“Virtualization” can describe many things in the world of enterprise computing. It is used generically to refer to system or server virtualization, and it broadly reflects a technology that abstracts computer resources for platforms, applications, sessions, storage, and desktops. Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers can run many virtualization products. This page provides a basic reference that introduces virtualization and the different types of virtualization products and approaches that are available for enterprise data centers.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V builds on the architecture and functions of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V by adding new features. It provides a command-line interface from the host for managing Windows or Linux OS-based VMs supporting a Hyper-V role with minimal virtualization functionality. Like Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 can be integrated with SCVMM to provide a GUI for managing the Hyper-V layer—the Microsoft Management Console (MMC)-based Hyper-V Server Manager console can also be used for GUI-based management on a client system.

Microsoft virtualization

Microsoft Virtual Server runs on top of Microsoft Windows and can be managed with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). Microsoft Hyper-V™ technology, which integrates directly into Microsoft Windows Server® 2008, offers a next-generation hypervisor-based virtualization product that is available in all Dell-supported Windows Server 2008 x64 Editions operating systems. It allows enterprises to run VMs on a single physical server.

VMware

VMware® ESX Server and VirtualCenter—which are parts of vSphere™—are available for enterprise server virtualization. The ESX Server hypervisor runs directly on the hardware and in conjunction with VirtualCenter provides the ability through VMware vMotion™ to hot-migrate or move virtual machines (VMs) from one physical server to another without interrupting the operation of the VMs.

VMware Server runs on top of a host OS (either Microsoft® Windows® or Linux® OS) and provides the ability to run VMs on the system in addition to the host OS that is also running on the system. No capability to vMotion among VMware Server systems exists, but they can be managed with VirtualCenter. VMware Workstation is similar to VMware Server in that it runs on top of a host OS, but it is designed to provide robust snapshot features for developers. VMplayer is a thin virtualization product that is designed to allow a system to run or "play" VMs, but it does not provide the capability to create or modify VMs.

VMware ESXi
VMware ESXi is an OS-independent hypervisor that is available for free download and provides the same functionality as VMware ESX on a 32 MB footprint. ESXi provides for upgrading to vSphere. Built on the same technology as ESX, ESXi offers simplified setup and management as well as high performance and high consolidation.

Citrix XenServer Dell Edition

With the 64-bit open source Xen hypervisor at its core, Citrix® XenServer Dell Edition™ offers powerful virtualization that enables efficient resource consolidation, utilization, dynamic provisioning, and integrated systems management. XenServer Dell Edition provides a small footprint and is optimized to run from internal flash storage in Dell PowerEdge servers. Dell and Citrix have partnered to bring prequalified and virtualization-ready platforms for dynamic and growing data centers. Factory installed in PowerEdge servers, the XenServer host is designed to run on VMs and requires minimal configuration.

Desktop Virtualization

Desktop virtualization is in many ways different from "normal" virtualization; however, it is worth mentioning here because PCs that enterprise users work with are not the machines that do the actual computing work. Typically, these computers use software such as Citrix and provide for controlling one user context on a server in the data center with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Other software examples besides Citrix include NoMachine NX Server and RealVNC Virtual Network Computing (VNC).

Virtualization Management

When considering a virtualization strategy for your enterprise, most organizations need to consider more than just the hypervisor. Considerations on how the virtualization project will affect their Enterprise Systems Management platform, Backup, Recovery, Archive (BURA), and Disaster Recovery plans need to be brought into consideration. Below are some examples of tools and products that can assist in virtualization management, adoption and optimization -

Disaster Recovery and Data Protection

VMware Site Recovery Manager - Creates successful recovery plans by automating the recovery process and eliminating the complexity of managing and testing recovery plans.
Vizioncore vRanger Pro 4 Data Protection Platform (DPP) is the next generation of Vizioncore’s market leading virtual backup and recovery solution. vRanger Pro allows administrators to ensure all virtual assets are properly backed up on a regular basis and can be restored quickly and reliably with a minimum of effort.
Vizioncore vReplicator is a virtual machine replication solution that enables disaster recovery and business continuity by helping organizations meet recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO) while offering a low total cost of ownership. With vReplicator, users can now get highly reliable and near real-time server replication at a fraction of the cost of SAN array-based replication approaches.
Vizioncore vConverter provides numerous features for effective ongoing disaster recovery in existing physical environments. First, vConverter generates virtual backups for physical servers. Next, vConverter's Continuous Protection Mode regularly updates these virtual backups with changes occurring on the physical server. vConverter ensures that companies have a "virtual standby system" that is up to date and can be immediately utilized in the event of physical server problems or outages.
Veeam Backup and Replication - Allows for VMware .vmdk-level backup and image or file-level restore of Windows and Linux VMs. Also provides for unlimited replication of VMs between local and remote ESX and ESXi hosts.

Monitoring and Reporting

VMware vCenter Server - Provides centralized control and visibility at every level of virtual infrastructure (VM, ESX Host, VMware Datacenter).
Vizioncore vFoglight is a best-in-class virtualization management solution that provides performance monitoring, capacity planning, chargeback, and service management to help organizations mitigate the impact of resource sharing and support key business objectives. With vFoglight, administrators can visualize the entire infrastructure through detailed architectural representations and leverage out-of-the-box alerts and expert advice to detect, diagnose and resolve problems affecting performance and availability. Scenario-based models and predictive alerts also help organizations plan, manage and optimize infrastructure capacity, improving performance and resource utilization. Additionally, vFoglight uses industry chargeback models to help track infrastructure utilization, enabling costs to be recovered for the services provided. And with built-in service dependency models, vFoglight let's administrators define SLA achievement and proactively monitor service health and availability.
Veeam Monitor - Provides performance analysis, storage monitoring, Dell CIM/SMASH hardware monitoring, event correlation, and capacity planning of VMware vSphere, ESX, and ESXi environments.
Veeam nworks MP for VMware for SCOM/MOM - Provides a full view of Dell CIM/SMASH hardware monitoring for vSphere, ESX, and ESXi environments in Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 and MOM 2005. The nworks MP for VMware publishes VI configuration, performance, state, capacity, topology, and VMware vCenter™ events directly into Microsoft System Center Operations Manager.
Veeam Reporter Enterprise - Provides a detailed view of your VMware virtual infrastructure into Microsoft Visio, Excel, Word, and PDF. Includes Change Management and Compliance reporting and is PowerShell integrated.

Orchestration and Self-Service
Vizioncore vControl is a self-service provisioning and virtual machine (VM) management solution that provides automated request, approval and fulfillment as well as ongoing administration to streamline the provisioning process, improve VM management consistency, and reduce administrative costs over the lifetime of a VM. Furthermore, vControl discovers and tracks VMs providing VM administrators complete visibility into their virtual infrastructure and enabling a more cost effective solution for automation in the datacenter.

Optimization

Vizioncore vOptimizer is the only available storage optimization solution that finds and reclaims over-allocated VM storage and then realigns 64K partitions to optimize VM performance.

Configuration Management

Veeam Configurator - Automatically discovers VMware ESX and ESXi configurations across the enterprise and creates Veeam host profile templates. These templates can then be applied to groups of VMware hosts, and periodic scans can uncover inconsistencies and allow administrators to enforce defined templates to ensure policy compliance. The templates can also be used to quickly provision a new host or rebuild an existing ESX host.