While there’s nothing new about network virtualization, it’s always been a technology that makes us think: “Wow. So, technology does that”. Virtualization has been around for a while and we are still in awe of it. So much that it’s still the bread-and-butter work we do for our clients at Network Pro.
Network Virtualization allows clients to hand more IT workloads out of existing hardware. By using servers and clients that clients have already invested in, virtualization separates the hardware from software so that clients can compartmentalize, aggregate resources, and provision IT muscle whenever needed across the network while the hardware assets remain intact. You can combine various physical networks into one single virtual network or perhaps you can compartmentalize or segregate a large, single, physical network into multiple virtual networks, as the need arises.
Network virtualization obviously leads clients to save on costs while making networks efficient and agile. For a given hardware asset, more work gets done. Perhaps, clients can make more computing power accessible.
Physical networks are expensive to maintain, run, and manage. For instance, physical networks will need clients to go out and buy switches and routers and the network grows or when clients run out of ports for their growing IT needs. In the case of a virtual network, “logical switches” replace the physical switches. Logical or virtual switches involve rebooting virtual hosts or changing logical switches thereby obviating the need for extra investments, not to mention saving a truckload of cash.
Network virtualization has server virtualization at its core. Anything from a single computing system, a collection of servers, or an entire network can be virtualized. Starting with hypervisors that provide the abstraction layer for virtualization, virtual networks will also include routers, switches, managed or intelligent switches (layer 3 switches) – all of this made available thanks to VLAN technology available today.
Bandwidth is a consideration when hosting virtual networks and that requires careful planning. Another consideration that vendors or clients can’t miss is “redundancy” – or you may think of it as Plan B, C, D, and E. For instance, you may group critical servers together to run your network, share computing processes, and allow for storage. Enterprises cannot afford a breakdown of the system just because one of the servers crashes or fails. Redundancy is the act of other servers stepping in to take over the processing load when one fails so that business remains as usual.
Other elements of virtualized network management could include network monitoring, bandwidth and resource metrics, data analytics, and, provision management.
For a business to run, all of these elements within a network work in tandem. That’s why it’s crucial to start from business needs leading to planning, execution, and network installation, which is then followed by active network management.
Based out of Orange County, San Diego, we strive to provide excellent network IT consulting, business continuity planning, virtualisation, managed IT services for our clients. We provide end-to-end network management services, network planning and planning, data monitoring and backup, and many more. Please take a look at our services page to get a sneak peek on our list of services.
If you need our help, please don’t hesitate to reach to us.
714-333-9620