Virtual Machines and Networks - Installation, Performance Study, Advantages and Virtualization Options

The interest in virtualization has been growing rapidly in the IT industry because of inherent benefits like better resource utilization and ease of system manageability. The experimentation and use of virtualization as well as the simultaneous deployment of virtual software are increasingly getting popular and in use by educational institutions for research and teaching. This paper stresses on the potential advantages associated with virtualization and the use of virtual machines for scenarios, which cannot be easily implemented and/or studied in a traditional academic network environment, but need to be explored and experimented by students to meet the raising needs and knowledge-base demanded by the IT industry. In this context, we discuss various aspects of virtualization - starting from the working principle of virtual machines, installation procedure for a virtual guest operating system on a physical host operating system, virtualization options and a performance study measuring the throughput obtained on a network of virtual machines and physical host machines. In addition, the paper extensively evaluates the use of virtual machines and virtual networks in an academic environment and also specifically discusses sample projects on network security, which may not be feasible enough to be conducted in a physical network of personal computers; but could be conducted only using virtual machines

TEACHING IN THE CLOUD MICROELECTRONICS UBIQUITOUS LAB (MULAB)

CAD laboratory students activity is mandatory for microelectronics teaching. This, applied in the deep-submicron era, creates new challenges to couple software management simplicity to user friendliness inside lab sessions, which requires the use of complex tools and concepts. In this paper, a new approach to microelectronics CAD deployment is presented, based on virtualization capabilities of new servers hardware and software technology. A test case, realized at Politecnico di Torino, degree of Electronic Engineering, is presented, with real world results on resource consumption and user satisfactio

To study Security Mechanism in Desktop Virtualization

The idea is that the Linux host operating system will have high security. This comes not from elaborate protections, but simply from doing as little as possible in the host OS. You need to apply the basic precautions of firewall, automatic updates and anti-virus. Beyond this, all desktop attacks rely on some kind of user-initiated action. A desktop that is only used to access a small number of highly trusted sites is at relatively low risk. The VM for day-to-day use still needs to be well secured. Because of all the browsing, downloading and such, it is at high risk. You absolutely need to take the basic precautions, and it is worth taking further precautions

MobiThin management framework: design and evaluation

In thin client computing, applications are executed on centralized servers. User input (e.g. keystrokes) is sent to a remote server which processes the event and sends the audiovisual output back to the client. This enables execution of complex applications from thin devices. Adopting virtualization technologies on the thin client server brings several advantages, e.g. dedicated environments for each user and interesting facilities such as migration tools. In this paper, a mobile thin client service offered to a large number of mobile users is designed. Pervasive mobile thin client computing requires an intelligent service management to guarantee a high user experience. Due to the dynamic environment, the service management framework has to monitor the environment and intervene when necessary (e.g. adapt thin client protocol settings, move a session from one server to another). A detailed performance analysis of the implemented prototype is presented. It is shown that the prototype can handle up to 700 requests/s to start the mobile thin client service. The prototype can make a decision for up to 700 monitor reports per second

Green Approach for Next Generation Computing: A Survey

In the past few years, the Information and Communication Technology sector have made a significant advancement in Cloud Computing technology. The world wide acceptance of Cloud technology can be credited to the various benefits a Cloud offers to its users. The Cloud technology helps in preventing resource wastage to a much greater extent. The authors of this paper wish to explore the concept behind cloud computing, its strategy, and benefits. This paper presents some facts and figures related to cloud and green computing which will help in obtaining the gist of Cloud Computing and in understanding the need of going green in computing

Virtualization as a teaching tool for IT-based courses

Virtualization, VMware, VirtualBox, XEN, Virtual PC, VNC, NoMachine NX server, Paravirtualization, Operating systemsNowadays, the virtualization technologies are more and more often used in many informatics areas. They are applied for better utilization of existing hardware or software resources, servers? consolidation and for security reasons as well. This article shows the possibility of the virtualization technology usage also in the academic environment as a support of laboratory exercises of two academic courses. The case study is based on the idea of virtualization of the physical computer for lower costs and security reasons. The VMware products are used nowadays in our university and the article want to show other, especially free, alternatives to this commercial product like VirtualBox, Microsoft Virtual PC, XEN etc. Described approaches and techniques can be applied to many others similar subjects, not only in these two courses

Enhancing systems integration by incorporating business continuity drivers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for developing an integrated operating environment (IOE) within an enterprise information system by incorporating business continuity drivers. These drivers enable a business to continue with its operations even if some sort of failure or disaster occurs. Design/methodology/approach – Development and implementation of the framework are based on holistic and top-down approach. An IOE on server’s side of contemporary business computing is investigated in depth. Findings – Key disconnection points are identified, where systems integration technologies can be used to integrate platforms, protocols, data and application formats, etc. Downtime points are also identified and explained. A thorough list of main business continuity drivers (continuous computing (CC) technologies) for enhancing business continuity is identified and presented. The framework can be utilized in developing an integrated server operating environment for enhancing business continuity. Originality/value – This paper presents a comprehensive framework including exhaustive handling of enabling drivers as well as disconnection points toward CC and business continuity

Data Center Server Virtualization Solution Using Microsoft Hyper-V

Cloud Computing has helped businesses scale within minutes and take their services to their customers much faster. Virtualization is considered the core-computing layer of a cloud setup. All the problems a traditional data center environment like space, power, resilience, centralized data management, and rapid deployment of servers as per business need have been solved with the introduction of Hyper-V (a server virtualization solution from Microsoft). Now companies can deploy multiple servers and applications with just a click and they can also centrally manage the data storage. This paper focuses on the difference between VMware and Hyper virtualization platforms and building a virtualized infrastructure solution using Hyper