SERVER SPRAWL: WHAT IS IT?

Usually, an office requires a significant scale of information network to support its organization. For large-scale organizations, having a sizable network system is important to sustain daily activities. Due to the size of the network, the office requires several servers for different interests. However, there are instances where some of the servers are underused. This instance is called as server sprawl. So, what is server sprawl? This instance occurs when one or more servers of a network are not used based on their original intentions. To put it simply, these servers are not used to their full working capacity.

Complex networking needs leads to offices’ decision to utilize extensive network servers to support such needs. In order to work, the servers will require cooling, storage, and power level so that the servers can perform flawlessly. Usually, the servers are located in a single room or multiple locations owned by the enterprise. By placing the servers in these spots, the servers can support multiple locations of the enterprise’s offices in anywhere. However, this may come at a cost of excessive spending of resources necessary to support the servers’ capability as a whole.

Because of server sprawl instances, an excessive amount of unused space and electrical power could have been used for other necessities. Apart from the excessiveness, the complexity of the underused servers can also result in incorrect priority sorting. For example, an office consists of six different servers for different purposes. Because storing data can be more prioritized than other needs, only three servers are utilized in full-scale capacity. This results in the office having to pay the maintenance for six servers when only half of them are used accordingly. As a result, you have spent an excessive amount of funding that you can allocate somewhere else.

In this regard, financial impacts are not the only implication of server sprawl instances. Since some of the servers are evidently underused when compared to other servers, the sprawl will result in the management’s team mismanagement of necessary resources. Moreover, the IT team will spend futile efforts to fix the sprawl if they are not experienced in handling this kind of situations. Because of these reasons, there are some things that you can do to solve sprawls.

Here are some steps that you can do to avoid server sprawl:

• Train your IT team 

A team full of IT experts will always have to learn new things every day since their responsibilities will only get more complex each day. As server sprawl can happen anytime and anywhere, it is best for your IT team to know what the sprawl is and how to solve it.

• Consolidate your servers 

Sprawls happen because some of the servers are not used to full capacity. To prevent this, you can consolidate your servers into a single group where you can supervise their performance in a single group of servers.

• Reassess your priority

Priorities can change from time to time, which is why it is important for you to know where to put your priorities. Focus on servers that you are going to utilize often and scrap less important servers.

• Avoid system sprawl vulnerability

The server vulnerability happens because less-than-ideal servers disrupt the well-performing servers. You should invest in stronger servers to decrease possible vulnerability.

• Utilize cloud options  

As cloud technology is getting sophisticated, they can offer benefits worth of several servers at once. You should utilize one or more cloud services from trusted developers to decrease the burden of your office servers.

While server sprawl may seem trivial, you should remember that such sprawl could unexpectedly increase your business’ operational costs. Since storage and cooling require significant funding, you should try new and reliable technologies to avert possible server sprawl instance. By preventing server sprawl from the beginning, you can decrease unnecessary costs that you could use for other business-related needs in the future.