Solving Real-World IT Issues - Through Client Virtualization By Dave Buchholz published: Saturday, April 28 2007
As IT managers begin looking ahead to rolling out newer operating systems and applications in the coming year, many anxiously recall previous such adventures. Aside from all of the standard considerations normally given to major client operating system or application releases, upcoming operating system releases, such as Windows* Vista*, and growing interest in Apple* Mac OS X in IT environments, bring with them a set of legacy application compatibility issues. The growing adoption of 64-bit processors and operating systems compounds those issues. Previously, IT groups only had to plan for 32-bit to 32-bit operating system rollouts, upgrades or application support. In today’s fast changing environment, we are now addressing OS and application-readiness issues around 64-bit and 32-bit architectures on Windows-, Apple- and Linux-based operating systems.
In the past, IT shops faced the daunting engineering cycles qualifying a new OS while simultaneously readying applications. Often, legacy applications that were no longer supported prevented end-users from moving to a newer operating system and realizing its benefits.
Using hardware-based virtualization technology and client virtualization software
Additional Uses Seen for Virtual Clients
In addition to the advantages of hardware based virtualization when transitioning to new OS environments, virtualized clients also offer ongoing benefits for IT:
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Quality testing – Allows IT internal quality testers to test and document software running on multiple operating systems from one client. Can compare an application’s look and feel in multiple environments simultaneously. Allows for testing of pre-release software, that is frequently unstable, in an environment that can’t harm the end-user host system.
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Technical support – Enables IT technical support staff to support multiple operating systems on a single end-user system without the need to purchase additional hardware. IT staff can set up numerous end-client configurations on a single computer for real-time scenario testing and troubleshooting.
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Previously, we tackled these problems with client virtualization software to support multiple OS or legacy application environments. The virtual environment was hosted via a single operating system. While this structure provided a virtual environment, it came with a hefty performance hit – virtual environments running 33 to 38 percent slower than the true host environment running the same OS.
However, in today’s environment IT managers now have the option of using a combination of hardware and software client virtualization to solve these issues. The key difference is with hardware-based virtualization technology, the virtualization software provided gives direct access to specific platform hardware capabilities. As a result, the virtualization software can perform at speeds closer to the native host OS. In the past, this technology was available in server or mainframe hardware platforms, limiting it to larger scale applications. Through newer client-based hardware virtualization technology, the virtual machines can take advantage of virtualization across the processor, memory and I/O devices to balance resources across host and guest operating systems and increase performance of the guest operating system. With increased performance and hardware optimization, IT departments can consider a variety of options for virtual client usage models to solve many day-to-day IT issues.
Benefits of hardware based client virtualization
Client virtualization will enable IT departments to roll out client operating systems as soon as they become available*, accelerating the adoption of new technology while maintaining the legacy environment until applications can be brought into compliance Application readiness no longer will be a show stopper as IT departments will be able to implement the latest OS while still supporting a legacy operating system and its applications in a virtual client environment. We can deploy the next generation of Microsoft OS while supporting legacy versions of applications, or even deploy Mac OS X and support the legacy Windows OS environment in a virtual machine, running applications that aren’t available as native application on Mac OS X.
Traditionally, application engineers rushed their product updates to market so IT departments could begin the roll out. Many times applications were updated too quickly to function at the proper level, leading to frustration among engineering and support teams and end-users alike. Virtualized legacy environments will give enterprise application owners and engineers time to get their applications completely optimized for the new OS. Meanwhile, end-users can use applications in the currently certified OS environment until they are upgraded and fully tested.
Finally, hardware based virtualization will be a stepping stone for end-users to new usage models of virtual client environments expected in future desktop and mobile platforms. More importantly, users already will be familiar with multiple operating system virtual environments and will be able to take advantage of anticipated advances, such as “instant switch” OS environment, virtual applications and much more.
The improvements in both hardware and software based client virtualization pieces enable easier roll outs of new operating systems and technologies, permitting IT departments to deploy new systems when they need to instead of delaying deployment schedules based on application readiness. Virtualization now allows IT shops to enable their end-users with newer technologies, capabilities and usage models at a much faster rate and lays the groundwork for the support of multiple vendor operating systems as the new standard in the PC environment.
Biography
David Buchholz is an IT client architect at Intel Corporation where he is responsible for technology adoption and engineering of approximately 100,000 clients. With 17 years of experience, Buchholz specializes in client OS, applications, imaging and technologies. He is currently the Vista engineering manager for Intel, overseeing the Vista Technology Adoption Program engineering duties.
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