The Virtual World of Networks, Servers, and Instruments
Virtualization of computer systems is a technology born in 1960s mainframes
that is seeing a rebirth that reduces costs and increases capabilities.
Only about 10% to 15% of the computer hardware in an organization’s traditional data center is often utilized, a decidedly inefficient use of high-cost computer resources. Over the past several years, this environment has been transitioning to a virtual environment where a single physical resource (a server, operating system, application, or storage device) functions as multiple computational-based resources. The result is a higher utilization rate with a smaller number of servers and lower power requirements. IT virtualization is an abstraction layer that decouples the physical hardware from the operating system to deliver greater resource utilization and flexibility. The additional benefits of scalability and rapid disaster recovery capabilities in virtual environments only add to its attraction.
According to market analyst Gartner Research, Stamford, Conn., only about 5% of the new operating systems purchased in 2005 were installed on virtual servers. By 2009, they predict that number will expand to 40%. For most organizations, the issue is no longer whether to virtualize their computing resources, but rather which solutions to use. Other decisions to be made involve whether to consolidate the users’ systems onto a few large Linux-based hosts or to buy a large number of small Linux machines and tie them together as a single virtual system via clustering or grid technologies.
(Linux is often the preferred virtualization operating system because of its ability to run effortlessly and successfully on most hardware systems.) The successful implementation of a virtual hardware system often requires the associated implementation of a storage area network (SAN) as well. Lower-cost network attached storage (NAS) systems can be utilized in these environments, but are only practical for smaller systems.
Virtual frameworks
Virtualization was first introduced into the IT world about 40 years ago to allow the partitioning of centralized large IBM, Digital Equipment, Unisys, and other mainframe computer systems. The transition to minicomputers and then to PCs, along with the increasing computing and storage power associated with them, over the intervening years proved to be a more efficient way to distribute computational capabilities throughout the enterprise, and virtualization systems mostly disappeared.
Over the past 10 years, however, virtualization has been seen as a way to improve the cost effectiveness of often-underutilized systems, management and support systems, and vulnerability to disasters and security problems. The recent introduction of multicore microprocessors also plays directly into these virtualization trends.
A single eight-core platform (four dual-core systems, or two quad-core systems) can easily accommodate 32 virtual machines, which is often adequate for the data center of many small-to-midsize businesses. The development of larger multicore microprocessors by Intel and AMD will only enhance these capabilities for virtual computing frameworks.
As these hardware systems evolve into increasingly more powerful, flexible, and capable systems, users will start preferring software solutions that are already supported in virtualization environments.
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., has become the market leader in the U.S. over the past 10 years, with more than 4 million users and more than 20,000 corporate customers, along with all 100 of the Fortune 100 companies. Their full line of data center products, development and testing products, enterprise desktop products, and accelerator products fully support this growing environment. “VMware ESX continues to dominate the market for in-production implementations of virtualization,” says John Enck, an analyst at the Gartner Group.
VMware’s founder, Mendel Rosenblum, is considered responsible for much of the current growth in virtualization due to his research on operating systems while a professor of computer science at Stanford. His efforts to bring virtualization to the desktop and to implement it with Linux are associated with its revival from its past mainframe glory days.
Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., XenSource, Palo Alto, Calif., and Virtual Iron Software, Lowell, Mass., also offer products for implementing virtualization systems. Xen recently introduced an open-source virtualization project that has seen some market acceptance. Microsoft’s virutalization server, code-named Viridian and scheduled for release at the end of 2007, recently removed some of its core features in order to get it into the hands of users. The most significant feature to be cut is live migration—the ability to move a virtual machine from one physical server to another with no downtime. Also gone is the ability to hot-swap hardware. VMWare has had a live migration feature for several years. Microsoft appears to have gained market share with its Virtual Server product in Europe where it has 38% of the market.
Intel and AMD also plan to offer specific mivrosprocessor products designed to simplify the creation of virtualization systems and other management operations. These hardware implementations will allow some software products to run Microsoft Windows without modification. What all of this increased competition implies is that virtualizaton systems are becoming commoditized. Other players that are entering the market include Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, and SAP.
