Virtualisation
Virtualisation
What is virtualization?
The practice of “one application, one server” has historical roots in alleviating the administrative burden of managing Windows servers. This practice led to servers with increased stability, better reliability, easier problem resolution and simpler capacity planning. However this strategy resulted in an augmentation of computing equipment that climaxed in the late 90’s, and has since declined as the price of hardware and electricity began to rise. Companies such as VMware revived an old idea, and developed and packaged it as a modern concept adapted to today’s distributed computing environments.
Virtualisation is an abstraction of the hardware seen by the guest operating system.
Virtualisation of physical servers provides a means to reduce costs associated with hardware by allowing multiple server instances to share the underlying hardware of a single server. As a large proportion of servers in the datacentre are underutilised, using only a fraction of their CPU, and memory resources, a large number of these machines could potentially be consolidated on to one platform. The result is better utilisation of resources and hardware.
In practice, virtualisation is more than a simple technology that just exploits the concept. It is truly a new approach to the way we build IT infrastructure.
Using a virtual infrastructure to replace a traditional one becomes economically viable when the physical server count is more than 10 servers. This includes their storage, and network requirements, and attached peripherals. A virtualised environment brings with it not only a rapid return on investment, but a flexible and robust environment that is in phase with the needs and the increasing demands of the users.
Using a virtual infrastructure to replace a traditional one becomes economically viable when the physical server count is more than 10 servers. This includes their storage, and network requirements, and attached peripherals. A virtualised environment brings with it not only a rapid return on investment, but a flexible and robust environment that is in phase with the needs and the increasing demands of the users.
The delay that usually follows a departmental request for more resources, are practically eliminated with a virtual infrastructure. Instead of days or weeks, an administrator can make servers accessible within minutes. Access to the physical hardware is via pooled resources that can be allocated on the fly to services that need them. With the flexibility a virtual infrastructure offers, Administrators can concentrate more on the management and optimisation of the datacentre, than on procuring servers and services.
