I was interviewed not long ago by Amy Kucharik over at SearchNetworking.com about my recent book The Shortcut Guide to Selecting the Right Virtualization Solution, which you can freely download from Parallels.

In that interview, we talk about the types of virtualization available today, how virtualization impactst the typical IT network environment, and some elements you should consider when you're thinking about making the jump.

The whole interview turned out really well, but there are two questions that really strike me:

Do you see any one type of virtualization as more interesting or useful than the others?

Shields: Actually two I see are where we're going. First, paravirtualization, like what we see in Hyper-V and Xen, as well as early experimental support in ESX 3.5, is where we're going. The early types of hardware virtualization that used emulation had to do so because of paravirtualization's need for OS recompilation and/or on-board hardware extensions. These capabilities are now becoming pervasive, so I see emulation going away in the long run because of its now-unnecessary levels of resource overhead. The other nifty tech that I think gets too little press is OS virtualization, typified by Parallels Virtuozzo Containers. This is great tech with an exceptionally small overhead and some very specific benefits that you don't get anywhere else. If you haven't heard of Virtuozzo or OS virtualization, definitely check out the book, as it talks about some of those benefits in detail.

One of the goals of your book is to help readers understand where they will and won't get the best return on a virtualization investment. Are there particular places where you would caution against using virtualization?

Shields: Big one: Don't implement highest-end virtualization solutions when you don't need to. Some virtualization solutions have very high-end platforms that appear to solve all the world's IT problems. But they're also stupendously expensive. If you don't need the uptime or the super-high reliability, then you may not need to spend the extra cash. Also, beware the market effects of virtualization commoditization. We're only now starting to see enough quality entrants into the virtualization ecosystem that market forces will begin driving down the prices. Those early adopters are the ones most likely to see problems with this. Be aware of the impending commodity status of virtualization platforms, and consider your purchase carefully.

Read the full interview at: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/interview/0,289202,sid7_gci1313304,00.html#