

Difference between virtualization and consolidation?

Data center management expert Charles King explains the relationship between virtualization and consolidation in the data center.

Could you explain the difference between virtualization and consolidation?
In a sense, the terms are complimentary. Consolidation refers to migrating multiple server workloads onto fewer actual processors or servers. This can be via features such as the logical partitioning (LPAR) solutions developed by IBM and other systems vendors. Virtualization or virtual machine solutions like those offered by ISVs like VMWare, which can support multiple applications or workloads in emulated environments, offer another method of getting the job done. However, virtualization (at least in the storage world) also refers to the pooling of multiple information resources into a virtual pool that looks and can be managed as if it were a single entity. This pooling of storage resources is analogous to but separate from the consolidation of server workloads. Hence the confusion.

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