Considerations for the Consolidation and Virtualization of Microsoft SQL Server

IT organizations face an enormous challenge to keep operations up and running 24/7 while contending with increasing demands and growing complexity, even to the point where it becomes difficult for employees to request resources to perform their tasks. As a result, these organizations may resort to circumventing IT standards and procedures to help accelerate their processes, which in turn can lead to server sprawl - especially at the database tier. Databases store and provide data for typical application environments, which are generally designed around a Web tier, an application tier, and a database tier, and may also include a storage tier.