Virtualisation, in layman’s terms, is the ability to run multiple operating systems on one computer, whether that computer is a server or a PC.
Most new CPUs today have the ability to run virtualisation but the operating system (OS) doesn’t have the functionality due to the development costs. Server operating systems do, which means it allows you to run multiple “virtual machines” on the same hardware.
Why would you want to do this?
Because for years there has been a multitude of under-utilized boxes in an office server room.
It is the general consensus from a “best practice” and security perspective that each new application requires a new server, even though we know that our current servers aren’t running anywhere near capacity. With virtualization, we can still have a logical separation of services but using one piece of hardware.
Benefits of virtualisation
- Reduced Cost
- Faster Redeploy
- Easier Backups
- Better Testing
- No vendor lock-in
- Better disaster recovery
- Less heat buildup
KVM virtualisation
KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a virtualisation infrastructure for the Linux kernel which turns it into a hypervisor. KVM requires a processor with hardware virtualisation extensions. KVM supports all Windows and Linux versions and is rated as one of the fastest growing virtualisation technologies available. It is also claimed to be the Hypervisor that uses resources the most optimmally out of all the hypervisors on the market today.
