VIRTUAL SERVER

INTRODUCTION

The Virtual Server system is a unique technology that enables companies to create
their own Internet presence as if they had their own dedicated server. The Virtual Server
system is more than just a hosting solution. It is a complete Internet server solution,
giving each end user its own web, FTP, e-mail, and command-line UNIX Capabilities.
Having a Virtual Server system is like having your own dedicated UNIX Server.
The Virtual Server concept was developed to provide a cost-effective alternative
to the dedicated server solution. A dedicated server refers to the rental and exclusive use
of a computer that is located on company premises and is configured and operated by the
client company. A dedicated server is normally required for corporate sites with hundreds
of thousands of hits a day and includes a Web server, related software, and a connection
to the Internet. While it provides an essential environment for high-traffic Web sites, the
dedicated server is very expensive, and the owner of a dedicated server is responsible for
its maintenance.
The Virtual Server solution enables customers to create a unique Internet presence
as if each had their own dedicated server. Each Virtual Server has its own Web, FTP,
email, and UNIX command-line capabilities, without the cost and worry of hardware
maintenance.

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WHAT IS VIRTUAL SERVER?
A server, usually a Web server that shares computer resources with other virtual
servers. In this context, the virtual part simply means that it is not a dedicated server --
that is, the entire computer is not dedicated to running the server software.
 Virtual server with load balancing

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Virtual Web servers are a very popular way of providing low-cost web hosting
services. Instead of requiring a separate computer for each server, dozens of virtual
servers can co-reside on the same computer. In most cases, performance is not affected
and each web site behaves as if it is being served by a dedicated server. However, if too
many virtual servers reside on the same computer, or if one virtual server starts hogging
resources, Web pages will be delivered more slowly.

Virtual server is a highly scalable and highly available server built on a cluster of
real servers. The architecture of server cluster is fully transparent to end users, and the
users interact with the cluster system as if it were only a single high-performance virtual
server.

The real servers and the load balancers may be interconnected by either high-
speed LAN or by geographically dispersed WAN. The load balancers can dispatch
requests to the different servers and make parallel services of the cluster to appear as a
virtual service on a single IP address, and request dispatching can use IP load balancing
technologies or application-level load balancing technologies. Scalability of the system is
achieved by transparently adding or removing nodes in the cluster. High availability is
provided by detecting node or daemon failures and reconfiguring the system
appropriately.
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CHARACTERISTICS:

Each Virtual Server occupies an exclusive section of a powerful dedicated server

that is partitioned at the root level. Additionally, each partition or “Virtual Server” is
assigned its own IP address and operates separately from any other Virtual Server on the
same box. This technology provides the flexibility and control of a dedicated server at a
fraction of the cost. Virtual Servers share only the physical machine they reside on. They
do not share software; each one has its own exclusive software package that the
customers configure to meet their unique needs. For security purposes, each Virtual
Server account has an exclusive set of resources (disk space, CPU, RAM, and so on).
Therefore, if one Virtual Server uses up its allotted resources, it cannot borrow additional
resources from any other Virtual Servers. This ensures that abusive users cannot affect
the performance or security of other Virtual Servers.
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FEATURES:

Some of the features of the virtual server are as listed below.

Virtual Server provides the following security features:

• Secure access to administration tools. For access to the Administration Website

and the Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC) client, Virtual Server supports
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security, as well as NTLM and Kerberos V5
authentication.

• Secure access to configuration and resource files. Each configuration and resource
file of Virtual Server is secured by means of file system discretionary access
control lists (DACLs). By default, these DACLs restrict access to the file owner
and local administrators. For all configuration file types (Virtual Server, virtual
machine, and virtual network) and all resource file types (virtual hard disk, virtual
floppy disk, undo disk, image, and saved state), you can add and remove user
accounts and change permission settings from within the file system. For the
Virtual Server configuration file, you can also change security settings from the
Administration Website.

• Configurable user context for virtual machines. By default, a virtual machine runs
under the account of the user who turned it on. For added security, you can
configure each virtual machine to run under a specified user account. Virtual
machine scripts also run under this account, and it must be configured before
virtual machine scripts can run.
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Virtual Server uses the following industry-standard technologies:

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Virtual Server monitoring and configuration

is performed by using the Administration Website, which uses HTTP and a Web
interface, so that you can administer Virtual Server and virtual machines by using
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.

• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). For remote administration of Virtual Server and
virtual machines, you can use Remote Desktop Connection.

• Extensible Markup Language (XML). Virtual Server, virtual machine, and virtual
network configuration information is stored in XML-based files. The XML file
format enables configuration management from external management software
for tasks such as asset management, automated provisioning, and automated
deployment.
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HOW VIRUAL SERVER WORKS

ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE OF VIRTUAL SERVER

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Virtual Server 2005 is a multithreaded application that runs as a system service,

with each virtual machine running in its own thread of execution. Input/output (I/O)
occurs in child threads. Virtual Server derives two core functions from the host operating
system: the underlying host operating system kernel schedules CPU resources, and device
drivers of the host operating system provide access to system devices. Virtual Server's
Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) provides the software infrastructure to create virtual
machines, manage instances, and interact with guest operating systems.

The architecture of Virtual Server enables two key features: isolation and
encapsulation.
Isolation :Isolation means to separate or insulate one entity from other entities. Virtual
Server isolates virtual machines to prevent them from accessing resources or data owned
by other virtual machines or the host operating system. VMM ensures that each virtual
machine has its own dedicated 32-bit address space that is fully isolated from the address
space of other virtual machines as well as the host operating system. If a virtual machine
encounters a software failure, isolation enables other virtual machines and the host
operating system to continue running. Isolation results in a robust and resilient
architecture, which means that you can run even "badly behaved" applications in a stable,
secure environment.
Encapsulation. Encapsulation means to package data and processing within a single
object. In the case of virtual machines, this means that virtual machines are packaged into
a single file, a virtual hard disk (.vhd) file, which you can easily move among host
operating systems running Virtual Server. Decoupling applications from hardware
through encapsulation simplifies capacity planning, deployment, and management tasks.
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ARCHITECTURE OF VIRTUAL MACHINE

The Virtual Server 2005 virtual machine technology allows you to run multiple
operating systems simultaneously on a single physical computer.
The following figure illustrates the architecture of Virtual Server’s virtual machine
technology.

Starting from the bottom of the logical stack, the host operating system manages
the physical computer. The Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) virtualization layer
manages virtual machines, providing the software infrastructure for hardware emulation.
Each virtual machine consists of a set of virtualized devices.
All virtual machines run within a single process. Each virtual processor runs on its own
thread. All software code running within the virtual machine runs in a separate VMM
context. This context consists of an address space that is completely separate from any
Windows process, or from any other virtual machine. In this sense, the architecture is
stronger than a simple per-process design.
Finally, the guest operating system and applications run on the virtual machine as
if they were running on physical hardware, rather than emulated hardware. When a guest
operating system is running, the special-purpose VMM kernel manages the CPU and
hardware during virtual machine operations, creating an isolated environment in which
the guest operating system and applications run close to the hardware at the highest
possible performance.

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VIRTUAL SERVER COMPONENTS

VIRTUAL MACHINE MONITOR

The Virtual Machine Monitor (VIM) component of Virtual Server 2005 is a
kernel-mode driver running in the host operating system. It has limited and specific
functionality, acting as a firewall between the host operating system and virtual
machines. It has access to the physical computer processor and manages resources
between the two environments, preventing malicious or poorly designed applications
running in a guest operating system from requesting excessive hardware resources from
the host operating system.

VIRTUAL SERVER SERVICE

The Virtual Server service (Vssrvc.exe) creates virtual machines and provides all
virtual machine functionality. It projects the emulated hardware into the virtual machine
environment. It provides each virtual machine with its own 32-bit address space.
The Virtual Server service also includes the VMRC server, which uses the Virtual
Machine Remote Control (VMRC) protocol to provide a mechanism by which remote
VMRC clients can interact with virtual machines. With appropriate permissions, you can
manage the virtual machine and interact with the guest operating system from a remote
computer by using the keyboard and mouse.

