If you’re involved in planning, deploying, or managing virtualization, this book brings together all the field-proven, in-the-trenches answers and solutions you’ll need. Packed with examples and case studies, Practical Virtualization Solutions is a complete, self-paced, hands-on guide to creating a virtualized environment and driving maximum value from it throughout its entire lifecycle.

Kenneth Hess and Amy Newman present detailed costs, schedules, and deployment plans drawn from actual enterprise virtualization projects. You’ll learn what really works and what doesn’t and discover powerful ways to systematically control the costs of virtualization and streamline its management. The authors offer realistic guidance on choosing the best services to virtualize; selecting the right virtualization software, hardware, and vendor partners; troubleshooting and securing virtualized environments; and much more. Along the way, they answer crucial questions IT professionals face in working with virtualization.

Coverage includes

• Quantifying the time, hardware, labor, and downtime needed to implement virtualization
  
• Streamlining the transition from physical to virtual
  
• Comparing VMware ESXi, VMware Server, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, and other virtualization technologies
  
• Identifying opportunities to reduce cost and improve flexibility with open source virtualization technologies
  
• Explaining advanced techniques for simplifying virtual machine management
  
• Defining the right role for virtualization in networking and storage
  
• Automating virtual infrastructure management tasks