Virtualization

What is virtualization?

Simply put, virtualization is a method of running multiple operating systems on a single physical computer.

In other words

On traditional computers and servers there is one set of software running on one set of hardware. With virtualization, multiple sets of software can be organized into virtual computers, or containers, that run on a single computer. (See the diagram, above). This means a computer can have one set of hardware for multiple computers to serve multiple needs and multiple groups.

Why virtualize?

Virtualization maximizes the investment in hardware.

Virtualization is green in that it reduces the number of independent servers that may be running at a very small fraction of its ability and thus unnecessarily consuming energy and producing heat that in turn requires additional air conditioning.

Virtual machines provisioned by Information Services are backed up, stored in an appropriately climate-controlled data center with backup power, air-conditioning and network. The hardware and environment are also maintained by professional technical staff.

Example of virtualization is Microsoft Hyper-V.

What is Microsoft Hyper-V?

Microsoft Hyper-V is a server virtualization product developed by Microsoft Corporation, which provides virtualization services through hypervisor-based emulations.

Microsoft Hyper-V is a server hypervisor that enables consolidation of a single physical server into many virtual servers, all sharing the hardware resources of the host server and powered by Hyper-V. Hyper-V operates both as a standalone solution and as an addition to Windows Server 2008 R2 and was built to improve server utilization and reduce capital costs for buying an in-house physical server.

Hyper-V is a key addition to Microsoft's cloud computing and virtualization product offerings and provides the complete end-to-end functionality for an enterprise-grade virtualization product. Hyper-V provides the basic functionality to create a virtualization layer over the physical layer of the host server machine and enables guest operating systems to be installed and managed through an integrated management console.

Hyper-V isolates part of a physical machine into child partitions and allocates them to different guest operating systems, with Windows Server 2008 acting as the primary host/parent. Hyper-V also assigns appropriate hardware and software resources for each of the guest operating system its hosting because they don’t have direct access to the raw compute hardware resources and rely on Hyper-V.