What is server sprawl?

Server sprawl occurs when a data center uses many servers inefficiently. A server farm with many physical servers experiences server sprawl when these servers are not being used effectively for their intended workloads. This results from a failure to consolidate server resources effectively. Server sprawl is often caused by deploying servers quickly without planning or managing them properly. Underutilized servers take up space, power, and cooling resources without helping the business, causing data sprawl in server rooms and data centers.

Similarly, virtual servers can also contribute to server sprawl when they aren’t deployed carefully, leading to a cluttered virtual environment. As with physical servers, each virtual machine uses resources that its workload might not justify. Managing server sprawl requires a strategic approach to server deployment and resource allocation to ensure that both physical and virtual servers are used efficiently.

Avoiding and dealing with server sprawl requires regular server usage and performance audits to identify underutilized servers and either repurpose or decommission them. Effective server monitoring and workload optimization are important to prevent the unchecked growth of server infrastructure. Maintaining a balanced server environment means IT professionals and data center managers minimize the inefficiencies and costs associated with server sprawl.

What causes virtualization sprawl (VM sprawl)?

Virtualization sprawl, also known as VM sprawl, occurs when virtual machines (VMs) proliferate within an IT environment without adequate oversight. This is often because creating VMs through server virtualization is so easy, but it leads to an uncontrolled expansion of the virtual infrastructure. Unchecked, this inefficient sprawl strains server resources and makes server monitoring harder. 

So there are three steps involved:

• Unchecked VM creation: Because deploying virtual servers is so easy, they proliferate. This can result in many VMs that are forgotten or hardly used.

• Resource strain: As the number of virtual machines increases, the strain on physical server resources grows, potentially degrading server performance and affecting workloads.

• Management complexity: With so many VMs, managing the virtual infrastructure becomes more challenging. Proper server monitoring and VM management tools are essential, but they can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of VMs.

IT professionals can reduce the likelihood of virtualization sprawl by maintaining an inventory of virtual servers and regularly auditing it to remove unnecessary VMs.

Discover how Aerospike minimizes server sprawl to maximize efficiency in MEC deployments.

Why is server sprawl a problem?

In addition to the problems of unnecessary complexity and resource waste, underutilized servers consume energy and space without proportional output. Server sprawl causes enterprise storage issues because the proliferation of servers requires more storage infrastructure as well. 

Ironically, all the resources make it hard to use them efficiently. When resources are spread across a sprawling server farm, it becomes challenging to optimize workload distribution, reducing overall efficiency. This inefficiency requires more cooling and power, further increasing operational costs.

Again, it’s a three-step problem:

• Cost implications: Running a lot of underutilized servers costs more in terms of power and cooling.

• Resource inefficiency: Sprawled servers mean the data center’s resources aren’t used well.

• Management complexity: More servers mean more management overhead, complicating system administration tasks.

Addressing server sprawl requires strategic planning and investment in solutions that consolidate and optimize server resources to enhance performance and reduce costs.

Costs of server sprawl

Server sprawl can cost organizations a lot of money. Infrastructure costs rise due to the need for additional hardware, including physical servers and network equipment. These expenses extend beyond the initial purchase, including the ongoing energy consumption required to power and cool underutilized servers. Additionally, administration costs increase as IT staff must manage and maintain a growing number of servers, leading to higher labor expenses.

From a business perspective, server sprawl also leads to opportunity costs. Inefficient resource use means capital that could be invested in other strategic projects is tied up in dealing with the extra servers. Moreover, underutilized server resources mean the servers don’t work as well,  potentially affecting service delivery and enterprise storage capabilities.

• Infrastructure costs: Elevated due to hardware purchases and energy consumption

• Administration costs: Increase in labor and maintenance efforts

• Business costs: Opportunity costs from inefficient resource allocation

• Server resources: Underutilization leads to reduced performance and increased expenses

Effective management and consolidation strategies are important to prevent these financial impacts. Organizations must evaluate their server infrastructure and adopt measures such as consolidating servers through virtualization and cloud-based solutions to use server resources more efficiently and reduce the costs associated with server sprawl.

How to prevent server sprawl

Consolidating underutilized servers is essential to manage server sprawl. Server consolidation reduces the number of physical servers by hosting multiple workloads on fewer, more powerful servers. You can do this with virtualization technology, which allows multiple virtual servers to run on one physical server, using its resources more effectively. Implementing a software-defined infrastructure also helps manage resources dynamically based on current workload demands.

Using cloud resources can further mitigate server sprawl. Organizations can use scalable infrastructure by migrating certain workloads to the cloud, reducing the need for physical servers on-premises. Cloud solutions are more flexible and can be tailored to meet specific business needs, providing a scalable option for managing server load.

Regular IT asset management and auditing practices help maintain control over server resources. These practices help ensure that all server assets are accounted for, their utilization is monitored, and unnecessary resources are decommissioned. Using a VM management tool streamlines this process by providing insights into virtual infrastructure, identifying underperforming or redundant virtual servers, and suggesting optimizations.

Server monitoring is crucial to prevent resource waste. Continuous monitoring helps identify underutilized or overprovisioned servers, allowing administrators to reallocate resources more efficiently. Managed services complement internal monitoring efforts by offering expertise and tools to manage server environments effectively.

Archiving data and retiring obsolete servers can also reduce server sprawl. Archiving outdated data and decommissioning obsolete servers prevents the unnecessarily excessive use of resources. By integrating these strategies, organizations can prevent server sprawl, optimize their infrastructure, and improve overall efficiency.

From sprawl to simplicity: Rethinking your data layer

Aerospike’s unique, high-performance design has helped countless organizations avoid the pitfalls of server sprawl. A great example is Signal—a leading SaaS identity resolution provider—whose Cassandra-based infrastructure had ballooned to more than 450 servers. By replacing it with Aerospike, Signal cut its node count to just 60 and slashed total costs by 68%. To learn more about how Aerospike optimizes server resources for high-volume, real-time data environments, check out the full Signal case study.