Virtualization

Virtualization is the creation of virtual resources such as servers, desktops, operating systems, files, storage, and networks.

The main purpose of virtualization is to manage the workload by fundamentally changing to make traditional computing more scalable. Virtualization has been a part of the IT world for decades and today it can be applied to various system layers such as operating system level virtualization, hardware level virtualization, server virtualization, and so on.

The most common form of virtualization is operating system level virtualization. With operating system level virtualization, you can run multiple operating systems on a single piece of hardware. Virtualization technology uses software emulation hardware to separate physical hardware and software. If different operating systems run on the main operating system by virtualization, they are called virtual machines.

As with a normal data file, a virtual machine is nothing but a data file on a physical computer can be moved to another computer for copying. Computers in virtual environments use two types of file structures to define hardware and define hard disks. Virtualization software or hypervisor provides caching technology that can be used to cache changes to virtual hardware or virtual hard disk for later writing. This technology allows users to discard changes made to the operating system and boot from the known state.

Virtualization can be divided into various layers: desktop, server, file, storage, and network. Each layer of virtualization has its own advantages and complexities. This technology brings many advantages, such as low cost or free implementation, full utilization of resources, operational cost savings and energy savings. However, deploying virtualization technology requires well-planned and skilled technical experts. Because virtual machines use the same resources to run, performance may be degraded.

Hardware virtualization or platform virtualization refers to the creation of a virtual machine that acts like a real computer with an operating system. The software running on these virtual machines is separated from the underlying hardware resources. For example, a computer running Microsoft Windows can host a virtual machine that looks like a computer with the Ubuntu Linux operating system, and Ubuntu-based software can run on the virtual machine. In hardware virtualization, the host is the actual machine where the virtualization takes place and the guest is the virtual machine. The terms host and guest are used to distinguish between software running on a physical machine and software running on a virtual machine. The software or firmware that creates a virtual machine on the host hardware is called a hypervisor or a virtual machine monitor.

IT virtualization is the creation of a virtual version of IT equipment or resources, not a physical version. Many people only consider virtual machines (VMs), one physical machine hosts a number of VMs running different operating system implementations. For example, it is not uncommon for a single Intel or IBM POWER system to host several different virtual machines using the Windows, Linux, IBM i, or AIX operating system, It greatly reduces hardware space.