Virtualization Technologies Are a Must For Businesses That Rely on Their Servers

There are a number of Virtualization technologies on"DRAC" and HP has iLo that will do this on the
the market. The two most interesting from ahardware, but at an additional cost. Also, VM's with
business perspective are desktop virtualization andboot problems can be repaired by attaching their
Server virtualization. Desktop virtualization is where avirtual file systems to other virtual servers. This is
server keeps the applications but they appear on thenot easily done with iLo or DRAC, especially not
local users desktop. This is what Citrix Metaphrameremotely.
(now renamed to Xen App) does. The otherVirtual Machines sound good so far, but experienced
virtualization technology important to Business isSystem Administrators will be skeptical about putting
Server Virtualization.all of there servers onto one machine and with good
The virtualization technology discussed here isreason. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is a
"Server Virtualization". In this type of virtualization themotto to live by in the IT world. Virtualization
servers physical hardware appears to work as manytechnology is mature enough to handle this issue.
servers. These many servers are called virtualA good virtual server design includes fail over. If one
machines or VM's; this appearance is done throughserver is needed two are implemented. If one should
virtualization software, referred to as thefail, the virtual servers are started on the alternate
"hypervisor". Stated another way. The hypervisor ismachine. Thus, ones systems are safe in case of a
software that runs on the hardware and it controlshardware failure. This type of design is far superior to
the VM's. It makes each VM think it is a fullythe current scenario in many small and medium sized
functioning computer with full control of theIT shops where if a server fails, that service is down
hardware, when in fact, it is just one of severaluntil repairs or replacements occur.
sharing the hardware.Virtualization brings disaster recovery within reach of
The operating system on each virtual machine, usuallymany small shops too! Similarly to the fail over
Windows Server or Linux, sees itself as fullyscenario above, the virtual servers can be
controlling the hardware. The hypervisor lets the VM'scontinuously copied to a backup site and when the
share the hardware. In most cases many VM's canmain site fails the backup site can come up
run on the hardware without taxing its processingautomatically.
capabilities. Thus we eliminate the need for buyingHow does this IT "stuff" relate to business? The
new hardware when we need more servers. We justanswers are in system reliability and productivity. This
create move VM's on our existing hardware. Thistechnology increases reliability thus staff is less likely
saves energy, money and management time. Theseto be sitting idle because they can't access their data.
aren't the only benefits.Reliability has a direct impact on productivity.
VM's can be easily saved as templates. If a disasterAdditionally, when designed properly these
strikes the virtual machine (VM), for instance, rathertechnologies can minimize the risk of lost data or
than taking the server offline, it's easy to power upservices during a disaster; this loss can be disastrous!
a copy of the virtual machine from the template andAlso, when systems are up and working properly it
the service is restored. The damaged VM can thenmakes the organization appear more professional and
be debugged, repaired or deleted.reliable as compared to those companies where the
Virtualized servers allow the Administrator to shutstaff complain that their computers are slow or
down and restart a server remotely and see what'sdown.
happening during boot up. If there is a boot problemGiven the current state of the art of virtualization
with a server the administrator can diagnose andtechnology and its benefits all companies who depend
repair it remotely. This is generally not possibleon their IT infrastructure should seriously consider
without additional hardware on most servers; Dell hasimplementing virtualization.