Virtualisation is emerging as a major trend in enterprise computing. Because it separates software from the hardware it runs on, it is changing the way that people think about those components.
Just as you don't know (or probably care) whether the power that runs your bedlamp is from the nuclear station seven provinces away or from the hydroelectric plant to the West of the city you live in, virtualisation will one day do the same for the server that powers the application that you run from your desktop.
The electric grid provides power efficiently, with rather sophisticated technology that predicts the demand and surplus, while hiding all this complexity from the end-user. Virtualisation promises to do the same for IT.
But what is virtualisation in essence?
Virtualisation is a proven software technology that is rapidly transforming the IT landscape and fundamentally changing the way that people compute. Today's powerful x86 computer hardware was designed to run a single operating system and a single application. This leaves most machines vastly under-utilised.
Virtualisation lets you run multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine, sharing the resources of that single computer across multiple environments. Different virtual machines can run different operating systems and multiple applications on the same physical computer.
Thus analysing virtualisation, we could say it encompasses three areas:
* Desktop virtualisation: Virtual desktops; mobile computing; lean clients; independence from monopolistic vendors like MS.
Desktop virtualisation is the use of virtual machines to let multiple network subscribers maintain individualised desktops on a single, centrally located computer or server. The central machine may be at a residence, business or data centre. Users may be geographically scattered, but are all connected to the central machine by a proprietary local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) or the Internet.
* The separation of hardware and the operating system: grid computing/utility server models.
Grid computing appears to be a promising trend for three reasons:
(1) Its ability to make more cost-effective use of a given amount of computer resources.
(2) As a way to solve problems that can't be approached without an enormous amount of computing power.
(3) Because it suggests that the resources of many computers can be co-operatively and perhaps synergistically harnessed and managed as collaboration toward a common objective. In some grid computing systems, the computers may collaborate rather than being directed by one managing computer.
* Separation of the operating system and the application server: Middleware servers/cloud computing savings through scalability (start cheap, scale up or down as demand flows or ebbs, spend only on more readily predictable growth).
Cloud computing is the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them. Cloud computing services often provide common business applications online that are accessed from a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.
The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals.
In a recent interview with Stephen Harrod from VMware, he addressed the issue, stating:
“There will be a lot of different 'clouds', if you will, and they will all have different properties. We recently had a whole 'Cloud Day', and companies there all had different messages. 'We're the secure cloud', 'we're the low-cost cloud', 'we're the one that has a long-term relationship with you'. I think higher-level things beyond computation will dominate why you choose one cloud supplier over another.”
Virtualisation enables to us consolidate more things. But really, it gives you the freedom to rethink the way you're doing IT.
Virtualising a single physical computer is just the beginning. With VMware vSphere, the industry's first cloud operating system scales across hundreds of interconnected physical computers and storage devices to form an entire virtual infrastructure. You don't need to assign servers, storage, or network bandwidth permanently to each application. Instead, your hardware resources are dynamically allocated when and where they're needed.
This “internal cloud” means your highest priority applications will always have the resources they need without wasting money on excess hardware only needed for peak times. The internal cloud can connect to an external cloud as well, giving your business the flexibility, availability and scalability it needs to thrive.
It's not just virtualisation that's important. You need the management tools to run those machines and the ability to run the wide selection of applications and infrastructure services your business depends on. VMware lets you increase service availability while eliminating error-prone manual tasks. IT operations are more efficient and effective with VMware virtualisation. Your staff will handle double or triple the number of servers, giving users access to the services they need while retaining centralised control. Deliver built-in availability, security, and performance across the board, from the desktop to the data centre.
For more information, please contact Izaan Marx on (012) 347-7944 to discuss a solution for your company.
Ubuntu Technologies
Castle Walk Corporate Park, Block A Ground Floor
C/O Swakop and Kuiseb Street
Erasmuskloof
Tel: 012 347 7944
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