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Virtualization

Red Hat Virtualization

Server and workstation virtualization

Virtualization should be seamless, fast, secure, and cost-effective

Virtualization can vastly improve efficiency, free up resources, and cut costs. But you can't afford to sacrifice performance, security, and existing investments. And as you plan for future technologies like cloud and containers, it's important to build common services that use your virtualization investment while avoiding vendor lock-in. So what if you could virtualize both your servers and workstations, manage them from 1 simple interface, and build a foundation for future technologies on your terms—without compromise? See how.

Gartner names Red Hat a Visionary for virtualization

Red Hat has been named a Visionary in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure

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Red Hat Virtualization: new name, better integration

We streamlined everything in version 4. With a shorter name, lighter hypervisor, container integration, and more, it’s enterprise ready from day 1.

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Benefits

Record-setting performance and scalability

  • Performance that's as good as bare metal[1]

  • Support for up to 480 logical CPUs and up to 6TB of memory per virtual machine (VM)

  • Record-setting SPECvirt_sc2013 benchmark results, including highest overall performance and highest number of well-performing VMs on a single server[1]

  • Up to 95% to 140% performance gains for real-world enterprise workloads like SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Exchange[5]

  • Robust Microsoft Exchange performance and high I/O throughput in Oracle database workloads

  • Consolidation ratios of 850+ VMs with enterprise workloads running on a single server[2]

Award-Winning

Sky News, a Red Hat customer, was awarded both Best Virtualization and Server Consolidation project and Best of Show in the 2014 Best of VMworld Europe awards for their project that includes Red Hat Virtualization and Red Hat Satellite.

Product details

Confidently virtualize business-critical workloads

Complete virtualization management

Only Red Hat Virtualization (formerly Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization) offers complete enterprise virtualization management for servers and technical workstations on the same infrastructure. Built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux®, it delivers reliable business agility and continuity for critical Linux and Microsoft Windows workloads at the scale you need. And because it's part of Red Hat Cloud Infrastructure, you can prepare for the cloud for a much lower cost than proprietary virtualization solutions.

Download the Red Hat Virtualization datasheet

Download the Red Hat Virtualization features guide

Datacenter management is overwhelming. But Red Hat Virtualization and Red Hat CloudForms provide 1 easy-to-use management environment for your entire multihypervisor virtualization infrastructure—including provisioning, deployment, and analysis. Manage tens, hundreds, or thousands of physical and virtual servers as easily as 1, and more accurately forecast hardware resources.

Download the Red Hat CloudForms datasheet

Take control of your technology—and future

Get more flexibility and choice than with closed, proprietary solutions. Based on open standards, Red Hat Virtualization supports Linux and Windows environments, and enterprise applications like Oracle and SAP, freeing you from vendor lock-in. Red Hat Virtualization lets you build a foundation for future technologies such as cloud and containers. Plus, our extensive independent hardware vendor (IHV) and independent software vendor (ISV) ecosystem has plenty of hardware and software that already integrate with your environment.

Military–grade security is built right in

With Red Hat, security doesn't cost extra. sVirt and SELinux provide kernel-level protection against hypervisor and guest exploits. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and earlier versions, including the KVM hypervisor, are Common Criteria EAL 4+ certified. And all security features are easy to use, administer, and manage, helping you:

  • Protect multiple tenants.
  • Fix critical vulnerabilities fast—most within 1 day.
  • Protect data at rest or moving across the network.
  • Reduce exposure with strict permissions.
  • Simplify auditing with the complete separation of guests.
  • Protect against malicious software attacks with cryptography.

Learn more about the sVirt technology in Red Hat Virtualization

Get ready for the cloud

Red Hat Virtualization is a component of Red Hat Cloud Infrastructure, which lets you build and manage private cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Red Hat Virtualization provides common underlying services and management technologies for traditional virtualization workloads while providing an on-ramp to high-level cloud functionality based on OpenStack®.

By virtualizing with Red Hat, you're laying the foundation for a seamless path to your private and open hybrid cloud implementations.

Learn about cloud infrastructure for the real world

Virtualize your technical workstations

Only Red Hat lets you virtualize workstations on the same infrastructure as servers at no added cost, giving you:

  • A seamless user experience. The powerful SPICE remote protocol delivers a user experience that's nearly indistinguishable from that of a local PC workstation.
  • Security. By moving workstation environments off disparately located desktop PCs into a centrally controlled datacenter, you safeguard company data and comply with strict government regulations.
  • Centralized management from 1 vendor. Red Hat Virtualization Manager is a feature-rich workstation virtualization management system with advanced capabilities for physical host servers and workstations, VM guests, and everything in between.

Learn how SPICE delivers a seamless desktop experience

What could you do with 75% savings?

Red Hat Virtualization is a lower-cost alternative to expensive proprietary solutions, leaving room in your budget for other initiatives. You can deploy more virtualized servers today and—with a quicker return on investment (ROI)—install your next virtualization project sooner.

