IT organizations are under constant pressure to reduce costs. At the same time, they are often asked to deliver more services to support additional users and customers and new business initiatives.

Increasingly, the solution that meets these diametrically opposite forces is virtualization.

In fact, server virtualization, server consolidation, and reducing data center complexity were three of the top four strategies cited for data center cost containment, according to a 2008 Ziff Davis Enterprise survey of 167 IT decision makers. (The fourth item was increasing automation of routine tasks.)

Why such great interest in virtualization? Server consolidation brought about through virtualization can greatly reduce the number of physical servers that an IT department must support. Virtualization also enables easier application deployment and management. And server consolidation saves organizations 25 percent to 45 percent in utility costs alone, according to a 2008 survey of 800 global corporations conducted jointly by research firm Information Technology Intelligence and security software provider Sunbelt Software.

Enabling Virtualization

Windows Server 2008 includes built-in virtualization technology to help organizations better manage IT resources. The virtualization features provide an entirely new deployment and licensing paradigm that enables multiple operating system instances—from both Microsoft and third-party vendors—to run in a virtual infrastructure separated from the hardware by a slim “hypervisor.”

In particular, Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V provides a hypervisor-based platform that allows applications to run on virtual machines (VMs), enabling the company to leverage centralized management, clustering, and enhanced security.

Windows Server Virtualization with Hyper-V enables VM partitioning and isolation, reduces the server’s attack surface using a virtual machine manager (VMM), and uses Page Sharing to optimize memory. Dynamic VMs running under Hyper-V can run a variety of 64-bit or 32-bit operating systems side-by-side.

Windows Server Virtualization Architecture

Virtualization in Windows Server 2008 begins at the hardware level, using the new generation of 64-bit server virtualization-aware processors from AMD and Intel. These “virtual-aware” processors are able to manage memory and hardware-sharing functions that would otherwise be left to the server’s virtualization management software.

The disk-based components assigned to each VM, such as its operating system, programs, internal configuration, and data, are stored in one or more Virtual Hard Disk (.vhd) files. The configuration of the VM itself is stored in a separate file, the Virtual Machine Configuration (.vmc) file. Together, these two files can be stored in a library, enabling the VM to be cloned or recreated easily.

Microsoft System Center applications, including System Center Virtual Machine Manager, can be used to manage the systems. VMs and servers appear along with physical devices in common, familiar management tools. IT staff can use these management tools to display information on VMs or quickly make changes, such as applying policies across several VMs at once.

Performance advances relating to the 64-bit processing host and integration with virtualizationaware processors enable Windows Server virtualization to run much more demanding workloads than in previous versions. It also gives VMs more resources. For example, 64-bit support enables VMs to run 64-bit operating system versions and access very large amounts of memory—more than 32GB per VM. This allows VMs to run resource-intensive workloads and helps avoid slowdowns due to paging.

Reliability can be increased by clustering virtual servers across multiple VMs within a single host operating system server or across two or more hardware units. Windows Server Hyper-V technology can also be used to enhance security. For example, Hyper-V technology can allow virtual machines to take advantage of hardware-level security features available in newer server hardware.

Beyond Server Virtualization

Windows Server 2008 extends virtualization benefits beyond the server to applications, desktops, and remote users, as well.

For example, Microsoft Application Virtualization enables organizations to virtualize and stream software. In particular, Microsoft Application Virtualization can be layered on top of other virtualization technologies—network, storage, computer—to create a fully virtual IT environment, where all computing resources can be dynamically allocated in real time based on real-time requirements.

Using Microsoft Application Virtualization, IT organizations can store applications on a central server, rather than installing them locally on desktops throughout the organization. This makes software deployment to client systems much easier to support and manage.

Virtualization at the desktop level is provided by Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. This can be used to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer, and switching between them is as easy as switching applications.

Additionally, Windows Server 2008 offers presentation virtualization using Terminal Services. Specifically, Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 provides technologies that enable access, from almost any computing device, to a server running Windows-based programs.

Users can connect to a terminal server to run programs and use network resources on that server. With Terminal Services, applications are physically installed and executed on back-end servers, not the desktop.

Benefits Abound

With its built-in virtualization technologies, Windows Server 2008 enables organizations to reduce cost, increase hardware utilization, optimize infrastructure, and improve availability. Additionally, Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V provides a hypervisorbased platform that ensures increased reliability and high availability through failover clustering.

Virtualization also provides flexibility in the way an organization can support desktops and mobile computers, with technologies that allow employees to run programs from any location.

Naturally, the faster an organization can migrate to Windows Server 2008, the sooner it can reap its benefits.

To speed the deployment process, Dell offers robust and trusted hardware and services to aid organizations in their move to Windows Server 2008. The help includes pre-migration assessment of an existing infrastructure, plus Dell’s advice and guidance, gleaned from the expertise and knowledge it has derived conducting real-world migrations to Windows Server 2008.

Once a hardware plan is in place, Dell can help make the migration easier on your IT organization. New energy-efficient servers can be pre-configured at the factory to ensure that each server is properly set up, and all relevant drivers and patches are installed.

When the new equipment arrives, Dell can help deploy and install the systems. Additionally, Dell can help you plan and carry out any required application and data migrations.

In all aspects of this work, Dell draws on its real-world experiences with customers, its partnerships with key technology providers, and best practices gained through performing myriad deployments.

For more information, go to:
www.virtualizationsolutionzone.com

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