Virtualization and the benefits of virtualization

Virtualization is a technology that allows from one physical server to create many independent virtual machines. Each virtual machine is a separate system, has its own (virtual) hardware, operating system, and applications.

There are two forms of virtualization:

Type 1 virtualization: This form of virtualization is run directly on the server hardware, giving fast processing speed due to the optimal use of server resources. Typical products are VMware ESXi, Citrix XenServer or Microsoft Hyper-V.

Type 2 Virtualization: A form of virtualization built on the operating system and software available with popular products such as VMWare Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC or Oracle VitualBox ...

Limitations of traditional solutions:

High initial cost: when there is a need to deploy a new application or buy more servers, it will include other costs such as power, cooling system, server space, ...
Low investment efficiency: with each server dedicated to an application, the use capacity is only about 5-15%.
High operating costs: With more and more different servers, operating systems and applications ... will increase costs for management, monitoring, operation and maintenance.
Reduced work efficiency: The system administrator (IT) will have to focus most of the time on server hardware deployment, configuration, monitoring and maintenance. Therefore, there is not much time left for activities to serve production and business, projects to improve the system infrastructure.
Benefits of Virtualization

Virtualization increases flexibility, system scalability, and significant cost savings. Servers are deployed more quickly, helping to improve hardware utilization, many automated system management tasks help reduce operating and maintenance costs. Additional benefits include:

Reduce initial and operating costs.
Simplify and automate data center management, allowing IT departments to focus on new applications and services that benefit users and organizations.
Increases the flexibility of the system, enabling server migration without affecting the applications and services running on the servers. Deliver applications and resources faster.
Minimize or eliminate system downtime for routine maintenance tasks: hardware upgrades, operating system updates, software, etc.
The ability to recover quickly after a disaster.

There are six IT areas that virtualization is focusing on:

Network virtualization: is a method of combining and dividing available network bandwidth into independent channels, which can increase / decrease and be allocated to a specific server or device in real time. This idea eliminates network complexity by separating it into manageable parts, like hard drive partitions, to make managing files easier.
Storage virtualization: is the concentration of physical storage from multiple storage devices into a single storage device managed and controlled from a single management interface. Storage virtualization is often used in storage networks.
Server virtualization: is the division of server resources (processor, memory, storage, network interface ...) for many independent virtual machines. The purpose is to keep users from having to know and manage the complex details of server resources while enhancing resource sharing and utilization and maintaining scalability in the future. This software layer is often called the hypervisor.
Data virtualization: summarizing traditional specifications of data and data management, such as location, performance or formatting, facilitates broader access and good resilience. more closely associated with business needs.
Workstation virtualization: The virtualization of workstations (end-user computers) allows users to access remote computers via any terminal (tablet, smartphone or terminal). Virtualized workstations running on servers located in the data center help increase flexibility and safety, reducing management costs.
Application virtualization: the application layer is separated from the operating system. This way the application can run as a package without being dependent on the operating system below. This may allow a Windows application to run on Linux and vice versa.
Virtualization can be seen as part of a general trend of enterprise IT, including automated computing, a scenario where the IT environment can manage itself based on cognitive operations and utility computing, in which the right to handle computers is considered as a utility that customers only pay when actually using. The usual goal of virtualization is centralizing administrative tasks while improving scalability and workload.