VIRTUALIZATION THE FOUNDATION OF CLOUD COMPUTING

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VIRTUALIZATION

THE FOUNDATION OF CLOUD COMPUTING

989 Old Eagle School Road Suite 815

Wayne, PA 19087 USA 610.964.8000 www.evolveip.net

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Evolve IP | 989 Old Eagle School Road – Suite 815 | Wayne, PA 19087 | 610.964.8000 | info@evolveip.net Page 2 of 6

Did You Know

Approximately 70 percent of a typical IT budget in a non-virtualized data center goes toward just maintaining the existing infrastructure–leaving little time to focus on the business.

Defining Virtualization

Today’s computer hardware was designed to run a single operating system and a single application, leaving most machines vastly underutilized. Simply put, virtualization technology allows you to run multiple virtual machines (servers) on a single physical machine (server), with each virtual machine sharing the resources of that one physical computer across multiple environments.

Introduction

Virtualization has quickly earned its place in data centers as a fundamental technology and a catalyst of overall IT change and modernization. The reason is simple: When you can virtualize servers and

infrastructure, you can handle the same workload with fewer physical computers. It’s almost like getting away with something for free.

A sea change is happening where cloud-based service providers are offering virtualized services in the cloud to SMB customers. This means that companies do not have to invest the resources and capital to build their own infrastructure.

Virtualization allows service providers to offer voice, data, security, and business applications in a “one- to-many” model. This model allows businesses to focus on what is core to their strategy rather than being in the IT business.

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How Virtualization Works

Virtualization works by inserting a thin layer of software on a computer or a host operating system. This software contains a monitor that allocates hardware resources dynamically and transparently. Multiple operating systems run concurrently on a physical computer and share hardware resources with each other. By encapsulating an entire computer, including CPU, memory, operating system, and network devices, a virtual machine is compatible with all standard operating systems, applications, and device drivers. You can safely run several operating systems and applications at the same time on a single computer, with each having access to the resources it needs when it needs them.

Virtualization technologies, such as VMware, can even spread these virtual machines across large pools of servers and storage, called Virtual Infrastructure, which increases availability of virtual servers, by reducing the importance of individual physical servers.

Types of Hypervisors

• Type 1 (or native, bare metal) hypervisors run directly on the host’s hardware to control the hardware and manage the guest operating systems. A guest operating system thus runs on another level above the hypervisor.

Physical Machine

• Host System

• Contains thin layer of Software called a Hypervisor

Hypervisor

• Dynamically allocates hardware resources of the Host to the Guests.

Virtual Machine

• Guest System

• A complete system with its own Operating System and resources.

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• Type 2 (or hosted) hypervisors run within a conventional operating system environment. With the hypervisor layer as a distinct second software level, guest operating systems run at the third level above the hardware.

Virtual Machine Explained

A virtual machine is a tightly isolated software container that can run its own operating systems and applications as if it were a physical computer. It behaves exactly like a physical computer and contains its own virtual (i.e., software-based) CPU, RAM, hard disk, and network interface card (NIC). An

operating system cannot tell the difference between a virtual machine and a physical machine, nor can applications or other computers on a network. Even the virtual machine thinks it’s a “real” computer.

Visualizing Virtualization

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The Challenges That Virtualization Addresses

• Server Consolidation – Stops server sprawl with the deployment of virtual machines and allows for the maximum utilization of the servers you have.

• Development Environments – Standardizes development environments and rapidly deploys pre-configured test machines.

• Business Continuity – Reduces the cost and complexity associated with business continuity by compartmentalizing entire sytems into a file that can be stored on one target machine for easy restoration, minimizing downtime.

• Enterprise Desktop – Secures unmanaged machines without disrupting the user’s autonomy via a transparent software-based security policy around desktop virtual machines.

The Benefits of Virtualization

• Get more out of your existing resources – Pool common infrastructure resources and break the legacy “one application to one server” model with server consolidation.

• Reduce data center costs by reducing your physical infrastructure and improving your server to admin ratio – Fewer servers and related IT hardware means reduced real estate and reduced power and cooling requirements. Better management tools let you improve your server to admin ratio so personnel requirements are lessened as well.

• Increase availability of hardware and applications for improved business continuity – Securely back up and migrate entire virtual environments with no interruption in service. Eliminate planned downtime and recover immediately from unplanned issues.

• Gain operational flexibility – Respond to market changes with dynamic resource management, faster server provisioning, and improved desktop and application deployment.

• Improve desktop manageability and security – Deploy, manage, and monitor secure desktop environments that users can access locally or remotely, with or without a network connection, on almost any standard desktop, laptop, or tablet PC. (Source: VMware, Inc.)

Virtualize to the Cloud

While the benefits of virtualization are clear, getting there is not. Virtualization takes capital, experience, testing, and time. And, no matter how good of a job your IT staff does virtualizing your infrastructure, it remains only as good as its weakest link, which in most businesses is its own location.

Subject to power outages, weather events, fire, security breaches, and loss of connectivity, on-site data centers are listed as the number one concern of 70 percent of CIOs.

Fortunately, there are cloud-based technology providers that offer businesses the opportunity to virtualize their servers, desktops, and applications to their private clouds.

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About Evolve IP

Evolve IP is a leading cloud-based technology provider that offers businesses a better way to buy and manage their applications, infrastructure, and security solutions. We help organizations outsource technologies that are not within the budget, skills, or focus of their IT resources. Evolve IP customers upgrade their legacy environment without capital expense, accomplish more with enhanced features, increase stability and control with an award-winning portal, and reduce their carbon footprint, allowing them to focus on their core business and reduce costs. More information about Evolve IP is available at http://www.EvolveIP.net.

Acknowledgements

Scott Kinka Joseph Pedano

Chief Technology Officer Senior Vice President, Data Engineering