Since the birth of cloud computing, virtualization has become a common practice in IT. It creates virtual versions of physical items like storage devices, desktops, and servers. Cloud service providers offer these resources, allowing companies to rent them without managing physical services. This reduces IT costs and enhances performance by not limiting physical servers to a few applications. If you're interested in learning more, explore some of the best Cloud Computing courses online. Read this article to discover the benefits and drawbacks of virtualization in cloud computing.
What Is Virtualization in a Cloud?
Physical servers can be very costly, especially if you have to use multiple of them for different applications in the company. And usually, only a fraction of the capacity of these physical servers is used on a regular basis, which costs the business a lot of money without bringing in any satisfying results. And that is why nowadays, cloud computing uses server virtualization.
This is where Virtualization comes in. Essentially, it creates an abstraction cover over the actual physical server. This creates a completely virtual computing system, which is also known as a VM or Virtual Machine.
These allow organizations and companies to run multiple operating systems applications and virtual computers on just one physical server. Virtualization divides one physical server into multiple virtual servers to put it to its maximum using capacity and run the system smoothly. This makes sure that the investment the company makes on its physical server is returned with the highest level of performance and saves extra costs. In the next part of the article, we will be talking about the advantages of virtualization in cloud computing and also about the disadvantages of virtualization in cloud computing.
Benefits of Virtualization in Cloud Computing
Now that you know what Virtualization is, we have to talk about the benefits of using virtualization in cloud computing. Virtualization decreases expenses while increasing scalability in a cloud environment, but there are also some other benefits of virtualization in a cloud environment. And you can also use this knowledge when you research AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification price and other important cloud computing-related courses online.
1. Protection From System Failures
While talking about virtualization in cloud computing benefits, we have to talk about how they offer protection against system failures. All systems are prone to crashing at least once in a while, no matter what high-end technology your organization might be using. Even though your business can survive a few glitches, if the developer who is working on an important application suddenly faces a system failure, then it can ruin all their hard work and their progress will be lost.
That is why virtualization is important in these scenarios. It automatically backs up all the data across a few devices. This makes sure that you can access these files from any device as they are saved in the virtualized cloud network. So even if the system goes under for a while, you will not lose your progress.
2. Hassle-Free Data Transfers
Data transfer also becomes very smooth with virtualization. You can very easily transfer data from a physical server to a virtual cloud and vice versa. Long-distance transfer of data and files also becomes easier under virtualization. Instead of looking through hard drives to find data, instead, you can find them in the virtual cloud space very easily. Data locating and transfer becomes hassle-free with virtualization.
3. Firewall and Security Support
Traditional data protection methods can provide your data security, but it costs a lot as well. But with the help of virtualization and virtual firewalls that can restrict access to important data and it only costs a fraction of the money. Cybersecurity is a central focus of IT, but with virtualization, you can very easily solve cybersecurity issues and provide premium protection to your data without any extra costs.
4. Smoother IT Operations
If you want to increase the efficiency of your IT professionals, then you can do so with the help of virtualization. These virtual networks are faster and easier to operate. They also save all the progress instantaneously and eliminate downtime by doing so. Virtualization can also help your team solve crucial problems within the cloud computing system.
5. Cost-Effective Strategies
This is a great advantage of virtualization in cloud computing. So, if you want to reduce the operational costs of your organization, then virtualization is a great way to do so. All of the data is stored on virtual clouds, which eliminates the need to have multiple physical servers, which reduces business costs by a lot and reduces waste as well. Maintenance fees and electrical fees also go down in this process. A lot of server space is also saved thanks to virtualization, which can be used for other important purposes.
6. Disaster Recovery Is Efficient and Easy
As we already said, if physical servers face an issue, your data can be lost forever, or even if it is not, it takes a lot of time and effort to recover it. But in virtualization, data is always backed up onto the cloud system, and thus the recovery process becomes hassle-free and duplication also becomes very easy.
7. Quick and Easy Set Up
Setting up physical servers and systems is a time-consuming and complicated process. Not only that, but it also costs a lot of money. But setting up a virtual system in the cloud computing space is pretty easy, and it takes much less time to set up the whole software system efficiently.
8. Cloud Migration Becomes Easy
A lot of people tend to think that migrating to a cloud-based system is going to be pretty difficult. But in reality, the migration from physical servers to a virtual cloud system is pretty easy and does not take a lot of time, either. It also saves them power costs, cooling costs, maintenance costs and the costs of a server maintenance engineer as well.
9. Reduce Downtime
If a physical server is stricken by some disaster and needs to be fixed, it could take up days of time and a lot of money. But with a virtual system, even if one virtual machine has been affected, you can easily clone or replicate the system and it will only take minutes. This helps the business continue to run smoothly soon after running into a bump.
10. Virtualization Saves Energy
With a virtual system that replaces physical servers, you can also cut down on the costs of running and maintaining those physical servers on a daily basis. The organization can cut back on maintenance, power and energy costs while managing waste better as well.
11. Increase Efficiency and Productivity
Virtualization comes with the upside of fewer servers to take care of. And with fewer servers, your IT team will now be free of the burden of maintaining the infrastructure and hardware. Instead of going through the arduous process of installing the updates in the servers one by one, they can do it on the main virtual server once, and it will be maintained throughout all the VMs. Much less time will be consumed in maintaining the systems which will increase productivity.
12. Streamlined Processing and Operations
Virtualization centralizes resources and management. Which makes it easier for the IT team to maintain the system in a more streamlined way. Instead of juggling individual devices, which can be complicated, they can manage their operations from a single source. Repair, software installation, patching and maintenance become much easy and less time-consuming. So it frees up your IT team to focus their energy elsewhere.
13. Control Independence and DevOps
During Dev/Tests, developers can easily clone a virtual machine since the cloud environment is always segmented into various VMs. They can run a test on this clone very easily without interrupting the production system. You can apply the latest software patch to a virtual clone and, after a successful run, can put it into the production application of the company.
Disadvantages of Virtualization in Cloud Computing
Now that we have talked about all the amazing benefits of virtualization cloud computing let us talk about the cons as well. The use of virtualization in cloud computing will bring a lot of advantages to your organization, but it will also bring some disadvantages that you have to think about.
1. Data Can Be at Risk
Virtualization happens on third-party resources, which can put data at risk. If your virtual cloud space does not have enough firewalls and other security features, then your data can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
2. Learning New Infrastructure
The process of shifting from physical servers to virtual ones can be easy, but the people who were used to working with physical servers will also have to learn new technologies. The organization also has to hire cloud computing experts to guide the process, which can be a bit long and tedious.
3. High Initial Investment
Even though virtualization cuts costs in the long run, the initial investment to set up a cloud-based system can be a bit expensive. A lot of unskilled organizations can also purchase services that they do not need, but they hike up the prices. So learn what kind of cloud services your company needs before you think about virtualization.
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Conclusion
Now that you have learned the drawbacks and benefits of virtualization in cloud computing, you can think about applying it to your organization. You can also learn more about it in KnowledgeHut best Cloud Computing courses. These courses are designed to help you master all the new trends, technologies and tools involved in the cloud computing environment.
