Server virtualization is the partitioning of a physical server into smaller virtual servers to help maximize your server resources.
In server virtualization, software is used to divide the physical server into multiple virtual environments, called virtual or private servers. This is in contrast to dedicating one server to a single application or task.
Server virtualization provides a small business with almost unlimited storage space. Let’s look at some of the ways that server virtualization could benefit your small business.
Efficiency
Virtualization maximizes server space, which reduces the number of servers needed to store important company data.
Since multiple virtual servers reside on a single physical server, your infrastructure will require less space, saving occupancy costs.
Economy
Virtualization will cut down on your energy consumption, which will lower your monthly bill. Because you’ll need fewer servers, you’ll save on hardware costs, as well.
For a small-business owner, these savings can mean a lot in the long run, especially if energy costs are high.
Disaster Recovery
Fires, theft and natural disasters happen, often without warning.
What would happen to your business if all of your important files were stored on in-house servers that got destroyed in a tornado or fire?
With virtualization, that becomes less of a worry, especially if you conduct regular checks to ensure that your data is being properly backed up.
It is equally important that you take steps to ensure the data can be recovered if necessary and that when recovered, the data is usable.
Virtualization cuts down on the risk that an employee or thief could walk off with important company files, something that can happen if you back up company files on external hard drives.
Business Continuity
Unlike disaster recovery, business continuity is about quickly recovering from things like power outages and server crashes.
These two common occurrences could cost a small-business owner a lot of money depending on how long employees remained idle waiting for power to be restored or a server to be repaired.
With a virtualized server environment, server images are often backed up to the cloud – where they can be enabled in real time and act as a replacement server until resources are restored.
Virtual Desktop
This is a growing trend in the business world. Also known as client virtualization, desktop virtualization separates the PC desktop environment from the physical machine and operates in the cloud.
With virtual desktop infrastructure, employees can access the company network from their laptops, tablets or smart devices.
Virtualization has worked well for large enterprises for a number of years, and now the technology is affordable for smaller businesses.
Choosing virtualization for your company is no small matter. You’ll want to make sure you use an experienced, trusted IT partner to make sure your project goes smoothly.