While the ability to run multiple virtual workloads on the same physical hardware is essential for server virtualization, the benefits don't end there. Enterprise storage can also benefit from virtualization technologies. In addition, virtualization directly affects storage efficiency, can improve storage management and allows non-disruptive data migration across storage systems.

Despite its many benefits, storage virtualization also has a number of potential drawbacks. This chapter reviews the benefits and tradeoffs of storage virtualization, discusses ways to best use this technology and examines emerging virtualization trends and their effects on the enterprise.