All About Virtualization Management Tools

Virtualization is a topic so hot, it sizzles. Virtualization Management Tools are an exciting component of how virtual machines and hardware work with each other. They work together to easily bring us virtual assets while making resource administration simpler.

Now you may not be a rocket scientist but that sounds like a match made in heaven! The more virtual machines a business has on the go, the less overwhelming manual system administration would become. Wouldn’t life be easier if that task were given over to your little helpers? No, not Santa and his elves — we’re talking about Virtualization Management Tools! Let’s see what these little helpers can do for you!
 

Introducing The Little Helpers – Virtualization Management Tools

Virtualization Management Tools are used to supervise the operations and processes in a virtualized environment. Businesses that rely on remote teams, such as contact centers, might deploy hundreds or thousands of virtual machines simultaneously. Hence, visibility into the virtualization environment becomes critical and in order to understand the overall performance of the system we need tools to manage virtualization management.

These tools include various features such as:
 

• Reliable recovery and backup of data

• Reallocation of resources and power

• System monitoring

• Performance monitoring

Virtual machines are remote applications in a self-contained environment with all the elements of an application. The difference is that they are not actually installed on the Operating System of the user but virtualized at the users’ end with the help of these tools.

The primary job of Virtualization Management Tools is to make virtualization run smoother in every aspect. Not just that, these tools analyze servers and applications in order to troubleshoot any issues. It is done by Machine Learning algorithms that can identify patterns, using which the tools are able to predicts issues before they become a hassle.

Now let’s jump into our trusted time machine and see how we got to the current state of affairs — the one where Virtualization Management Tools are an absolute necessity in any virtual environment!  

From The Dark Ages To The Golden Era – History Of Virtualization Management!

Before virtualization management tools, IT operations were handled manually by administrators and engineers. Geez! Sounds time-consuming, doesn’t it? Talking of time, let’s look at the timeline of Virtualization Management Tools:
 

• In 1964, CP-40 was developed by IBM. This introduced the concept of a virtual machine being supported by another operating system.

• With the emergence of hypervisors (hardware, software and firmware that produces and operates virtual machines) in the late 1960s, we saw the realm of virtualization come into its own.

• Fast forward about 30 years and we saw several companies offering virtual management solutions to help with IT operations. At this time, Red Hat Linux was created and VMware came onto the scene.

• In 2003, we saw the Xen project emerge as a way to improve virtualization across the board. This included desktop virtualizations, security applications, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and server virtualization.

• In 2010, Microsoft launched Azure for Windows, marking the dawn of Microsoft's public cloud computing software, which significantly propelled the virtualization market, now projected to grow at an 18.1% CAGR, reaching $317.6 billion by 2032, according to recent reports from Mordor Intelligence.

• AWS Outposts by Amazon was developed recently to provide the AWS infrastructure and services to data centers, on-premises facilities or co-location spaces. The aim of this is to give organizations an awesome hybrid experience that is also consistent.

With that done, let’s look at these tools up close!
 

Virtualization Management Tools Up Close And Personal

To make sure computing operations are performing as expected, businesses rely on Virtualization Management Tools. Virtualization Management Tools make use of a virtual machine manager application, through which, virtual machines, as well as complete virtual infrastructures, can be viewed and modified.

Virtual machines and virtual environments are monitored daily on a granular level so employees can focus on the big-picture (and not on trying to find AA batteries for the projector remote!)

Virtualization Management Tools also perform the following tasks:
 

• Creating, deleting and modifying a virtual machine network or virtual infrastructure.

• Ensuring software and hypervisors are up to date and performing as expected.

• Finding out where issues originate and troubleshoot such issues.

• Making sure network connectivity is strong and reliable.

• Identifying patterns and using them to predict future issues.

 

Types Of Virtualization Management Tools

When we call Virtualization Management Tools “our little helpers” what do you imagine? Tiny elves in Santa’s workshop, an army of yellow minions or the iconic Ooma Loompas from Willy Wonka’s factory? Our point is, there are various types of these little helpers classified by the kind of work they do. Here are the common types:
 

• Operations

  The tool identifies which physical resources are underused or unused altogether to better distribute the workload and provide faster virtualization. They also use collected data to predict the lifecycle and future issues that might occur in the virtual machines.

• Compliance

  This type of tool focuses on the protocols that provide user access, user validation as well the monitoring and securing of virtual systems.

• Provisioning

  Tools working on provisioning help in configuring the Virtual Machines (VMs), the creation of templates and resource request processing.

Now, let’s see how Virtualization Management Tools can help your business reach the stars! Let’s get these rockets off the ground, Captain!
 

How Do Virtualization Management Tools Work?

 
The primary function of such tools is to keep all Virtual Machines and hypervisor versions up to date. They also ensure that the virtual environment stays connected in order to monitor the performance of each virtual machine. For optimal performance, they may also allocate more memory or processing power to specific virtual machines.

Furthermore, Virtualization Management Tools aid in determining the root cause of any issues by troubleshooting issues regarding the application, server, virtual components and storage layers. Increasingly, Virtualization Management Tools are being asked to handle more strategic management tasks. For example, they need to identify the usage patterns to help predict future virtualization infrastructure bottlenecks and resource limits. This helps businesses seamlessly scale their virtualization operations.

As a result of all of this capacity planning, money is saved. Also, what really matters to organizations is that day-to-day performance is enhanced for the virtual environment. You just can’t lose!

Well, fasten your seatbelts - we are space bound, ladies and gentlemen!
 

Where Are We Virtually Headed?

 
Flexibility, agility and portability will always need improvement and Virtualization Management Tools will rise to the occasion. Public cloud integration, software-defined environments and automation will see higher adoption in the coming years, which will mean a higher reliance on virtualization and hence, Virtualization Management Tools in the future. With technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality already providing awesome interactive virtual environments, Virtualization Management Tools will provide the ability to manage, monitor and support virtualization technologies as well.

You have to let go of the trivial tasks and let your little helper, Virtualization Management Tool,  ensure that your virtual environment is running smoothly. Now, you can focus on bigger picture stuff. Isn’t that music to any organization's ears, space cadet?