Unit-3

Cloud Virtualization technology

Overview of virtualization techniques

Virtualization is the "creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as a
server, a desktop, a storage device, an operating system or network resources".

In other words, Virtualization is a technique, which allows to share a single physical instance
of a resource or an application among multiple customers and organizations. It does by
assigning a logical name to a physical storage and providing a pointer to that physical resource
when demanded.

The machine on which the virtual machine is going to create is known as Host Machine and
that virtual machine is referred as a Guest Machine This virtual machine is managed by a
software or firmware, which is known as hypervisor.

How does virtualization work in cloud computing?

Virtualization plays a very important role in the cloud computing technology, normally in the
cloud computing, users share the data present in the clouds like application etc, but actually
with the help of virtualization users shares the Infrastructure.

The main usage of Virtualization Technology is to provide the applications with the standard
versions to their cloud users, suppose if the next version of that application is released, then
cloud provider has to provide the latest version to their cloud users and practically it is possible
because it is more expensive.

To overcome this problem, we use basically virtualization technology, by using virtualization,

all severs and the software application which are required by other cloud providers are
maintained by the third party people, and the cloud providers has to pay the money on monthly
or annual basis.

Types of virtualization
1. Data virtualization
2. Hardware virtualization
3. Software virtualization
4. Server virtualization
5. Storage virtualization
6. Operating system virtualization

1. Data virtualization

Data virtualization is the process of retrieve data from various resources without knowing its
type and physical location where it is stored. It collects heterogeneous data from different
resources and allows data users across the organization to access this data according to their
work requirements. This heterogeneous data can be accessed using any application such as web
portals, web services, E-commerce, Software as a Service (SaaS), and mobile application.

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We can use Data Virtualization in the field of data integration, business
intelligence, and cloud computing.

Advantages of data virtualization

There are the following advantages of data virtualization -

 It allows users to access the data without worrying about where it resides on the memory.
 It offers better customer satisfaction, retention, and revenue growth.
 It provides various security mechanism that allows users to safely store their personal and
professional information.
 It reduces costs by removing data replication.
 It provides a user-friendly interface to develop customized views.
 It provides various simple and fast deployment resources.
 It increases business user efficiency by providing data in real-time.
 It is used to perform tasks such as data integration, business integration, Service-Oriented
Architecture (SOA) data services, and enterprise search.

Disadvantages of Data Virtualization

 It required a high implementation cost.

 It creates the availability and scalability issues.
 Although it saves time during the implementation phase of virtualization but it consumes
more time to generate the appropriate result.

Uses of Data Virtualization

There are the following uses of Data Virtualization -

 Analyze performance
Data virtualization is used to analyze the performance of the organization compared to
previous years.

 Search and discover interrelated data

Data Virtualization (DV) provides a mechanism to easily search the data which is similar
and internally related to each other.

 Agile Business Intelligence

It is one of the most common uses of Data Virtualization. It is used in agile reporting, real-
time dashboards that require timely aggregation, analyze and present the relevant data from
multiple resources. Both individuals and managers use this to monitor performance, which
helps to make daily operational decision processes such as sales, support, finance, logistics,
legal, and compliance.

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 Data Management
Data virtualization provides a secure centralized layer to search, discover, and govern the
unified data and its relationships.

Industries that use Data Virtualization

 Communication & Technology

In Communication & Technology industry, data virtualization is used to increase
revenue per customer, create a real-time ODS for marketing, manage customers,
improve customer insights, and optimize customer care, etc.

 Finance
In the field of finance, DV is used to improve trade reconciliation, empowering data
democracy, addressing data complexity, and managing fixed-risk income.
 Government
In the government sector, DV is used for protecting the environment.
 Healthcare
Data virtualization plays a very important role in the field of healthcare. In healthcare,
DV helps to improve patient care, drive new product innovation, accelerating M&A
synergies, and provide a more efficient claims analysis.
 Manufacturing
In manufacturing industry, data virtualization is used to optimize a global supply chain,
optimize factories, and improve IT assets utilization.

