As workloads demand more power, and data requires increasing capacity, businesses must find an efficient way to ensure computing resources meet their operational demands now and in the future. Adding more physical resources isn’t always the answer — it can be costly, take time to deploy, and lack the capacity to scale.

One way to address these issues is virtualisation. This technique uses a physical host machine to run one or more virtual servers. It allows businesses to make the most of a physical IT infrastructure, turning one computing resource into multiple virtual machines, without having to invest in the technology themselves.

Virtualisation in cloud computing is especially vital to meeting the demand for efficient, flexible, and cost-effective computing ecosystems. In fact, virtual instances enable the most impactful advantages of cloud computing. In this blog, we’ll discuss how virtualisation works, including its benefits, limitations, and uses.

What is virtualisation?

Virtualisation is a computing technique that involves running multiple virtual machines (VMs) on one physical host machine. These virtual computers are software emulations of real machines — they use the underlying hardware to run applications as a physical machine would.

Here’s how it works: One host machine runs multiple VMs, which allows data centre providers to make the most of their computer hardware and computing power. VMs also have their own operating systems and are easy to deploy, modify, and delete — without impacting the host machine or other VMs.

Because each VM functions as a separate computing environment, the use cases are almost endless. As such, VMs are crucial to modern private and public cloud computing, allowing efficient, scalable, and flexible business operations.

The importance of virtualisation in cloud computing and enterprise IT

Virtualisation has become critical to many computing environments. For example, enterprise IT leaders employ virtualisation to use its physical hardware and host operating systems for scaling operations and meeting increasing data capacity demands as efficiently as possible.

Consider a company that wants to run multiple servers dedicated to different workloads. Instead of purchasing, configuring, running, and maintaining one physical resource for each workload, it can create multiple VMs on one piece of hardware. This consolidation brings tremendous time and cost-efficiencies.

Virtualisation also provides the foundational technology for the most popular cloud services, such as:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS)

As cloud demand and capacity needs increase, virtualisation means data centre providers can help businesses make the most of their physical resources.

How does virtualisation work?

Virtualisation works using a hypervisor or software that sits between the physical hardware and virtual machines. A hypervisor is essential for creating and managing VMs — it enables multiple virtual environments to run simultaneously on a single physical machine.

There are two types of hypervisors, each with benefits and limitations:

1. Type 1 (bare metal) hypervisors

Type 1 hypervisors are installed directly on the physical hardware. They offer the best possible performance and efficiency because they directly access the underlying hardware without the aid of a host operating system.

2. Type 2 hypervisors

Type 2 hypervisors run on top of an operating system as an application. While type 2 hypervisors are easier to set up and use, they usually provide lower performance compared to bare metal. This is because they have the additional layer of the host operating system between them and the hardware.

In both instances, the hypervisor handles resource allocation, distributing hardware resources as needed based on the demands of the VMs. Its functions can include:

Creating and managing VMs

Allocating resources, like processors, memory, and storage

Ensuring isolation between VMs and preventing one VM’s operations from affecting others

Because VMs operate entirely independently from one another and the host system from a user’s point of view, hypervisors can install and run applications on VMs as they would on physical computers — without noticing a difference.

Advantages of virtualisation

Virtualisation offers many benefits to businesses seeking to build a scalable IT infrastructure.

Efficient hardware utilisation

Efficient hardware usage is one of the most crucial advantages of virtualisation. By consolidating multiple virtual environments on a single physical server, virtualisation makes the most of the available resources. In this way, running multiple VMs on one resource can significantly reduce hardware costs.

Disaster recovery

When one piece of hardware fails, virtual resources can move quickly to different hardware to mitigate downtime. Similarly, virtualisation improves security through isolation. This means one compromised VM doesn’t affect the others.

Energy-savings

For businesses keen on sustainable IT operations, virtualisation can help reduce power consumption. In fact, an Aurora Energy Research report suggested that virtualisation can help reduce future European computing emissions by 55% by 2040.1

Simplified data centre management

Finally, virtualisation simplifies data centre management through task centralisation. Management software enables easier monitoring and maintenance of fewer resources, while provisioning and deprovisioning automation reduces manual efforts.

Limitations of virtualisation

Despite the benefits of virtualisation, there are also potential challenges for businesses to consider. These include:

Initial investment: Upfront costs include purchasing and deploying hypervisors. Likewise, it may be necessary to buy licences for virtualisation management software.

Performance overhead: VMs — particularly those using type 2 hypervisors — may experience performance overhead compared to running directly on physical hardware, like type 1 hypervisors. This may be due to resource-sharing, bottlenecks, or delays in hardware interactions.

Security risks: Virtualisation can improve security through isolation due to the separation of processes and components. However, with a compromised hypervisor, all VMs could be at risk, requiring ongoing best-practice patching and security.

Digital Realty has the deep operational experience to ensure proper deployment, configuration, and maintenance of computing resources to mitigate these challenges.

Types of virtualisation

There are five types of virtualisation, each with distinct benefits.

1. Cloud virtualisation

Cloud virtualisation helps provide cloud infrastructure by running multiple instances on single resources. It enables cloud providers to deliver the IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS services that power the modern world through scalability, on-demand services, and cost-efficiency.

2. Data centre virtualisation

Data centre virtualisation occurs when hardware is abstracted into software through multiple virtual data centres. This allows for more efficient resource management of physical infrastructure, connectivity , and network resources.

3. Data virtualisation

Data virtualisation provides unified access to data from multiple sources. Its benefits include:

Real-time data access for analytics and reporting

Business intelligence

Evidence-backed decision-making

4. Storage virtualisation

Storage virtualisation combines multiple physical storage devices. This creates a single virtual pool, treating all storage as a single resource and improving performance.

Discover the benefits of cloud computing and virtualisation

Virtualisation in cloud computing enables the efficient, scalable, and flexible use of computing resources by running multiple virtual environments on a single physical server. Overall, this helps businesses optimise resource utilisation, improve security, and reduce costs.

PlatformDIGITAL®, Digital Realty’s global data centre platform, offers the secure infrastructure, control and connectivity modern businesses need to scale efficiently while reducing initial investment costs, performance overhead, and security risks. Likewise, with robust connections to cloud providers, enterprises benefit from increased reliability and performance of cloud services to eliminate downtime. Contact us to learn more about how Digital Realty can help your business build an efficient, scalable, and flexible infrastructure on PlatformDIGITAL® .

Frequently asked questions about virtualisation

What is the main reason virtualisation is used in the cloud?

Virtualisation is used in the cloud to improve resource usage, scalability, and cost savings. By running multiple VMs on one physical resource, cloud providers can make the most of their underlying hardware.

What is full virtualisation in cloud computing?

Full virtualisation is a high-performance cloud computing technique. It fully simulates the resource’s underlying hardware, allowing any virtual desktop application to run as if installed directly on the host machine.

Why is virtualisation necessary?

Virtualisation is vital to modern computing. It uses resources efficiently by running multiple VMs on one host and brings many essential benefits, such as cost-efficiency, security, and disaster recovery.

What is virtualisation technology?

Virtualisation technology enables virtual machines to run on their hosts. It includes hypervisors, which includes software-enabling virtual machines and underlying hardware interaction.

External links:

https://auroraer.com/media/data-centre-virtualisation-and-cloud-computing-can-play-a-pivotal-role-in-achieving-power-sector-emissions-reductions/

2023 ESG Environmental, Social, and Governance Report