Specifications

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Figure 4. The P2V wizard helps users convert physical machines to virtual machines
VMM assists IT administrators in the important task of placing virtual machines on appropriate physical
server hosts. Whether your organization’s goal is to balance loads among existing hosts or to maximize
resource usage on each host, selecting the appropriate virtual machine host for a given workload is the
key to maximizing the utilization of physical assets. The process of selecting the best host for a given
virtual machine is called Intelligent Placement. (We address Intelligent Placement in detail later in this
paper.)
Provisioning New Virtual Machines
While consolidation provides compelling baseline benefits, virtualization with VMM makes IT groups
more responsive to business needs. The reason is quite simple — with virtualization, IT administrators
no longer have to procure and configure physical servers for new applications, a task that often takes
weeks or months. Instead, they can provision new virtual machines in a matter of minutes using the
VMM library and Administrator Console.
Better yet, with VMM, administrators can delegate this provisioning role to authorized users while
maintaining precise control over the management of virtual machines. Authorized users work from a
simple Web page that enables provisioning of virtual machines within preset controls.