Careers in Virtualization

Whether it's for storage or servers, network or desktop, enterprises have realized the advantages that virtualization brings to the table. At the time of an economic recession, where enterprises are going 'green', virtualization is the best answer to cope with. Here we look at virtualization as a career, and its scope for professionals

Thursday, January 01, 2009

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Rahul Sah with inputs from Isha Ghakar and Vishnu Anand

Virtualization technology is a buzzword in the industry but has been in the market for quite long. Organizations have been adopting this technology primarily because of the economic benefits, as it consolidates resources and reduces IT capital costs. The current economic slowdown has forced organizations to better leverage their IT resources, and virtualization has become that golden solution that helps in optimization, and most efficient use of the IT resources. Also the 'Green IT' bandwagon that many of the enterprises are jumping upon, has also given Virtualization the impetus to be one of the hot technologies of last year.

As virtualization adoption continues to grow, the need for virtualization solution architects, developers, implementation specialists and virtualization administrators will continue to grow as well. The demand is high and there is a dearth of expert professionals in virtualization domain who can cater to this unprecedented demand.

Why is Virtualization hot?
The main reason is - economic benefits. Virtualization is the technology that enables sharing of resources, more specifically hardware resources between machine and application virtualization. There is a layer of extraction which is created on the hardware that enables the virtualization software to efficiently allocate the resources to the supported environment and this can happen on demand. In addition to the efficient use of hardware resources, management of the infrastructure, high availability of resources -which is very important in an enterprise, increased security and disaster recovery are some of the main benefits of hosting a virtualization environment. For example, server virtualization can subdivide a single physical server of higher configuration into multiple 'virtual servers' that can be deployed as the need arises. It eliminates the need for multiple physical servers, which would not only cost more, but will also require more space and will remain underutilized for most of the time. Enterprises that want their servers to be used at 80- 85 percent are increasingly adopting virtualization for their servers in their data-centers.

The advantages virtualization delivers are compelling enough for IT managers and CIOs to overlook. As virtualization continues to integrate itself into all aspects of IT infrastructures, the need for professionals who understand the technology is only going to increase.

Types of virtualization
When talked about virtualization, people generally refer to server virtualization, which in turn is just consolidation of the available server resource. However virtualization is not confined to servers, but has multiple types that can be briefed as follows:
1. Server virtualization: It separates an operating system from the underlying hardware resources.
2. Desktop virtualization: The remote manipulation of a computer desktop, based on traditional thin-client model.
3. Resource virtualization: The virtualization of specific system resources like storage or network.
4. Grid computing: The cluster of multiple discrete
computers into a larger mega computer to harness maximum processing power.
5. Application virtualization: The hosting of application on alien hardware and providing that as a service remotely. Which happens to be like a SaaS-based model, but the application is actually streamed from the hosting server, while the client will be able to access that application as their system's native application and not through a browser as the case with SaaS based service.

The biggest challenge in virtualization today is security. Since virtualization melts down physical barriers of separation, data and network level security becomes a big question Would you throw some lights on the latest trends in virtualization domain? Virtualization techniques have existed for a very long time. IBM started working on virtualization techniques in the 70s, if you remember CP/CMS. Recently, infrastructure outsourcing organizations like the hosting providers have started marrying virtualization to grid computing. Cloud computing is a product of that. Clouds have reduced the barrier of entry into the world of on-demand computing like never before. IBM announced its virtual desktop environment just a few days ago. There is a lot of buzz going around web-based operating system and rich clients for desktop virtualization. Virtualized Storage Area Networks is another area which has come upto speed with server virtualization too. IDC projects that by 2011 the market for virtualization services will reach about $12 billion. In November this year, VMware announced its Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP) which will allow various operating systems like Symbian, Linux and Windows Mobile to co-exist in the same phone. It's becoming really exciting and fast. Indraneel Chaudhary Sr. Consultant - Test Engineering, GlobalLogic The biggest challenge in virtualization today is security. Since virtualization melts down physical barriers of separation, data and network level security becomes a big question. The adoption of virtualization techniques by organizations has been rather slow because of security concerns. What are the skill sets needed for an entry into the field? What certifications can a professional opt to head-start his career in this domain? Systems knowledge is required for software development careers in this domain. Knowledge of the Linux kernel along with skills in C and C++ is sought after. Organizations like VMware are looking for people with such skills in India. Sysadmin skills with knowledge of storage technologies like SAN are hot too and much sought for. Storage network certifications like SNIA SAN certification will definitely help. Virtualization in storage networks is coming up very fast. Last year, VMware announced certification in storage virtualization. Red Hat offers Enterprise Linux Virtualization training for Red Hat Certified Technicians (RHCT) or individuals with equivalent knowledge.

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