Along with the advancement of information technology which continues to grow rapidly, various new breakthroughs have emerged that are not only unique but also able to provide convenience. One of them is virtualization.
Nowadays, more and more people are using this technology to fulfill various needs. In the world of computers, this technology is actually not a new thing.
In fact, this term has existed since around 1960. At that time there were already several institutions and institutions as well as individuals who applied the technology to their computers.
Then for now, its use is becoming increasingly popular.
What is Virtualization
Virtualization is the creation of a virtual version of something, especially in the IT field, such as information systems.
What can be used as virtual in this case is usually the operating system, server, or other information technology related matters in the form of hardware or hardware.
To perform virtualization. It is necessary to use software that can create a simulation of the use of the hardware that you want to be virtualized.
According to Microsoft, virtualization is a way of turning a physical computer or a server into several virtual machines that can interact independently.
In fact, these virtual machines can be run using different operating systems or applications even though they use the same host machine or device.
How Virtualization Works
In carrying out its virtualization function, it will use a software layer or software called a hypervisor. This software is tasked with distributing physical resources to various virtual environments as needed and separating them.
After the virtual environment or virtual environment can run, the program immediately sends instructions regarding the need for additional resources in the physical environment.
From here then the hypervisor will respond and deliver messages to the physical system while saving changes. Another name for a virtual environment is a guest machine or guest machine.
In addition, many also call it a virtual machine or virtual machine and often abbreviate it as VM. The function of this VM is almost the same as a single file. You can transfer it from one computer to another or open both at the same time.
So far, there are many providers of virtual machine tools and you can choose them according to your needs. VMware is one of the largest and the number of users is very large.
Various products such as VMware server or ESX server are available completely and you can use all of them to create virtual machines.
a.) Architecture
An architecture will be very decisive when a concept is implemented. Likewise, the architecture of Windows Server Virtualization is very different from the architecture of Virtual PC, Virtual Server 2005, or VMWare.
In this case the concept of virtualization in Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces the Hypervisor and adopts the microkernelized concept.
The implementation of microkernelized allows one virtual machine instance to act as a parent partition and another instance as a child partition.
All virtual machine instances will run on the hypervisor. Each partition can utilize one or more processors, this is of course if using a dual-core or quad-core class processor.
The parent partition is responsible for organizing child partitions, and virtualization stack management. The parent partition can also be referred to as the root partition.
Because this partition is created first during server hardware initialization. The root partition is the centerpiece of power management, hardware organization, and hypervisor management.
The role of the parent partition as a virtualization stack so that software components work on top of the hypervisor and work together to support virtual machines in the system.
The virtualization stack communicates with the hypervisor and performs all virtualization functions. The parent partition is considered an instance, so IT Administrators can easily convert a child to a parent if needed.
b.) Concept
Although the concept of virtualization has been developed since the late 60s, in reality this technology is still not widely known until now.
Microsoft itself since 2004 has started to introduce Virtual PC and Virtual Server or VMWare. Although the concept of virtualization is very different compared to Virtual PC or Virual Server.
Virtualization has been introduced decades ago, at that time the industry was still using mainframe computers in the late 60s. At that time computers were still using Punch cards and also IBM 360 mainframes.
In line with the development of technology, changes continue and computers are getting slimmer and no longer a luxury item that is only owned by certain companies or people.
With the rapid development of technology and the rapid flow of globalization, IT-based business competition is also getting tougher.
Seeing this reality, the world’s software giant, Microsoft presents server technology that supports Virtualization. This advanced feature is in Windows Server 2008 64 bit which has now begun to be widely implemented.
The concept of virtualization that is directly integrated with the server role. Namely Windows Server Virtualization or better known as Hyper-V.
Hyper-V will become a role in the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system by optimizing the virtualization of the server operating system. As is known, Hyper-V supports server virtualization for both 64-bit versions.
c.) Server Merge
With more and more companies connected to the network, it is certain that the risk of attacks on machines will increase because many ports must be opened, therefore all services can accept client requests.
Patching is sometimes a very troublesome thing, if you update a service it will require restarting and sacrificing other services.
With Virtualization, however, it is possible to combine multiple server roles as virtual machines running on a separate machine.
This reduces the space needed by the server and maximizes server utilization, and each role can run in a virtual isolation so it will be safe and easy to manage or manage.
