As Saint Patrick’s Day approaches I’m sure a number of you will be thinking about lifting a few green beers at your local watering hole. Why you are thinking about all the green items that come along with Saint Patty’s day, how about thinking green for your SQL Server environment.

So about now you are probably wondering what the heck I am talking about. Well I’m talking about how you might reduce that carbon foot print for your SQL Server installations. How are you planning on reducing your consumption of rack/floor space, power, and cooling expenses?

My green effort is to consider consolidation as our organization starts contemplating moving toward SQL Server 2008.
I am researching how I can leverage virtualization along with consolidation to reduce the total cost of ownership for SQL Server 2008. I’m researching Microsoft Virtual Server (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/), Microsoft Hyper-V (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/virtualization-consolidation.aspx) and VMWare ESX Server (http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/) as potential vessels to launch me into the virtual world.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on thinking green for your SQL Server environment. What virtualization strategies are working for you? Are you doing virtualization only in a development environment, or has the virtualization seed also sprouted in your production environment? What software/hardware do you find works best for a virtualized SQL Server environment? Please provide your comments and green thumb experiences, so others can cultivate their own virtualization efforts.

Happy Gardening,

Gregory A. Larsen, MCITP