What are the pros and cons of virtualization?

The cloud is more than just your Google Drive or your online applications. It’s a collection of powerful tools you can use to supercharge your business—and here’s why.

Back in the old days, when you wanted to run a server for your company, you had to purchase a machine. If you needed additional server resources, you had to upgrade the hardware or even purchase an additional server.

With the advent of virtualization in cloud computing, that’s no longer true.

Untethering software from hardware

Virtualization in cloud computing lets you create IT solutions using things traditionally bound to hardware.

In layperson’s terms, your physical and virtual servers no longer have to be the same.

Previously, you’d run a service (say, email) on a physical server. Now you can run your email, files, and apps on a virtual server. And because of virtualization, multiple “virtual machines” can be stored on the same physical server.

This makes business much more efficient. Now, instead of buying a new machine every time, you can use the same device for multiple purposes.

In addition, you’re no longer tethered to having a server of your own. With cloud computing and the advances in networking in the last couple of decades, you can buy space on a server farm and use that to run your servers. Maintenance is less troublesome too. It’s a lot easier than it used to be.

This is useful for several things, not just performing different server roles. You can also use it to add redundancy to other servers, creating virtual machines that can take some of the load in case of a catastrophic failure.

All without purchasing a bunch of physical servers!

Disadvantages of virtualization

Virtualization is great, but it does have its disadvantages.

Depending on how things are configured, you may have multiple virtual servers on one physical server. With all your eggs in one basket, a failure can take more than one virtual server offline at once. This has much more significant consequences for your business.

Make sure that even with virtualization, you have good backup policies and redundancies in place. Need a hand figuring out your virtual server environment? We can help. Reach out to TeamLogic IT and let us walk you through your next IT project.