Customer Reviews

Virtualization For Dummies

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OK, I've been in this business too long: The first time I hear a new, impressive-sounding IT buzzword, I flinch.

Part of my problem is that I've seen way too many stale old ideas rebranded by slapping fancy labels on them, an effect that often seems to happen about every four years. My suspicion is that four years is the optimal time for suckering a new generation of buyers fresh out of college into thinking they are getting something new. I still recall diving into a supposedly semi-autonomous "agent-based application" and discovering that its "agents" were actually nothing more than calls to ordinary functions.

I've also seen too many cases where a single-vendor idea that succeeds in a narrow market niche gets generalized into a "trend" that then is applied blindly whether it works or not. Gartner has labeled this kind of overgeneralization the "Hype Cycle," for good reason. When good ideas are generalized by those who do not understand their original context, they seldom work well, and in the worst cases they can turn into truly spectacular IT disasters.

Thus it when I first heard the term "virtualization" some time ago... I flinched. My thoughts went something like this:

"Yeah, right. Sounds to me like someone borrowed an impressive computer science word to help sell a product that will end up sitting on a shelf in the IT room. And by the way, isn't 'virtual' pretty much a synonym for insanely slow? The kind of stuff that they show in demos in university labs, but which in the real world would bring even the largest data center down to its knees?"


So what, one might well ask, was this curmudgeon's reaction when I picked up a copy of Bernard Golden's book, "Virtualization for Dummies"?

Somewhat to my own surprise, it was favorable. I found the book to be both solid in approach and highly relevant to the situation in which many service providers, large and small, find themselves these days. However, if someone asked me to pick a title that I thought more accurately describes the contents and purpose of this book, I would have suggested something like this:

"How to Stay Profitable While Your Service Market Goes Nuts"

or perhaps if focusing on LAN admins:

"How to Stay Employed While Users and Budgets Are Both Exploding"

That is, this entire book is a practical, step-by-step instruction manual on how to get the most out of your installed hardware, even as the assumptions that guided the original procurement of that hardware seem to be flying out the window. You can call that virtualization, I guess, but in my mind "preserving one's own hide" would seem a bit closer to the mark.

The term "virtualization," in case you are as baffled by it as I once was, is computer-speak for using clever software (and often hardware) to make more effective use of your existing servers. The implication is that previously dedicated servers become "virtual" servers for entirely new sets of applications and users.

Those other users typically will be the cranky ones whose most beloved application has become slow and unreliable as of late. By using virtualization, you may even convince them that you forked over money for a new server, when all you really did was "virtualize" an old one that had been badly underutilized.

What's really nice about "Virtualization for Dummies" is that Golden works hard not to play "magic wand" with this technique. He emphasizes that it requires hard work, a lot of planning, and careful selection of options. He also points out that it doesn't apply in every case, and that if you don't stick to it, you may end up right back in the same sticky spot from which you started.

Golden provides a detailed, easily understood checklist approach for determining virtualization is even relevant for you, a question that too many advocates of this or that technology often seem to neglect entirely. He also runs the reader through the many different types of virtualization and how their benefits differ, again with a focus on helping the reader understand what is mostly likely to be suitable for a specific situation. The reader comes aways at the same time with a better feel for which approaches might actually make a situation worse instead of better.

What I like most about Golden's book, though, is that if you take it seriously, it begins to change your entire outlook on how to provide services. You can look at the klutzy mix of hardware and locked-in applications there now, and begin to see the potential over time for something very, very different: a suite of hardware that is remarkably uniform, yet still capable of addressing the unique needs of all users. Those users may even experience the unique feeling that for a short time the entire capacity of your server bays has been focused onto their unique needs. And it may even be true!

This is a future that makes a lot of sense, and Golden's detailed discussions of software and hardware already in use makes you realize that it is a future that is most definitely obtainable.

For the nearer term, Golden helps readers identify cases where specific virtualization techniques could make a difference quickly. He describes a range of specific tools, and describes how they fit into the overall virtualization problem. Some of these tools are powerful, cheap, and even free. In the right situations they can enable significant virtualization without requiring any new acquisitions. That potential alone makes virtualization a topic worth exploring, and Golden's book provides an excellent, practical path for understanding this topic.

So, my bottom line: I recommend this book highly for anyone who is frustrated by having to deal with hard-to-control, highly heterogeneous server environments, and who wants a better approach. Golden provides that approach, and he does so in a way that is readable, practical, and above all, doable.

