Virtual systems are software-based emulations of computer systems that operate on top of physical hardware. They offer a number of benefits for your business including IT efficiency along with cost savings and security.
Virtual machines are an excellent way to test new software, use Wikis or Jabber IM services and create backup images of your current system for faster recovery in case of disaster. Virtual machines can be replicated or migrated to other physical servers in high availability configurations, minimizing downtime.
The ability to virtualize multiple systems can result in significant reduction in server hardware, energy and maintenance costs. IT teams can save time on maintenance tasks, such as updating software because the entire virtual infrastructure is controlled by a centralized platform. This increased efficiency will allow your team to concentrate on strategic initiatives that propel your business forward.
Improved Data Security & Disaster Recovery
VMs are hardware-independent, meaning that they can be moved from one physical server to another just as easily as moving files on your desktop or laptop. This is especially beneficial when the original software manufacturer has removed support for an older version of code or has been shut down.
The type of hypervisor that is used in a virtualized environment could alter the way it manages. A hypervisor based on bare metal, like VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V, provides more control and is independent of the host operating system. On the other one hand, a hypervisor hosted such as KVM (built into the Linux kernel) transmits VM requests through the host OS for processing which may reduce VM performance.