Even though we are a Microsoft Solutions Provider, we prefer the VMware and Xen Type 1 systems as they have been proven effective and reliable. Both software releases are free for most company needs. The Xen Type 1 software is less fussy about the server hardware than the VMware, is as equally robust, and is perhaps faster than VMware. The Xen Type 1 advantage is that it includes a backup utility and can be clustered, meaning you can have multiple Xen Type 1 servers all connected together without paying fees that VMware requires for the same functionality. Amazon uses virtualization for their “cloud” portfolio of IT offerings. They don’t just sell books. Listen to some podcasts about Virtualization -

See these Wikipedia articles for additional information -
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel-based_Virtual_Machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware

http://download3.vmware.com/podcasts/audio/intro_virtualization_sc.mp3
http://download3.vmware.com/podcasts/audio/vmware_infrastructure_sc.mp3

The term Virtualization is used to describe creating a new host server, where your existing servers all reside side by side on the same physical hardware. This is not consolidating all of the file servers into one big server, its actually converting all servers so that they exist and work independently in one physical server. Why?


They save an enormous amount of electricity, save on cooling costs, are much easier to back up, are simple to migrate to new hardware in the future, and are much easier to manage.

Even Microsoft will be providing a free version in the Windows 7 operating system so that XP users will be able to use their old operating system inside their Windows 7 PCs. This is a consumer version, and uses Windows 7 as the base system with the XP operating system running within Windows 7. The VMware and Xen Type 1 systems are far more robust, and superior as they use software that is installed before the server operating systems runs.

 

The graphic will show you how this works -




You can put as many and 12 separate servers onto one super server, but usually 6 to 1 is the normal ratio.



As you can see while most servers loaf along, burning power and increasing your coiling costs, by consolidating them to one system it operates at a more efficient level.