Virtualization Technology

Overview

Virtualization is a Technology which uses virtualization software to create an abstraction layer over computer hardware to create Computing resources. By Virtualizing IT Expenses and agility can be improved. Virtualizing physical servers, Operating System, Storage and networking helps to enhance IT operations.

How Virtualization Works

Traditional way a business operates is by having one Physical machine where all our application Runs on single OS. If we need to Upgrade or configure any one application, we need to bring down the entire system. To Overcome this Virtualization uses Virtualized software called Hypervisor installed on OS or Hardware. On Hypervisor we can have multiple application which can Run on different OS like windows, Linux, Mac OS etc.

For example, if we have computer with 16GB RAM and 12GB Hard disk. We can create 4 VM each of 4GB RAM and 3 GB Hardik which is independent with separate OS and 4 different Application on each VM. Based on the Workload the Computing Power between the VM’s gets adjusted for optimal performance.

Compare Container vs Virtual Machine

What is Hypervisor

A hypervisor is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. Hypervisor is of 2 Types – Type 1 Hypervisor and Type II Hypervisor . Hypervisor is also called vmm (Virtual Machine Monitor).

Type-1 Hypervisor runs directly on the Host physical hardware. This is also called as bare-metal hypervisor as it runs directly on the Hardware without Host OS.

Type-2 Hypervisor runs on the Host operating system like windows and Linux OS of the physical Hardware.

Type-1 Hypervisor: On Top of the Host Hardware Type-1 hypervisor such as VMware ESXi is installed. Once the Hypervisor is installed, we can Create as many VM on it based on Host Hardware Capacity. While installing vm we have to allocate server hardware resources to each vm such as CPU, RAM and storage, also we can install required Operating system (Guest OS) on each vm. Type 1 hypervisors are used in Enterprise Datacentres.

Type-2 Hypervisor: The Type II Hypervisor is installed On Top of Hardware Host OS. Mostly Type -2 Hypervisors used in Personal Computers for R&D and testing Purposes. These are called as Hosted or embedded hypervisors which are of lower cost and easy installation.

Types of virtualizations

The concept of virtualization has spread to applications, networks, data, storage and desktops. These Virtualization Technology process can be used based on the Business Needs and Benefits

Data virtualization

Data virtualization is a logical data layer that integrates all enterprise Data sources and present it to Business users in real time. Data Virtualization is used in Data Analytics, Data Integration, Business Intelligence in many Industrial sectors like Banking, Energy, Insurance, healthcare etc. Some of the Data Virtualization Tools are Denodo, Actifio, AtScale and CData.

Desktop virtualization

Desktop Virtualization is Virtualizing a Workstation (Desktop Environment). Users can access this Desktop using a thin client remotely or locally. Virtual desktop workloads run on desktop virtualization servers which execute on virtual machines either at on-premises data centers or in the cloud. All user data and programs exist in the desktop virtualization server and users can access all Application related to their project and files on their Personal Computers from anywhere. VDI,RDS & DaaS are popular types of desktop virtualization.

With Desktop virtualization Installation, updates, and Maintenance are easier. some of the Virtualization Desktop Software are VMware Horizon, Amazon Workspaces VDI,Oracle VDI, Parallels, Citrix DaaS, and Azure VDI(DaaS & WVD).

Server virtualization

In server virtualization Physical Server is divided into separate unique virtual servers with each its own OS. To implement Server Virtualization, hypervisor is installed on server Hardware which manages and allocates host hardware resources to each virtual machine.

Network virtualization

Network Virtualization combines all multiple physical networks to one virtual software-based network. The Network Components like fabrics, switches, routers and bridges are abstracted to create a software-based Network. Types of network virtualization include software-defined networking (SDN) & network function virtualization (NFV). Network Virtualization provides control to Physical Network devices from a single console. Few Network Virtualization software’s are Cisco ACI ,VMware NSX and Cisco NFV.

Storage Virtualization

Multiple Physical Device Storage is pooled and is made available as a single Virtual storage device that is managed from a central console. Storage Virtualization are of 3 Types – Block Level storage Virtualization, File Level storage virtualization and Object Level Storage Virtualization. Centralized Dashboard enables us to manage, allocate, deallocate and view storage from a single interface. Few popular Storage Virtualization providers are VMware vSAN, DataCore, StarWind, RedHat HCI and Nutanix

Benefits of Virtualization

- - Efficiency – Virtualization maximizes the utilization of Physical hardware and thereby reducing the Cost.
  - Disaster Recovery – Virtual Machines are stored as Files. VM can be backed up and restored to new Location.
  - Easy Administration.
  - Build & Workflow Automation.
  - Performance Monitor – All virtual instance can be monitored Centrally – Virtual machine monitors provide information on Resource usage and performance of VM’s.
  - Virtualization makes migrating to the cloud easier.

Conclusion

Virtualization Increase User Productivity and quicker provisioning of Resources. Companies trying to Optimize the IT Infrastructure can make use of the Virtualization Technology as per their Business needs.