Editorial: Virtualization on the Client?

By Brian Boyko
With all the (deserved?) hype over virtualized servers, and the consolidation of hardware in order to reduce underutilized servers or replace obsolete hardware, many are overlooking what might be, in retrospect, an obvious use of virtualization – the end-user client computer.
The benefits of virtualized desktops mostly deal with administration and reducing problems caused by user error.
First, virtual configurations are essentially files on the hard disk, and those files can be backed up and restored to the hard drive of the end-user. It’s not a secure form of data storage, but it can be a lifesaver when a malware infection strikes.
Second, it can shorten the “test and deploy” period for software updates, because virtual environments can be configured to be identical and even in a worst case scenario, where a deployed change manifests problems, you can restore from the aforementioned backup.
Third, multiple VMs can be loaded on one machine. This means that if a particular program hangs or crashes, or works fine but is a notorious RAM hog, the end-user can switch over and continue working on a secondary virtual environment until the IT team can get to solving the original problem.
A possible unintended side-effect, however, is decreased network performance – virtual machines simply don’t run as fast as full-fledged installs, and if you have the ability to back up every end-user’s configuration to the network, eventually you may find yourself having to do so. Those with consolidated data centers and a lot of traffic operating over a WAN might not find the prospect of backing up hundreds of computers, including operating system, drivers, applications, and data, so appealing.
Kept on the LAN, however, servers dedicated to doing backup should not be as daunting. Those servers can be maintained via SSH from the WAN, and would not need that much hardware. You could probably repurpose some of those underutilized servers you have lying around – the ones that became redundant when you rolled out virtualized servers.