To fully realize the cost savings of virtualization technology, you need policy controls and governance to prevent VM sprawl-and the right technology to enforce those controls. This Dell Software white paper explains the steps to design and implement the governance you need, and what to look for in a toolset to help enforce it.

A bit of wisdom: Activities that are easy to do become activities done a lot. 

In some cases, that's a good thing; in others, it's very problematic. Virtual machine sprawl is one problematic example. Not long ago Hyper-V and vSphere VMs became easy to create. Suddenly, IT started creating lots of them. Almost overnight our virtual environments became overcrowded with VMs of dubious value and VM sprawl was born. Similar to its predecessor, server sprawl (a problem solved by virtualization), VM sprawl has a significant impact on operating expenses (OPEX). Virtual servers have the same needs as physical servers when it comes to security,  management and storage. VM sprawl takes up extensive space on storage area networks and significantly increases network traffic. Not to mention the impact on your software license budget, administrator time and server utilization.  

Without the right policy controls and visibility in place, new technologies like private cloud and VM self-service will only make the situation worse. 

Find out more from author, Microsoft MVP and VMware vExpert Greg Shields, in this whitepaper.

Download this brand new whitepaper.