Types of Virtualization: Which Suits Your Business?

This article discusses server virtualization, desktop virtualization, and application virtualization with the intentions of helping an employer determine which type is best for them.

Automation Business Technologies, a local firm in Virginia, provides outstanding virtualization management services.

The Maryland, DC, and Virginia corridor is one of the strongest technology and business hearths on the east coast. Our region houses a tremendous amount of government and business activity, both of which are always striving to competitively optimize their processes. Virtualization is a growing trend amongst this crowd, so I’ve consulted with some of the best for their industry knowledge.

What is Virtualization?

It is essential creating a virtual version of a component such as a server, desktop, or operating system. A simple example is when you partition a hard drive. Essentially, you’ve created two hard drives that are accessible independently as if they’re independent when really they’re the same hard drive.

Virtualization offers security, efficiency, and cost benefits along with many other useful aspects. Determining which model is best for your needs requires a bit of background information.

Server Virtualization

Server virtualization is a technique of splitting a main server into a number of smaller virtual servers. While all of the smaller virtual servers use the same underlying hardware, they’re each capable of running their own operating system.

The smaller virtual servers are most commonly referred to as virtual private networks (VPN). Other names for them are virtual environments, emulations, guests, containers, or instances.

Pros:

• Server Consolidation: migrating a bunch of small servers onto one physical server saves money on hardware expenses, maintenance,  system usage, energy consumption, and the cost to keep everything cool
• Smooth Transition: maintain the status of your applications and operation systems easily during migration
• Autonomic Computing: the main server can collect user usage data for each VPN and designate the appropriate amount of computing resources which prevents server sprawl
• Easy Replication: deploying new virtual servers is a breeze with standard server builds

Desktop Virtualization

Desktop virtualization sets up a number of virtual machines on a single server. Each has its own peripherals, operating system and application programs.

Users may be dispersed geographically, but all connect to the same server over the internet. Each user has their own uniquely configured virtual machine with user specified application programs and settings.

Pros:

• Cost Savings: similar to server virtualization, desktop virtualization saves money since resources are shared
• User Customization: each user can customize their own self-contained desktop environment
• Data Security: since the data is backed up on the main server, it cannot be lost due to local machine failure

Application Virtualization

Application virtualization is a minor version of desktop virtualization which is most fit for a situation where the users will not need an entire virtual machine, but access to just a set of common software.

Rather than separating an entire operating system from its hardware; application virtualization takes the program executables, configuration files, and dependencies from a shared operating system.

The program uses no outside resources, so users running multiple instances of the same program simultaneously isn’t a problem. Even when a user’s local operating system is newer than the OS for which a program was originally designed, compatibility is not an issue.

Pros:

• Software Flexibility: run multiple instances of the same software simultaneously regardless of a user’s local operating system
• Cost Comparison: application virtualization is cheaper than desktop virtualization
• Universal Modification: applications can be updated, rolled back, and deployed for all users by performing the action on the central server

So Which is Best For My Business?

The answer depends on your needs as an organization.

If you are looking to consolidate a bunch of smaller servers onto a larger one for cost effectiveness, then server virtualization is a good route.

If you want to keep track of all user activity and store their data in your own central server, then desktop virtualization or application could work. Keeping in mind that desktop virtualization is more expensive, next to consider should be whether all of the employees use the same software or if they need the ability to configure their environment further with varying softwares.

If they use the same set of software, application virtualization makes sense but desktop virtualization is required to provide users with more freedom in that regard.

These are some of the factors to think about when embarking on a virtualization to streamline your business.