EasyPM Server Virtualisation Project Template

Project templates save time when you are planning a project. Getting up and running quickly is often key to demonstrating your project management crediblity to the masses.

There is nothing wrong in using templates to give a kick start to a project plan. I can assure you that 99.99% of the time a template is not going to be the finished project plan ... but it does help to layout your thinking and get you focused on the task in hand.

Being interested in, and having worked on, server virtualisation projects I picked up an article in the "Business Technology Roundtable" blog on key points for server virtualisation projects. It is an excellent article and draws the reader's attention to areas where there can be difficulties in this type of project.

I thought it worthwhile to post this example of a simple template I use for stepping through a server virtualisation feasibility study and add my own thoughts.

1. Complete a detailed assessment of the current IT environment by producing a document which summarises all of the servers you would wish to virtualise and the applications or services running on them.
   
2. For each application or service, produce a vendor response to capture any technical or support issues related to virtualising. If there are too many issues to handle within your project - remove them from the virtualisation list.
   
3. Confirm vendor support of the new configuration. You will need to get this in writing and you will want to make sure, or consider, that there is budget to engage the vendors for the migration.
4. Make a list of the licence costs for applications or services running on a virtual server. Note that costs may actually go up if the vendor charges on a model of available physical hardware!
5. Complete all negotiation with vendors to drive a new licencing model if necessary.
6. Produce a technical design of the new virtualised infrastructure - include hardware specification, memory allocation, storage requirement. Remember, initially, to keep within 75% of total computing resource available to cope with application growth or addition of users to a newly virtualised service.
7. Produce a forecast for expected upgrades required to each of the new virtual environments. If you don't expect at least 12 months shelf life on each, ask yourself why you are building in problems so early!
   
8. Complete a security review of the new virtualised infrastructures. Make sure that all user access and data management issues are understood and under control.
9. Complete and document an analysis of this study to identify which servers, applications or services may be virtualised.
10. Update the issues and risk logs.
    

This would complete the first stage of a virtualisation project where the information gathering would be done.

Then, just by adding these tasks to a plan and putting an estimate on the time it will take to complete them, you will already be up and running with the infrastructure virtualisation project plan. The complexity of the deployment would, of course, also need to be planned out and it would vary with the number of servers being virtualised. What this stage will get you though, is a picture of what infrastructure you currently have, where you want to take it and a good idea of the issues and risks you are already facing.

Before planning out the deployment itself, you could use the feasibility analysis produced to talk the virtualisation project through with senior stakeholders. Oh, and before you go in there ... make sure you have an answer to the big picture questions:

- What direct business benefits or quality improvements will server virtualisation bring?
- What will it cost?
- What are the risks?
- When can we get it?

But you had all of that already ... right?

Reference: How To Unlock the Power of Virtualisation
Useful links: Download a Free Copy of "Virtualization for Dummies" from Sun and AMD.