Virtualization can take on many different forms: virtual memory, virtual servers, and virtualized storage. In each of these cases, we've been able to move beyond the underlying physical components that make up the system and through the use of clever virtualization techniques we've been able to get more out of the system. This is what we're going to explore in this book.

What you'll find inside:

• How Virtual Memory Works
• Why Bother with Virtualizing Servers?
• Server Virtualization in the Real World
• Storage Network Based Storage Virtualization

This book is divided into three sections. We are going to start out where all virtualization started: virtual memory. We'll then scale up and discuss how servers are virtualized. You can't have servers without storage, and so we'll then talk about how storage has been virtualized.

This is a rapidly evolving field. It our hope that by listening to this book, we can provide you with a firm foundation on which to understand what virtualization is and how it is being used to build networks that will be able to support today's applications. Using the foundation, we hope to be able to share with you the fundamental design approaches that are used to create a modern network and compare it to today's legacy networks.