"Virtualization for Dummies" is intended to provide the non-technical or para-technical reader (e.g. technology procurement analysts, technical writers, project managers) with a thorough but still high-level understanding of virtualization technology. The initial chapters describe the `nuts and bolts' of the technology itself including it's benefits and limitations, the main products in the field, and how it actually performs its magic. While parts of this can get a little technical, the author does an admirable job of demystifying the basic concepts and practices of Virtualization.

The remainder of the book expands into a variety of sub-topics that include such things as hardware evaluation and selection, cost-benefits analysis, and implementing virtualization using various, industry-standard products. Readers can choose the chapters and sub-chapters that best suit their needs and skim through the balance.
Bernard Goldman is clearly very experienced in both virtualization technology itself and general IT process management. Although he does get a little beyond the book's original objectives at times, this results in a good deal of insight about the reality of deploying a virtualized environment. Using anecdotal stories and frequent, humorous observations he's produced a highly readable and very instructive volume.

Two things that might improve its impact are some strategically placed diagrams to illustrate some of the more abstract concepts; and a short glossary explaining some of the technology terms that invariably creep into any computer publication. Otherwise this is a surprisingly capable primer and I give it a solid 4 stars for its content, organization, and readability.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of Virtualization for Dummies and its worthiness. Virtualization gives the impression that it's akin to theoretical physics -- no doubt an important subject, but the nitty gritty is hard to explain. Golden demystifies virtualization and provides lucid explanations of many heretofore thorny topics, such as LUNS and RAID, two breathtakingly interrelated subjects. He also does a yeoman's job of detailing the benefits and explaining the details of setting up virtualization projects and doing "P2V" (physical to virtual) deployments. In a world increasingly fascinated by cloud computing, this is a very timely book.

One of the most striking things about the book is the wide range of input from virtualization industry players (from IBM, HP, VMware, Xensource, Platespin, Novell, Red Hat, and others). My favorite parts of the book were the real world use cases for various types of virtualization.

Read my complete review here: www.newsoftwarepathways.com/blog/?p=49.

A great book!!! As an industry consultant and Technical Advisor to several companies struggling with their expanding requirements for fault tolerant infrastructure, I found this book to be the most useful so far for IT technologists and decision makers who need to get their arms around the ramifications of all of this. I was familiar with Bernard Golden's CIO magazine articles and insightful book "Succeeding with Open Source" and was pleased to discover he had also written a book covering the fast moving and diverse topic of Virtualization. It is written in a conversational style that contains very clear, succinct conceptual information and technical details interspersed with very pertinent and well-focused stories. The writing style and very well organized structural approach to the topics makes this book very readable by technology analysts, CIOs, and technical project managers who need to be able see the big picture of the "forest through the trees" in order to understand the total corporate ROI issues with virtualization technology. Conversely, the book is well suited to industry technologist and software engineers who want to obtain a quick basic working knowledge of the "detailed roots" of the virtualization technology but otherwise would never have been exposed to the broader applicability and global consequences of this very fundamental nuts-and-bolts software.

The well-organized structure of the book as independent parts, each containing independent chapters, makes it possible to pick and chose what information or level of technical detail is of interest to the reader while still allowing for interrelated topics to be introduced in the proper logically dependent sequence. Chapters such as "Performing a Server Virtualization Cost-Benefit Analysis", "Managing a Virtual Project", "Migrating to Your New Virtualized Environment", "Managing Your Virtualized Environment", and "Creating a Virtualized Storage Environment" are precisely what CIOs, IT managers, and technologists need to know!

The chapters on implementing Vmware Server, Fedora Virtualization, and Xen servers are precisely the basic bare-bones installation overview information IT engineers need to know so they can quickly deploy Virtualization evaluation/prototyping environments and start getting their fingernails dirty. Of course they will probably want/need to augment this general installation information with more specific details of each corresponding VM environment once they have it up and running.

The only improvement I would suggest is additional information on the Amazon Web Services Elastic Compute Cloud (AWS EC2). Though there are at least two full and very insightful pages dedicated to this topic highlighting its benefits and current shortcomings, EC2 is evolving so fast it may merit its own sub-chapter. Perhaps in the next edition of this book!

