapters.
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Employ improved high availability support - Failover Clusters > MORE
Failover clustering provides high-availability and scalability for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 that expands and simplifies the capabilities that were available with Microsoft Cluster Server. Failover clustering natively supports the Fibre Channel bus and is particularly well suited for deployment with Fibre Channel SANs.
Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 offer simplified support for cluster installation, configuration and management. A new installation wizard allows administrators to create a cluster with a single step. Installation scripts can also be created for automated deployment. The integrated Cluster Validation Tool will run tests for functionality and best practices as part of the cluster configuration process. The Cluster Validation Tool can also be run anytime after installation to perform diagnostics for cluster maintenance.
Emulex adapters and management utilities are designed to be fully compatible with failover clusters with both physical and virtual servers.
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Increase productivity with better SAN management - Storage Explorer> MORE
Storage Explorer is a new management tool in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 that looks and behaves like applications that Windows administrators are already familiar with. Implemented as an Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in, Storage Explorer provides a treestructured view of all the components within a SAN.
The Storport Miniport driver for Emulex adapters fully supports Storage Explorer.
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Simplify multi-path support - MPIO > MORE
Best practices for Fibre Channel includes redundant storage connections for failover and load balancing. The solution for Windows is multi-path I/O (MPIO), which uses a device-specific module (DSM) to specify properties of the storage connection. Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 have simplified MPIO support with the introduction of an inbox, industry-standard Fibre Channel DSM. The DSM includes support for load balancing with failover clusters and support for active/active and asymmetric active/active storage arrays.
Emulex adapters are completely compatible with MPIO.
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Enhance disk management - VDS and VSS > MORE
Significant changes have been made throughout the disk management environment, including enhancements to virtual disk service (VDS) and volume shadow copy service (VSS). New SAN features include the ability to extend and shrink volumes and logical devices (LUNs), increasing responsiveness to application and virtual machine demands for storage and eliminating potential sources of downtime. Emulex adapters fully support all of these disk management services.
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Improve CPU utilization - Storport Miniport driver > MORE
Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 greatly reduce server CPU requirements for Fibre Channel I/O. Using the Emulex Storport Miniport driver with identical hardware and workloads, benchmarks showed 30-50% less CPU usage with Windows Server 2008 as compared to Windows Server 2003. A further improvement of 33% in CPU usage was shown using Windows Server 2008 R2 as compared to Windows Server 2008. Fewer CPU resources used to process storage means more CPU resources available to process applications.
