Virtualization Is Not All Roses

An anonymous reader writes "Vendors and magazines are all over virtualization like a rash, like it is the Saviour for IT-kind. Not always, writes analyst Andi Mann in Computerworld." I've found that when it works, it's really cool, but it does add a layer of complexity that wasn't there before. Then again, having a disk image be a 'machine' is amazingly useful sometimes.

Comments

Yawn

[dreamchaser]

This is the exact same pattern that almost every computing technology follows. First the lemmings all rush to sound smart by touting it's benefits. Soon it is the be all and end all in "everyone's" mind. Then the honeymoon fades and people realise it's a useful tool, and toss it into the chest with all the other useful tools to be used where it makes sense.

why are we reading this garbage?

[philo_enyce]

to sum up tfa: poor planning and execution are the cause of problems.

how about an article that makes some recommendations on how to mitigate the problems they identify with virtualization, or point out some non obvious issues?

philo

This is FUD

[fyngyrz]

...virtualization's problems can include cost accounting (measurement, allocation, license compliance); human issues (politics, skills, training); vendor support (lack of license flexibility); management complexity; security (new threats and penetrations, lack of controls); and image and license proliferation.

Examine that quote from the article closely. See anything there that indicates virtualization "doesn't work"? No, nor do I. What they are talking about here has nothing to do with how well virtualization works, what they're complaining about is that a particular tool requires competence to use well in various work environments. Well, no one ever said that virtualization would gift brains to some middle level manager, or teach anyone how to use an office suite, or imbue morals and ethics into those who would steal; virtualization lets you run an operating system in a sandbox, sometimes under another operating system entirely. And it does that perfectly well, or in other words, it works very well indeed. I call FUD.