Online Virtual Machines and How to Properly Manage Them

Innovations such as virtual machines saw the more efficient use of computer hardware. But exactly what is a virtual machine (VM)? It is a virtual computer hosted on a server that uses the server’s resources, e.g., memory, storage, and processor. In turn, a virtual machine can act as a host for other applications and have a different operating system from its host.When a virtual machine is based on the cloud, it is referred to as an online virtual machine.

This article discusses online virtual machines in more detail, including their benefits and use cases. It also aims to help you understand the role of a VM host server and the diverse types of virtualizations so that you can determine the right type of VM to use in your organization.

Selection of the Right Virtual Machine Type

When it comes to virtual machines, you should remember that a single host computer can host many virtual machines, a virtual machine operates in isolation from the other machines on the server as well as from the server itself, and virtual machines can be moved and copied between servers. When choosing the type of virtual machine for use within your organization, you should keep in mind that virtual machines can be configured in many ways, depending on your requirements.

If your priority is cost savings and your workloads include web servers, microservices, and containerized applications, the ideal virtual machine configuration is one that can scale out through the addition of more virtual processors and memory. If your priority is general-purpose workloads such as databases and web applications, you can opt for a mixture of price and performance by getting virtual machines capable of accommodating even more virtual processors and memory.

You can also have virtual machines that are optimized for heavier workloads such as database applications using large in-memory databases and performing data analytics. For even more demanding workloads such as machine learning, you can have virtual machines that are optimized for use with GPUs.

Benefits of Online Virtual Machines

There are numerous benefits of virtual machines, including:

Better personalization: With virtual machines being configurable any which way, your line departments can have them tailor-fitted according to function. For example, marketing and accounting departments can have different machines configured with applications they need for their work. You can also have machines maintain user-defined settings across sessions for most of your employees but have them reset for your shift workers.
More flexibility: When you need access to an application built specifically for another operating system, you are not constrained by a lack of compatible hardware. Instead, you can provide a virtual machine with that operating system, then install the application on the VM. Better yet, virtual machines are quicker to provision and deploy compared to traditional hardware.
Improved accessibility: Virtual machines are accessible from anywhere and, if allowed, using any device. Your employees do not have to be tied down to specific workplaces but can be allowed to work from anywhere. This makes them particularly effective for crisis situations, including the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Efficient backup and disaster recovery: Again, virtual machines are like files in that they can be moved and copied across the network to other servers. This allows entire virtual machines to be backed up, instead of the individual files and applications residing on them. In the same way, data recovery becomes more efficient since you can restore entire virtual machines to other servers.

In the case of online virtual machines, your cloud provider oversees their maintenance. This means that your IT teams can focus more on their core competencies, instead of spending precious time maintaining your virtual infrastructure. You also do not have to spend more money on hardware since online virtual servers are more efficient price-wise.

Use Cases for Online Virtual Machines

The more popular use cases for online virtual machines include:

Web server: A virtual machine makes for an ideal host for a single website and even multiple websites. This is true even in the case of WordPress websites or websites on some other platform.
Application server: Virtual machines are also ideal for application servers, especially since you can scale them out to accommodate work-intensive applications, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management systems (CRM).
Development/test server: You can spin up virtual machines on demand to ensure that the applications you are developing, or testing, can run on any platform. Once development and testing are done and your application is ready for production, you can delete the virtual machine and allocate its resources to other machines until the next development cycle.
Database server: You only need to add more resources to a virtual machine hosting your database to ensure that it can accommodate more users during peak times.
Email server: Virtual machines make for ideal email servers as well, since you can add more storage to them at any time.
Remote desktop server: Virtual machines are ideal for hosting other virtual machines that can be accessed remotely from anywhere.
Backup server: A virtual machine can serve as your backup server, especially since you can add more storage space to them at any time.

Definition of a VM Host Server

A virtual machine host server is any computer that serves as a host for virtual machines. In turn, the virtual machines are called guest servers since they are “guests” of the host server. While a VM host server is often confused with a hypervisor, these two are entirely different from each other.

What is a hypervisor? It is the software that allocates the host server’s resources to the virtual machines that reside on the host.

In the case of online virtual machines, your cloud provider gives you access to the hypervisor that enables your IT team to allocate resources to your virtual machines. The hypervisor ensures the security of the communications between the VM host and your virtual machines.

Different Types of Virtualization

There are several virtualization types we have covered in our discussion, including:

Hardware, or server, virtualization: In this type of virtualization, hardware resources are allocated to the various virtual machines residing on the server, leading to more efficient resource usage.
Software virtualization: This is the term applied when the physical host runs several guest operating systems. For example, a macOS desktop that runs Windows using Parallels® Desktop, with Windows using the macOS desktop’s resources. This is also the same type of virtualization for when you have applications running on a virtual machine that your employees access from another device.
Desktop virtualization: This is when your employees have desktops that are hosted on a remote server. With this setup, you not only get to save on software licensing costs, but you also get data that’s more secure since everything resides on the remote server. If your desktops are hosted by a cloud provider, as in online virtual machines, then your provider also shoulders most of your IT team’s maintenance load, freeing them up for more important work.
Storage virtualization: This type of virtualization enables combining several storage devices into a single device.
Network virtualization: This enables you to divide your network bandwidth into multiple channels that can then be assigned to your users. Since this can impact your network’s reliability and speed positively, it is suitable for companies with many users.

Typical Features of Virtual Machines Online

Workload Manager. In order to proactively avoid problems, continually monitor workloads, and make system troubleshooting simpler, Workload Manager assesses your application workloads by identifying deviations from defined standards and best practices.
VM Manager. Used to control the operating systems for sizable virtual machine (VM) fleets.
Load Balancing. It allows you to spread out incoming requests among pools of instances in several locations to obtain the most performance, throughput, and availability at the lowest possible cost.

Managing Your Online Virtual Machines with Parallels RAS

Parallels RAS is an all-in-one virtualization solution that enables efficient application and desktop delivery to all kinds of devices regardless of location. It supports the most popular hypervisors and hyperconverged solutions, including Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, Scale Computing HC3, and Nutanix Acropolis, among others. Parallels RAS even supports the use of multiple hypervisors, while allocating resources from a single console.

Parallels RAS simplifies virtual desktop and application provisioning and deployment using its built-in VM templates. With its automated optimization capabilities, you can conveniently configure multiple virtual machines at the same time. You can also allow application access to guest machines at any time using VM pools.

Parallels RAS eliminates the need to add more hardware components to your IT infrastructure and allows you to secure your network with access-limit policies based on configurable parameters, including location, user type, group, and device type. It is also easy to learn as it comes with a user-friendly interface.

Check out how Parallels RAS can help manage your online VMs!

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