2. Hardware virtualization

Previously, there was "one to one relationship" between physical servers and operating system.
Low capacity of CPU, memory, and networking requirements were available. So, by using this
model, the costs of doing business increased. The physical space, amount of power, and
hardware required meant that costs were adding up.

The hypervisor manages shared the physical resources of the hardware between the guest
operating systems and host operating system. The physical resources become abstracted
versions in standard formats regardless of the hardware platform. The abstracted hardware is
represented as actual hardware. Then the virtualized operating system looks into these
resources as they are physical entities.

Virtualization means abstraction. Hardware virtualization is accomplished by abstracting the

physical hardware layer by use of a hypervisor or VMM (Virtual Machine Monitor).

When the virtual machine software or virtual machine manager (VMM) or hypervisor software
is directly installed on the hardware system is known as hardware virtualization.

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The main job of hypervisor is to control and monitoring the processor, memory and other
hardware resources.

After virtualization of hardware system we can install different operating system on it and run
different applications on those OS.

Hardware virtualization is mainly done for the server platforms, because controlling virtual
machines is much easier than controlling a physical server.
Advantages of Hardware Virtualization

The main benefits of hardware virtualization are more efficient resource utilization, lower
overall costs as well as increased uptime and IT flexibility.

 More Efficient Resource Utilization:

Physical resources can be shared among virtual machines. Although the unused resources
can be allocated to a virtual machine and that can be used by other virtual machines if the
need exists.

 Lower Overall Costs Because Of Server Consolidation:

Now it is possible for multiple operating systems can co-exist on a single hardware
platform, so that the number of servers, rack space, and power consumption drops
significantly.

 Increased Uptime Because Of Advanced Hardware Virtualization Features:

The modern hypervisors provide highly orchestrated operations that maximize the
abstraction of the hardware and help to ensure the maximum uptime. These functions help
to migrate a running virtual machine from one host to another dynamically, as well as
maintain a running copy of virtual machine on another physical host in case the primary
host fails.

 Increased IT Flexibility:
Hardware virtualization helps for quick deployment of server resources in a managed and
consistent ways. That results in IT being able to adapt quickly and provide the business
with resources needed in good time.

3. Software Virtualization

Managing applications and distribution becomes a typical task for IT departments. Installation
mechanism differs from application to application. Some programs require certain helper
applications or frameworks and these applications may have conflict with existing applications.

Software virtualization is just like a virtualization but able to abstract the software
installation procedure and create virtual software installations.

Virtualized software is an application that will be "installed" into its own self-contained unit.

Example of software virtualization is VMware software, virtual box etc.

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Advantages of Software Virtualization
 Client Deployments Become Easier:
Copying a file to a workstation or linking a file in a network then we can easily install
virtual software.

 Easy to manage:
To manage updates becomes a simpler task. You need to update at one place and deploy
the updated virtual application to the all clients.

 Software Migration:
Without software virtualization, moving from one software platform to another platform
takes much time for deploying and impact on end user systems. With the help of virtualized
software environment, the migration becomes easier.

4. Server virtualization

Server Virtualization is the process of dividing a physical server into several virtual servers,
called virtual private servers. Each virtual private server can run independently.

The concept of Server Virtualization widely used in the IT infrastructure to minimizes the costs
by increasing the utilization of existing resources.

Types of Server Virtualization

1. Hypervisor

In the Server Virtualization, Hypervisor plays an important role. It is a layer between

the operating system (OS) and hardware. There are two types of hypervisors.

o Type 1 hypervisor ( also known as bare metal or native hypervisors)

o Type 2 hypervisor ( also known as hosted or Embedded hypervisors)

The hypervisor is mainly used to perform various tasks such as allocate physical hardware
resources (CPU, RAM, etc.) to several smaller independent virtual machines, called "guest"
on the host machine.

