Take a computer, any computer and do stuff with software so that to people it appears to work as more than one computer. That's virtualization.
What's so great about that? ( What I'm about to say next might sound very boring, but really it affects you personally. I'm mean it. No joke!) (I'll talk about company computer issues a bit as they relate to YOU and then tell you the good news about your workstation or home PC! )
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Well when companies need a new computer service ( that's email, database, accounting package, website, you name it) they tend to buy a new computer to put it on. As companies grow, hey they may have 10, 20, 1000 or more computers. What's wrong with that?
It makes a company look bad when one of those computers breaks. Don't you love hearing "Sorry, our computers are down at the moment, can you call back tomorrow?" Of course not. Virtualization solves this issue ( I'll tell you how later.)
Think of all the wasted electricity! Those computers use electricity and they generate heat so you need to air condition the rooms that they are in to counter the heat. Ok well put all of those services onto one computer. That's not a good idea either. Remember above how when one computer out of 10 or 20 or 1000 breaks it is a big deal? If all of your stuff is on one computer and it breaks then the company can't do any work at all!
Have you ever wondered, wouldn't it be nice to be able to copy my computer completely and if anything went wrong put it back the way it was quickly ( within seconds not hours or days)? ( Ok backup programs copy stuff off of the computer and they can put it back but they don't do it quickly and if the computer software is wrecked how do you get the backup program to work?)
Ta Da .
Virtualization ( kinda rolls off the tongue doesn't it?) solves the problems above. ( OK I'm going to call it V 'cause it doesn't sound as complicated as virtualization, and there was a really cool sci fi show where aliens ate mice called... never mind.)
First take a computer and put the V software on it. This software lets you "create" these things called VM's that act just like computers. You can run these things (VM's that is) all at the same time. Each of these things can have Windows on it. So you can have one computer running more than one copy of Windows at the same time. ( I'm not going to mention Linux so you don't get confused...oops!) Well if it's running more than one copy of Windows it kinda appears to be more than one computer.
That's great, but you read the previous paragraphs, putting everything on one computer is BAD.
You're right. So you get another computer. You put the same V software on it. And, here's the cool part ( drum role please.) it will monitor the other computer and if the other computer BREAKS, it will start up the VM's and your company keeps working.
We're green because we're making two computers doing the work of twenty! ( Is there a downside? Sounds to good to be true. You're not selling snake oil are you? Will it run REEEEALLLLY SLOOOOOWLY?)
Actually if you look at how hard the Brain of the computer is working ( processor for those of you in the advanced class) on an average computer, it's barely doing anything. Look at the same Brain on a V computer and it's not working much harder. Modern 4 processor and 8 processor ( oops I meant Brain) computers can be doing much more work than is sent to them. So doing the V thing well it's a no brainer ( ha ha ha).
Ok so here's how to make life easy for System Engineers and people who want to try their hand at V at home. (The following can be done for your home PC, work PC or company Server. )
Tons of copies. When you make a VM you can make a whole bunch of copies of it. So now you can surf the web with no virus or spy ware software to protect you and when you get slammered or 300 windows pop up trying to sell you via... (well you know what I'm talking about) who cares? Just erase the infected copy and run a new copy. There's an even easier way called Snapshots that I'm not even going to tell you about!
Want to protect yourself should your computer fail? Copy a VM to a usb drive. When your computer fails plug the drive into any computer, run the V software and your computer is back. Ok I could go on and on about this stuff, but I can hear the eyes starting to role squish, squish ( that's kinda gross people!) so I'll end it here except to give you recommendations on how to play with this stuff and get your feet wet for free.
Free is Good!
Hey wouldn't you know it, there's a company called VMware and they give away free virtualization software. They also give away free VM's
Here's the player.
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
It's what you should start with because it's easy. It just works. Remember it plays the thing called a VM. You have to download that too. ( Minnie explanation analogy ( Stan. Don't confuse them. Don't confuse them....). The idea of a V and a VM is just like writing or reading a document in MS Word ( or insert your favorite word processor here for this analogy). Well to actually do stuff with Word you need to either write something in Word or open something someone else wrote.) The V is like Word and the VM is the thing you have to either make or get one someone else made. (Perhaps I've stirred the pot of confusion and you can no longer even spell VM, well take heart. There are pictures below to stare at. N joy!)
Here's the VM's you can download. VMware calls them Appliances. Way to make things clear!
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/
Well that about does it except that it would be nice to have a screen shot of what to expect.
Here's what VMware Player looks like:
( I've removed the pics because pics can cause security problems. I know I won't infect you with a nasty but you don't! To see the images you'll need to close your eyes and imagine them as they are on my computer, in real 4D. While your eyes are closed continue reading the rest of the article. )
Now I've downloaded Ubuntu which is that Linuxy thing I wasn't going to talk about, so we're going to use our imaginations and pretend it says Windows. Can we do that please? ( If you have no imagination I will help you. See the very last picture.)
Well what's so special about the picture below? Notice that it's a window, obviously running on my Windows XP workstaton ( See my name on the Start button, Isn't that just the nerdiest thing you've ever seen? For those of you with no imagination, it has my name on it instead of the word "Start".) Inside the window is what looks like the screen of another computer. The V software ( Here's the quiz at the end of my lesson: what do you think the V software that we're using is called? VMware Player is the answer.) VMware Player is running another system. That system could be Windows XP or Vista or anything else that works on a PC. Now the kicker is that anything bad that happens to that system, doesn't happen to your computer. We can imagine it being confined to that system. That system doesn't know it's a VM. It thinks it's got the computer all to itself! (A puzzle inside of a riddle inside of a Rubic cube!)
(pic removed for your safety.)
I think my High School english teacher would be mad if I just ended it with a "The End". I mean this isn't a movie. A proper essay must have concluding information to summarize that which has been stated... (THE END)
Windows XP: Use your imagination
(Pic wasn't worth seeing anyways but removed for your safety!)
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