Server Virtualization Overview
What is Server Virtualization Software?
Server virtualization software allows multiple operating systems to run independently of each other on a single machine in a data center. Virtualization software called Hypervisors encapsulate a guest version of the operating system and emulate hardware resources. Resources may include CPU, memory, or hard disk which can be shared across multiple virtual machines. In this way server virtualization allows multiple operating systems to run on a single machine.
Server virtualization tools reduce the need for physical hardware systems. The resulting increase in resource utilization lowers server costs. Containerization however, popular since the emergence of Docker, supplies an alternative to server virtualization. Containerization achieves greater efficiency than server virtualization by eliminating the hypervisor and its multiple virtual machines. Each application shares a single instance of the operating system and runs on the “bare metal” of the server.
Server Virtualization Features & Capabilities
Server virtualization products provide these common features:
Run multiple virtual machines using different OS on same server
Automated virtual machine provisioning
Manage remote physical locations, branch locations with rapid provisioning
Server health monitoring, performance bottleneck, workload rebalancing
Centrally control and optimize virtual machine environment
Patch or backup virtual machines without interrupting service
Migrate live virtual machines between hosts during scheduled maintenance
Hypervisor-level security, including antivirus and anti-malware
Secure apps and infrastructure with guest operating system lockdown
Auditable activity, performance log
Pricing Information
Server virtualization inherently reduces data center costs by improving resource utilization. Virtualization subscriptions are available at a monthly or (more common) annual cost, with reduction in cost for up-front multi-year commitments. Subscriptions are priced according to managed hypervisor socket pairs, or per number of physical processors featuring virtualization. Free trials ranging from 30 to 60 days are available from some vendors. Server virtualization is also sometimes offered with on-demand pricing (e.g. compute capacity per hour).
