Virtualisation Technologies - Essay Example

?Newcastle College- Virtualisation Technologies Virtualisation is simply creating an online based system that can be used to deliver processes just like in the physical case. This concept started to flourish with the introduction and improvement of the internet. It can allow people from different parts of the world to use the same virtual system for different purposes. Virtualisation is being deployed and implement by many institutions of all kinds across the world. The New Castle College is one of the many that have implemented virtual system. The college uses the virtual system for bringing the staff, the learners and the administrators together with over one hundred sites. New Castle College implementing Virtualisation technology, has made it possible for the, learners, staff and administrators to connect, teach, address issues, saving a lot of time, resources and money while delivering high quality services to all associated with the institution. Advantages of Virtualisation to New Castle College Saving money: Virtualisation has allowed the New Castle College to save a lot of money. The system consumes about 30% of the physical hardware which translates to less bill payments for the energy (Sanders, 2006). Staff and learners would also save money they would have used to travel, on accommodation and other resources. The New Castle College has saved more than seven billion pounds since the successful deployment and implementation of the Virtualisation system (Josyula, 2011, Golden, 2013). Security: Virtualisation is very secure and can be checked from a centralized location. There is a set of guidelines which have to be met for a person to access the system. The compliance of the system can handle more than thirty hidden procedures which ensure maximum security of the system. The compliance procedures are automated and the system does not grant access if there any compliance procedures that were not met (Stewart, 2013). The security features are usually at the server, hardware and network levels making it almost impossible to be penetrated by any viruses or Trojans and hackers (Ciampa, 2008). Time saving: Staff of the New Castle College can now work from any location without going to the college. Close to half of the college staff works remotely from anywhere (Honkanen, 2008). Many man hours are saved and responses to the issues are made faster as there is no need to go to different places to have the queries answered (Wolf and halter, 2006). The repetitive queries can also be uploaded from one central location to all the users, such that they can access them anytime (Savill, 2012). Users can only contact the staff and administrators only when they have extremely issues. Even so, such issues can be addressed within a short time accordingly unlike when physical systems are being used. In addition, recovery is easy as there are no many data hardware used (EC-Council, 2010). Economic benefits of virtualization Virtualisation has had many economic benefits for the New Castle College. Users can access information they need at their own convenience. This saves New Castle college resources that would have been used for buildings, furniture, computers, storage devices and other accessories that would have to be used to make learning and management of learners and staff possible. Virtualisation of the New Castle College saved the institution more than seven billion pounds, which can be used for other benefits of the college (Dittner and Rule, 2011). Staff can operate from anywhere saving a lot of money and time.. The man hour saved by the staff and students would be equal to a lot of money. Supposing that each staff member saves 30 minutes a day and 40% of staff are working through the system. About one thousand man hours would be saved per day. Basing on the United Kingdom average earnings per hour of 10 pounds per hour, the New Castle College would save ten thousand pounds on the lower side per day (Office for National Statistics, 2012). That is a lot of money saved for such an institution. Using Virtualisation, New Castle College spends less investment on hardware and software. In a typical institution set up, there would be thousands of computers of which each would need software to operate. With virtualisation however, there are few computers needed in a central location and software. One software of a few can be used for the entire system. This adds to the amount of money saved. The numbers of staff needed to oversee the system are greatly reduced. The entire system can be operated by only a few people. The college saves the money that would have been used to pay for the large staff in a typical college setup (InfoWorld, 2007). Use of few hardware and computer has also helped the New Castle College to contribute less emission. Unlike what most people are aware of, computers emit carbon dioxide which is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases and global warming. In fact, a Reuter’s article contributor Master (2009) pointed out that the ICT industry contributed to about two percent of the carbon dioxide emissions as of 2009. He further noted that with the high demand for computers and software, the emissions would increase at an average of six percent per year. One computer with a printer and speakers uses about 200 watts per hour for average use. Such a computer can use more than 600 watts per hour when used for eight hours a day, five days a week and emit about 175 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year. New Castle College virtualisation project reduced the number of computers to be used by a large margin. Assuming that each of the staff has a computer, a printer and a speaker, and 40% of staff is using the virtualisation project, the New Castle College would have to do away with about one thousand five hundred and twenty computers. Assuming that each computer was producing 175 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year, the College would prevent more than a quarter a million kilograms of carbon dioxide emission. To estimate the carbon dioxide emissions from the New Castle College, the number of computers in use, the number of hours they operate and the amount of energy they consume needs to be established. Different computers have varying power needs and usage. This would be important in establishing the amount of emissions the institution has stopped by changing the system to virtualisation. Green House Calculator Green house calculator is a process of tracking the current emissions and coming up with strategies to reduce the current emissions and estimate the savings made. In the case of the New Castle College, computers emitted a lot of emissions. As stated above, a standard computer emits up to 175 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year. Assuming that every staff had a computer, the total would to three thousand five hundred computers and about 612,000 kilograms of emissions every year. After virtualization, the number of computers would be reduced. Even a hundred computers would do all the work and that would total to just 17,500 carbon dioxide emissions saving approximately 590,000 carbon dioxide emissions in a year (United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d). As