Is there a way to enable masking of server resources from the users of servers? Indeed, it is possible, through server virtualization, wherein a physical server is divided into many isolated and unique virtual servers with the aid of a software application. In the process of server virtualization, the number as well as the identities of physical servers, operating systems and processors are included and each virtual server runs its own operating system.
Server virtualization plays an important role in the efficient operation of a data center, where all the servers are abstracted for the creation of a fully virtualized ecosystem. Such a virtualized infrastructure aids in maximizing processor utilization as well as renders running workloads more reliable.
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Server Virtualization Explained
A physical server refers to a data center hardware, which has memory, network interface components, storage and compute. It is deployed on-premises. Physical servers have various configurations which include blade, rack and tower. The choice with regard to these configurations impact budget, space inside the data center, performance and scalability.
Server virtualization abstracts the attributes of a physical server into multiple virtual assets.
The performance and function of a physical infrastructure is emulated by it, through the use of a layer of abstraction that is software-based.
A traditional server ties all the components to a single hardware. This doesn’t result in efficient utilization as most enterprises have server space that is in excess of that being used by them, as well as few workloads on those systems which use the entire capacity. With regard to virtualization, individual workloads and tasks are not tied directly to any specific hardware. This enhances efficiency. Despite requiring hardware, the availability is flexible with virtual servers and depends on the requirements of the enterprise rather than being restricted by hardware limitations.
Importance of Server Virtualization
Server virtualization ensures cheaper operating costs and provides a very cost-effective solution for making web hosting services available as well as for utilizing effectively an enterprise’s resources that are related to its IT infrastructure.
Virtualization of servers does away with the issue of data centers getting overcrowded with underutilized servers that lead to squandering of resources. In the absence of server virtualization, servers end up utilizing a significantly small part of their processing power and many servers remain idle due to the fact that the workload gets allocated to a certain portion of the servers in the network. Since each virtual server is capable of running its own operating system and applications, server virtualization leads to enhanced resource utilization, increased capacity of each physical machine and better performance of applications. Additionally, it gets rid of server complexity and ensures that workload gets deployed swiftly.
In a nutshell, technologies involved in virtualization focus on achieving optimized availability of a physical server by ensuring that resources are provisioned promptly.
Components of Server Virtualization
Many components are used by server virtualization, based on the approach. These components are, a host machine, virtual machines, a hypervisor, containers and hypercalls.
Let us touch upon these briefly. A host machine refers to the physical server hardware. Virtualization takes place in it. VM is the abbreviation for a virtual machine. A VM has those assets which are abstracted from the server environment. A specialized software that is used for the purpose of creating and maintaining virtual machines is known as a hypervisor. It is capable of being run on bare metal servers or of being hosted atop an existing OS (operating system).
A unique user environment that is created in a virtualized operating system is referred to as a container. A container is usually deployed inside a hypervisor or a VM. This helps to provide an extra layer of isolation from the main host operating system of the server. With the presence of a container engine, many containers become capable of utilizing the same interfaces as well as the shared libraries of a host OS. Messages that are exchanged between para-virtualized hypervisors and operating systems, for the purpose of sharing resources with the aid of an API (Application Programming Interface), are known as hypercalls.
Server Virtualization Approaches
The approaches to server virtualization can be of three types and the selection of any specific approach over the others will be based on the requirements as well as the limitations of the enterprise that is opting for virtualization. The three types of server virtualization approaches are, full virtualization, para-virtualization and OS-level virtualization.
Full virtualization involves creating and maintaining VMs that are fully autonomous. These virtual machines don’t need any modification in order for these to function with different OS. An API is used in paravirtualization for transmitting hypercalls between the hypervisor and operating systems. This enables each virtual machine to be aware of and interact with the other VMs for sharing resources. Another type of virtualization approach, which is known as OS-level virtualization, takes place without a hypervisor. In this type of approach, the operating system of a physical server is capable of carrying out virtualization by functioning in a similar way as a hypervisor and creating many user environments that are called containers.
Benefits of Server Virtualization
Server virtualization benefits enterprises in numerous ways to increase their efficiency. It makes it possible to bring down operating costs as well as deploys workloads more swiftly and aids in improving disaster recovery.
Servers that are virtualized usually consume less energy when compared to traditional infrastructure. Additionally, these offer greater availability by utilizing less amount of hardware. This reduces the operating costs substantially. Virtual machines can be set up more quickly. Faster deployment of workloads ensures enhanced server productivity. Another important benefit has to do with disaster recovery as VMs make it easier to back up as well as replicate data to other VMs. In the event that a disaster is encountered, any lost data can be easily and swiftly restored by virtual machines.
Drawbacks of Server Virtualization
Server virtualization has certain drawbacks that needs to be brought to light. These drawbacks have to do with expensive capital investment as well as getting performance that isn’t reliable at all times. Moreover, it is not possible to virtualize all applications.
The initial cost involved in acquiring a virtualized server is generally more than that needed for a bare metal one. Another drawback of server virtualization is that applications that are business-critical usually deliver slightly inferior performance on it, when compared to their performance on bare metal servers. Moreover, every application is not capable of being virtualized, which is one major drawback of server virtualization.
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