What is Virtualization?

 Virtualization is technology that can use to create virtual representations of servers, storage, networks, and other
physical machines.
 Virtual software mimics the functions of physical hardware to run multiple virtual machines simultaneously on a
single physical machine.
 Businesses use virtualization to use their hardware resources efficiently and get greater returns from their
investment.
 Virtualization is a process that allows a computer to share its hardware resources with multiple digitally separated
environments.
 Each virtualized environment runs within its allocated resources, such as memory, processing power, and storage.
 With virtualization, organizations can switch between different operating systems on the same server without
rebooting.
 Why is virtualization important?

Example-
 Consider a company that needs servers for three functions:
 Store business email securely
 Run a customer-facing application
 Run internal business applications
 Each of these functions has different configuration requirements:
 The email application requires more storage capacity and a Windows OS.
 The customer-facing application requires a Linux OS and high processing power to handle large volumes of
website traffic.
 The internal business application requires iOS and more internal memory (RAM).
First method to meet these requirements:
 The company sets up three different dedicated physical servers for each application.
 The company must make a high initial investment and perform ongoing maintenance and upgrades for one machine
at a time.
 The company also cannot optimize its computing capacity.
 It pays 100% of the servers’ maintenance costs but uses only a fraction of their storage and processing capacities.
Second method to meet these requirements:
 The company creates three digital servers, or virtual machines, on a single physical server.
 It specifies the operating system requirements for the virtual machines and can use them like the physical servers.
 The company now has less hardware and fewer related expenses.
Third method to meet these requirements:
 The company can also use a cloud instance or virtual machine from a cloud computing provider.
 CSP manages all the underlying hardware, and the company can request server resources with varying
configurations.
 All the applications run on these virtual servers without the users noticing any difference.
 Server management also becomes easier for the company’s IT team.

Therefore
 By using virtualization, we can interact with any hardware resource with greater flexibility.
 Physical servers consume electricity, take up storage space, and need maintenance.
 Virtualization removes all these limitations by abstracting physical hardware functionality into software.
 Can manage, maintain, and use your hardware infrastructure like an application on the web.
 Two important concepts in virtualization
Virtual machine:
 A virtual machine is a software-defined computer that runs on a physical
computer with a separate operating system and computing resources.
 The physical computer is called the host machine and virtual machines are
guest machines.
 Multiple virtual machines can run on a single physical machine.
 Virtual machines are abstracted from the computer hardware by a hypervisor.
 A virtual machine has all the attributes and characteristics of a physical
system that emulates a physical machine.
 A system virtual machine has its own address space in memory, its own
processor resource allocation, and its own device I/O using its own virtual
device drivers.
Hypervisor-
 A low-level program is required to provide system resource access to virtual machines, and this program is referred
to as the hypervisor or Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM).
 It is a software component that manages multiple virtual machines in a computer.
 It ensures that each virtual machine gets the allocated resources and does not interfere with the operation of other
virtual machines.
Type 1 hypervisor-
 Also known as bare-metal hypervisor.
 Is a hypervisor program installed directly on the computer’s hardware instead of the operating system.
 Are commonly used by enterprise applications.
Type 2 hypervisor-
 Also known as a hosted hypervisor.
 The type 2 hypervisor is installed on an operating system.
 Type 2 hypervisors are suitable for end-user computing.
 HYPERVISOR-2
Guest Guest Guest
HYPERVISOR-1
OS OS OS
Guest Guest Guest
OS OS OS Hypervisor

Hypervisor Host Operating System

System Hardware System Hardware