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2. Full Virtualization
Full Virtualization was introduced by IBM in the year 1966. It is the first software solution
for server virtualization and uses binary translation and direct approach techniques. In full
virtualization, guest OS is completely isolated by the virtual machine from the virtualization
layer and hardware. Microsoft and Parallels systems are examples of full virtualization.

3. Para Virtualization

Paravirtualization is the category of CPU virtualization which uses hypercalls for operations
to handle instructions at compile time. In paravirtualization, guest OS is not completely
isolated but it is partially isolated by the virtual machine from the virtualization layer and
hardware. VMware and Xen are some examples of paravirtualization.

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Difference between Full Virtualization and Para Virtualization

Full Virtualization Para Virtualization

1. In Full virtualization, virtual machines 1. In para virtualization, a virtual machine
permit the execution of the instructions does not implement full isolation of OS
with the running of unmodified OS in but rather provides a different API
an entirely isolated way. which is utilized when OS is subjected
to alteration.
2. Full Virtualization is less secure. 2. While the Para virtualization is more
secure than the Full Virtualization.
3. Full Virtualization uses binary 3. While Paravirtualization uses hypercalls
translation and a direct approach as a at compile time for operations.
technique for operations.
4. Full Virtualization is slow than 4. Paravirtualization is faster in operation as
paravirtualization in operation. compared to full virtualization.
5. Full Virtualization is more portable and 5. Paravirtualization is less portable and
compatible. compatible.
6. Examples of full virtualization are 6. Examples of paravirtualization are
Microsoft and Parallels systems. Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xen, etc.
7. It supports all guest operating systems 7. The guest operating system has to be
without modification. modified and only a few operating
systems support it.
8. The guest operating system will issue 8. Using the drivers, the guest operating
hardware calls. system will directly communicate with
the hypervisor.
9. It is less streamlined compared to para- 9. It is more streamlined.
virtualization.
10. It provides the best isolation. 10. It provides less isolation compared to full
virtualization.

Advantages of Server Virtualization

There are the following advantages of Server Virtualization -

 Independent Restart
In Server Virtualization, each server can be restart independently and does not affect
the working of other virtual servers.
 Low Cost
Server Virtualization can divide a single server into multiple virtual private servers, so
it reduces the cost of hardware components.
 Disaster Recovery<
Disaster Recovery is one of the best advantages of Server Virtualization. In Server
Virtualization, data can easily and quickly move from one server to another and these
data can be stored and retrieved from anywhere.
 Faster deployment of resources
Server virtualization allows us to deploy our resources in a simpler and faster way.
 Security

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 It allows uses to store their sensitive data inside the data centers.

Disadvantages of Server Virtualization

There are the following disadvantages of Server Virtualization -

 The biggest disadvantage of server virtualization is that when the server goes offline,
all the websites that are hosted by the server will also go down.
 There is no way to measure the performance of virtualized environments.
 It requires a huge amount of RAM consumption.
 It is difficult to set up and maintain.
 Some core applications and databases are not supported virtualization.
 It requires extra hardware resources.

Uses of Server Virtualization

 Server Virtualization is used in the testing and development environment.

 It improves the availability of servers.
 It allows organizations to make efficient use of resources.
 It reduces redundancy without purchasing additional hardware components.

5. Storage virtualization

Storage virtualization is a major component for storage servers, in the form of functional RAID
levels and controllers. Operating systems and applications with device can access the disks
directly by themselves for writing. The controllers configure the local storage in RAID groups
and present the storage to the operating system depending upon the configuration. However,
the storage is abstracted and the controller is determining how to write the data or retrieve the
requested data for the operating system.

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Storage virtualization is becoming more and more important in various other forms:

File servers: The operating system writes the data to a remote location with no need to
understand how to write to the physical media.

WAN Accelerators: Instead of sending multiple copies of the same data over the WAN
environment, WAN accelerators will cache the data locally and present the re-requested blocks
at LAN speed, while not impacting the WAN performance.

