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Virtualization

What is Virtualization?

Server virtualization is the masking of server resources, including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems, from server users. The server administrator uses a software application to divide one physical server into multiple isolated virtual environments. The virtual environments are sometimes called virtual private servers, but they are also known as partitions , guests, instances, containers or emulations.

Virtual machines are based on the host/guest paradigm. Each guest runs on a virtual imitation of the hardware layer. This approach allows the guest operating system to run without modifications. It also allows the administrator to create guests that use different operating systems. The guest has no knowledge of the host's operating system because it is not aware that it's not running on real hardware. It does, however, require real computing resources from the host -- so it uses a hypervisor to coordinate instructions to the CPU . The hypervisor is called a virtual machine monitor (VMM) . It validates all the guest-issued CPU instructions and manages any executed code that requires addition privileges. VMware and Microsoft Virtual Server both use the virtual machine model.

Why Virtualize now?

Realize as much as 50% savings in power, cooling, and space!- Benefit Realized from Published Customer Case Studies and Oliver Wyman TCO Report

Server virtualization can be viewed as part of an overall virtualization trend in business that includes storage virtualization, network virtualization, and workload management. This trend is one component in the development of autonomic computing, in which the server environment will be able to manage itself based on perceived activity. Server virtualization can be used to eliminate server sprawl, to make more efficient use of server resources, to improve server availability, to assist in disaster recovery, testing and development, and to centralize server administration.

Helpful Links

Microsoft Virtualization
Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator