What is server virtualization?
Server virtualization is the term used for the method of running multiple
independent applications or operating systems on a single physical machine. It
is used as a means of enhancing physical resources to maximize the investment in
hardware, where the server administrator uses a software application to divide one physical server into multiple isolated virtual environments.
Server virtualization brings the possibility of
sharing hardware between multiple server
applications, with each application believing it is
running on its own computer with no risk of
one application causing another to fail.
Disk intensive applications can be matched
with CPU heavy ones in order to get the
maximum out of each piece of server hardware.
Zetafax's fax virtualization software supports VMware (ESX and ESXi), which can be seen illustrated in the diagram to the right hand side. Zetafax also supports the vSphere Suite and Microsoft Hyper-V.
How fax virtualization works
In a virtualized environment, server applications and their virtualized
operating systems access the underlying hardware through a virtualization layer.
Communications hardware (such as a fax board) is typically not supported in this
virtualized world, and so any server application that needs to use such
hardware requires an alternative approach - this obstacle often results in fax
servers being maintained separately from an organisation's virtualized
environment. With Fax Over IP (FoIP) this is no longer necessary. Below is an example illustration on how
FoIP works: