ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies virtualization that has a definite business payoff. But virtualization is not the right fix for every problem, and there are many examples of virtualization with little or no business payoff. Before server virtualization, the default approach was one server per application. Typically, a virtual machine provides allocated memory address space and other protected resources, allowing an operating system, program, or process to operate in isolation, without interaction of other operating systems, programs, or processes. If one application required an update, the operating system, patches, share link libraries, adjacent utilities would be updated for one application and create unacceptable risk of breaking the other applications. Moving from one server per application to virtual servers creates an opportunity to refresh the storage. For business thinking, virtual servers and storage go hand in hand. The value of server virtualization is to reduce server sprawl.
