Virtualization

Virtualization literally means the creation of something virtual (rather than actual) In the computer world, it can be a virtual device, like a drive or network card or even a PC or Server with a virtual operating system. Most commonly today, virtualization allows users to create multiple virtual machines on one "host" machine. The virtual machines share the hardware resources of the host machine. Most virtualization software will allow the creation of not only multiple "guest" machines, but also multiple operating systems as well.

Let's take a look at the Pros and Cons of virtualization:

PROS	CONS
Isolation- Virtualization allows each application its own "sandbox" operating independently from one another and eliminating potential software conflicts	Concentration Risk- "Putting all your eggs in one basket" allows for a single source of failure and losing all your virtualized machines at once
Consolidation-Manage many servers  on one box and decrease expenses, uses less power, allows for redundancy.	Cost-Licensing costs can be a considerable addition to the cost of the physical hardware. Proper licensing can be a daunting task and may outweigh the cost of virtualization.
Testing-Most virtual software allows for rollbacks and snapshots.  Allows for timing-sensitivity and load sensitive applications testing and simulations	Performance Penalty-Virtualization runs an additional layer above the physical hardware, but beneath the guest operating system causing significant I/O slowdowns.  This may result in the need to purchase more memory and/or processors for the Host machine in order to get the desired performance on the virtualized guest machines.
Mobility-Easy to move from one machine to another or deploying another copy onto another machine.	Hardware Support-Virtual technology only supports the hardware that both the virtual machine hypervisor and the guest operating system support. Some are OS dependent meaning they won’t run certain Operating Systems.

So, as you can see, while virtualization can be a huge savings in some ways, it can also come back to bite you in others. Many IT companies use virtual servers as test servers for testing new operating systems and applications. On production servers, virtualization has to be weighed carefully in terms of trade offs. OOTBS offers virtual servers for a variety of commmon applications in a hosting environment. Since it is cheaper for us, we make it cheaper for you. It's that simple. Call us about a virtual solution today.