(This is the third article in a five-part series.)

IT executives are often surprised to discover that while virtual environments aren’t necessarily harder to manage, they’re no easier to administer either. “You still have to manage the physical platform, you still have to manage the network, and you still have to manage the operating systems and applications,” observes Marty Kacin, chief technology officer of KACE Networks Inc., a maker of systems management products based in Mountain View, Calif.

For that reason, Kacin cautions against cutting back administrative staff when rolling out virtualization. He also recommends deploying specialized virtualization management software, as many conventional management systems are incapable of tracking and supporting virtual machines. Most hypervisor vendors offer virtualization management applications, as do leading management tool makers such as CA Inc. and smaller firms such as KACE and Virtugo Software Inc. Deploying a virtual machine lifecycle management system is another smart idea. Such products help automate rote maintenance chores such as patch management. VMware Inc., Embotics Corp., and Fortisphere Inc. are three of many companies with relevant offerings.

Tools alone, however, offer only a partial answer to virtualization’s management challenges. Sound policies governing the creation of virtual machines are essential too. Otherwise, you’re likely to experience “virtual server sprawl,” an all-too-common phenomenon in which virtual devices proliferate wildly. “When people see how easy it is to make a new server, the number of servers they have starts to get a little out of hand,” observes Ric Bassler, director of technology at Quatro Systems Inc., a solution provider in Horsham, Pa. Well-run IT organizations spare themselves such headaches by requiring technicians to apply for permission before spawning new virtual machines.