RAM | Reseller Advocate Magazine: Issue 54

By Chris Angelini

I CAN'T COME UP WITH A GOOD DEFINITION for kitchen appliances. I know
that they often help in the preparation and storage of food. I can give you several examples of appliances in my kitchen. I can even tell you why I need those appliances. But pegging a single-sentence summation is surprisingly tough. It turns out that the same is true for network security appliances, even though the phrase is thrown around loosely, just like "SMB," the market so well served by many such appliances.

The past couple of years have seen some high-profile processing technologies realize mainstream notoriety. Take dual-core, for example. Or how about 64-bit computing? The rise from obscurity and resulting emphasis in the media has helped clarify the benefits of both value-adds, simplifying sales to customers already in the know.

So now it's time for the next big thing in computing technology. We've been hearing the word virtualization coming from Intel and AMD for a while. What exactly is virtualization? How does it work? And could virtualization turn into a compelling channel play as larger builders scratch their collective heads trying to decipher the technology's appeal?

What Exactly is Virtualization?

According to virtualization software vendor VMWare, the concept was first introduced in the 1960s as a means to fully utilize precious mainframes, which were obviously quite scarce in that era. As time progressed, the company says, commoditization deemphasized the need for such a mechanism since the cost of acquiring and deploying new hardware was quickly falling. Fast forward to the 1990s. Three decades earlier, hardware was the scarce resource. Now, cheap servers had turned the prior issues around so that hardware was plentiful and running underutilized. Of course, with more equipment in the field, management costs were rising, and the security of organizations with resources spread between multiple locations was coming into question. Suddenly, virtualization sounded like a good idea once again.

But we still haven't explained the purpose of virtualization or how it works.

"Virtualization is the abstraction layer between hardware and software used to create many software environments on one hardware platform," explains David Auster, division manager for commercial marketing at AMD. "The technology can help organizations gain efficiency and simultaneously avoid server sprawl."

Small Business Virtualization
VMWare's Workstation 5 is the perfect solution for small business and home office customers interested in virtualization technology on a small scale. It fully supports Intel’s hardware-assisted solution.

Dan Chu, VMWare's senior director of developer/ISV products, clarifies further: "Virtualization allows multiple virtual machines, or environments, to run in isolation on the same physical system. Each virtual machine has its own set of virtual hardware—RAM, CPU, network controller, and so on—upon which an operating system and apps are loaded. The OS sees a consistent set of hardware regardless of the actual components."

As Chu suggests, virtual machines are extremely flexible. Encapsulated into individual files, it's particularly easy to save, copy, and start up an entirely new system in seconds. Consequently, you'll sometimes see enterprises using a database on one virtual machine as a redundant failover for another.

Perhaps it'll also help to explain what virtualization is not. Most resellers should be familiar with the concept of dual-booting—that is, loading two operating systems onto a single computer and being given a choice to execute one or the other at startup. Whereas dual-booting forces a choice between one OS or the other, virtualization allows your customer to run both operating systems at the same time using the same set of hardware.

It may take a while to wrap your head around virtualization. After all, the idea of working within several different software environments on one server at the same time is certainly unconventional. But once you understand what virtualization is, establishing viable applications for it becomes a lot easier.

Finding a Use

"Interesting in theory," you say, "but where would virtualization be used in the real world? And more importantly, how can it serve as a differentiator to make some money?"

Virtualization Available Today
The Pentium D 900-series, available now, already supports hardware-assisted Virtualization Technology through software such as VMWare Workstation. Intel’s server processors will get the technology within the next couple of months.

According to VMWare's Dan Chu, virtualization software started picking up steam several years ago amongst those with test environments. Administrators of domain controllers, Web servers, and other development boxes would use it for experimental purposes before implementing changes to a front-line server. Then, three to five years ago, an increasing number of IT managers started moving virtualization over to production equipment with the aim of consolidating server hardware. The motivation there was simple: Rather than acquire and then manage many separate servers, use virtualization as a tool to run a handful of unique software environments on one physical machine.

Now, virtualization is also seen as a mechanism for reducing the costs tied to server deployment and management, improving availability and security. It's also an ideal vehicle for ensuring interoperability, since a virtual machine is not sensitive to hardware changes.

Admittedly, those usage models are largely relevant at the enterprise level and not as important to SMB customers. But AMD's David Auster observes that there is a lot you can do with one box partitioned into multiple operating environments.

"If I'm in an organization with legacy software that'll only run on Windows NT 4.0 and have no other applications operating on that platform, it makes sense to use virtualization as a way to better utilize my hardware. I can create a separate NT4 environment on the server and run that one app. If the hardware starts getting taxed by my virtual machines, it can be upgraded without affecting the software at all."

Now that's cool functionality. I've seen enough single-app servers running in a small office to know there's a market for consolidation, even at the SMB level.

How about the small home and office user with both business and personal needs but without a big time technology budget? You can see how it'd be easy to use virtualization and a single PC to effectively create two virtual machines, one completely independent from the other, including viruses and data-compromising malware.