SAN and NAS: Storage is presented over the Ethernet network of the operating system. NAS
presents the storage as file operations (like NFS). SAN technologies present the storage as
block level storage (like Fibre Channel). SAN technologies receive the operating instructions
only when if the storage was a locally attached device.

Advantages of Storage Virtualization

1. Data is stored in the more convenient locations away from the specific host. In the case
of a host failure, the data is not compromised necessarily.

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 2. The storage devices can perform advanced functions like replication, reduplication, and
disaster recovery functionality.
3. By doing abstraction of the storage level, IT operations become more flexible in how
storage is provided, partitioned, and protected.

6. Operating System Virtualization

With the help of OS virtualization nothing is pre-installed or permanently loaded on the local
device and no-hard disk is needed. Everything runs from the network using a kind of virtual
disk. This virtual disk is actually a disk image file stored on a remote server, SAN (Storage
Area Network) or NAS (Non-volatile Attached Storage). The client will be connected by the
network to this virtual disk and will boot with the Operating System installed on the virtual
disk.

How does OS Virtualization works?

Components needed for using OS Virtualization in the infrastructure are given below:

The first component is the OS Virtualization server. This server is the centre point in the OS
Virtualization infrastructure. The server manages the streaming of the information on the
virtual disks for the client and also determines which client will be connected to which virtual
disk (using a database, this information is stored). Also the server can host the storage for the
virtual disk locally or the server is connected to the virtual disks via a SAN (Storage Area
Network). In high availability environments there can be more OS Virtualization servers to
create no redundancy and load balancing. The server also ensures that the client will be unique
within the infrastructure.

Secondly, there is a client which will contact the server to get connected to the virtual disk and
asks for components stored on the virtual disk for running the operating system.

The available supporting components are database for storing the configuration and settings
for the server, a streaming service for the virtual disk content, a (optional) TFTP service and a
(also optional) PXE boot service for connecting the client to the OS Virtualization servers.

As it is already mentioned that the virtual disk contains an image of a physical disk from the
system that will reflect to the configuration and the settings of those systems which will be
using the virtual disk. When the virtual disk is created then that disk needs to be assigned to
the client that will be using this disk for starting. The connection between the client and the
disk is made through the administrative tool and saved within the database.

1) Connecting to the OS Virtualization server:

First we start the machine and set up the connection with the OS Virtualization server. Most of
the products offer several possible methods to connect with the server. One of the most popular
and used methods is using a PXE service, but also a boot strap is used a lot (because of the
disadvantages of the PXE service). Although each method initializes the network interface card
(NIC), receiving a (DHCP-based) IP address and a connection to the server.

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2) Connecting the Virtual Disk:

When the connection is established between the client and the server, the server will look into
its database for checking the client is known or unknown and which virtual disk is assigned to
the client. When more than one virtual disk are connected then a boot menu will be displayed
on the client side. If only one disk is assigned, that disk will be connected to the client which
is mentioned in step number 3.

3) VDisk connected to the client:

After the desired virtual disk is selected by the client, that virtual disk is connected through the
OS Virtualization server . At the back-end, the OS Virtualization server makes sure that the
client will be unique (for example computer name and identifier) within the infrastructure.

4) OS is "streamed" to the client:

As soon the disk is connected the server starts streaming the content of the virtual disk. The
software knows which parts are necessary for starting the operating system smoothly, so that
these parts are streamed first. The information streamed in the system should be stored
somewhere (i.e. cached). Most products offer several ways to cache that information. For
examples on the client hard disk or on the disk of the OS Virtualization server.

5) Additional Streaming:

After that the first part is streamed then the operating system will start to run as expected.
Additional virtual disk data will be streamed when required for running or starting a function
called by the user (for example starting an application available within the virtual disk).

Implementation levels of virtualization

Virtualization is not that easy to implement. A computer runs an OS that is configured to that
particular hardware. Running a different OS on the same hardware is not exactly feasible.

To tackle this, there exists a hypervisor. What hypervisor does is, it acts as a bridge between
virtual OS and hardware to enable its smooth functioning of the instance.

