Using Virtualization for Migrations Reduces Risks

A recent eWeek article, "Hosting without Borders", discusses data migration and new capabilities of Microsoft Windows Server 2008. While no decision yet exists by Microsoft to include SWsoft’s virtualization tools inside of WS2008 as implied, the story gets it right when addressing the value of virtualization technologies to service providers who need to perform migrations.

The major virtualization vendors all provide migration tools in some form or another and it's a standard line item on the de rigueur Virtualization Software Evaluation Matrix that all consultants, customers, and IT project managers/business analysts now carry.

To get back to the eWeek article though, Virtuozzo Management Tools do offer service providers the most economical way to perform migrations on the market. The toolset in 4.0 includes both P2V and V2V tools for both Windows and Linux and allows service providers to perform migrations cheaply by running data across the network on inexpensive servers without the need to invest in expensive shared storage or upgrade to new vendor virtualization-embedded or proprietary hardware. With the upcoming release of Virtuozzo 4.0, you can buy the Management Tools separately from Virtuozzo and use them to perform backups and migrations on both your physical and virtual servers.

Adding virtualization to your migration procedures is a real risk-reducer. First, you can clone the server before moving it so that there is always more than one copy if you are new to live migration and distrust it. Second, before a virtual server is moved, all incoming transactions are captured and stored in a database so that once the virtual server is moved to its new target, all transactions that occurred in the interim are then moved over to ensure that you maintain service availability. Third, you can perform migrations in batch mode to make it quick and easy to move off and back on the hundreds of VPSs that you can get on a box when you use Virtuozzo. The migration tools are very popular with our service provider base and we've gotten rave reviews from our just-completed Beta 4.0 program. However, I know service providers are DIYers at heart, so if you don't believe eWeek or myself, download Virtuozzo and try it out for yourself.