VIRTUAL MACHINE HELPER SERVICE

The Virtual Machine Helper service (Vmh.exe) is a component of Virtual Server
2005 that allows you to run a virtual machine in the context of a specified user account.
The virtual machine uses this account for accessing network resources. Scripts also run
under this account. If you do not specify a user account, the virtual machine runs under
the account of the user who started the virtual machine.
Specifying a user account under which to run the virtual machine is optional. For security
reasons, however, when you enable scripting for a virtual machine you must specify a
user account. This is so that scripts run under the specified user account and not as the

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user who started the virtual machine, who might have administrative credentials. In
addition, you must specify a virtual machine user account if you want the virtual machine
to automatically turn on when Virtual Server starts. For more information about changing
the virtual machine user account, see modifying general virtual machine properties. For
more information about configuring virtual machine startup options, see Modifying
general virtual machine properties.
The Virtual Machine Helper service runs under the Local Service account. This
account has limited access to the local computer and anonymous access to network
resources.
VIRTUAL MACHINE
Virtual Server 2005 can accommodate a large number of virtual machines on one
physical computer. Virtual Server can support up to a maximum of 64 virtual machines.
The practical limit of how many virtual machines you can run simultaneously depends on
system resources, the amount of memory assigned to each virtual machine, and the total
memory available on the physical computer. Virtual Server supports up to 3.6 gigabytes
(GB) of RAM per virtual machine. Each virtual machine has a unique set of files for
storing configuration information, an operating system, and data. This topic describes the
virtual machine files and folders, CPU usage, and memory usage.
FILE AND FOLDERS:
Each virtual machine uses the following files:
• A virtual machine configuration (.vmc) file in XML format that contains the
virtual machine configuration information, including all settings for the virtual
machine.
• One or more virtual hard disk (.vhd) files to store the guest operating system,
applications, and data for the virtual machine.
• Any undo disk (.vud) files created by Virtual Server if the Undo Disks feature is
enabled on the virtual machine.
 • One or more differencing disk (.vhd) files, if differencing disks have been created
for any of the virtual hard disks assigned to the virtual machine.
• A saved-state (.vsv) file, if the machine has been placed into a saved state.

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By default, Virtual Server stores all the files that make up a virtual machine in one
folder for simple management and portability. Virtual Server stores the files in a folder it
creates with the same name as the virtual machine. If, for example, the virtual machine is
named Windows 2000 Test, the folder is named Windows 2000 Test. By default, these
folders are located in the Shared Virtual Machines folder, which is located in Documents
and Settings\All Users\Documents\Shared Virtual Machines.
Renaming a virtual machine does not rename the virtual machine folder.

CPU USAGE
Each virtual machine runs on a separate thread in Virtual Server. This means that
on a multiprocessor physical computer, more processors are available for use by the
virtual machines. Each virtual machine uses a maximum of one processor; however, it
may share the processor it is using with other virtual machines, depending on the number
of processors on the physical computer and the number of running virtual machines.

MEMORY USAGE
Each virtual machine requires enough memory to run the operating system and
applications, plus approximately 32 MB required for the emulated video RAM and code
cache. You specify an amount of memory for the virtual machine when you create the
virtual machine. The amount you specify represents the maximum amount of memory
that the virtual machine can consume. You can modify this memory allocation only when
the virtual machine is turned off. The virtual machine consumes memory only when it is
running or paused. A virtual machine will not start if there is not sufficient memory
available when you try to start it. If the virtual machine does not start, an error is logged
to the Virtual Server event log.
 The memory assigned for the virtual machine’s memory is allocated at a low level
and is charged to the Virtual Server service. Because memory allocated by such a method
is not charged to a process, the memory quoted by Task Manager in the host operating

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system to Virtual Server service is not accurate. You can use Task Manager in the guest
operating system to determine the current memory usage for a particular virtual machine.

VIRTUAL HARD DISKS

A virtual hard disk provides storage for a virtual machine. Within the virtual
machine, the virtual hard disk is represented as a physical disk and is used by the virtual
machine as if it were a physical disk. Technically, the virtual hard disk is a file that
resides on a physical disk that the host operating system can access. On the physical disk,
the virtual hard disk file is stored as a .vhd file. As a general rule, you can store a .vhd file
on any type of storage device as long as the host operating system can access the storage
device. If the device is available to the host operating system, it also will be available to
Virtual Server 2005, and as a result, to any of the virtual machines. For example, you can
use any of the following types of storage:
• SCSI drive
• Redundant array of independent disks (RAID)
• Storage area network (SAN)
Within a virtual machine, there is no direct access to the physical disk that stores the
.vhd file which the virtual machine uses as a virtual hard disk. This means you cannot
access information about the physical disk from within the virtual machine. For example,
format and label information about a physical disk cannot be obtained from within a
virtual machine.

