Sidebar: The Case for Virtualizing Severs

Ever wonder what the big deal was with server virtualization. Virtualization is one of the popular hot area in PC happenings. Why virtualize. There are many virtues to virtualization.

• Consolidation
• Compartmentalization of Server Software. Say you have Exchange running, nice and stable. And your company is wants to try out Microsoft Live Communications Server. If you can run Live Communications Server in its own "sandbox", you, as IT administrator, would probably feel better if the installation and testing didn't affect your stable and running network services like Active Directory or Exhange.
• Efficient Hardware Usage. Over the past 5-6 years, hardware has grown much, much more capable than software. Microsoft products like Active Directory, Exchange were originally one-PC-each installations. Look at CPU utilization, chances are that PC server is underutilized.