5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtualization | Drawbacks & Benefits of Virtualization

What is Virtualization ?

In technology virtualization means

that a virtual version of something

is created and used regardless of the original version. This could be anything from operating systems, servers, storage devices and networks. One such example is partitioning a hard drive. It is no doubt that virtualization is one of the greatest innovation in the technological world. In fact many businesses are trying to update their system to virtual machines for their own convenience.

What is the use of Virtualization ?

Since the introduction of virtualization it has become an important part of the daily life. In order for consoling emulation, almost all the virtual machines took the role of a real computer. However like every other technology, virtualization includes certain advantages and disadvantages. These needs to be considered before implementing the system.

In this article, I will be listing and mentioning about 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtualization | Drawbacks & Benefits of Virtualization. Through this post you will all the pros and cons of using virtualization technology.

Let's get started,

Advantages of Virtualization

1. Cost

Using a virtualization system is actually cheaper due to the fact that it doesn't require any hardware components. Therefore, IT infrastructures consider it inexpensive because there is no investment involved in to create on-site resources or any separate areas of space. The only thing that you need is the license or the access from the third party who maintains all the servers.

2. Efficiency

Virtualization also allows automatic updates to the hardwares and softwares by installing on their third party provider. Due to this IT professionals do not need to spend money for individuals and corporations. In addition to that virtualization reduces the load of resource management for facilitating the efficiencies in the virtual environment.

3. Uptime

Virtualization has the capability to prevent unnecessary downtime by making use of resources the maximum. Even budget friendly virtualization services can offer an uptime of almost 99.9% today. This can be especially beneficial for small businesses which uses data for testing.

4. Deployment

Deploying resources are considerably faster when using the virtualization technology. Time spent on creating local networks or setting up physical machines can be saved significantly. Thus, the only thing that you need is at least a single access to the virtual environment. And also virtual machine deployment is more simple than deploying physical versions.

5. Energy Savings

Using virtualization literally means that the system is more energy efficient since there is no hardware or software that is being used. This helps the companies to neglect the cooling cost of the data center which can significantly reduce the cost of utility bills. Moreover it is more environment friendly because it reduces carbon footprint. 

Disadvantages of Virtualization

1. Implementation

Although it is mentioned that the virtualization is highly cost effective still it needs more investment when it comes to implementation. This is because at some instance the hardwares and softwares are required which means that devices needs to be purchased to make the virtualization possible. This can mainly effect the providers of virtual environment. However it is one time investment which long term benefits.

2. Limitations

Virtualization does involves many limitations. Every server and application out there is not virtualization compatible. Hence, some of the IT infrastructure of the organizations will not be supporting the virtualized solutions. Moreover there are many vendors who has stopped supporting them. For overcoming this individuals and organizations needs to have a hybrid system.

3. Security

Data is a crucial aspect of every organization. Data security is often questioned in a virtualized environment since the server is managed by managed by the third party providers. Therefore, it is important to choose the virtualization solution wisely so that it can provide adequate protection.

4. Availability

Availability is another important aspect of an organization. The data needs to be connected for a prolonged period of time. If not the organization will be going to loose the competition in the industry. The issue with the availability can come from the virtualization servers. The virtualization servers has the tendency to go offline. Hence, the websites which are hosted will also be failed. This is solely controlled by the third party providers, there is nothing the user can do about it.

5. Scalability

Even though you start the business small, there is always a chance for you to grow bigger. If there are no way you could become large, the entities of the same range can achieve it so. As a result they can dominate small businesses stealing resources from them.