What exactly is virtualization? As this concise book explains, virtualization is a smorgasbord of technologies that offer organizations many advantages, whether you're managing extremely large stores of rapidly changing data, scaling out an application, or harnessing huge amounts of computational power. With this guide, you get an overview of the five main types of virtualization technology, along with information on security, management, and modern use cases. Topics include: Access virtualization—Allows access to any application from any device Application virtualization—Enables applications to run on many different operating systems and hardware platforms Processing virtualization—Makes one system seem like many, or many seem like one Network virtualization—Presents an artificial view of the network that differs from the physical reality Storage virtualization—Allows many systems to share the same storage devices, enables concealing the location of storage systems, and more

Migrate to a dynamic, on-demand data delivery platform "If you're looking to hit the ground running with any virtualization project, large or small, this book is going to give you the start you need, and along the way will offer you some cautionary tales that will even take some seasoned virtualization veterans by surprise." --From the foreword by Chris Wolf, Senior Analyst, Burton Group Transform your IT infrastructure into a leaner, greener datacenter with expert guidance from a pair of industry professionals. Through clear explanations, examples, and a five-step deployment plan, Virtualization: A Beginner's Guide shows you how to maximize the latest technologies from Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware. Consolidate your servers, set up virtual machines and applications, and manage virtual desktop environments. You'll also learn how to implement reliable security, monitoring, and backup procedures. Select a virtualization platform and develop rollout plans Perform pre-deployment network and workstation tests Configure virtual machines, storage devices, and workloads Set up and secure a fully virtualized and highly available server environment Manage a centralized, on-demand application delivery framework Handle volatile and persistent desktop virtualization Use hypervisors to facilitate workload delivery Implement failsafe system backup and recovery strategies

The first in-depth, comprehensive guide to Microsoft's suite of virtualization products Virtualization is a hot topic for IT because of the potential it offers for serious economic benefits. While other books treat server virtualization alone, this comprehensive guide provides a complete virtual strategy. You will learn how to deploy a complete virtualization stack with Microsoft's offerings in server virtualization, application virtualization, presentation virtualization, and desktop virtualization. Written by Microsoft technology product specialists, this guide provides real-world focus, enabling you to create a complete IT system that is highly efficient and cost effective. Covers Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V 2.0, Remote Desktop Services, Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) Demonstrates how to deploy a virtual infrastructure-from the server to the desktop Goes beyond any other book on Microsoft virtualization Covers the highly anticipated new feature Live Migration This guide, part of the popular Sybex Mastering series, offers every IT administrator a road map for implementing an efficient and successful virtualization project.

Learn the fundamental concepts and skills by building your own virtual machine Virtualization is more important than ever, it's how the Cloud works! As virtualization continues to expand, millions of companies all over the world are leveraging virtualization. IT professionals need a solid understanding of virtualization concepts and software to compete in today's job market. The updated new edition of Virtualization Essentials teaches you the core concepts and skills necessary to work with virtualization environments. Designed for new and aspiring IT professionals alike, this practical guide offers an applied, real-world approach to help you develop the necessary skill set to work in Cloud computing, the DevOps space, and the rest of the virtual world. Virtualization Essentials simplifies complex concepts to ensure that you fully understand what virtualization is and how it works within the computing environment. Step by step, you’ll learn how to build your own virtual machine, both by scratch and by migrating from physical to virtual. Each user-friendly chapter contains an overview of the topic, a discussion of key concepts, hands-on tutorials, end-of-chapter exercises, review questions, and more. Configure and manage a virtual machine’s CPU, memory, storage, and networking Distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors Compare the leading hypervisor products in today’s market Configure additional devices for a virtual machine Make considerations for availability Understand how cloud computing leverages virtualization Virtualization Essentials is an invaluable ‘learn-by-doing’ resource for new and aspiring IT professionals looking to gain a solid foundation in virtualization. It is also an excellent reference for more experienced IT admins responsible for managing on-premise and remote computers and workstations.

The 100% Practical Guide to Making Virtualization Work in Real Enterprise Environments If you’re involved in planning, deploying, or managing virtualization, this book brings together all the field-proven, in-the-trenches answers and solutions you’ll need. Packed with examples and case studies, Practical Virtualization Solutions is a complete, self-paced, hands-on guide to creating a virtualized environment and driving maximum value from it throughout its entire lifecycle. Kenneth Hess and Amy Newman present detailed costs, schedules, and deployment plans drawn from actual enterprise virtualization projects. You’ll learn what really works and what doesn’t and discover powerful ways to systematically control the costs of virtualization and streamline its management. The authors offer realistic guidance on choosing the best services to virtualize; selecting the right virtualization software, hardware, and vendor partners; troubleshooting and securing virtualized environments; and much more. Along the way, they answer crucial questions IT professionals face in working with virtualization. Coverage includes Quantifying the time, hardware, labor, and downtime needed to implement virtualization Streamlining the transition from physical to virtual Comparing VMware ESXi, VMware Server, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, and other virtualization technologies Identifying opportunities to reduce cost and improve flexibility with open source virtualization technologies Explaining advanced techniques for simplifying virtual machine management Defining the right role for virtualization in networking and storage Automating virtual infrastructure management tasks

Securing virtual environments for VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft hypervisors Virtualization changes the playing field when it comes to security. There are new attack vectors, new operational patterns and complexity, and changes in IT architecture and deployment life cycles. What's more, the technologies, best practices, and strategies used for securing physical environments do not provide sufficient protection for virtual environments. This book includes step-by-step configurations for the security controls that come with the three leading hypervisor--VMware vSphere and ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008, and Citrix XenServer. Includes strategy for securely implementing network policies and integrating virtual networks into the existing physical infrastructure Discusses vSphere and Hyper-V native virtual switches as well as the Cisco Nexus 1000v and Open vSwitch switches Offers effective practices for securing virtual machines without creating additional operational overhead for administrators Contains methods for integrating virtualization into existing workflows and creating new policies and processes for change and configuration management so that virtualization can help make these critical operations processes more effective This must-have resource offers tips and tricks for improving disaster recovery and business continuity, security-specific scripts, and examples of how Virtual Desktop Infrastructure benefits security.

Storage virtualization has come of age, offering IT professionals powerful new ways to simplify infrastructure, streamline management, improve utilization, and reduce costs. Now, the author of the best-selling storage books IP SANs and Designing Storage Area Networks presents an up-to-the-minute, vendor-neutral overview of storage virtualization in all its forms.