Summary Of Storage Virtualization

The process of combining physical storage from several storage devices into what seems
to be a single storage device, or pool of accessible storage capacity that is controlled from
a central console is known as storage virtualization. The technique uses software to
determine the amount of storage capacity that is available from physical devices, then to
pool that storage into a pool that may be utilized by classic architectural servers or in a
virtual environment by virtual machines (VMs). A very fundamental form of storage
virtualization consists of a software virtualization layer that sits between the hardware of a
storage resource and a host, such as a personal computer (PC), a server, or any other device
accessing the storage, and enables operating systems (OSes) and applications to access and
use the storage. Sometimes, even a RAID array may be viewed as a form of storage
virtualization. The user sees the array's numerous physical drives as a single storage device,
but in reality, the drives are striping and replicating data to other discs in the background
to enhance I/O performance and safeguard data in the event of a drive failure. Virtualizing
storage may be done in two ways: file-based or block-based. Network-attached storage
(NAS) systems are used in a specific use case called file-based storage virtualization. File-
based storage virtualization eliminates the reliance in a typical NAS array between the data
being accessed and the location of physical memory by using the Server Message Block
(SMB) or Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocols in Windows server
environments or the Network File System (NFS) protocols for Linux systems. Performance
will be enhanced by the pooling of NAS resources, which makes it simpler to manage file
migrations in the background. Although administering several NAS devices from a single
management console is often not a difficult operation, storage virtualization makes it much
easier. Block-based or block access storage, which is often accessible over a storage area
network (SAN) using Fiber Channel (FC) or Internet Small Computer System Interface
(iSCSI), is virtualized more commonly than file-based storage systems. Block-based
systems separate the physical memory blocks of a storage device, such as a hard disc drive
(HDD) or solid-state memory device, from the logical storage, such as a drive partition.
Block storage systems will perform better than file-based systems since there is less
overhead for read and write processes because it functions similarly to the native drive
software.
 Summary Of Operating System
Virtualization

Operating system virtualization isolates operating system elements including memory

access, file access, and network access to guest operating systems. The kernel of the parent
operating system is the same kernel that is used in each guest operating system, which is a
crucial aspect of this sort of virtualization. Emulation is avoided in this sort of virtualization
since each guest uses the same system call interface. Because load balancing is more
successful because there is no hypervisor barrier that needs to be traversed for process
execution, memory and CPU resources may be controlled extremely well. Since all guests
hosted using OS virtualization share the same kernel, they also share any problems within
the shared kernel including stability or security problems. Upgrades can be problematic
because upgrading one virtual machine requires updating all virtual machines on the same
host system, which can cause logistical problems. Examples of OS virtualization
platforms include Linux-VServer, Paralleles Virtuozzo Containers, OpenVZ, and Solaris
Containers. Due to OS virtualization, it is possible to virtualize whole networks. From the
perspective of the network layer, a virtualized network consists of virtual routers and
virtual links. Virtual routers are interconnected by virtual links. The mapping of the virtual
network to the physical substrate is done by assigning to each virtual router one or even
multiple physical routers. Also, the virtual links between virtual routers have to be mapped
to the physical substrate network. It is common that a virtual link is mapped to a path in
the substrate network with a path length longer than one.

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