| Server Virtualization
Server virtualization is a generalized term describing the ability to host multiple complete OS images on a single hardware platform. Both OS virtualization and hardware virtualization technologies result in the creation of a virtual server. The way that the OS interacts with the hardware platform is modified so that multiple OS instances can share the underlying hardware platform. Server virtualization is often used to consolidate multiple smaller (or older) servers onto a single, large server, without changing how the applications or OS is managed.
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Storage Virtualization
Storage virtualization is the abstraction of the physical storage from the logical storage. While the actual physical storage may include several separate storage devices of different capacity and performance, storage virtualization presents a single logical storage entity. This means that the Storage Area Network (SAN) may consist of storage pools and storage devices in different locations at the physical level, but the user would see a single (often very large) storage entity, which can, from the user perspective, be managed centrally as well.
Storage and Server Virtualization allow you to easily enable disaster recovery, reduce downtime, and speed delivery of new applications while reducing costs. Features like off-site data replication and hardware independent virtual machines make disaster recovery simple. Snapshots, dynamic volume expansion, high availability and live virtual machine migration virtually eliminate or significantly reduce downtime without the cost or complexity of clustering. Consolidating multiple servers into virtual machines running on fewer servers reduces both your capital and operational expenses. By taking advantage of unused capacity to build new virtual machines, you can roll out applications without waiting for new hardware to be deployed.