There are five levels of virtualizations available that are most commonly used in the industry.

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1. Instruction Set Architecture Level (ISA)
In ISA, virtualization works through an ISA emulation. This is helpful to run heaps of legacy
code which was originally written for different hardware configurations. These codes can be
run on the virtual machine through an ISA. A binary code that might need additional layers to
run can now run on an x86 machine or with some tweaking, even on x64 machines. ISA helps
make this a hardware-agnostic virtual machine. The basic emulation, though, requires an
interpreter. This interpreter interprets the source code and converts it to a hardware readable
format for processing.

2. Hardware Abstraction Level (HAL)

This level helps form the virtual machine and manages the hardware through virtualization. It
enables virtualization of each hardware component such as I/O devices, processors, memory,
etc. This way multiple users can use the same hardware with numerous instances of
virtualization at the same time. IBM had first implemented this on the IBM VM/370 back in
1960. It is more usable for cloud-based infrastructure.

3. Operating System Level

At the operating system level, the virtualization model creates an abstract layer between the
applications and the OS. It is like an isolated container on the physical server and operating

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system that utilizes hardware and software. Each of these containers functions like servers.
When the number of users is high, and no one is willing to share hardware, this level of
virtualization comes in handy. Here, every user gets their own virtual environment with
dedicated virtual hardware resources. This way, no conflicts arise.

4. Library Level
OS system calls are lengthy and cumbersome. Which is why applications opt for APIs from
user-level libraries. Most of the APIs provided by systems are rather well documented. Hence,
library level virtualization is preferred in such scenarios. Library interfacing virtualization is
made possible by API hooks. These API hooks control the communication link from the system
to the applications. Some tools available today, such as vCUDA and WINE, have successfully
demonstrated this technique. Thus, it is no surprise that currently, Xen hypervisors are using
HAL to run Linux and other OS on x86 based machines.

5. Application level

Application-level virtualization comes handy when you wish to virtualize only an application.
It does not virtualize an entire platform or environment. On an operating system, applications
work as one process. Hence it is also known as process-level virtualization. It is generally
useful when running virtual machines with high-level languages. Here, the application sits on
top of the virtualization layer, which is above the application program. The application program
is, in turn, residing in the operating system. Programs written in high-level languages and
compiled for an application-level virtual machine can run fluently here.

Virtualization benefits

1. Protection from System Failures

Technology is always at the risk of crashing down at the wrong time. Businesses can tolerate
a few glitches, but if your developer is working on an important application that needs to be
finished immediately, the last thing you could wish for is a system crash.

To counter this risk, virtualization lets you open the same work on another device. Store all
your backup data through virtualization on cloud services or virtual networks and get easy
access to it from any device. Apart from that, there are usually two servers working side-by-
side keeping all your data accessible. If one faces any problem, the other is always available to
avoid any interruption.

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2. Hassle-free Transfer of Data

You can easily transfer data from physical storage to a virtual server, and vice versa.
Administrators don’t have to waste time digging out hard drives to find data. With a dedicated
server and storage, it’s quite easy to locate the required files and transfer them within no time.

You'll realize virtualization's actual worth when you’ll have to transfer data over a long-
distance. You also have the choice of getting a virtual disk space. If you don’t need much space,
you can opt for a thin-provisioned virtual disk.

3. Firewall and Security

Security is a major aspect IT professionals have to focus on. However, with virtual firewalls,
access to your data is restricted at much lower costs as compared to traditional methods.
Through virtualization, you get protected by a virtual switch that protects all your data and
applications from harmful malware, viruses, and other cyber threats.

You are allotted the firewall feature for network virtualization to create segments within the
system. Server virtualization storage on cloud services will save you from the risks of having
your data get lost or corrupted. Cloud services are also encrypted with high-end protocols that
protect your data from other various threats.