Ways you can save:

  1. Save up to 50% to 75%[3] over proprietary alternatives
  2. Low-cost, high-value subscriptions include new releases at no extra charge.
  3. Lower operational costs can lead to upfront subscription costs being paid off in as little as 7 months[4].
  4. Consolidate and virtualize onto fewer systems to help reduce the number of IT staff needed.
  5. Faster time to deployment reduces total cost of ownership (TCO).

Download the competitive pricing guide

Download the Red Hat Virtualization TCO calculator

We see a clear ROI from our use of Red Hat Virtualization, not only for the hardware costs, but also from the manpower it takes from spinning up a cluster and getting VMs deployed and managed.

Lead Engineer, UNIX/LINUX engineering group, Qualcomm

Services and Support

We don't just sell you technology. We stand by it.

Invest in your or your team's skills

Our training courses are hands-on and role-based. This means students stay at their keyboards for up to 80% of a course, boosting the retention of skills they'll use every day. We offer several convenient ways to train and save, with training facilities around the world. Visit our student center to learn more, or read some training successes.

Red Hat Virtualization (RH318/RH319)

Learn how to configure a Red Hat Virtualization environment; install, manage, and troubleshoot virtual servers and desktops; and secure virtual environments via multilevel administrative roles.

Learn more about Red Hat Training

Have what it takes? Prove it.

Employers notice Red Hat certifications. They know that to become Red Hat Certified Professionals, candidates must complete real-world tasks using our technologies—not just answer questions about them. Build your career by getting certified. We offer multiple exam locations and ways to train.

Learn more about Red Hat certification

Rely on the experts

Let Red Hat Consulting help you successfully deploy Red Hat Virtualization. We offer flexible engagement models to help meet your IT goals. Have unallocated end-of-year budget? Consider using Consulting Units to secure resources you'll need in the upcoming year—without committing to a specific topic up front.

Cloud and virtualization engagement
Ensure your existing environment is optimized to support your long-term technology goals.
Learn more about Red Hat Consulting

Together, we can do more

Collaboration is a pillar of the open source community. And it’s how Red Hat approaches support. Connect to Red Hat Support to access industry-leading technical resources available in our award-winning Red Hat Customer Portal anywhere, any time.

We're listening

In keeping with the open source way, we like to keep the lines of communication open. So whether you’re a customer or just interested in learning more, connect with us. We’re eager to answer questions.

Contact sales
Our sales representatives are knowledgeable, friendly, and always ready to help.
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Find a Red Hat partner that sells Red Hat Virtualization or related applications.
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RED HAT Virtualization with Guests

Linux + virtualization from Red Hat gives you performance and a platform without boundaries

Red Hat Virtualization with guests combines Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Virtualization in 1 package for less.

Take complexity and application processing latency out of your implementation. Go beyond bare metal and virtualize more resource-intensive workloads on fewer servers. Requiring no modification with better synchronization, Red Hat Virtualization is a natural choice for virtualized Linux workloads.

Learn more

With Red Hat Virtualization, we can just spin up new virtual machines to take advantage of new opportunities in the market and we know that the environment we have is more than capable of hosting them.

JAMES MURPHY, TECHNOLOGY DELIVERY MANAGER, SKY NEWS Learn More

Related resources

Case studies

Casio
The greatest benefit provided by the combination of Red Hat Storage Server and Red Hat Virtualization was a dramatic reduction in storage costs, which had posed problems for many years.
Telefónica
One of the key benefits of Red Hat cloud solutions—which are based on Red Hat Virtualization, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Satellite, and Red Hat CloudForms—is that they work with virtualization solutions from different manufacturers, including the one currently installed and in production in the TGSol datacenter.
British Airways
British Airways increases scalability, reliability, flexibility and performance while building on its IT infrastructure using Red Hat Virtualization.
See All Virtualization Case Studies

Hardware Certification

Confidently run Red Hat software on your hardware

Red Hat's Hardware Certification Program ensures compatibility between Red Hat software products and hardware from industry-leading partners. In addition to hardware tests that verify compatibility, the program requires an active support relationship between Red Hat and the hardware partner. This relationship is your assurance that Red Hat and the certified hardware partner will work together to address issues should the need arise.

Learn more

Try a fully supported 60-day trial of Red Hat Virtualization

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Notes

  1. Comparison based on benchmark addressing performance evaluation of datacenter servers used in virtualized server consolidation at www.spec.org as of November 2013. SPEC® and the benchmark name SPECvirt® are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.
  2. Red Hat Virtualization performance: SPECvirt benchmark
  3. Red Hat Virtualization: Competitive pricing guide
  4. Understanding Linux Deployment Strategies: The Business Case for Standardizing on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, IDC, April 2011.
  5. Advanced operations with Red Hat Virtualization 3.6

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