Virtual Servers are a cost effective way of converting a Physical Server into a machine which concurrently runs multiple operating systems. Instead of installing a host operating system such as Linux or Windows 2008, a hypervisor is installed which enable guest operating systems or applications to run independently as Virtual Machines (VM) on the same computer.

Virtual Servers play a very important role in company Information Technology (IT) Departments by enabling them to efficiently manage their computer resources. Physical Servers which were purchased to run individual applications such as a Data Base or an email server are often underutilized and do not take full advantage of the resource. Yet, these servers take up precious space in the IT Data Center and increase the costly power and cooling costs required to operate these machines.

By virtualizing machines that were dedicated to single applications, savings are realized by reducing the capital spending used to purchase the machines for the applications since less servers are now required. Recurring costs are further reduced with lower maintenance and electricity consumption.

There are many hypervisors in the marketplace which make this all possible. VMWare offers the ESXi hypervisor which is installed directly on a single server. Once installed, applications are consolidated and provisioned to operate as a VM instead. VMWare has tools which allow transparent migration of VMs to other servers running ESXi. This powerful solution keeps the IT infrastructure up and running in the event of a hardware failure.

Most Web Hosting Companies deploy virtualization solutions by repackaging their Dedicated Servers as Virtual Private Servers (VPS). They allocate an instance of a VM with Linux with Apache installed to act as a Web Server. The Hosting Company has images of the VM which enables them to rapidly provision a new server for a customer. Like most IT Departments, Hosting Companies save money by reducing capital expenditures and recurring costs while meeting the demands of their growing customer base.

Virtual Servers provide a proven technology which reduces hardware costs with significant energy savings. Since it is possible to redeploy VMs, server downtime is decreased with improved business continuity. This makes Virtual Servers a more reliable solution than using Physical Servers to deploy single applications.

Howard Young blogs about Linux Dedicated Servers where you can learn how to configure, manage and maintain servers for your business.

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