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TNS 2014
Test Virtualization
Azeez Mohammad
Email ID: azeez.mohammad@optum.com
Prathyusha Gs
Email ID: gs.prathyusha@optum.com
Nidhi Birthray
Email ID: nidhi.birthray@optum.com
UnitedHealth Group
M/s Phoenix Infocity Private Limited SEZ,
Avance Software Hub Hitech City-2,
Gachibowli
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh - 500081
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ABSTRACT:
Managing Test environments and Test data has reached a Server/Storage bottleneck across all the Data warehouse/Business Intelligence applications. By deploying Virtualization solutions, the agility of testing takes a swift growth that benefits the business in near real time Data Analytics.
Test virtualization is mainly targeted to face the below challenges head-on:
Upsurge in Overall software release cycle time due to numerousrequirement changes and complexity.
Decrease in productivity due to manualenvironment configuration and test data management.
Huge software environment infrastructure costs.
INTRODUCTION:
Virtualization is the act of abstracting the physical boundaries of an environment comprising of computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device and computer network resources.
Virtualization as a technology has advanced primarily from open source projects to a highly commercialized technology
This paper is targeted to provide the real time approach and benefits of incorporating virtualization into testing space. The key components of Test Virtualization are :
1. Test Environment Virtualization
2. Test Data
Virtualization is a combination of software and hardware engineering that creates Virtual Machines (VMs) - an abstraction of the computer hardware that allows a single machine to act as if it were many machines, or a computer that does not physically exist as a piece of hardware. The hardware that is seen by the operating system is emulated in an effort to separate the physical hardware from operating system. This allows the virtual machine to be moved and hosted on any machine independent of hardware. Virtualization technology is possibly the single most important issue in IT and has started a top to bottom overhaul of the computing industry which is why many companies around the world have are using its softwares to enhance their business opportunities.
Significance: This topic is important to my audience because of the increasing number of people accessing the internet. Implementing virtualization
[P3] Server virtualisation: This is the process of hiding all of the server resources including the amount of servers that a company has and the amount of processors etc. From the people using the server.
Virtualization’s rate of adoption is completely characterized by the five characteristics described in the framework for the concepts of innovation (Luftman & Bullen, 2004, p. 189). It is perceived to be better than physical servers in its ability to host multiple operating systems and share the host’s resource. Its encapsulation of resources allows it to operate as if it was a physical machine yet it is totally virtual giving it a relative advantage. It is compatible with all baseline operating systems on the market. Complexity in implementation is minimal making it more attractive to adopt. The vendors allows for free downloads and trials. Its visibility in competition with Microsoft’s Hyper-V has shown multiple advantages. (Luftman & Bullen, 2004, p. 190)
Network Based Virtualization is abstract storage of data applications from the host machine. This is well achieved through fibre channels connection between the machines and the servers running virtualization. The respective operating systems on the separate machines are not a factor to consider as they work independently. For it to achieve its expectations, the following services must be provided as below:
Virtualization is being able to give a physical device the power, through the use of software, to do more than that physical device was technically designed and able to do (Santana, 2014, p. 12). For example, a server can only run one operating system at a time. However, when a hypervisor is used in a server, the hypervisor is a layer of software that acts like the server itself so that many operating systems can be run from that one server. The hardware, in this case a server, has been virtualized. The goal is to use all of the computer’s resources all of the time, and the only way to do that is to have enough things running that the resources are being used consistently and efficiently. An analogy for this could be online classes. If each teacher only had one student, the teacher’s resources of time and expertise would not be utilized efficiently because that one student will not need help all day, every day. If the teacher is assigned to fifteen students, the students can still get help when needed from the teacher, and they would not even be aware that they are not alone in the class. Because it is an online class, the teacher does not need any more physical resources to teach an entire class than was needed for one student. The students are receiving the benefits of being taught by that teacher without needing to be with him or her physically.
Virtualization in a network is the most interesting thing I have learned about. In full virtualization, the virtual machine completely simulates a real physical host. This allows most operating systems and applications to run within the virtual machine without being modified in anyway. I would envision using virtualization when testing a new service or application in the development stages, testing the product on different operating systems. I think virtualization is brilliant, a problem that arises is security and how you go about protecting your data in the virtual machine. Placing a virtual firewall is a good way to protect your machine of routing the memory through physical machines that have a firewall to protect them. A benefit of cloud
Hypervisor is the virtualization layer which is responsible for the virtualization. a virtualization platform that allows multiple virtual machines to run on a physical host at the same time
Is the business at first full structure virtualization suite that grants endeavors and private endeavors get a kick out of the chance to change, regulate and propel their IT systems the system through virtualization. VMware Infrastructure passes on thorough virtualization, organization, resource headway, application openness and operational robotization capacities and limits in an arranged advancing.
In this work, it is assumed that there is a SaaS provider who owns a private data center which comprise a finite number of local servers which implements virtualization concepts to run user jobs. The SaaS provider is assumed to
Virtualisation works by splitting up a physical server into multiple different virtual servers, with each server’s resources being masked from the end point user. It is commonly used by businesses to cut their costs, especially in the realm of web-hosting where a hosting provider will use one powerful server – But cut it into hundreds of smaller servers which can be auctioned off at a cut-throat price to consumers.
While these are valid concerns that should be considered, the benefits of virtualization far outweigh the negatives in most situations. This is especially true when the deployment is well thought, configured, and maintained correctly. A properly designed and implemented virtual environment can save money on future hardware costs by consolidating resources. It also provides an excellent way to provide redundancy to critical servers and applications. One of, if not the biggest advantage, however, would have to be the ease and speed of deployment. This brings a level of simplification to IT management that simply does not exist in an environment with physical machines. Other advantages include lower power consumption, ease of creating test environments, and improved disaster recovery abilities (InfoWorld, 2011).
Windows Server expands the Microsoft virtualization strategy for both server and desktop workloads by adding dynamic memory management for virtualized workloads with Dynamic Memory and Microsoft RemoteFX for a rich end user experience with a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and session virtualization (formerly known as
Virtual machines have become a replacement of hardware and experiencing a revival in the commercial and research
New Virtual machines can be easily added in the virtualized environment , no need to purchase any physical resources . We have to install the operating system as we do in physical machine.