of August 2012, the students at the New Castle College were estimated to be at 30,000 (The Independent, 2012). All the students were expected to use the virtualisation system in addition to about 2,000 staff. The rate of return of return of the project can be estimated as per the tabulations in image below. Impact of Virtualisation on business continuity in New Castle College Virtualisation has made it possible for the New Castle College to carry out its business seamlessly. Management is made from one place and all users are brought together by the system creating a large virtual community. The system is susceptible to malfunction but this is taken care of already by Vmotion. Vmotion, which is one of the components of the virtualisation system by New Castle College, also enhanced smooth function of the system. Vmotion is a system in which information, storage and hardware are shared between systems. This is important in that when one system fails, roles are delegated to the other virtual system at once. Migration from one system to another using Vmotion is so fast that a user cannot even realize that there has been migration. This system ensures that the identity of the initial devices is maintained after migration. Vmotion prevents the entire virtualization system from failing to operate. Any issues that arise in the system are detected by the Vmotion and solved at once. For example, this system can do hardware maintenance at any given time without any authentications ensuring the system continues running. Vmotion manageability is very easy and can be used by any person. At the same time, it is highly customizable according to the client’s needs and preferences (Lowe, 2010). The return on investment was impressive. The project cost about 800,000 pounds and within a few years, the New Castle College had saved more than 7,000,000 pounds. The project was able to refund the money spend in just a few years. Any business that gets into profits and saves a lot of money in a few years is a good business. Some take up to a decade to return the money invested. Virtualisation Methodology Virtualisation is a four phased methodology that can be simple or sophisticated. Simple can be implemented by an institution’s information technology department while the sophisticated models can only be implemented by experienced providers. Implementation requires product deployment, staff training, consulting services and strategic planning. The first step is assessing the institution the needs, goals and objectives and the issues to be addressed. This step helps the virtualisation providers to know the exact hardware, servers, software and operating system. The cost to be incurred is calculated by the service provider to a quote provided to the client in this case The New Castle College. The client has to respond whether they are able to cater for the cost while asking any questions they may have. The two parties, service provider and the client have to negotiate and agree. The agreement is followed by the signing of the relevant document. The second step planning which involves coming up with plans on how the system works. It should describe where the information is sourced from, how the servers work the roles of software as well as operating system. Preparing system architecture and flow charts showing a summary of the entire system, the roles of each part and how the different systems in the entire system communicate and exchange data. Planning is done by the client in conjunction with the service provider. The service provider has a wealth of knowledge on how the system works while the client’s state exactly how they would like the system to function depending on their resources and tastes and preferences. The third step is the building stage. All the required hardware, software, operating system, servers and other accessories necessary to build the system are availed by the provider. The entire system is laid down according to the architecture and system chart flows. His has to be done precisely to avoid any problems in delivering. The building stage may take sometime as the process may be demanding. Building process does not include a lot of things though. It is just interconnections of the hardware, the servers, software and network. Piloting follows where any flaws and errors are detected at this stage and addressed accordingly. The system is put live where the some people are requested to try using the system. The provider analyses the processes involved, security and how the system is functioning generally and compare with the goals and objectives of the client. The system has to operate according to the objectives of the client. Training of the people that are responsible for the system follows. This methodology is important for the proper and successful deployment of the Virtualisation system. It has to be done in that procedure to achieve the goals and objectives envisioned. Hybrid cloud solutions Hybrid cloud is combining two or more clouds which may be of the same type or different. It can combine personal, public and private clouds into one. Using hybrid cloud is advantageous in control management, faster and seamless data integration, security, dynamic deployment and implementation and easy service extensions across the various clouds. Virtualisation and hybrid cloud solutions are of great importance to any institution that deploys and implements them. Costs are reduced significantly; a lot of time is saved and makes it possible for all users to access the system from all over the world. At the same time, there is centralized authentication for the users ensuring a lot of security (Butt, 2013). There are several hybrid cloud solutions. Infrastructure as a service (Iaas) is a cloud solution in which hardware, software and storage services are outsourced to a third party provider. The provider uses their own hardware and storage devices on behalf of their clients. The clients pay some money depending on the agreeable terms and conditions. Platform as a service (paas) is a cloud solution in which a client rents hardware, storage space, network and software to provide certain services. A provider provides these services to the client at an agreed fee which is payable per month or per year (Hurwitz, et al, 2012). Another cloud solution that is quiet common is software as a service (saas). The client is able to provide their services to their customers using the internet or network. This service is capable of providing the client with global audience. In this case, customers from all over the world can use the system. Clients using this system can have a lot of money and time saving taking into account all the potential users across the world. The New Castle College Virtualisation is an example of a hybrid cloud solution. It combines all these cloud systems thereby having a mixture of cloud solutions.. The use of the various cloud solutions has made it possible for the New Castle College to deliver efficiently and effectively. The New Castle College Virtualisation project can operate with some of the systems while others are not operating. For example, if the Iaas system fails by any chance, the saas system can continue providing the services to the users without