The Impact of Virtualization Software on Environments
Published 13th Apr 2009 | Source - Platforms | Pages - 11It's been said that everything old is new again, and nothing could be more true than that with system virtualization. The introduction of virtual machine and hypervisor technology aboard x86 server hardware is arguably the most exciting development to emerge in years, but this technology, however new it is aboard the x86 server platform, is hardly new.
Virtualization and system partitioning have existed for decades aboard mainframe systems from IBM running OS/390, z/VM, and z/OS and, more recently, aboard IBM's iSeries and pSeries platforms as well as on HP's HP 9000 and Integrity product lines.
What's new is the concept of bringing this virtualization technology to small- and medium-scale x86-based servers. There are lots of compelling reasons for using system virtualization software. On
client systems, the ability to run multiple operating environments allows a user to support application workloads that are only available for an operating environment other than the primary environment the user wants to use. For instance, a Linux user can utilize virtual machine technology to support a Windows environment along with Microsoft Office on a system whose primary job is that of a Linux workstation.
For developers and support personnel, virtualization software provides the ability to create test- or scenario-based configurations and experiment with and/or destroy them, then discard the instance and recreate them in minutes ó all without having a dedicated test system or disrupting the primary operating system on the machine.
However, it is aboard the x86 servers ó not aboard clients ó where virtualization will be broadly deployed first. We believe that the deployment of virtualization software is nearly a given for next-generation servers, especially for those using 64-bit processors and modern operating system software, which are likely to have built-in virtualization capabilities. The result is a potentially cost-saving scenario for existing infrastructure, and for new deployments that can be architected to leverage virtualization.
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