Navigating the System Virtualization Maze -- Part 1

Virtualization holds an undeniable appeal at many computing facilities, and for very good reasons. However, navigating the path from desire to your own "virtual reality" is no simple feat. The trail is filled with obstacles, complexities, and difficult decisions. There are myriad technologies, both hardware and software, and each has its own pros, cons, features, and limitations. Sometimes the path costs money, sometimes it costs time and effort, and sometimes both.

This month in the Solaris Companion, I provide a map to the landscape and the paths to system virtualization. While there are certainly other virtualization technologies (such as networking and storage), server virtualization is the most heated and most complex. Also, because operating systems can run on top of other operating systems in our virtual world, I go beyond Solaris where appropriate.

In part 1 of this column, I will discuss virtualization in general -- the options available for system virtualization on Unix systems, the benefits of virtualization and the data needed to determine the best virtualization solution for your set of circumstances. In part 2, next month, we will find our way out of the virtualization maze by turning the data into a virtualization plan and delving into the darker side of virtualization -- the complexities, limits, and tradeoffs.

Brief Virtualization Overview

Succinctly, virtualization enables a facility to pretend to be another facility. In the storage realm, one storage array could look like several arrays to ease administration and increase security. In networking, one set of cables can carry multiple virtual networks that act as if they are the only traffic on that wire.