Virtual Servers
Virtual Servers
Table of Contents I. Table of Contents II. Introduction III. Executive Summary IV. Virtual Servers a. What Are They? b. What Do They Replace? c. Requirements V. Advantages d. Maintenance e. Green Solution f. Disaster Recovery VI. Conclusion VII. References
Introduction
As the technology timeline continues in full momentum, companies tend to struggle behind, trying to catch up. Where we talk about in this analysis is the topic of making telecommunications more efficient for companies on the server side. A server is dedicated software, programmed to host a specific service to specified clients or users. For example, when you access webpages on the internet, a server is hosting those webpages for you to access and view on your computer. To run these servers takes much maintenance and energy along with the risks of potential disasters. Before virtualization was implemented, each server ran on their own physical machine. For large hosting companies, they would have what are called “server farms,” which are basically large server rooms where there can be from tens to hundreds of server machines. Not only is this a nightmare for maintenance, but energy consumption would be through the roof. Also, if one of those machines were to fail or give out, the whole server it was running will go down. If it was a major server that other servers were using, those other servers will go down as well. Disaster recovery for such an event is not only costly in time and money, but service inefficiency for the company clients as well. Using single server machines are basically now a thing of the past when it comes to today’s available technology. Instead of having one machine host only one server, why not have it host more than one? This would not only solve energy cost, but as well as manageability, and decreased space consumption to where your servers are housed. In this
Table of Contents I. Table of Contents II. Introduction III. Executive Summary IV. Virtual Servers a. What Are They? b. What Do They Replace? c. Requirements V. Advantages d. Maintenance e. Green Solution f. Disaster Recovery VI. Conclusion VII. References
Introduction
As the technology timeline continues in full momentum, companies tend to struggle behind, trying to catch up. Where we talk about in this analysis is the topic of making telecommunications more efficient for companies on the server side. A server is dedicated software, programmed to host a specific service to specified clients or users. For example, when you access webpages on the internet, a server is hosting those webpages for you to access and view on your computer. To run these servers takes much maintenance and energy along with the risks of potential disasters. Before virtualization was implemented, each server ran on their own physical machine. For large hosting companies, they would have what are called “server farms,” which are basically large server rooms where there can be from tens to hundreds of server machines. Not only is this a nightmare for maintenance, but energy consumption would be through the roof. Also, if one of those machines were to fail or give out, the whole server it was running will go down. If it was a major server that other servers were using, those other servers will go down as well. Disaster recovery for such an event is not only costly in time and money, but service inefficiency for the company clients as well. Using single server machines are basically now a thing of the past when it comes to today’s available technology. Instead of having one machine host only one server, why not have it host more than one? This would not only solve energy cost, but as well as manageability, and decreased space consumption to where your servers are housed. In this
References: Do, T. (2011). Comparison of Allocation Schemes for Virutual Machines in Energy-Aware Server Farms. Computer Journal, 54(11), 1790-1797 Mearian, L. (2012). Flash Storage Can Help Some IT Operations. Computerworld,46(14), 8. Scheier, R. L. (2012). Disaster Recovery On Double Duty. (Cover story). Computerworld, 46(6), 20-26. Spinellis, D. (2012). Virtualize Me. IEEE Software, 29(5), 91-93. doi: 10.1109/MS.2012. 125 Sturdevant, C. (2011). Physical Servers Brace For Virtual Load. Eweek, 28(15), 14-16.