What advantages can virtualization offer?

In IT, virtualization refers to processes that enable resources (of a server or a computer) to be combined or broken down. I.e., the physically available hardware is divided among several computers or combined into a single unit. Example: In a data center, three servers are combined into one virtual server. This offers a number of advantages: reduced administration costs, optimum utilization of existing hardware, reduced space requirements ... etc. These are explained in more detail under the point Advantages.

1. functionality

In order to achieve the above goal, a logical layer is inserted between the hardware and software, the so-called hypervisor. It is either installed directly on the hardware or on a normal operating system. The two main types of virtualization are virtualization software and the solution of performing virtualization at the hardware level. The latter method is rather irrelevant in IT.

1.1 Deduplication

One of the basic ideas of information technology is to keep duplicate data as small as possible. Deduplication, also known as data de-duplication or data deduplication, is a method used in IT to identify such data and save it only once. When combined with recovery and backup tactics, deduplication makes it possible to increase the effectiveness of applications and spur system restorations.

2. why virtualize? / Advantages

Any administrator, after reading the above sentence, will say that never change a running system. But this view is not entirely correct at this point, as there are great benefits to be gained from virtualization. At the beginning there are only the high investment costs. Depending on the structure of the current IT infrastructure, consolidation rates of 1:5 to 1:100 can be achieved. This allows me to make my IT much more efficient:

- Less administration effort
- Runtime of systems is extended
- Hardware is optimally utilized
- Servers can be maintained during operation
- Requirement profiles for servers can be created, which are then ready for operation with one click à reduced provisioning time
- High availability