This is the third "for dummies" book I have read and by far the best written. This" reference for the rest of us" uses a succinct but whimsical and entertaining style with lots of analogy to strengthen points. I really had no prior knowledge on the subject of virtualization, or at least I thought so. Now I realize I had used virtual pc software on my Mac years ago and this book has helped me decide on a virtual windows approach for my new Intel based Apple computer.

Like other "for dummies" books, it completely covers the subject for beginners, but goes into successive levels of detail as you read and you can "skip around" easily. I am a retired analog systems engineer and have no intention of working in the server field. If I did however, this would be a fantastic assist in getting into the subject in a hurry. I would recommend this book for all just interested in learning what virtualization like myself, but especially for managers who must speak the language and evaluate "cost-benefits" of virtualization in their organizations. If you are such a manager, Chapters 15 and 16 are for you as specific project steps and pitfalls are delineated.

There is also plenty of information available for the implementer as well with a full three chapters on installing and configuring VMware, Fedora and XenExpress using actual screen photo graphics for easy guidance.

This is a very impressive book and highly recommended for people ranging from those who just want to speak the language to those whose job it is to implement and manage server architecture. A reference "for the rest of us" delivers!

Virtualization for Dummies is a good book for beginners to get started using virtual machines and for intermediate users looking for a better understanding of the technology and its application. The author states that each chapter is written to stand alone. I found this especially helpful in that I could more easily skip sections that I was already familiar with.

A beginner will find Part IV invaluable. Here the author has step-by-step instructions on how to implement a virtual server and install a guest virtual machine. This section has separate chapters on using VMWare Server, Xen integrated into Fedora and XenExpress. As the author states, each of the products used in the examples are free.

One of the applications of virtualization that experienced users will like is building a virtual appliance. As the author states, a virtual appliance is a VM containing a pre-configured OS and software bundle. This can be a real time saver for both vendors and IT departments who want to deliver an application to a customer for evaluation or testing. For the customer, installing the application requires nothing more than copying a few files to their machine and attaching the VM to their server.

The book is well written, easy to read, and worth the price.

I first came across Bernard Golden in his CIO magazine articles and then his timely book about his Open Source Maturity Model (q.v.). He has good ideas that address issues we face every day, written in a way that the wisdom from his considerable experience comes through in a readable way. This book on virtualization, also incredibly timely, given VMWare's IPO and Microsoft's strengthening presence, is great for giving a third-party analysis that's impartial and not tainted by any developer's wares. I like the way it's written, with a conversational style. And I think it would be useful also for business types who need to understand the ramifications of all of this, as well as CIOs who need to persuade the Board of why it is worth their time. There's good discussion of where cost savings can come from; we could all use those these days. One particularly useful bit is where he discusses what some people think today: why spend money on something that's free (well, it's not really free once you get under the hype, and you can gain massive value advantages from spending some money). There's a lot of thought about future-proofing your solution and how the technology is going to develop, so the book is likely to remain useful for some time to come. For $29.99 you can't go wrong; you'd be lucky to get 5 minutes with a consultant for that (OK, maybe 3)! I am sure that even one idea from this book would easily repay the price. Can't recommend it highly enough. Good stuff.

Not for an IT Tech person has very little info on the configuration and maintenance of
virtual machines from a Systems Administrator standpoint

I never realized how many "flavors" of virtualization are out there, and this book helps identify which options are best suited for our environment. What an eye opener!

The author writes in an easy to follow an understand manner - even a dummy like me can follow along.

The hints and tips and resources and step-by-step instructions are very helpful.

I highly recommend this book - even if you've played with VM before.

This book would be more appropriately titled "The Encyclopedia of Virtualization." It covers just about every aspect of Virtualization someone in IT would be concerned about, from high-level overviews of the different technologies that might be appropriate for upper management, to a very nice series of "hands on" chapters that walk you through experimenting with several of the free virtualization options, to a chapter on calculating the financial benefits of virtualization that CFO-types should love.

This book was eminently readable in a sequential manner, and also very well indexed, with a detailed table of contents that made it easy to find a topic of interest. I've been perennially confused by how several of the new storage technologies relate to virtualization, and this book promptly set me straight. Whether you need a quick primer on virtualization so you can talk shop with those with more detailed knowledge, or want to get a sense of the benefits of the different technologies and how they fit into the "big picture" of the data center, this book is an invaluable resource. It gives you the vocabulary and understanding of how all the pieces fit together than websites and technical manuals often miss.