Emerging Network Technologies : Server Virtualisation

Virtualization is a combination of software and hardware engineering that creates Virtual Machines (VMs) - an abstraction of the computer hardware that allows a single machine to act as if it were many machines, or a computer that does not physically exist as a piece of hardware. The hardware that is seen by the operating system is emulated in an effort to separate the physical hardware from operating system. This allows the virtual machine to be moved and hosted on any machine independent of hardware. Virtualization technology is possibly the single most important issue in IT and has started a top to bottom overhaul of the computing industry which is why many companies around the world have are using its softwares to enhance their business opportunities.

Significance: This topic is important to my audience because of the increasing number of people accessing the internet. Implementing virtualization

[P3] Server virtualisation: This is the process of hiding all of the server resources including the amount of servers that a company has and the amount of processors etc. From the people using the server.

It allows network administrators to create a virtual server environment by using some of the server’s resources. By doing this, it creates virtual/private servers and one of the benefits of this is that it would cost less money to use virtual servers rather than physical servers as hardware maintenance would not be required. Also, if one virtual server goes down, the others will still be left running. In the example above, there are 4 physical servers. Server Virtualization only needs one physical server to be able to create the virtual servers.

Virtualization’s rate of adoption is completely characterized by the five characteristics described in the framework for the concepts of innovation (Luftman & Bullen, 2004, p. 189). It is perceived to be better than physical servers in its ability to host multiple operating systems and share the host’s resource. Its encapsulation of resources allows it to operate as if it was a physical machine yet it is totally virtual giving it a relative advantage. It is compatible with all baseline operating systems on the market. Complexity in implementation is minimal making it more attractive to adopt. The vendors allows for free downloads and trials. Its visibility in competition with Microsoft’s Hyper-V has shown multiple advantages. (Luftman & Bullen, 2004, p. 190)

Virtualization is being able to give a physical device the power, through the use of software, to do more than that physical device was technically designed and able to do (Santana, 2014, p. 12). For example, a server can only run one operating system at a time. However, when a hypervisor is used in a server, the hypervisor is a layer of software that acts like the server itself so that many operating systems can be run from that one server. The hardware, in this case a server, has been virtualized. The goal is to use all of the computer’s resources all of the time, and the only way to do that is to have enough things running that the resources are being used consistently and efficiently. An analogy for this could be online classes. If each teacher only had one student, the teacher’s resources of time and expertise would not be utilized efficiently because that one student will not need help all day, every day. If the teacher is assigned to fifteen students, the students can still get help when needed from the teacher, and they would not even be aware that they are not alone in the class. Because it is an online class, the teacher does not need any more physical resources to teach an entire class than was needed for one student. The students are receiving the benefits of being taught by that teacher without needing to be with him or her physically.

Virtualization in a network is the most interesting thing I have learned about. In full virtualization, the virtual machine completely simulates a real physical host. This allows most operating systems and applications to run within the virtual machine without being modified in anyway. I would envision using virtualization when testing a new service or application in the development stages, testing the product on different operating systems. I think virtualization is brilliant, a problem that arises is security and how you go about protecting your data in the virtual machine. Placing a virtual firewall is a good way to protect your machine of routing the memory through physical machines that have a firewall to protect them. A benefit of cloud

In computing, network virtualization is the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform virtualization, often combined with resource virtualization.

As we all know virtualization is the requirement of future. We have evolved from the age of traditional environment to virtual environment.We have grown accustomed to almost all things virtual from virtual memory to virtual networks to virtual storage.The most widely leveraged benefit of virtualization technology is server consolidation, enabling one server to take on the workloads of multiple servers. For example, by consolidating a branch office’s print server, fax server, exchange server, and web server on a single windows server, businesses reduce the costs of hardware, maintenance, and staffing.

Large corporations might choose to consolidate their IT system in one virtualized (and very expensive) server farm saving on hardware, support and maintenance costs over time.

The solution to this can be to take which is best in both infrastructures and then reinvent the company’s infrastructure into a “Traditional-Virtual Design”.

Internet based Wide Area Network virtualization technologies, virtualized network functions, overlays, automation technologies, and virtual network appliance solutions must be implemented where applicable for all network layers to improve infrastructure agility, efficiency, and reduced power consumption and physical foot print.

A virtual machine (VM) is a working structure (OS) or application that is exhibited on programming, which copies conferred outfit. The end client has a dubious unlawful relationship on a virtual machine from they would have submitted gear.

Though the universal adoption of virtualization is a fairly fresh phenomenon, threats to the virtualized environment are progressing rapidly. The hypervisor and virtual machines that are used used by SaaS vendors may also have vulnerabilities as shown in (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, 2012). Such exposures signifies an even more severe difficulty in multi-tenant environments such as in the field involved, where if there compromise of even one virtual machine can distress all users on the same server. Virtualization is among the main constituents of a cloud but it key security risks. Guaranteeing that unlike occurrences running on the same machine are separated from each other is a major task of virtualization

Progressions in virtualization advances empower undertakings to get all the more processing force from the underutilized