BASE VIRTUAL HARD DISKS TYPES:

(1) fixed-size disks
 A fixed-size virtual hard disk is a .vhd file whose size is determined when the file
is created. Even when the amount of data being stored on the file changes, the size of the
.vhd file remains fixed. For example, if you create a fixed-size virtual hard disk of 1 GB,
Virtual Server creates a 1-GB .vhd file.
The size of a fixed-size virtual hard disk does not change because all of the
storage space that is available on a fixed-size virtual hard disk is reserved when the

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Virtual hard disk is created. The file utilizes as much contiguous space as is available on
the physical disk that stores the .vhd file. The reserved space is filled as needed as data is
written to the disk. The space on a fixed-size disk is more likely to be contiguous than on
a dynamically expanding disk, so fixed-size disks generally provide better performance.
Also, the file size of a fixed-size virtual hard disk does not need to be expanded before
data is written to the file, which also helps provide better performance.
(2) dynamically expanding disks
A dynamically expanding virtual hard disk is one in which the size of the .vhd file
grows as data is written to the virtual hard disk. This is the default type of virtual hard
disk created by Virtual Server.
When you create a dynamically expanding virtual hard disk, you specify a
maximum file size. This size restricts how large the disk can become. However, the
initial size of the .vhd file is only about 3 MB. For example, if you create a 1-GB,
dynamically expanding virtual hard disk, the initial size of the .vhd file will be about 3
MB. As a virtual machine uses the virtual hard disk, the size of the .vhd file grows to
accommodate the new data. The size of any dynamically expanding disk only grows; it
does not shrink, even when you delete data. You may be able to reduce the size of a
dynamically expanding disk by compacting it..
You could encounter a situation in which Virtual Server is unable to expand the
virtual hard disk to the maximum size. This problem occurs when there is not enough free
space on the physical disk that stores the .vhd file. Virtual Server monitors the free space
on the physical disk. If the dynamically expanding disk starts to approach the limits of
available space left on the volume on which the virtual hard disk file is stored, Virtual
Server pauses the virtual machine and logs an error to the Virtual Server event log.
(3) linked disks
A linked virtual hard disk is a virtual hard disk that points to and uses an entire
physical disk for the purpose of converting a physical disk to a virtual hard disk. A linked
disk can be associated only to a drive; it cannot be associated to a volume. Because
linked disks are intended only for conversion, you cannot turn on a virtual machine if a
linked disk is attached to the virtual machine.

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VIRTUAL ATTACHMENT OPTION:

(4) Undo and differencing disks

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Undo disks and differencing disks store all state changes to a virtual machine or
virtual hard disk in a separate file. This allows you to isolate changes to a virtual machine
and keep a virtual hard disk in an unchanged state. The main difference between an undo
disk and a differencing disk is that undo disks apply to all virtual hard disks associated
with a virtual machine, and a differencing disk applies to one virtual hard disk only.
You cannot specify a size for either type of disk. Both types of disks can be
thought of as a special type of dynamically expanding disk. The size of any dynamically
expanding disk only grows; it does not shrink, even when you delete data. Undo disks
and differencing disks can grow as large as the parent disks to which they are associated.
However, unlike dynamically expanding disks, undo disks and differencing disks cannot
be compacted directly. You can update the parent disk with the changes stored in the
undo or differencing disk. You can then compact the parent disk if it is a dynamically
expanding disk. If the parent disk is a fixed-size disk, you can compact it by converting it
to a dynamically expanding disk and then compacting the converted disk.

VIRTUAL MACHINE REMOTE CONTROL CLIENT

For remote management of virtual machines, Virtual Server 2005 provides a
Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC) client. This is a stand-alone client application
that communicates with the VMRC server component of the Virtual Server service
(Vssrvc.exe).
Rather than using the HTTP protocol to communicate with the VMRC server, the
VMRC client uses the VMRC protocol, developed by Microsoft for communication
between VMRC clients and the VMRC server. For more information about the VMRC
interfaces, see the Virtual Server 2005 Programmer's Guide.
You can start a VMRC session by starting the VMRC client application. Once a
session is started, the client opens from which you can access a virtual machine. You can
also use VMRC by opening the Virtual Server Administration Website and selecting the
Remote Control option for a virtual machine. The first time you do this, Virtual Server
attempts to download the ActiveX control for the VMRC client to your computer.

