Virtualization

Date: March 12th, 2009

Virtualization is not a new concept in the technology industry, but it has grown in popularity of late. Virtualization technology makes it possible to run multiple operating systems simultaneous on the same hardware. You can run multiple versions of the same operating system or many different operating systems such as Windows and Linux at the same time.

Many high end servers that are in use today have one operating system on them and are often performing one dedicated task or a few tasks. This often leaves 70% of the systems resources not being utilized. Virtualization allows those resources to be utilized while keeping separate logical virtual machines. Guest operating systems can perform tasks just as separate physical systems would with less hardware.

Virtualization provides multiple benefits including:

• Reduces the amount of hardware needed
• Saves space
• Saves electricity
• Requires less cooling
• Provides a green solution
• Saves money
• Eases Administration
• Systems can be maintained remotely via remote console or command line interface (CLI).
• Guest operating systems or virtual machines can be easily moved from one physical server to another without concerns over hardware drivers.
• Entire systems can be backed up and restored as one unit.
• Virtual Machine Templates can be created to make deployment of new virtual machines faster and easier.
• Provides isolation of systems
• You can have a virtual machine for each customer that runs only that customers operating system and software application and keeps them isolated from other customer systems on the same physical machine.
• You can have virtual machines dedicated to a set application task thus keeping critical tasks separated from each other in a logical fashion.
• Runs Multiple Operating Systems
• You can run multiple operating systems from different vendors such as Windows and Linux on the same hardware.
• You can run a test environment emulating your production environment so that tests may be performed without putting your production system at risk.

With all the benefits of virtualization there are some drawbacks. The most obvious drawback is that you are running more software on less hardware, so that hardware failures can have a larger impact. Your virtual server host should be a high end server with redundancy where possible to mitigate this risk. Another potential drawback is virtual machine sprawl where you start making too many virtual machines and this can become unorganized and thus difficult to administer. Physical machines can become over burdened. This can be mitigated by using good planning and having an effective deployment policy.

Here at Datastream Business Solutions, Inc. we are utilizing virtualization to better server our customers and bring down operating costs. This technology has served us well so far and we plan to use it more in the foreseeable future. If you are considering going with virtualization feel free to contact us for details.