Tech terms fly pretty quickly, and you may often feel a bit challenged to know the ins and outs of everything you need to know to build a successful IT environment. One of the buzzworthy terms that are being bounced around a lot of late is the concept of server virtualization.
What Is Server Virtualization?
In order to accurately describe server virtualization, it might help to begin at a better-understood piece of technology. The physical server is composed of memory storage, compute and the network interface and it is deployed on-site. Sometimes referred to as a “bare metal” server, a physical server ties each of these components to a single tenant.
The bulk of the processing capacity of a bare metal server is tied to a process or running application. In a physical server, there are only some workloads that fully make use of the processor.
A server virtualization approach takes some of the attributes of a physical server, and in particular, the computer, and abstracts it across multiple virtual servers. Rather than having a single central processing unit (CPU) with a single workload and not tapping out the full capacity of the physical server, a virtual CPU enables workloads and tasks to work more efficiently.
Many organizations find that data center virtualization can use abstracted servers to create a fully-virtualized environment, allowing application workloads to work efficiently across a group of server assets. These virtualized servers never directly interact with physical hardware, maximizing reliability and utilization of the workloads.
How Server Virtualization Might Look in Your Business
Cloud Server Virtualization: One of the most common business applications for server virtualization is in the cloud. Basically, the cloud is built on this concept, with cloud providers using virtualization as a way to abstract compute resources within a data center to be easily accessed by end users.
Development and Testing: Server virtualization is handy for your developers because they can easily start up and shut down resources. They can also set aside a specific environment for developing and testing a product without impacting your broader environment or the users that access it.
Application Deployment: Virtualization makes it easier to bundle and package applications in a format that’s convenient to run and deploy compared to installing them on a physical server.
Efficiency and Cost Savings: Server virtualization allows enterprises to use their computing power more effectively and reduce costs with benefits like scalability and improvements in productivity.
If you’d like to explore the potential uses for server virtualization for your enterprise, contact us at Access Tech. From improving efficiency in your infrastructure to equipping your developers with agility and speed, virtualization can introduce a host of benefits to your organization.