Most small businesses are looking for cost-effective ways to add newer and richer applications to fuel and grow their businesses. Small and mid-sized businesses want access to the latest technology, but often don't have the time, money, or need for multiple servers running more than one OS. Server virtualization—typically something reserved for large enterprise—is changing the way small and mid-sized businesses manage IT resources and deliver technology to their employees, partners, and customers.
What is virtualization?
According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, "virtualization is the process of presenting a logical grouping of computing resources so they can be accessed in ways that give benefits over the original configuration." Virtualized resources generally include computing power and data storage.
A good example of virtualization is multiprocessing computer architectures. This is the practice of partitioning or splitting up one server to appear as multiple servers. Add virtualization software such as VMware Workstation and Microsoft Virtual Server, and one physical machine can run multiple operating systems and therefore a broader, richer set of business applications.
Before virtualization technology, if a small business wanted to run applications requiring different OSs, they probably needed to invest in two to four servers for one office. Today, one medium-powered HP ProLiant Series Server does the job of all four. Virtual machines become almost like a vacuum cleaner with multiple attachments to handle different jobs.
Virtualization in practice
| Today, mid-market business are initiating virtualization projects not only to reduce costs, but to make specific improvements to their infrastructure, including: |
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Server consolidation - Virtualization technology to host several servers on one physical server.
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Disaster recovery - Maintain disaster recovery site without using same number of physical servers. For example, the daily backup can by placed on a standby virtual machine for rapid disaster recovery. |
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Test and development - Use of virtual machines to quickly provision and scale test machines and rapidly transition to newer projects. |
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Client consolidation - Host several clients on high capacity servers, reducing the manageability burden associated with stand-alone clients. |
Innovations in virtualization
| Recently, HP introduced new software and services to speed and simplify management of virtual IT. HP's complete portfolio of virtualization offerings helps companies pool and share IT resources. HP's new offerings include: |
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Expansion of the multi-operating system HP Virtual Server Environment for HP Integrity servers.
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A new packaged solution with VMware and HP ProLiant Essentials Virtualization Management software. |
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A new network consolidation service |
Virtualization works
Server virtualization solutions are helping small and medium-size businesses tap into newer, richer applications at a lower cost, while at the same adding security, disaster recovery, and more computing power. Tune in next month to learn about virtualization on HP Blade Series servers.
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