What is Server Virtualization?

Definition of Server Virtualization

Server virtualization is the act of consolidating available servers into virtual machines on one physical machine, saving costs and space.

Physical server tends to have large amounts of RAM and hard disk space available, as well as CPU cores. Frequently, those resources are underutilized and separate physical servers performing small tasks waste physical space.

Brief Description of Server Virtualization

Server virtualization refers to the breaking down of physical servers into smaller machines that could maximize server resources by hiding the server from users through a hypervisor. Virtual servers can be created through methods like virtual machines, Paravirtualization, operating system level virtualization.  This divides the physical server into different virtual servers . Server virtualization is commonly used in Web Servers where it provides services like web hosting at a low cost.

Following are some of the benefits of server virtualization:

• Less hardware requirement means decreased costs
• Conservation of space
• Reduced hardware maintenance
• Efficient utilization of resources saves operational costs

Server virtualization is an all new trend in the field of enterprise IT where can be used as to provide disaster recovery, upgrade server availability mechanisms , use server resources efficiently, provide testing and development facilities and to administer  server centralization