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From a single VMRC session you can access a single virtual machine. VMRC
does not provide access to global Virtual Server administration features. For configuring
and managing Virtual Server, you must use the Administration Website or the COM
interfaces.
The VMRC client can run on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or Windows
XP Professional operating systems. It also requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or
later.
VIRTUAL MACHINE ADDITION
Virtual Machine Additions is a very important component to running a virtual
machine. You must install Virtual Machine Additions on all virtual machines.
• Virtual Machine Additions adds the following enhancements to a guest operating
system:
• Improved mouse cursor tracking and control
• Greatly improved overall performance
• Virtual machine heartbeat generator
• Virtual Machine Additions also adds keys to the registry of the guest operating
system. You can query the registry to determine from these entries information
about the virtual machine and the physical computer running Virtual Server.
Virtual Machine Additions is included for the following supported server
operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (all versions)
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 6a (SP6a)
Virtual Machine Additions is provided as a convenience for the following client
operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows XP (all versions)
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
• Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
• Microsoft Windows 98

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EMULATED HARDWARE PLATFORM

Chipset Intel 440BX

CPU Based on the host CPU (single CPU only)
BIOS AMI BIOS
Video S3 Trio 32/64 with 4MB of video memory
Memory Up to 3.6GB
Input Devices PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard
Floppy Drives Up to two 1.44MB 3.5” floppy drives
Communications 2 Serial Port
Ports 1 Parallel Port
IDE Controllers Two channels, each of which supports up to two devices each (up to
four IDE total devices)
SCSI Controllers Up to four Adaptec 2940 SCSI Controllers (each supports up to 7
devices; 28 devices total)
Network Up to four Intel 21140 10/100Mb network interface cards
Interfaces
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VERSIONS

Some of the versions of virtual server and their technical details are shown in the
chart given below.

Product Release Hosts Guests

Virtual PC 2004 Oct 2003 • Win2000 Pro SP4 • MS-DOS 6.22 * /
• Win XP Pro (Tablet, SP1) OS/2
• Win 95, 98,
98SE, ME *
• Win NT4 SP6a
(wrkstn) *
• Win2000 Pro SP4
• Win XP (Tablet,
SP1)
Virtual Server 2005 Jul 2004 • Win XP Pro • Win NT4 SP6a
• Win2003 SBS (server) *
• Win2003 (SE, EE, Data) • Win2000 Server
• Win2003 (SE,
EE, Web)
Virtual PC 2004 Oct 2004 Same as Virtual PC 2004+ Same as Virtual PC
SP1 Win2003 SE 2004
+ Win XP SP2
Virtual Server 2005 Nov 2005 Same as Virtual Server Same as Virtual
R2 2005 Server 2005
+ Win XP Pro SP2 (non + Win XP Pro SP2
prod) + Win2003 (SP1,
+ Win2003 (SP1, R2) R2)
+ Win XP / Win2003 x64
Virtual PC 2004 ~Mar 2006 Same as Virtual PC 2004 SP1
Express + But can only run a single VM
+ Only for Software Assurance customers
Virtual Server 2005 ~Sep 2006 Support for Intel VT and AMD Pacifica
R2 SP1 processors
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APPLICATIONS AND SERVICES

