Virtualization and Business Continuity Reciprocal Affinities

This publication has been discontinued on September 9, 2011.

Introduction

Abstract

This IDC study focuses on the potential impact that x86 server virtualization is having on business continuity (BC) practices in datacenters. This study provides detailed analysis of the shift from traditional datacenter protection to BC plans in virtualized server environments. Furthermore, it examines the issues and potential benefits that organizations should consider in formulating a virtualized roadmap.

"Virtualization has changed the way IT managers think about server deployment and energy efficiency and IDC believes that business continuity will be similarly affected," said Nathaniel Martinez, program director with IDC European System Infrastructure solutions.

Table of Contents

• IDC Opinion
• In This Study
• Situation Overview
• Traditional Business Continuity: Assessment and Definitions
• High Availability
• Maintaining Uptime with High Availability
• High Availability/Geographical Clustering
• Storage
• Information Classes
• Remote Data Replication
• Continuous Data Protection
• Disaster Recovery Backups
• The Importance of Business Continuity
• Prevention is Better Than Cure
• Regulation and Standards
• Disaster Recovery Planning
• Customers
• How Virtualization Changes Business Continuity Solutions
• Virtualization Requires a Fresh Approach
• Virtualization as a Driver for Business Continuity
• Supporting Technologies for Business Continuity in Virtualized Environments
• Integrating Traditional and Virtualization-Based Business Continuity
• The Need for Integration
• How to Deliver a Quick ROI with Virtualization-Based Business Continuity
• Business Continuity in a Virtualized Environment
• Planned Downtime: Server Maintenance
• Unplanned Downtime: Server Failure
• Unplanned Downtime: Workload Management
• Unplanned Downtime: Large-Scale Disaster
• Integration with the Wider Information Infrastructure
• Further Considerations
• Compliance and Management
• Improved Business Continuity for the Virtual Desktop
• Future Outlook
• Demand
• Supply
• Essential Guidance
• Learn More
• Related Research
• Synopsis
• Table: Classes of Information and Levels of Protection
• Table: Planned and Unplanned Downtime in Virtualized versus Traditional Business Continuity Environments
• Figure: Business Continuity Strategies: High Availability Spectrum
• Figure: Different Stages of Virtualization Adoption
• Figure: Availability as a Key Driver for Virtualization
• Figure: Planned and Unplanned Downtime Scenarios

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