Xen SUSE Linux Virtual Server Tutorial : Novell is committed to the propagation of Xen* virtualization technologies. These technologies are included in the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, the latest open source server operating system from Novell. This unique opportunity for Novell to take a leading role in the shift to virtualization-based IT is due to the convergence of commodity hardware and open source software—that is, Linux running on x86 and x86-64 computers.

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Resource utilization. Efficiency. Scalability. Availability. Manageability. Security. These are the issues that keep data center managers awake late into the night. Virtualization technologies can address these concerns and benefit the entire enterprise, but they haven’t been widely adopted—that is, until recently.

What’s changed? Well, for starters, the data center. The number of physical servers has grown to unmanageable proportions. Enterprises need virtualization technologies to compensate for the inefficiencies of increasing server sprawl. Linux* has taken a more prominent role in enterprises1—handling everything from edge services (Web, firewall, DNS and DHCP) to middle-tier application and middleware; from backend database, e-mail and file serving to commercial high-performance cluster computing and enterprise grid deployments. More and more enterprises are also turning to Linux to help address their multi-tier server consolidation issues. In addition, Intel and AMD have designed virtualization functionality into the latest x86 and x86-64 processors—adding hardware support for server consolidation by enabling strict fault and performance isolation. They’ve also added functionality that enables unmodified operating systems to run concurrently on the same physical machine.