285. What is Virtualization? (07/07/2010)

What is server virtualization?
Virtualization is a technology that allows software to be separated from the hardware. In the area of server virtualization, this means that multiple server environments (Windows, Linux etc) can be housed on a single piece of physical hardware. In this way your exchange server, file server and application server can be virtualized and run on a single server box instead of three separate machines.

What is a virtual machine?
"Virtual machine" is the term applied to the server environments running on a piece of hardware. So, in the example above, the three server - exchange, file and application running on a single server would be referred to as virtual machines.

What are the advantages of virtualization?
Server consolidation: Applications running on separate computers do not utilize the computing resources of their computers, they can be consolidated onto a smaller number of servers using virtualization technology. Instead of having many servers doing different tasks we can have many virtual machines doing different tasks on a single physical server.

Smaller footprint: Virtualizing servers decreases the number of physical boxes that a company must use. This means a smaller datacenter, with the resulting decreases in cooling and electrical costs.

Hardware costs: Because virtualization allows for greater utilization of existing resources, fewer physical servers are required, saving money both on upfront hardware costs and and on maintenance costs.

Flexibility and agility: Virtualization allows for the quick creation of different operating system environments, it is easy to run legacy applications alongside new versions, migrate applications to new environments, and restore systems in post-disaster scenarios.

Ease of Testing and Development: In a similar vein as above, virtualization speeds up the development and testing process because it makes it easier to create different operating system environments. Virtualization allows designers to compare application performance across different operating environments, as well as testing out applications in virtual environments (which therefore avoids destabilizing the system that users are currently using).




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