So it’s a good idea to virtualize all your storage and then create a backup on a server that you
can store on cloud services. However, in order to ensure that you do this correctly, it’s
preferable to first go through a cloud computing online course, to avoid making any errors.

4. Smoother IT Operations

Virtual networks help IT professionals become efficient and agile at work. These networks are
easy to operate and process faster, reducing the effort and time required to work on them.
Before virtual networks were introduced in the digital world, it would take days and weeks for
technical workers to maintain and install devices and software on physical servers.

Apart from the operations, visualization has also benefited IT support teams in solving
technical problems in physical systems. As all the data is available on a virtual server,
technicians don’t have to waste time recovering it from crashed or corrupted devices. Learn all
the skills behind virtualization with cloud training online, and become a successful technician.

5. Cost-Effective Strategy

Virtualization is a great way to reduce operational costs. With all the data stored on virtual
servers or clouds, there’s hardly a need for physical systems or hardware, thus allowing
businesses to witness a vast reduction in wastage, electricity bills, and maintenance costs. 70%
of senior executives have supported virtualization by calling it efficient and cost-saving.

Virtualization also helps companies save a significant amount of space which can be utilized
to increase the operations of a profitable department. This cost-effective strategy is both a
profitability and productivity booster!

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Hypervisor Management Software

A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine manager/monitor (VMM), is computer hardware

platform virtualization software that allows several operating systems to share a single
hardware host. Each operating system appears to have the host’s processor, memory, and
resources to it. Instead, the hypervisor is controlling the host processor and resources,
distributing what is needed to each operating system in turn and ensuring that the guest
operating systems/virtual machines are unable to disrupt each other. The term ‘hypervisor’
originated in IBM’s CP-370 reimplementation of CP-67 for the System/370, released in 1972
as VM/370. The term ‘hypervisor call’ refers to the par virtualization interface, by which a
guest operating system accesses services directly from the higher-level control program.

This is the same concept as making a supervisor call to the same level operating system.

Hypervisors are classified into two types:

1. Bare metal/ Native Hypervisors
2. Embedded/ Host Hypervisors

1. Bare Metal/Native Hypervisors:

Software systems that run directly on the host’s software as a hardware control and
guest operating system monitor.

A guest operating system thus runs on another level above the hypervisor. This is the
classic implementation of virtual machine architectures.

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 A variation of this is embedding the hypervisor in the firmware of the platform, as is
done in the case of Hitachi’s Virtage hypervisor and VMware ESXi.
2. Embedded/Host Hypervisors:
Software applications that run within a conventional operating system environment.

Considering the hypervisor layer being a distinct software layer, guest operating
systems thus run at the third level above the hardware

Virtual infrastructure

Virtual infrastructure is a collection of software-defined components that make up an

enterprise IT environment. A virtual infrastructure provides the same IT capabilities
as physical resources, but with software, so that IT teams can allocate these virtual resources
quickly and across multiple systems, based on the varying needs of the enterprise.

By decoupling physical hardware from an operating system, a virtual infrastructure can help
organizations achieve greater IT resource utilization, flexibility, scalability and cost
savings. These benefits are especially helpful to small businesses that require reliable
infrastructure but can’t afford to invest in costly physical hardware.
Virtual infrastructure components

By separating physical hardware from operating systems, virtualization can provision compute,
memory, storage and networking resources across multiple virtual machines (VMs) for greater
application performance, increased cost savings and easier management. Despite variances in
design and functionality, a virtual infrastructure typically consists of these key components:

 Virtualized compute: This component offers the same capabilities as physical servers, but
with the ability to be more efficient. Through virtualization, many operating systems
and applications can run on a single physical server, whereas in traditional infrastructure
servers were often underutilized. Virtual compute also makes newer technologies like cloud
computing and containers possible.

 Virtualized storage: This component frees organizations from the constraints and
limitations of hardware by combining pools of physical storage capacity into a single, more
manageable repository. By connecting storage arrays to multiple servers using storage area
networks, organizations can bolster their storage resources and gain more flexibility in

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 provisioning them to virtual machines. Widely used storage solutions include
fiber channel SAN arrays, iSCSI SAN arrays, and NAS arrays.

