Virtualization is trying to hide application problems

I was having dinner with Chris and I mentioned the following story to him to see his views. Would be interested in your comments.

I was at a meeting discussing virtualization with an IT Manager and his colleague, I was interviewing him (it’s to be posted next week sometime), and his colleague after we’d finished interrupted and said:

“I think you’re recommending vmware because you’re on windows and to hide application problems, I think if you wrote those applications properly and put them on a proper server like AIX or Linux you wouldn’t need vmware, it’s all windows fault.  You get my business guys all excited when AIX/Linux is working fine as it is.”

I was kind of surprised by this. Not because I disagree with it in any particular fashion. In many ways the guy is right, all be it in his infrastructure pro-linux fashion, but can we remove all emotion for a second? Life really is too short.

But let me put it to you this way.  The application as it is fails let’s say two or three times a month right? 

During this process, a server engineer is called, a database guy gets called, and application support are called.  Say it costs £1 million a year to support, it might cost £5 million in new infrastructure (networks/database/server) and application development cost to fix; so, fixed cost £1 million a year, which is rarely going to change?  Or get approval from the business for £5 million investment to write a new application and invest in new toys? You’re choice.

Yes in some cases virtualization and server consolidation is hiding faults in application code; that some applications can’t run at the same time on the same windows server, but you know what, I can live with that.

Could the applications be written better?

Of course, but it’s typically rapid application development, fulfilling an ever rapid business need.

Also consider that we’re doing this not only because of application code problems but institutional failure?

The fact that business teams consider a server as their server, not just tin, a means to an ends, a thing which makes their calculator calculate.

So in the meantime might I request we play nicely, deliver what’s needed to earn revenue and move on. Life’s too short and I’ve got new carpets and a Mac Pro to save up for…