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Small and medium size businesses (SMB) can leverage server virtualization software to reduce the cost of implementing and supporting today’s diverse IT ecosystem. Server virtualization allows you to run several operating systems on a single physical computer. By virtualizing server operating systems, you can gain flexibility that allows you to better utilize physical hardware, deploy and back up servers more easily, and more easily use technology to capitalize on new business opportunities.

 

There are several scenarios where server virtualization can be applied to save money or increase flexibility in small and medium businesses. Server virtualization is not a cure-all, but it is a valuable enabling technology that can make life easier for many businesses.

 

Many businesses are happily using applications that are several versions old. This software is often not compatible with server or desktop operating systems that came to market after the business application did, and this can cause problems if you try to run these applications on the latest version of an operating system. While using the latest version of your choice of operating system generally assures you the highest level of support for your desktops and servers, it may present a problem for your older business applications. Using server or desktop virtualization allows you to have the best of both worlds: use a recent well-supported operating system for your desktop and server systems and run older applications with full support.

 

For example, suppose you have a version of a business application that is only supported on Windows Server 2000 or earlier version of Windows Server. You want to run Windows Server 2008 as your server operating system in order to take advantage of the management and reliability enhancements in this operating system (not to mention that Windows 2000 Server is no longer supported by Microsoft). With server virtualization, you could install Windows Server(r) 2008 with Hyper-V. Then you could create a virtual machine on this server. Inside the virtual machine, you could install your copy of Windows Server 2000 and install your business application (or you can use one of the many physical-to-virtual migration tools currently available to move your physical server into a virtual machine with little or no re-configuration effort). With this configuration, you continue running your business application on a operating system that is supported with that application, but you gain the ability to use the latest version of Windows Server as the foundation for your server.

 

Similar scenarios can be implemented with VMWare’s server virtualization offerings, free Linux server virtualization tools like Xen, and the virtualization technologies in the Solaris operating system. This enables businesses who have a preference for or an existing investment in UNIX-like operating systems to more easily implement applications that require Windows servers.