—Tim Studt
Only about 10% to 15% of the computer hardware in an organization’s traditional data center is often utilized, a decidedly inefficient use of high-cost computer resources. Over the past several years, this environment has been transitioning to a virtual environment where a single physical resource (a server, operating system, application, or storage device) functions as multiple computational-based resources. The result is a higher utilization rate with a smaller number of servers and lower power requirements. IT virtualization is an abstraction layer that decouples the physical hardware from the operating system to deliver greater resource utilization and flexibility. The additional benefits of scalability and rapid disaster recovery capabilities in virtual environments only add to its attraction.
According to market analyst Gartner Research, Stamford, Conn., only about 5% of the new operating systems purchased in 2005 were installed on virtual servers. By 2009, they predict that number will expand to 40%. For most organizations, the issue is no longer whether to virtualize their computing resources, but rather which solutions to use. Other decisions to be made involve whether to consolidate the users’ systems onto a few large Linux-based hosts or to buy a large number of small Linux machines and tie them together as a single virtual system via clustering or grid technologies.
(Linux is often the preferred virtualization operating system because of its ability to run effortlessly and successfully on most hardware systems.) The successful implementation of a virtual hardware system often requires the associated implementation of a storage area network (SAN) as well. Lower-cost network attached storage (NAS) systems can be utilized in these environments, but are only practical for smaller systems.
Virtual frameworks
Virtualization was first introduced into the IT world about 40 years ago to allow the partitioning of centralized large IBM, Digital Equipment, Unisys, and other mainframe computer systems. The transition to minicomputers and then to PCs, along with the increasing computing and storage power associated with them, over the intervening years proved to be a more efficient way to distribute computational capabilities throughout the enterprise, and virtualization systems mostly disappeared.
Over the past 10 years, however, virtualization has been seen as a way to improve the cost effectiveness of often-underutilized systems, management and support systems, and vulnerability to disasters and security problems. The recent introduction of multicore microprocessors also plays directly into these virtualization trends.
A single eight-core platform (four dual-core systems, or two quad-core systems) can easily accommodate 32 virtual machines, which is often adequate for the data center of many small-to-midsize businesses. The development of larger multicore microprocessors by Intel and AMD will only enhance these capabilities for virtual computing frameworks.
As these hardware systems evolve into increasingly more powerful, flexible, and capable systems, users will start preferring software solutions that are already supported in virtualization environments.
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., has become the market leader in the U.S. over the past 10 years, with more than 4 million users and more than 20,000 corporate customers, along with all 100 of the Fortune 100 companies. Their full line of data center products, development and testing products, enterprise desktop products, and accelerator products fully support this growing environment. “VMware ESX continues to dominate the market for in-production implementations of virtualization,” says John Enck, an analyst at the Gartner Group.
VMware’s founder, Mendel Rosenblum, is considered responsible for much of the current growth in virtualization due to his research on operating systems while a professor of computer science at Stanford. His efforts to bring virtualization to the desktop and to implement it with Linux are associated with its revival from its past mainframe glory days.
Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., XenSource, Palo Alto, Calif., and Virtual Iron Software, Lowell, Mass., also offer products for implementing virtualization systems. Xen recently introduced an open-source virtualization project that has seen some market acceptance. Microsoft’s virutalization server, code-named Viridian and scheduled for release at the end of 2007, recently removed some of its core features in order to get it into the hands of users. The most significant feature to be cut is live migration—the ability to move a virtual machine from one physical server to another with no downtime. Also gone is the ability to hot-swap hardware. VMWare has had a live migration feature for several years. Microsoft appears to have gained market share with its Virtual Server product in Europe where it has 38% of the market.
Intel and AMD also plan to offer specific mivrosprocessor products designed to simplify the creation of virtualization systems and other management operations. These hardware implementations will allow some software products to run Microsoft Windows without modification. What all of this increased competition implies is that virtualizaton systems are becoming commoditized. Other players that are entering the market include Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, and SAP.
—Tim Studt
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