I/O Virtualization
Decoupling a logical device from its physical implementation offers many compelling advantages.
CTO Roundtable: Virtualization Part II
When it comes to virtualization platforms, experts say focus first on the services to be delivered.
Moving to the Edge:
CTO Roundtable Overview
An overview of the key issues addressed in ACM's CTO Roundtable on network virtualization
Moving to the Edge:
An ACM CTO Roundtable on Network Virtualization
How will virtualization technologies affect network service architectures?
CTO Roundtable:
Virtualization Part I
CTOs from key players in the virtualization market examine current trends in virtualization and how IT managers can make the most effective use of it.
Network Virtualization:
Breaking the Performance Barrier
The recent resurgence in popularity of virtualization has led to its use in a growing number of contexts, many of which require high-performance networking. Consider server consolidation, for example. The efficiency of network virtualization directly impacts the number of network servers that can effectively be consolidated onto a single physical machine. Unfortunately, modern network virtualization techniques incur significant overhead, which limits the achievable network performance. We need new network virtualization techniques to realize the full benefits of virtualization in network-intensive domains.
The Cost of Virtualization
Virtualization can be implemented in many different ways. It can be done with and without hardware support. The virtualized operating system can be expected to be changed in preparation for virtualization, or it can be expected to work unchanged. Regardless, software developers must strive to meet the three goals of virtualization spelled out by Gerald Popek and Robert Goldberg: fidelity, performance, and safety.
Beyond Server Consolidation
Virtualization technology was developed in the late 1960s to make more efficient use of hardware. Hardware was expensive, and there was not that much available.
Meet the Virts
When you dig into the details of supposedly overnight success stories, you frequently discover that they've actually been years in the making. Virtualization has been around for more than 30 years since the days when some of you were feeding stacks of punch cards into very physical machines yet in 2007 it tipped. VMware was the IPO sensation of the year; in November 2007 no fewer than four major operating system vendors (Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, and Sun) announced significant new virtualization capabilities; and among fashionable technologists it seems virtual has become the new black.
The Virtualization Reality
A number of important challenges are associated with the deployment and configuration of contemporary computing infrastructure. Given the variety of operating systems and their many versions—including the often-specific configurations required to accommodate the wide range of popular applications—it has become quite a conundrum to establish and manage such systems.