any interruptions. At the same time, the institution does not have to worry about the systems functionality and any issues that may arise. The providers are responsible for checking the system from time to time and ensure that it is working well. Conclusion Virtualisation is probably the most important undertakings in the world today. New Castle College has successfully implemented Virtualisation for the last four years. Virtualization has come with many advantages for this college. First, it saved seven million pounds after implementation of the system. Staff could work remotely making it possible for them to work from anywhere. Many man hours have been saved and the staff is more satisfied providing their services to learners and other staff. Second, the amount of money spent was totally worth it. Less than a million pounds was spent on the technology and was able to save millions within a few years. The New Castle College approached the system, in a four phased methodology. First, an assessment was done on the needs of the College for virtualisation and the goals of using the system. This was followed by designing the architecture of the system and how information flows from one system to another though the network availed. After that, purchase of hardware, accessories and implementation of the system follows. Implementation was done according to the plan that was developed at first. Successful implementation is followed by management of the system. In that case, the system is checked whether it is operating well and trouble shooting any issues that maybe experienced. The four phased methodology is one of the best ways of approaching such project as it takes into account all issues that may cause future challenges. New Castle College used a number of virtualisation systems creating hybrid cloud solution. This is advantageous because the system can operate to some extent on one of the clouds making it possible for clients to use the system seamlessly at all times. This project has made all people in the New Castle College to be a happy lot. The college ICT department does not have to keep worrying how the systems are as the virtualisation providers takes care of everything including troubleshooting, management and solving problems that arise. Virtualization has taken the New Castel College to a new level. This technology ha made the College to save a lot of emissions to the environment improving its green credentials. Conservation of environment is critical today and any institution that commits to it is definitely appreciated. These factors are likely to make the New Castle College the institution of choice for most people across the United Kingdom and the world over. The new technology has given it the competitive edge it could never have imagined. That would translate to more students, good staff and increase in profits. Increase in students and staff cannot worry the New Castle College. The virtualisation technology implemented is capable of serving very many users at any given time. In the case the college would like to increase the space or memory to serve the increased number better, it does not have to struggle looking for a company to ship the necessary materials. All the college has to d is inform the service providers that they would like to increase their virtual memory and network and will be done within no time. This can be done in such a way that the users of the system cannot even know that something has been increased or changed. The same goes for installation of security software installation and updates. At the same time, any updates on information can be accessed by all the users at one go. Once uploaded to the mainframe and target users selected, the information is available to all those users as soon as the information is uploaded. The management of issues is also very easy. Staff do not have to be glued to the computers waiting for complains. Consistent complains abut the same thing can be determined, a solution prepared and uploaded to the system. Any user having a problem regarding that particular issue would just have to logon to the system and see the solution. This can be done to many issues saving the staff and users more time. At the same time, if it is technical problem, it can be sorted out seamlessly to all users of the system at once. New Castle College can only hope that the system be even better to make delivery of services even better. However, there are many disadvantages that come with virtualisation project. Every user of the virtualisation project must have personal computers to access the system. At the same time, they have to have access to network or internet. Virtualisation requires a computer and server and although they are located in different parts, failure of the hardware simultaneously, which is rare but can happen can bring the virtualisation process to a halt. Users would not be able to access the system. At the same time, the little hardware used has to be extremely powerful to be able to handle the virtualisation process accordingly. Such hardware is very expensive (Buyya, Vecchiola and Selvi, 2013). Virtualisation can also lead to lower performance. Tests on virtual environments and dedicated system indicated that there was lower performance. Virtualized system is dependent on a number of hardware and systems which may misbehave at times. Unlike dedicated system in which misbehavior of any system can be detected in advance, there is no way of determining which systems may misbehave in advance and this could significantly affect the virtualized system. Virtualisation also requires all the potential users to be trained before hand. Different virtual systems have varying using instructions and have to be well known to all users. They are trained on how to use the system taking a lot of time. All the users may not be available for training at the same time; in fact, all cannot be trained at the same time because of the high number. New Castel College would have to hire experts on training the users how to use the system spending a lot of time and resources (Lans, 2012). Despite the disadvantages, it is certain that the benefits of virtualisation in the New Castle College outweigh the disadvantages. There were hiccups during the migration from the normal system to virtual system. However, the system allowed the college to save a lot of money in a span of just a few years. In addition, the rate on investment is quite good making it, a really worthwhile investment for this learning institution. References Butt, C. 2013. Cost Effective Hybrid Cloud Framework for Higher Education. Munich: GRIN Verlag. Buyya, R., Vecchiola, C and Selvi, T. 2013. Mastering Cloud Computing: Foundations and Applications Programming. Oxford: Newnes. Ciampa, M. 2008. Security + Guide to Network Security Fundamentals. Stamford: Cenange learning. Dittner, R and Rule, D. 2011. The Best Damn Server Virtualization Book Period: Including Vmware, Xen, and Microsoft Virtual Server. Boston: Syngress. EC-Council. 2010. Disaster Recovery. Stamford: Cenange learning. Golden, B. 2013. Virtualisation for Dummies. Hoboken: John Wiley &Sons. Honkanen, R. 2008. Virtualisation 101 for small business and enterprise. 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