Using your dedicated server as a private cloud - 5 simple tips
Server images
By using the snapshot feature of the cloud manager, you can take a snapshot image of your live server and use that image to create a server for testing your software updates. As a test server you'll only need to allocate the bare minimum resources.
Software version difference
Where your servers are running legacy applications or older versions of software and you don't want the additional burden of updating them, you can create a virtual server image requiring a small amount of resource to run different software versions.
Segregation of environments
Some clients – internal or external, insist on their own environment for security reasons or when they have needs that cannot be actioned across the board. Cloud server management software easily allows you to create their individual virtual server image, you can satisfy their requirements without compromising others.
Control of resources
The Cloud Server Management Software allows you to control the resources available to each virtual server via a web based control panel. This isn't dynamic on the free versions but does allow you to manage the resources of your virtual server images.
Ease of Migration
When you want to migrate a virtual server image to a new more powerful dedicated server it becomes a case of shutting down the server, right clicking on the image and allocating it to the new Dedicated server. Away it goes. No more copying of files. However, you do need a central file server for to do this.
Citrix Xen Server and VMWare are the two most commonly used 'Cloud Server Management Tools'.
As with everything, remember the importance of taking backups before you start and whenever possible avoid making unproven changes to your 'Live' environment – Better safe than sorry!
