Virtualization in cloud computing

Virtualization is the "creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of

something, such as a server, a desktop, a storage device, an operating system or
network resources".

In other words, Virtualization is a technique, which allows to share a single

physical instance of a resource or an application among multiple customers and
organizations. It does by assigning a logical name to a physical storage and
providing a pointer to that physical resource when demanded.

What is the concept behind the Virtualization?

Creation of a virtual machine over existing operating system and hardware is

known as Hardware Virtualization. A Virtual machine provides an environment
that is logically separated from the underlying hardware.
The machine on which the virtual machine is going to create is known as Host
Machine and that virtual machine is referred as a Guest Machine

Types of Virtualization:

1. Hardware Virtualization.
2. Operating system Virtualization.
3. Server Virtualization.
4. Storage Virtualization.

Hardware Virtualization:

When the virtual machine software or virtual machine manager (VMM) is directly
installed on the hardware system is known as hardware virtualization.

The main job of hypervisor is to control and monitoring the processor, memory
and other hardware resources.

After virtualization of hardware system we can install different operating system

on it and run different applications on those OS.

Operating System Virtualization:

When the virtual machine software or virtual machine manager (VMM) is installed
on the Host operating system instead of directly on the hardware system is known
as operating system virtualization.
Server Virtualization:

When the virtual machine software or virtual machine manager (VMM) is directly
installed on the Server system is known as server virtualization.

Storage Virtualization:

Storage virtualization is the process of grouping the physical storage from multiple
network storage devices so that it looks like a single storage device.

Storage virtualization is also implemented by using software applications.

How does virtualization work in cloud computing?

Virtualization plays a very important role in the cloud computing technology,

normally in the cloud computing, users share the data present in the clouds like
application etc, but actually with the help of virtualization users shares the
Infrastructure.

The main usage of Virtualization Technology is to provide the applications with

the standard versions to their cloud users, suppose if the next version of that
application is released, then cloud provider has to provide the latest version to their
cloud users and practically it is possible because it is more expensive.

To overcome this problem we use basically virtualization technology, By using

virtualization, all severs and the software application which are required by other
cloud providers are maintained by the third party people, and the cloud providers
has to pay the money on monthly or annual basis.
Characteristics of Virtualization
Increased Security –
The ability to control the execution of a guest program in a completely
transparent manner opens new possibilities for delivering a secure, controlled
execution environment. All the operations of the guest programs are generally
performed against the virtual machine, which then translates and applies them to
the host programs.

Sharing –
Virtualization allows the creation of a separate computing environment within the
same host. This basic feature is used to reduce the number of active servers and
limit power consumption.

Aggregation –
It is possible to share physical resources among several guests, but virtualization
also allows aggregation, which is the opposite process. A group of separate hosts
can be tied together and represented to guests as a single virtual host. This
functionality is implemented with cluster management software, which harnesses
the physical resources of a homogeneous group of machines and represents them
as a single resource.

Emulation –
Guest programs are executed within an environment that is controlled by the
virtualization layer, which ultimately is a program. Also, a completely different
environment with respect to the host can be emulated, thus allowing the
execution of guest programs requiring specific characteristics that are not present
in the physical host.

Isolation –
Virtualization allows providing guests—whether they are operating systems,
applications, or other entities—with a completely separate environment, in which
they are executed. The guest program performs its activity by interacting with an
abstraction layer, which provides access to the underlying resources. The virtual
machine can filter the activity of the guest and prevent harmful operations against
the host.

Portability –
The concept of portability applies in different ways according to the specific type
of virtualization considered.
In the case of a hardware virtualization solution, the guest is packaged into a
virtual image that, in most cases, can be safely moved and executed on top of
different virtual machines.

Resource sharing:

Virtualization allows multiple virtual machines to share the resources of a single

physical machine, such as CPU, memory, storage, and network bandwidth. This
improves hardware utilization and reduces the need for additional physical
servers.

Flexibility:

Virtualization allows IT administrators to quickly and easily create, modify, or

delete virtual machines as needed, without the need to purchase and configure
additional physical hardware.

Hardware independence:

Virtual machines are hardware-independent, which means they can run on

different types of physical hardware and can be easily moved between physical
servers without needing to reconfigure the virtual machine.

Scalability:

Virtualization allows organizations to scale their computing resources up or

down as needed, depending on changing business requirements.

Management:

Virtualization provides centralized management tools that allow IT administrators

to monitor and manage multiple virtual machines from a single console, making it
easier to troubleshoot and maintain the virtualized environment.

Disaster Recovery:

Virtualization enables organizations to implement disaster recovery solutions

more easily and cost-effectively. By replicating virtual machines to remote sites,
organizations can quickly recover from a disaster and resume operations.
Cost Savings:

Virtualization can help organizations save money by reducing the need for
additional physical hardware, lowering electricity bills, and streamlining IT
operations. This can result in significant cost savings over time.

Improved Security Management:

Virtualization can help organizations improve their security posture by isolating

applications and workloads from each other. This can prevent security breaches
from spreading to other parts of the environment and reduce the attack surface.

Benefits of Virtualization
 More flexible and efficient allocation of resources.
 Enhance development productivity.
 It lowers the cost of IT infrastructure.
 Remote access and rapid scalability.
 High availability and disaster recovery.
 Pay peruse of the IT infrastructure on demand.
 Enables running multiple operating systems.

Drawback of Virtualization
 High Initial Investment: Clouds have a very high initial investment, but it is
also true that it will help in reducing the cost of companies.
 Learning New Infrastructure: As the companies shifted from Servers to
Cloud, it requires highly skilled staff who have skills to work with the cloud
easily, and for this, you have to hire new staff or provide training to current
staff.
 Risk of Data: Hosting data on third-party resources can lead to putting the
data at risk, it has the chance of getting attacked by any hacker or cracker very
easily.

Virtualization – A Look to the Future

The data center industry has moved way beyond simple server virtualization, and is
exploring new avenues to make virtualization an even more powerful platform.
Let’s take a look at some of these newer approaches to virtualization.

Several years ago, we began using virtualization technologies as means to test

servers and use resources more effectively. When VMware became a hypervisor,
very few vendors actually supported a virtual infrastructure. So, virtualization was
left behind in the classroom, and the development environment within numerous
organizations

With the awareness quickly rising, administrators saw that server resources were
being wasted dramatically and that virtualization was a way to curtail that. And
with that, the pressure rose on vendors to support a virtual state. From there, server
virtualization made its way into almost all data center environments as more
organizations adopted the technology to help align their business needs.
Summary

Mainly Virtualization means, running multiple operating systems on a single

machine but sharing all the hardware resources. And it helps us to provide the pool
of IT resources so that we can share these IT resources in order get benefits in the
business.