Once upon a time virtualization was a topic only discussed by enterprise geeks. Several trends like “going green” have brought virtualization to the forefront of data center advancements. And two very large market moves this summer has brought virtualization to the attention to the masses. There was the blockbuster IPO from VMWare which was the biggest since Google and reminiscent of Netscape back in the day. Then there was the $500M purchase of XenSource by Citrix.

So, what is virtualization? Basically it allows you to run multiple computers using the same hardware (aka on one computer). For example, let’s say you buy a brand new Dell Computer that comes with Windows Vista. Let’s say you want to try out the fantastic Linux OS Ubuntu. Instead of going back to Dell and buying a new computer, you download VMWare, for free. Then you download Ubuntu, for free. Install VMWare, then Ubuntu in VMWare as a Virtual Machine.

Blammo! You now have two computers running on your single Dell Computer. Another key factor is they run at the same time allowing you to work on both operating systems without haveing to restart.

So what are the real world advantages of this? How can you use it as a small business, freelancer, etc?

Well we consolidated several machines in our development environment into one machine - SQL Server, Web Server, Subversion, etc all running one one server with three different operating systems. Freelancers can create create virtual machines for testing or development servers, etc. At home you can create a virtual machine to run Windows Media Center or Windows Home Server.

The point is virtualization is something everyone should consider becuase of the advantages and the affordability.

Virtualization Options:

Windows:
VMWare
Microsoft Virtual PC

Mac:
VirtualBox
VMWare Fusion (not free)
Parallels (not free)

If you have any questions on virualization or questions on implementing it please leave a comment or email me.

Tags: Virtualization, VMWare