Which of the following are advantages of virtualization? (Select two.)
answer
Easy migration of systems to different hardware
Reduced utilization of hardware resources
Improved host-based attack detection
Redundancy of hardware components for fault tolerance
Centralized administration
The Correct Answer and Explanation is :
The correct advantages of virtualization from the provided options are:
- Easy migration of systems to different hardware
- Centralized administration
Explanation:
1. Easy migration of systems to different hardware
Virtualization allows the creation of virtual machines (VMs) that run on physical hardware but are abstracted from it. Since virtual machines are independent of the underlying hardware, they can be easily moved or migrated to different physical machines. This means that organizations can easily transfer workloads from one server to another without worrying about hardware compatibility issues. This is particularly useful in scenarios like hardware upgrades, load balancing, disaster recovery, or even when moving systems between data centers.
For example, if a company needs to migrate its application from an old server to a new one, virtualization simplifies the process. The virtual machine image can be copied over to the new hardware, and it will run without issues, saving both time and effort compared to traditional migrations, which might involve reconfiguring systems or reinstalling software.
2. Centralized administration
Virtualization enables the centralized management of multiple virtual machines and their host infrastructure. Through virtualization management platforms (such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or others), IT administrators can manage virtualized environments from a single console. This centralized administration streamlines tasks like provisioning, monitoring, maintenance, and resource allocation.
With centralized tools, IT staff can more efficiently allocate resources (such as CPU, memory, and storage) to virtual machines based on demand, automate administrative tasks like patching or updating VMs, and have a better overview of the entire infrastructure. This centralization reduces the complexity and time spent managing physical hardware, making the system more agile and cost-effective.
Why the other options are not correct:
- Reduced utilization of hardware resources: Virtualization is designed to increase, not decrease, hardware utilization. By running multiple VMs on a single physical server, virtualization maximizes the use of physical resources.
- Improved host-based attack detection: While virtualization can provide isolation between virtual machines, it does not inherently improve host-based attack detection. This relies more on security measures implemented at the host level or in the network.
- Redundancy of hardware components for fault tolerance: While some virtualization solutions offer features like live migration and failover, redundancy of hardware components itself is not a direct advantage of virtualization. Redundancy is typically implemented through other infrastructure design strategies, such as clustering or using RAID for storage redundancy.