Survey of Server Virtualization

Abstract: Virtualization is a term that refers to the abstraction of computer resources. The purpose of virtual computing environment is to improve resource utilization by providing a unified integrated operating platform for users and applications based on aggregation of heterogeneous and autonomous resources. More recently, virtualization at all levels (system, storage, and network) became important again as a way to improve system security, reliability and availability, reduce costs, and provide greater flexibility. Virtualization has rapidly become a go-to technology for increasing efficiency in the data center. With virtualization technologies providing tremendous flexibility, even disparate architectures may be deployed on a single machine without interference This paper explains the basics of server virtualization and addresses pros and cons of virtualization