Server virtualization in higher educational institutions: a case study

Abstract

Virtualization is a concept in which multiple guest operating systems share a single piece of hardware. Server virtualization is the widely used type of virtualization in which each operating system believes that it has sole control of the underlying hardware. Server virtualization has already got its place in companies. Higher education institutes have also started to migrate to virtualized servers. The motivation for higher education institutes to adopt server virtualization is to reduce the maintenance of the complex information technology (IT) infrastructure. Data security is also one of the parameters considered by higher education institutes to move to virtualization. Virtualization enables organizations to reduce expenditure by avoiding building out more data center space. Server consolidation benefits the educational institutes by reducing energy costs, easing maintenance, optimizing the use of hardware, provisioning the resources for research. As the hybrid mode of learning is gaining momentum, the online mode of teaching and working from home options can be enabled with a strengthened infrastructure. The paper presents activities conducted during server virtualization implementation at RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru, one of the reputed engineering institutes in India. The activities carried out include study of the current scenario, evaluation of new proposals and post-implementation review.