What is “Virtualization”? Virtualization is a blend of software and hardware engineering that produces Virtual Machines (VMs). Virtual Machines are a concept of the computer hardware allowing a single computer to act as if it were multiple computers through the use of software. Virtualization allows you to safely run multiple operating systems and applications at the same time on just one computer, giving each one access to the resources it needs when it needs them.
Virtualization for High Availability
Are you getting the most out of your servers? Do you have more than one server that has unused hard drive space? According to www.vmware.com, about 70% of a typical IT budget in a non-virtualized datacenter goes towards just maintaining the existing infrastructure. With virtualization however, your business is able to save money by eliminating planned downtime for general maintenance procedures, and rapidly recover from server failures through automatic system restarts. Not only is your business able to eliminate planned downtime, virtualization builds fault tolerance resources into your network infrastructure which is seen by all applications and operating systems running in virtual machines. These fault tolerance capabilities allow your business to prevent unplanned downtime as well. Today, more and more businesses are continuing to realize the benefits of virtualization for high availability in the workplace.
Server Consolidation with Virtualization
By replicating the same desktop and application experience of one machine to multiple machines, virtualization gives users the same experience they would have if they were working directly from the physical computer that is being replicated. Are your business’s servers each assigned to specific functions that are only used for a set period of time each day? With virtualization you are able to reallocate that unused server space to utilize those servers when they are not performing their other daily tasks. This eliminates the need for large server rooms or growing data centers by allowing the use of just 1 or 2 servers to support many computers within your office. By implementing virtualization into your network infrastructure, you are able to reduce hardware requirements by 90% or more and increase the use of your business’s existing hardware by up to 80%. Virtualization and the annual inspection can help your business by optimizing your underutilized servers to perform at their peak performance level, reducing company expenses and increasing network efficiency.
Virtualization for Disaster Recovery and Data Backup
Virtualization offers high redundancy should one of your servers’ fail, capable of dynamically allocating resources to other servers within your network. This gives you elevated availability for critical business data and applications should there ever be a disaster that wipes out a server. If all of your servers go down, data can be replicated from a virtual machine and be placed back on a new server, allowing your business to swiftly recover and maintain continuity in the face of a disaster. With hardware independence, you can reassign existing servers for disaster recovery eliminating the need to buy duplicate servers for data recovery. San Diego IT can save your business money, simplify your businesses IT operations, and respond more promptly to changing business demands by implementing Virtualization into your business network infrastructure.
