LinuxInsider: Closing the Server-Storage Virtualization Gap
In this LinuxInsider article, Gluster CTO AB Periasamy discusses the current state of Linux virtualization and provides best practices, focused on storage, aimed at closing the server-storage virtualization gap.
Server virtualization technologies for Linux have advanced at a rapid pace of innovation with VMware (NYSE: VMW) and Citrix (Nasdaq: CTXS) (Xen) initially leading the way. They are now being joined by significant strategic investments by Red Hat (NYSE: RHT).
Unfortunately, the storage side of the equation has lagged behind. Several trends, such as the explosion of unstructured data and the emergence of cloud computing, have shined a spotlight on the gap and woken many to the realization that it is holding the industry back from achieving a fully virtualized data center. Linux is proving to be a superior hypervisor than even a microkernel-based VMware implementation, while having borrowed powerful ideas from microkernel design from early development.