Just to give a little background on virtualisation, as this was a technology which emerged in the 1960's, and then went into hibernation before re-emerging again in 2000.
Virtualisation was first implemented more than 30 years ago by IBM as a way to logically partition mainframe computers into separate virtual machines. These partitions allowed mainframes to “multitask”: run multiple applications and processes at the same time. Since mainframes were expensive resources at the time, they were designed for partitioning as a way to fully leverage the investment.
A great timeline is on wapedia which describes the different times in the history for virtualisation
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Timeline_of_virtualization_development
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Why Virtualisation?
Most machines in data centres are running at only between 10 - 15% of their capacity a lot of the time. In other words much of their capacities and other resources (like the electricity they use) are wasted. These machines can do better. By enabling virtualisation on these machines, they would be made to support more than one system, thus making better use of more of their resources.
To satisfy the computing needs of your company, you need to add more computing resources – desktop computers, servers, etc. You also need to store data and this might mean putting in separate data servers. This hardware takes up space. We all know that space can be a very expensive commodity. By introducing virtualisation, whereby you host several systems on a single physical server, you are effectively reducing the need for more space.
If your company is running a data center, you would realize that their cost can run into millions of dollars. By eliminating the need to build a data center yourself with virtualisation, you would be making some serious cost savings.
More and more people today are increasingly becoming environmentally aware. As a result they are looking at the green credentials of companies they buy from or want to do business with. So your customers or potential customers are watching you!
Some of the ways your company can show potential customers that you care about the environment is to be less energy dependant by cutting down the amount of energy you consume. One key area where you can cut down on energy consumption is with your IT & computing equipment, especially your servers. By adopting virtualisation, you would be reducing the number of physical servers you run and thereby the amount of energy consumed.
This represents a double advantage - you save significant amounts of money on energy costs and you gain strategic advantage when your potential customers know you are taking concrete steps to protect the environment.
If you run your IT in-house you are probably aware of the need to have full time staff on your payroll administering your systems. The cost of hiring and keeping a system administrator is significant. When you implement virtualisation, the numbers of machines you have to take care of reduce or may be eliminated altogether. Hence you cut the cost necessary for system administration.
To satisfy the computing needs of your company, you need to add more computing resources – desktop computers, servers, etc. You also need to store data and this might mean putting in separate data servers. This hardware takes up space. We all know that space can be a very expensive commodity. By introducing virtualisation, whereby you host several systems on a single physical server, you are effectively reducing the need for more space.
If your company is running a data center, you would realize that their cost can run into millions of dollars. By eliminating the need to build a data center yourself with virtualisation, you would be making some serious cost savings.
More and more people today are increasingly becoming environmentally aware. As a result they are looking at the green credentials of companies they buy from or want to do business with. So your customers or potential customers are watching you!
Some of the ways your company can show potential customers that you care about the environment is to be less energy dependant by cutting down the amount of energy you consume. One key area where you can cut down on energy consumption is with your IT & computing equipment, especially your servers. By adopting virtualisation, you would be reducing the number of physical servers you run and thereby the amount of energy consumed.
This represents a double advantage - you save significant amounts of money on energy costs and you gain strategic advantage when your potential customers know you are taking concrete steps to protect the environment.
If you run your IT in-house you are probably aware of the need to have full time staff on your payroll administering your systems. The cost of hiring and keeping a system administrator is significant. When you implement virtualisation, the numbers of machines you have to take care of reduce or may be eliminated altogether. Hence you cut the cost necessary for system administration.
Monday, August 9, 2010
What is virtualisation?
Virtualisation is a software technology which enables one single computer to run several (sometimes different) virtual guest operating systems (OS).
Essentially, virtualisation can enable you to run more than one environment on the same hardware. For example, with virtualisation you can run a windows operating system (like XP) and a Linux Operating system (like Ubuntu) on the same computer. By implementing virtualisation, you let different operating systems and applications share the resources of one computer.
This technology is necessary because most of today’s computers (X86 Computers) were designed to run one operating system on one physical machine. With this mode of operation, the resources of each machine are underutilised most of the time.
What virtualisation does in practice is that it separates a user from the kind of hardware they are using.
For example you could be running windows on a Mac platform or you could be running a Linux OS on your windows personal computer (PC).
It is important to note that virtualisation is not a server-only technology; in fact virtualisation can be applied throughout your business. Starting from the desktop, you can “virtualise” nearly all aspects of your IT infrastructure.
What is being claimed at the moment is that virtualisation is set to dramatically change the way in which we compute.
There are different types of virtualisation: Server Virtualization, Data or Storage Virtualisation and Desktop Virtualisation.
Essentially, virtualisation can enable you to run more than one environment on the same hardware. For example, with virtualisation you can run a windows operating system (like XP) and a Linux Operating system (like Ubuntu) on the same computer. By implementing virtualisation, you let different operating systems and applications share the resources of one computer.
This technology is necessary because most of today’s computers (X86 Computers) were designed to run one operating system on one physical machine. With this mode of operation, the resources of each machine are underutilised most of the time.
What virtualisation does in practice is that it separates a user from the kind of hardware they are using.
For example you could be running windows on a Mac platform or you could be running a Linux OS on your windows personal computer (PC).
It is important to note that virtualisation is not a server-only technology; in fact virtualisation can be applied throughout your business. Starting from the desktop, you can “virtualise” nearly all aspects of your IT infrastructure.
What is being claimed at the moment is that virtualisation is set to dramatically change the way in which we compute.
There are different types of virtualisation: Server Virtualization, Data or Storage Virtualisation and Desktop Virtualisation.
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