• Mail Server:
The Virtual Server POP Service:
Post Office Protocol (POP) enables users to read their e-mail without having to
logon to a server and learn a cumbersome mail program. Instead, users can access their
email using any computer with their chosen POP e-mail client (such as Eudora, Netscape
Mail, Outlook Express, Mutt, and Pine). Every major operating system hashish quality
POP clients. The virtual POP service enables your company to establish a dedicated
system at a low cost, saving your company money on a constant Internet connection.
With your virtual POP service, you can establish as many e-mail accounts for your
business as you choose. Unlike e-mail aliasing, your mail is stored on your Virtual
Server. You can easily configure your POP client (e.g. Eudora, Pegasus) to dial in
through your local access provider so you can read your mail.
Your company has flexibility, because with the virtual POP service, you can
create as many e-mail addresses as you like. Without a virtual POP service, you would
have to purchase a commercial gateway (e.g. with a Novell or Microsoft e-mail
solution).Or you would have to purchase multiple e-mail POP accounts from your local
access provider. Both solutions are costly.
The virtual POP service allows you to establish multiple e-mail addresses at no
extra charge. You can access all accounts with a few dial-up accounts from your local
access provider. The virtual POP service can save you hundreds — or even thousands —
of dollars.
The Virtual Server IMAP Service
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a method for accessing electronic
mail that is stored on a remote mail server (your Virtual Server). IMAP service permits a
client e-mail program to access remote message folders as if they were local. For
example, e-mail stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from a desktop computer
at home, an office workstation, or a traveling laptop computer, all without he need to
transfer messages or files back and forth between each computer. IMAP's ability to
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access messages (both new and saved on the Virtual Server) from more than one
computer is important as reliance on electronic messaging and multiple computer use
increase.
The Virtual Server SMTP Service
You can use the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service to send e-mail
across local networks or Internet connections. With your virtual SMTP service (or
"virtual mail service"), you can use e-mail as a very useful business tool. Providing e-
mail access to your customers enables them to communicate with your company instantly
and without incurring long-distance phone charges. Your company has the power to
answer your most urgent e-mail messages first. By doing so, you foster relationships with
both your existing and potential customers. Your virtual mail service enables you to have
e-mail addresses and aliases (simple mailing lists) linked to your own domain. Your
address would besales@yourcompany.com and not an extension of your local access
provider's domain name. The virtual mail service can do the following with incoming
mail:
• Forwards mail to your personal e-mail account with your local access provider.
• Forwards and stores mail in an existing POP account on your Virtual Server.
With unlimited e-mail aliases, you can assign an e-mail address for customer
support, marketing, or your mother, all at no extra cost. Aliases forward incoming mail to
each address residing on your Virtual Server or on remote accounts established with your
local access provider.
• Web Server:
With the GSP Virtual Server system, customers can access your company's World
Wide Web service easier than before. The Virtual HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)
service provides all the power and bandwidth your company needs. The virtual HTTP
service (or "virtual web service") enables you to have a business presence on the Internet.
Internet access allows you to reach the millions of home sand businesses that are online
each day without hassling with the cost of maintaining a dedicated server. You will save
money, and your virtual web service displays amore professional appearance to your
customers.
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• FTP Server:
The majority of Internet traffic uses the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP enables
users to download files made available to them on other computer systems. FTP is
workhorse of Internet tools.With your virtual FTP service, you can enable your customers
to download files that give them information about your company. For example,
customers can download catalog of your products or a price list of your services. This
enables customers to have instant access to vital information and saves you printing and
mailing costs. The virtual FTP service enables you to maintain a simple FTP address such
asftp://ftp.yourcompany.com. Your FTP address appears to customers just as it would
with a dedicated server. Both anonymous and private access capabilities are available.
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MERITS AND DEMERITS

MERITS:

• Virtual Servers are handy for a variety of reasons. Primarily though they are used
in development environments and are also used for server consolidation.
The reason why Virtual Server works so well in development environments is
because it allows developers to test potentially buggy software on a variety of
different operating systems without having to worry about crashing the system.

• While it’s true that the virtual machines are running on top of Windows, Virtual
Server is designed in a way that isolates each virtual machine from the core
operating system, and from other applications and virtual machines that might be
running on the system. Therefore, if a buggy application were to crash, it might
bring down the virtual machine, but it will not have any effect on the machine’s
main operating system.

• Virtual machines are stored as hard drive image files. This means that a
developer can create a virtual machine that’s running a specific operating system
and configuration. It is then possible to back up the virtual machine’s hard drive
image file. That way, if the virtual machine were to be destroyed or if the
configuration were altered, it would be possible to restore the virtual machine to
its original state by simply restoring a single file.

• Being able to quickly restore a specific configuration and not having to worry
about a buggy application trashing a server’s operating system makes Virtual
Server perfect for development environments, but Virtual Server is also ideal for
server consolidations.
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• Imagine for instance that you have an old Windows NT Server that’s running a
proprietary application that will not run under any other version of Windows.
Now, imagine that one day the ancient hardware that the application is running on
decides to give up the fight and die. You could go out and spend big bucks on a
new server, but that might not be the best course of action to take. Think about it
for a moment. Compared to today’s standards, Windows NT required very little
computing power. You could install Windows NT and your proprietary
application onto new hardware, but most of the new server’s power would be
wasted. A better solution might be to create a Windows NT virtual machine on an
existing server and run your proprietary application from there.
• Obviously this solution saves you the expense of a new server, but it also reduces
clutter in your server room. Furthermore, Windows NT will run exactly as it
would if it were running on a dedicated server. This means that it won’t be any
more difficult to install Windows onto a virtual machine than it would be to install
it on a physical machine. Furthermore, you have the added assurance that because
Windows NT and your application are running within a virtual machine, if there is
ever a crash, the crash won’t take down the server that the virtual machine is
running on.
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DEMERITS:

• Performance Issues As you can see, Virtual Server 2005 is an extremely useful
product, but it does have some caveats that you need to know about. The first
issue that you need to be aware of has to do with reliability. As I mentioned
before, virtual Server is designed so that if one of the virtual servers were to fail it
will not effect the physical hardware, the host operating system, or other virtual
servers or applications running on the server. The problem is that a hardware
failure or a failure in the host operating system can take down the virtual servers
running on that machine. For example, if you had a Windows 2003 Server
running five virtual servers and had a severe hardware failure, but the host
operating system and the virtual servers running on it would become unavailable.
Even though only one server has actually failed, your end users will have the
perception that six different servers have failed.

• To successfully run Virtual Server 2005, your physical server must have
sufficient hardware to run the host operating system, plus any necessary virtual
machines. Remember that each virtual machine has its own individual operating
system and its own set of applications and your server needs to be beefy enough
to handle running all of this software simultaneously.

• Unfortunately, I can’t tell you exactly what kind of hardware you will need
because the required hardware varies greatly depending on the number of virtual
machines that you are running and on the operating systems and applications
running on each virtual machine. What I can tell you though is that from my
experience you should plan on allocating a bare minimum of 128 MB of memory
for each virtual machine that you will be running, plus the necessary hardware for
the host operating system to run efficiently.

• You also need to think about hard disk and processor utilization. In the example
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that I gave earlier in which a legacy system died of old age and is being resurrected
within a virtual machine, hard disk space and processor utilization aren’t major
concerns because the legacy operating system and application are not resource
intensive. If however you plan on running newer operating systems, high demand
applications, or large numbers of virtual machines then disk and CPU resources will
become a major consideration. Virtual Server 2005 does allow you to limit the
amount of resources that each individual virtual machine can consume, but even so
you might consider giving your system a high performance RAID array and one
processor for each virtual machine for ideal performance.

• Security Issues One last issue that I want to address is security. Suppose for a
moment that a physical server is running four virtual servers and one of those
servers gets a virus. The good news is that unless that virus has been specifically
designed to attack Virtual Server 2005 (no such virus currently exists) then the
virus will be isolated to the virtual server that contracted it. Remember that
Virtual Server 2005 treats each virtual server as a completely separate machine,
so a security breach on one virtual server will not directly effect other virtual
machines running on the same system.

• There are a couple of security related issues that you should be aware of though.
For example, if the machine’s host operating system were brought down by a
virus or other exploit, the virtual servers could potentially also crash since Virtual
Server 2005 is dependant on the host operating system.

• Another security issue that you need to be aware of is that virtual machines must
be secured and maintained, just like any other server in your organization. It’s
easy to think of a virtual server as not being a “real server”, especially in a
development environment, and therefore not taking the security precautions that
might be taken with a production server.
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• While lax security on a virtual machine shouldn’t directly cause problems for
other virtual machines. It could allow the virtual machine to be more easily
hacked. Hackers often use a machine with weak security as a platform for gaining
access to the rest of the network. To prevent a virtual server from being used to
compromise the rest of your network, you must insure that all servers (real and
virtual) use the proper security.
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CONCLUSION

Here we got some idea about virtual server. From that we can conclude that
Virtual servers provide us more flexibility, more speed, better performance and low cost
as compare to window servers (dedicated servers). Virtual Servers are handy for a
variety of reasons. They are used in development environments and are also used for
server consolidation. But there are also issues like performance issues, security issues are
there. Although virtual server have some disadvantage, it is better than window server.
No doubt in future we can see more efficient virtual servers than today.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/virtual_server.html

• http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/f/?en/library/007e36c4-e7ea-4a7c-
8732-bd9a366805c81033.mspx

• http://www.linuxvirtualserver.org/whatis.html

• http://www.gsp.com/support/gettingstarted/handbook.pdf#search=%22%22virtual
%20server%22%20filetype%20ppt%22

• http://anildesai.net/DotNetNuke/Portals/0/Technical/Virtualization/ADNUG/256,
1,Using Virtualization to Improve Development and Testing

• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx

• http://www.tc.cornell.edu/~lifka/Papers/SciData%20-
%20Virtual%20Server.pdf#search=%22%20virtual%20server%2C(ppt)%20%22
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