My problems with VM aren't the VM itself... usually. Some joker decides to not use raw as the storage or something and I start flinging nerf darts at them from across the room, but it's more the abstraction.

We study and learn to get closer and closer to the core system, how the counters work and how the data is manipulated and how NUMA flows through a chip... and then put ten layers of colored saran wrap between us and them. At least locally I theoretically have people who can peel off their layers. Get into a cloud architecture and you're left without much recourse other than doing what I would have wanted to do in the first place... get it off their hosting and bring it in house.

At 3 AM in the morning, trying to dig past all the VM components on top of server concerns to figure out what is ACTUALLY the problem is one of the most frustrating events in my administrative career, particularly when everyone (me included) are playing a game of hot potato trying to prove 'It's not MY stuff!'... which is why I can't get access to the fiber channel settings on the SAN as much as I can't get the tool that'll show me when the VMs ripped away four of the eight cores I was supposed to have permanently. The more we move towards VM, the less I ever want to go back to administrating and concentrate on the data architecture/development roles.

I don't care if it's not my fault as much, but it just gets stupid trying to troubleshoot it after a certain point of abstraction.

Now throw in the cloud and hosting services. Yeah *waves*, Good Luck with that. I'm out. I've got what appears to be a CPU throttle. Go check all your hardware and settings and come back to me and tell me if it's something I should be worried about... and WHY.

I realize this is a bit of a rant, but it's a constant frustration for me. Most places max out a machine (Blade, pick your name) for its SQL Server anyway. Why the heck does it need to be VM? Unhook the saran wrap, wire up the machine directly, put another one next door, and I'll happily active/active cluster for you. If you can get me off the SAN and I can directly setup my spindles that'll just make my day, too.