Got a virtualization question

sizeon

I used to work for a firm that would virtualize a single server on a single box (e.g... have a dell server host a virtual win server 200. My question is what is the point of this? Isn't the whole point of virtualization is to run multiple virtual servers on a single box?

SteveFT

I'm not very experienced with virtualization, but I think that this might have been advantageous in the case that they needed to move the VM to another machine if the hardware failed. In addition, it might have been easier for them to duplicate the VM and implement changes before actually making them in a production environment. These are my non-expert guesses.

ratbuddy

I can think of a few reasons to run a single guest. Backups are simple and portable. You can run that virtual machine on whatever hardware you like, as long as the processor is somewhat compatible. You can take snapshots and roll back easily if an upgrade goes haywire. You can easily set up a high availability or fault tolerant system, if you have the extra hardware. I know you can do some of this stuff on a bare metal server OS, but it's easier when you are running a VM.

It's also somewhat future proof. If you need to add a second server, assuming the hardware has the capacity, you just install a second server. With a bare-metal OS, you'd have to either buy a second server, or first virtualize the existing OS before you can install the second one.

QHalo

It all depends on the workload of that server. If it could potentially consume the entire amount of resources then it's possible. Virtualizing a machine is about flexibility and the ability to shift a workload just as much as it is about consolidation and cost savings.