Despite the obvious advantages, many SMBs are hesitant to virtualize their servers because of the complexity that introduces into the environment. They just do not have the resources to add the skill sets required to manage virtual environments to their workforce.

That problem may be going away, writes Wikibon Analyst, consultant and former CIO Scott Lowe in his latest Wikibon Professional Alert, thanks to the latest developments from Microsoft. At its recent Storage Developers Conference, Microsoft engineers discussed the combination of its Hyper-V Server 2012 hypervisor and Server Message Block 3, a storage protocol that, says Lowe, “includes many new features that make it enterprise-worthy.”

Hyper-V is already a favorite technology for SMBs that have moved toward data center virtualization in part because of its choice – it is free. And Microsoft is adding capabilities to it to match VMware in several areas. Server Message Block 3’s new features include fault tolerance, improved performance, multi-channel communications for improved scalability, and encryption.

The combination provides a flexible, scalable infrastructure that supports multiple clusters of up to eight file servers accessed through a powerful interface and managed with tools that a Microsoft administrator already uses. This simplifies management of a virtualized environment to the point that a normal Microsoft administrator can handle day-to-day operations without special training in virtualized management tools and techniques. SMBs will need occasional help from a consultant, but this should remain occasional, making virtualization within the reach of most smaller companies running on Windows servers and storage.

Lowe provides details and diagrams of typical infrastructure configurations in the full article. His recommendation: “For now, CIOs should keep an eye on what Microsoft is doing in this space.” They also might consider building a small proof-of-concept environment to learn how this all fits together.

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