¿Qué es la virtualización y cuáles son sus ventajas?

Las ventajas de la virtualización van desde una mayor eficiencia, flexibilidad y control de costes hasta una mejora del tiempo de actividad y la Recovery.

As a core concept of both cloud computing and DevOps, virtualization is easy to take for granted in modern IT. In fact, it might be hard to find a business that doesn’t use some form of the technology. But what is virtualization, and why do we do it? What are the main benefits of virtualization for IT ops teams, developers, and businesses?

En primer lugar, una definición sencilla: la virtualización es la abstracción de recursos informáticos —como aplicaciones, servidores, almacenamiento, ordenadores de sobremesa y componentes de red— en instancias de software independientes. Al desacoplar estos activos del hardware subyacente, se pueden obtener ventajas de la virtualización, entre las que se incluyen:

• Lower expenses
• Rapid flexibility and scalability
• Improved disaster recovery and continuous business
• Increased IT efficiency and productivity
• Better performance and availability
• Faster development

We’ll expand on the nature and key advantages of virtualization below.

Drilling down a level, virtualization is the creation of virtual computer systems known as máquinas virtuales (VM) that can be deployed, managed, and moved freely across infrastructure without being constrained by hardware dependencies.

La virtualización puede adoptar muchas formas. Las organizaciones suelen recurrir a tecnologías como:

Application virtualization – Deploying applications within a VM makes it possible for them to run on hardware with an otherwise incompatible operating system. Users can access virtualized applications remotely on any connected device, allowing for a more flexible and mobile work experience while keeping management centralized. Virtualized applications also can be moved easily across physical and cloud infrastructure without having to be reinstalled and reconfigured.

Storage virtualization – Multiple physical storage devices can be consolidated and managed as a single pool, allowing more flexible and efficient use of their combined capacity. With data virtualization, a related technology, a virtual layer integrates data from different sources to provide a unified view for the applications that use it.

Desktop virtualization – Users access their applications and files in a centrally stored and managed virtual desktop rather than the local desktop on their physical endpoint. As with application virtualization, this enables greater flexibility in where people work and the hardware they use while simplifying IT.

Server virtualization – A single physical server is partitioned into multiple virtual servers that can run independently of each other while sharing RAM, CPU, and storage resources. The benefits of server virtualization extend from optimized capacity utilization to better uptime, making it one of the most valuable and commonly adopted forms of virtualization technology.

Network virtualization – Hardware and software network functionality is abstracted into a virtual network with a simplified representation of nodes and links. Multiple LANs can be combined into a single virtual network (VLAN), and a single LAN can be subdivided into multiple VLANs. You also can use network virtualization to emulate a physical network within a single server.

Entre las numerosas ventajas que ofrece para prioridades y casos de uso específicos en el ámbito de las tecnologías de la información, estas son las seis principales ventajas que la virtualización aporta a una empresa u organización.

1. Lower expenses 
Virtualization can make a huge difference in the efficiency of hardware utilization. By enabling multiple VMs – each with its own self-contained operating system – to share the compute, memory, and storage resources of a single physical server, organizations can reduce the total number of servers needed to run their workloads. In turn, this also lowers costs for power, cooling, and data center space. The benefits of server virtualization are echoed in other forms of virtualization, where portable, hardware-independent VMs allow organizations to choose more cost-effective ways to deploy various resources.

2. Better flexibility and scalability  
In the hardware-based days, it could take weeks or months for a company to deploy a new server or shift workloads from one location to another. That’s much too slow to keep pace with variable demand and changing business requirements. Now, organizations can spin up and move VMs in minutes whenever and wherever they’re needed, whether on-premises or in the cloud, and decommission unneeded VMs just as fast.

3. Mejora de la recuperación ante desastres y la continuidad del negocio
When a physical device goes down, it can take hours or days to repair it – leaving a gap in the organization’s available resources. When a VM fails, on the other hand, IT can simply deploy a clone and resume normal operations. High-availability configurations no longer call for a pool of duplicate physical servers to sit idle; instead, the business can keep duplicate VMs on standby for deployment on any available server capacity. Copia de seguridad rápida y sencilla, la replicación y la restauración de máquinas virtuales mejoran considerablemente la recuperación ante desastres y la continuidad del negocio, incluida la posibilidad de trasladar entornos completos a un centro de datos alternativo o a otro proveedor de servicios en la nube.

4. Mayor eficiencia y productividad en el ámbito de las tecnologías de la información
Los equipos de TI solían dedicar horas y horas a instalar, actualizar, mantener y realizar copias de seguridad del software, dispositivo por dispositivo, en toda la organización. Una de las principales ventajas de la virtualización es la posibilidad de trasladar la mayor parte de estas tareas a máquinas virtuales almacenadas y gestionadas de forma centralizada. Las instancias virtuales de aplicaciones, escritorios, servidores, componentes de red y otros elementos pueden clonarse fácilmente para acelerar la implementación a gran escala.

5. Mejor rendimiento y disponibilidad
Balancing workloads across physical resources and mitigating the impact of failed devices can be a full-time job. With virtualization, IT Ops teams can move VMs easily across the IT infrastructure to load-balance workloads and resolve bottlenecks. The failure of a single VM won’t affect others sharing its host or the system as a whole. VM-level metrics make it easier to optimize resource usage, improve performance, enhance availability, and streamline operations.

6. Desarrollo más rápido
Developers can’t move at agile speed if they have to wait for IT to provision physical servers for development and testing. A key advantage of virtualizing services is the ability of DevOps teams to quickly spin up VMs replicating the production environment for development and testing. Multiple versions of applications, including those built for different operating systems, can run side by side on the same server hardware, enabling developers to simulate a variety of testing and deployment scenarios simultaneously.

Aunque las ventajas de la virtualización son considerables, también hay que tener en cuenta posibles retos e inconvenientes. Por ejemplo:

Initial cost – Virtualization technology lowers both capital and operational costs in the long run, but the initial setup can be higher than in a traditional environment.

Security – By increasing the complexity of the computing environment, virtualization introduces new attack vectors and vulnerabilities.

Performance issues – While virtualization can improve performance, resource contention among VMs sharing the same physical infrastructure can have the opposite effect without careful monitoring and management.

Sprawl – VMs are almost too easy to create. Without adequate ownership and accountability for their lifecycle management, organizations can end up with abandoned or forgotten VMs scattered across their infrastructure, consuming resources and undermining security.

Still, the benefits of server virtualization and other forms of virtualization technology far surpass these possible pitfalls. Flexibility, scalability, and development speed are all critical factors in digital business success. Performance and availability are the foundation of an excellent employee and customer experience. IT efficiency, productivity, and cost reduction help organizations improve the impact and ROI of their technology investments. And of course, disaster recovery and business continuity are non-negotiable in today’s unpredictable world.

La clave está en mantenerse alerta y en que el personal esté perfectamente formado. Para maximizar las ventajas de la virtualización y mitigar al mismo tiempo sus riesgos, asegúrese de que su equipo de operaciones de TI esté al día de las últimas prácticas recomendadas en materia de virtualización para la gestión, la optimización y la seguridad.