Virtualized OCS: Middle-Ground Between Hosted Plans and Hardware-Heavy On-Site Setups
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications, Voice over IP
Our Three UC Amigos snuck one by me! On the 13th, they announced Microsoft’’s added virtualization support for 3 Office Communications Server 2007 R2 functions. IM, Presence, and Group Chat.
Companies installing OCS 2007 on-site can use the Hyper-V virtualization server in Windows Server 2008 for these functions. Instead of separate servers for everything.
How Does Virtualization Help OCS?
Right now there’’s pretty much two options if you want to put in OCS: Install it on-site, or go through a hosted provider. This virtualization offers a middle-of-the-road type of solution — install OCS on-site, but at a lower total cost than the original setup.
Most businesses use virtualization to cut down on their hardware footprint and reduce power usage. It’’s the same thing for OCS. By using Hyper-V, you reduce the hardware needed to run Office Communications Server AND save on your utility bill.
(In fact, our Hosted OCS platform uses Hyper-V in its setup for this very reason.)
Microsoft has released a white paper on this new support. Download it here (no signup needed): Running OCS 2007 R2 in Virtualized Topology
The white paper references 4 capacity tests done by Microsoft. They tested operating capacity depending on different configurations (1-tier or 2-tier), and where some systems were placed (e.g. where the Active Directory domain controller or SQL backend is).
The test results say you can run up to 25,000 OCS users on a virtual setup without any big performance hits.
Bandwidth-Hungry Services Can”t Go Virtual…Yet
However, not everything in OCS can be virtualized yet. Microsoft cited “possible quality-of-service issues” as their big concern.
The functions which must have full servers include:
- Voice/VoIP
- Audio/Video Conferencing
- Application Sharing
- Conferencing Attendant
The reason for this is the same one you”d expect — bandwidth. A virtualized voice or conferencing server could wind up with packet losses. Which means your conversations sound like the other person’’s driving through a series of tunnels.
What’’s this mean for the industry? It means another step toward leaner, more affordable communications systems for everybody.
If you”re looking at OCS more for its voice capabilities anyway, this provides a nice middle-ground between installing everything into a hardware-heavy setup & hosting everything somewhere outside your building. All three have their advantages, though. Maybe I”ll write about that next.
What do you think? Please leave a comment below. I”m glad to answer questions if you have them.
Please note: The virtual machine on which you”d run OCS must be a 64-bit Windows Server 2008 system.
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