In essence, that's the sort of capability VM software maker Parallels (www.parallels.com) recently announced for all of Apple's Core Duo-based systems. The processor's virtualization feature allows Macs to run Windows XP (among other OSes) alongside OS X. Switching between the environments is a 15 second exercise in flexibility.

A Software Solution

Microsoft and VMWare—two companies you probably recognize—are the principal purveyors of virtualization software for PCs. Both vendors offer very similar feature sets and are now providing their wares free of charge. The main difference seems to be guest OS support. Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 R2 package runs on Windows Server and, not surprisingly, supports several other Microsoft guest operating systems. Sure, a few builds of Linux are recognized through a separate add-in, but the app is decidedly narrower in scope. VMWare's Server utility starts with extending support to Linux as a host OS. It also accommodates a laundry list of guest operating systems, including anything from Microsoft down to MS-DOS 6, Novell NetWare back to 4.2, at least four Linux distributions, FreeBSD, Solaris, and several 64-bit builds.

Additionally, VMWare supports hardware-assisted virtualization, a technology currently packaged into certain Intel processors and expected very soon from AMD, as well. Parallels joins VMWare by recognizing Intel's hardware virtualization technology. Its server solution is still in beta, though.

Hardware: Your Value-Add

We've already established that virtualization isn't new, even if it seems like smaller businesses are only just now discovering the technology's potential. However, the whole idea of hardware-assisted virtualization is a much more recent development. Intel and AMD have been cryptically talking about it for months now in the code-words Vanderpool and Pacifica. "Microsoft and VMWare have done a great job in emulation, but creating that virtualization layer can be quite challenging," says AMD's David Auster. "There's a certain level of complexity involved that imposes some performance overhead."

In other words, if you run virtualization software by itself, the speed of your virtual machine will be less than what you'd see without virtualization installed.

"Because there is overhead, we're putting that layer into hardware," continues Auster. "As a result, virtualization should exact a much smaller performance penalty since the guest OS is able to talk directly to the processor architecture. This helps bring the barrier to entry lower for those wishing to use virtualization."

Intel goes into even greater depth on the value of a hardware-assisted virtualization solution. Specifically, a new "privilege level" ensures all code runs without worrying about runtime modification of the guest operating system or paravirtualization, as it would under a software-only solution. Hardware-based handoffs between the virtual machine layer and guest operating systems, aided by hardware-based memory protection, are to thank for higher performance.

Coming Soon
AMD plans to start equipping its high-end Opteron processors with hardware-based virtualization soon. The newer CPUs are also expected to support DDR2 memory and a new socket interface, which should yield improved performance.

Per Intel, that trio of features leads to four distinct advantages available only to customers with virtualization backed by hardware. First is reduced cost, which you already get from a software virtualization application. Adding hardware support works out any interoperability kinks, making the infrastructure easier to maintain and manage. Reliability is augmented in turn since a less complex virtual machine is less likely to encounter a conflict. Because handoffs are handled in hardware, the logical isolation of virtual partitions is reportedly also strengthened, thus enhancing security. Finally, Intel hopes its Virtualization Technology will help decouple the development of virtualization software from OS patches and updates. In turn, new innovations should be made available more quickly.

The Buyer's Benefit

How much will your customer have to pay to enable such promising functionality? As a technology, virtualization doesn't cost a thing. Intel is already adding it to desktop Pentium D and mobile Core-series processors, and server chips are right around the corner. AMD's variant, simply called AMD Virtualization, is expected to debut within the next couple of months, also spanning its entire product line. And as we've already established, the software is free, too.

AMD's David Auster says, "In adding hardware-assisted virtualization, that abstraction layer has become much more open. Value-added products and services are where the software vendors make money, not in the layer itself."

Indeed, software maven VMWare no longer charges for its Server and Workstation products, instead choosing to sell virtualization software to enterprises and add value through pre-built virtual machines. Your customers can sign up for the VMWare Technology Network, for example, and download a pre-built mail server. Or they can jump start a support network using a pre-configured knowledgebase system. Complete content management, database, security, and Web server appliances are all available for download from VMWare's network.

So you can install the software to make virtualization tick free of charge. The hardware needed to improve the performance and security of virtualization is also a value-add in the latest Intel processors and will soon be common to AMD's products. And, when combined, the two components allow your customers to consolidate equipment, move an entire virtual machine by copying one file, separate work and personal data, plus test software in an isolated environment. What's not to like?

An IDC report, cited by Intel in one of its virtualization white papers, claims 8% of servers shipped with virtualization in 2003. It estimates that number will grow to 40% in 2007. The hardware is ready in many cases, the software is maturing rapidly, and tier-ones will undoubtedly be slow to refresh their product lines with virtualization-enabled platforms. Now is the perfect time for resellers to explore the ways virtualization might be able to help SMB customers do business more efficiently.