a
Online Marketing
CRM
Custom Solutions
Business Systems Assessment
Website Development
Strategic Project Consulting
Custom Software Development
IT Planning
SharePoint
Portfolio
Research and Insights
For Business Leaders
For Technology Gurus
About Us
About Technoligence
Our Approach
Headquarters
Contact Us
Careers
RFI: Platform Virtualization and Virtual Servers
By Jeff Vilimek on 8/16/2010 10:04 AM
Posted in [
Cloud Computing/SaaS
], [
Enterprise Architecture
], [
Virtualization
] |
0 Comments
This post is the second in a series on virtualization: Introduction, Platform (Servers and PCs), Desktop, Application, and Cloud
Of my four rough categories of virtualization, platform or server virtualization is usually what comes to mind first. I use the term platform since this can be done in special situations with PC operating systems, not just server, but I’ll cover those in my next post.
Typically, instead of running a server operating system like Linux or Windows Server on its own hardware, you instead run it inside an already running server. Usually this is done on a special server set up to run many virtual servers on a single box. This can also be done on a PC or laptop, but usually with only one guest operating system running inside the main operating system.
So why would you do this?
Consolidation/Cost:
Typical IT datacenters have many, many servers but many of those servers don’t work very hard. There’s lots of spare processing cycles to go around. Consolidation of these servers into less physical boxes saves hardware cost, power, and space. In large datacenters this can add up to huge cost savings for a company, if the profile of the servers being consolidated is right.
Flexibility/Dynamic Capacity:
Sometimes servers don’t need to be around all that often. A company may need to add capacity only occasionally (like during tax season) or may keep special application servers around only for particular projects. Virtual servers can be moved around much more easily than physical servers and can be stored as images in large data storage. Some companies keep a virtual library of special use server images that can be set up when needed.
Development/Testing/Support:
Sometimes a PC user may have a need for a special use operating system on their own PC. I’ve done this often for demo purposes, even running a virtual server OS on my laptop at times to show of some scenario or capability. This is also often used to host special development or testing environments. Finally, some critical or interesting pieces of software may not run on your main operating system and so a virtual guest environment may be useful (e.g. Windows on a Mac or Linux on a Windows PC.)
Server Virtualization – Industry Roundup
Here’s a rundown of some of the main players in platform virtualization and a high-level analysis of each:
Citrix –
XenServer
Was focused on the open-source Xen project but
now provides Hyper-V management
Base, relatively full featured version available free as Xen
Enterprise support and advanced management provided at enterprise cost
Seen as enterprise class and a viable competitor to VMWare and MS Hyper-V (as well as a MS partner against VMWare) especially at lower price points, but requires Citrix management tools to be used effectively
EMC –
VMWare
Market leader with majority market share
and high penetration in large businesses
Known for unique (for now) advanced enterprise features like
memory overcommit
Free starter-style version available as ESXi
Seen as the market leader though costs can be high and
alternatives may have strengths in specific circumstances
IBM –
z/VM
Traditionally a mainframe based OS virtualization technology
Based on deep history of OS virtualization development dating back to the 1960s
Focused on UNIX/Linux OS support
Seen as a strong UNIX/Linux solution for datacenters already managing large IBM platforms or datacenters outsourced to IBM but not typically considered for new implementations
Microsoft –
Hyper-V
Second place in market share and gaining on VMWare
Near feature parity with all other vendors, requires MS management tools for full capabilities
Free console managed version and full version available with Windows Server
Seen as a strong contender
for leadership in virtualization in the future and often wins on price but still lacks some of the enterprise capabilities of competitor offerings
Open Source –
Xen
Capable, open-source virtualization offering
Feature parity at the hypervisor level with other enterprise offerings
Lacks management tools and support needed in most enterprise environments
Seen as a strong hypervisor platform but mostly adopted through enterprise vendors building solutions around it, like Citrix and Oracle
Oracle –
VM Server
Xen based offering targeted at Oracle solutions
May be a stronger offering in the future with the integration of Sun multi-OS solutions
Seen as a follower in this space
but a viable alternative for heavy Oracle shops
With that roundup I’ll break for now and cover PC level platform virtualization in my next post. Until then let me know if you have any comments or see any gaps. Enjoy!
Return Top
Trackback
Print
Permalink
Popular tags:
Virtualization
,
Enterprise Architecture
,
Software Development
Share this Post
Previous Entry:
RFI: Virtualization
Next Entry:
RFI: PC and Mac Based Virtualization
leave a
reply
Name (required)
Email (never displayed)
Website
Submit Comment
On processing, please waiting for ...
Topics
For Business Leaders
For Technology Gurus
Categories
Cloud Computing/SaaS ( 3 )
Enterprise Architecture ( 2 )
Dynamics CRM ( 1 )
Software Development ( 4 )
Security and Identity Management ( 1 )
Virtualization ( 3 )
Uncategorized ( 4 )
SharePoint ( 3 )
Search
Keywords
Phrase
Tags
Archive
September 2011 ( 1 )
November 2010 ( 1 )
October 2010 ( 1 )
September 2010 ( 1 )
August 2010 ( 1 )
July 2010 ( 1 )
June 2010 ( 1 )
May 2010 ( 1 )
April 2010 ( 1 )
March 2010 ( 1 )
February 2010 ( 1 )
January 2010 ( 1 )
December 2009 ( 1 )
November 2009 ( 1 )
Actions
Home
Rss Feed