What is virtualisation? To put it simply, it’s the process of creating a virtual rather than a physical, form of something. Virtualisation can apply to PC’s, operating systems, storage devices, apps or even networks. However, server virtualisation is at the heart of it.
IT companies are challenged by the limitations of today’s x86 servers, which are intended to run one operating system and an app at once. Subsequently, even small data centers deploy many servers, each operating between 5%-15% capacity.
Virtualisation utilizes software to simulate the presence of hardware and create a virtual PC system. Doing this allows organizations to run more than one virtual system and numerous operating systems and apps on a single server. This can provide greater efficiency.
VMs have the following key properties, which offer several benefits:
Partitioning
- Run multiple operating systems on one machine
- Separate system resources between virtual machines
- Provision or migrate any virtual machine to any server
- Server consolidation
- Backup the entire virtual machine to files
- Move and copy virtual machines as easily
- Supply fault and security isolation
- Monitor performance with advanced resource controls
Server Consolidation
Using server virtualisation, an organisation can effectively make use of its server resources and reduce the number of required servers. This is server consolidation, which improves efficiency and cuts costs.
This Is Not Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is not the same thing as virtualisation; however, it is a functionality you can perform using virtualisation. Cloud computing is the delivery of shared computing resources on through the Internet. Whether you’re in the cloud or not, you can start by virtualizing your servers and then migrate them to the cloud for even more agility and self-service.