And if you combine virtual servers into enterprise class server hardware that uses RAID and hot-swappable components, you can reduce down time and make your hardware more efficient.
d.) Parent
It will be a very interesting system if Server Core is used as a parent in a host system that will implement Windows Server Virtualization technology.
The use of Server Core as a parent system will maximize server resources for child operating system instances.
This design will certainly maximize the utilization of the server, because the parent does not require a large hardware allocation, considering that Server Core (parent) does not require hard disk space like a full version Windows Server instance.
IT Administrators don’t have to worry about the organization of instances by using Server Core as the parent. Because Server Cores can be organized using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
Benefits of Virtualization
Virtualization is a technology that brings many benefits.
Some of them are as follows:
1. Resource Efficiency
Without virtualization, each application server needs its own physical CPU. Of course, IT staff will need to purchase a separate server for each application they want to run.
Well, with virtualization, you can maximize the capacity of each piece of hardware. This is possible because server virtualization allows multiple applications to operate on a single computer.
2. Reducing Company Expenditure
Since you don’t need to install a lot of hardware, this will have an impact on the company’s expenses. You don’t need to buy new hardware to keep up with the company’s increasingly complex operations.
In addition, you need to remember that hardware installation also requires maintenance that is not free. So virtualization allows you to cut all these costs. That way, you can allocate these funds for other purposes.
3. Little Downtime
Some virtual machines can be operated to deal with operating system and application problems such as crashes that affect user productivity.
Of course, this will be cheaper than using multiple physical servers.
4. Simple Management
Replacing multiple computers with virtual machines for virtualization is a way to make setup easier. In fact, you can create an automated IT service management workflow.
5. Protecting Data from Disasters with Disaster Recovery
The more server devices, the more difficult it will be when a disaster occurs. For example, if due to a downturn in your server device, you have problems, then you have to reset it to another device.
If the disaster that occurs causes damage to all servers which requires you to reset the servers one by one. Of course it will be very time consuming.
With virtualization, you don’t have to do all that. Because the infrastructure is already virtualized, you don’t need to set up the existing server devices one by one.
It is enough to backup the virtual machine files and the server can be used again. When disaster strikes, the servers just need to be relocated and it doesn’t take that long.
6. Quick installation
Buying, installing, and setting up software for each application is a long and complicated process. But with virtualization this is not necessary.
Virtual machines for virtualization can start working quickly, and can even be set up automatically.
7. Server Consolidation
Reducing the number of physical servers for each application through the application of the system as a Virtual Machine (VM) that can run safely and use shared resources. This can increase server utilization from 15% to 80%.
8. Development and Test Optimization
Developers can quickly create Development and Test environments using a pre-configured server, thereby increasing collaboration and standardization of the Development environment.
Types of Virtualization
1. Storage virtualization
This virtualization way is by pooling physical storage from multiple network storage devices. A network storage device that can be configured and controlled from a main console.
This type of virtualization is quite commonly used in storage area networks.
2. Network virtualization
Network virtualization is a virtualization method by combining resources in a network. This is done by dividing the bandwidth into several channels.
Each of these channels is independent of one another. That way, this channel can be assigned to a specific server or device in real time.
3. Server virtualization
The purpose of this virtualization is to simplify server resources so that they are easier to understand. In addition, server virtualization can also increase network sharing and its capacity to expand.
4. Desktop virtualization
Desktop virtualization is the process of virtualizing a workstation. It is used to give users access to a desktop even remotely.
5. Application virtualization
This type is an abstraction layer of an application from the operating system. By doing application virtualization, an application can be run in an encapsulated form without having to depend on the operating system.
So, applications on Windows for example, can be operated on Linux or vice versa.
6. Data virtualization
It is a traditional technical data detail abstraction and data management process. The goal is to realize wider access to meet business needs.
Conclusion
In simple terms, virtualization is a solution that is time to be implemented in organizations. Virtualization in general terms describes the separation of resources or requests into virtual form for each service that runs on it.
For example, in virtual memory (RAM), an application can use more memory than the existing physical memory, through swapping data to the hard disk.
Similarly, virtualization techniques can be applied to other layers of IT infrastructure – including networks, server hardware, operating systems and applications.
2 comments
Nice information
Thanks!