Cisco Data Center Fundamentals

Chapter 18

Server Virtualization

Servers are often underutilized in nonvirtualized environments because each application or service is assigned to only one physical server, resulting in unused resources available on each server that cannot be redistributed. Underutilization directly impacts both operational and capital expenditures by increasing the number of servers required. Every extra server requires additional physical space, power, and cooling systems. As the number of servers grows, management challenges also increase.

Virtualization abstracts dedicated, physical resources that can be allocated to specific tasks. Types of virtualization include storage, application, desktop, server, and networking. Key components of server virtualization ...