Day 9: Security, Packets and Virtual Machines

Today there was a lot of discussion about security. There is always that balance that needs to be found between free and easy access to internet tools and keeping data and students safe. This is one area that educators and IT personnel really struggle yet they are both interested in the student's best interests in mind. Where one is focused on educational value the other is focused on personal and identity safety. Both are worthy concerns and usually a compromise can be found. Still, I believe that keeping a student out of something does not really protect him or her in the long run as it fosters ignorance about the real issues. The threat to personal safety does not seem all that pressing. However, when discussing security of information, there is a real concern. There are several instances where personal data has been compromised and this is unacceptable when we think of school records and the information they contain.

The increased power of servers has led to an increased excess of storage. Blade servers offer so much space that virtualization has become more and more popular. What is virtualization? Tricky concept, but it is a way to minimize costs related to equipment and power usage. How? By making it seem that something is there when really it is not. Kind of like magic only more difficult to do :)

Virtualization allows you to use excess capacity to house software and redirect workstations icons, etc. to the main server instead of using the C: drive on the computer they are using. So instead of actually having the software on the hard drive of several small computers dispersed through the network, you have all data stored in a central place. Although this may seem to increase risk of losing data (single point of failure and all), but because blade servers have segregated sections, pieces can be stored and backed up on a regular basis limiting the loss of data from one failure. 

Running a machine through virtualization requires the use of an application such as Virtual Box. Through this easily installed application, a person can virtually run a machine.