Virtualization - Image the possibilities
At the 2005 VMWorld conference, Diane Greene created an image of her computer's operating system (OS) on stage, copied it onto an iPod Nano and walked over to another computer. After hooking the iPod up to the second computer, she proceeded to run a copy of the original computer's OS in a virtual player on the second machine. Portable computing, indeed!
A hot topic
Diane Greene is the president of VMWare, a company that offers software to create virtual instances of an OS. The product she used to "play" her computer's operating system on the second computer was called VMWare Player, and it is available for free.
The underlying technology to create the portable version of her computer is not, however. Virtualization is a hot topic in the IT arena, and with good reason. Many companies own servers that are underutilized. In the past, this has been accepted because creating a stable environment for the servers to operate necessitated reducing the number of programs running on each operating system. For example, having email and a database engine could be hazardous; if one program crashed, it could take the other with it.
Virtual backups
Creating multiple "machines" on one server through virtualization makes one physical computer able to do more tasks, and those tasks are done in the isolation of an individual operating system. The image that Diane Green took on her iPod was a frozen image of what her computer looked like at the time it was copied, which shows one of the big advantages of virtualization; an operating system is literally an image, a backup of the last instant the virtual machine was in motion.
For this reason, many consider a virtual backup of critical systems to be one of the big advantages of virtualization. Going back to the server example of email and database, what if the email server went down? If a virtual machine was mirroring that email server, an IT person could literally take the image of that virtual machine and copy it onto hardware, saving setup time for the email program, maintaining data integrity, and in a sense fulfilling what many backup programs are trying to accomplish (but not fully realizing).
Other uses
There are other instances where virtualized servers could be used. Besides running multiple systems on an underutilized server, or creating backup engines for critical systems, virtualized servers can, and have been used to create client operating environments. IBM has introduced blade servers that are capable of running 12 to 15 desktop environments using virtualization software, breaking the 1 physical computer to 1 user paradigm that currently exists.
Harness the power now
While many companies struggle with how, and/or if virtualization is right for them, software and hardware vendors are striving to establish a strong presence in this marketplace. Microsoft is changing its server pricing model to reflect virtual instances, changing from a price per processor to a price per instance. Intel and AMD have server processors coming into the market next year that will take many tasks that are currently done with software and move those pieces to the processors for more effective virtualization.
It remains to be seen whether everyone will carry about a flash drive with their entire operating system in tow. Virtual server technology is mature, however, and waiting to be harnessed for decreases in hardware costs and increased efficiency. With the events that will play out next year, the question will soon become not if you use virtualization technology, but how.