 Virtualized networking and security: This component decouples networking services from
the underlying hardware and allows users to access network resources from a centralized
management system. Key security features ensure a protected environment for virtual
machines, including restricted access, virtual machine isolation and user provisioning
measures.

 Management solution: This component provides a user-friendly console for configuring,

managing and provisioning virtualized IT infrastructure, as well automating processes. A
management solution allows IT teams to migrate virtual machines from one physical server to
another without delays or downtime, while enabling high availability for applications running
in virtual machines, disaster recovery and back-up administration.

Benefits of virtual infrastructure

The benefits of virtualization touch every aspect of an IT infrastructure, from storage and
server systems to networking tools. Here are some key benefits of a virtual infrastructure:

 Cost savings: By consolidating servers, virtualization reduces capital and operating

costs associated with variables such as electrical power, physical security, hosting and server
development.

 Scalability: A virtual infrastructure allows organizations to react quickly to changing

customer demands and market trends by ramping up on CPU utilization or scaling back
accordingly.

 Increased productivity: Faster provisioning of applications and resources allows IT teams to

respond more quickly to employee demands for new tools and technologies. The
result: increased productivity, efficiency and agility for IT teams, and an enhanced employee
experience and increased talent retention rates without hardware procurement delays.

 Simplified server management: From seasonal spikes in consumer demand to unexpected

economic downturns, organizations need to respond quickly. Simplified server management
makes sure IT teams can spin up, or down, virtual machines when required and re-provision
resources based on real-time needs.
Furthermore, many management consoles offer dashboards, automated alerts and reports so
that IT teams can respond immediately to server performance issues.

Virtual infrastructure requirements

From design to disaster recovery, there are certain virtual infrastructure requirements
organizations must meet to reap long-term value from their investment.

 Plan ahead: When designing a virtual infrastructure, IT teams should consider how business
growth, market fluctuations and advancements in technology might impact their hardware
requirements and reliance on compute, networking and storage resources.

 Look for ways to cut costs: IT infrastructure costs can become unwieldly if IT teams don’t
take the time to continuously examine a virtual infrastructure and its deliverables. Cost-

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 cutting initiatives may range from replacing old servers and renegotiating vendor
agreements to automating time-consuming server management tasks.

 Prepare for failure: Despite its failover hardware and high availability, even the most
resilient virtual infrastructure can experience downtime. IT teams should prepare for worst-
case scenarios by taking advantage of monitoring tools, purchasing extra hardware and
relying on clusters to better manage host resources.

Virtual infrastructure architecture

A virtual infrastructure architecture can help organizations transform and manage their IT
system infrastructure through virtualization. But it requires the right building blocks to
deliver results. These include:
 Host: A virtualization layer that manages resources and other services for virtual machines.
Virtual machines run on these individual hosts, which continuously perform monitoring and
management activities in the background. Multiple hosts can be grouped together to work on
the same network and storage subsystems, culminating in combined computing and memory
resources to form a cluster. Machines can be dynamically added or removed from a cluster.

 Hypervisor: A software layer that enables one host computer to simultaneously support
multiple virtual operating systems, also known as virtual machines. By sharing the same
physical computing resources, such as memory, processing and storage,
the hypervisor stretches available resources and improves IT flexibility.

 Virtual machine: These software-defined computers encompass operating systems, software

programs and documents. Managed by a virtual infrastructure, each virtual machine has its
own operating system called a guest operating system.
The key advantage of virtual machines is that IT teams can provision them faster and more
easily than physical machines without the need for hardware procurement. Better yet, IT
teams can easily deploy and suspend a virtual machine, and control access privileges, for
greater security. These privileges are based on policies set by a system administrator.

 User interface: This front-end element means administrator can view and manage virtual
infrastructure components by connecting directly to the server host or through a browser-
based interface.

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