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5.2Virtualization Technology

Virtualization allows multiple virtual machines to operate on a single physical computer, forming the foundation of modern cloud computing. Key components include hypervisors, virtual machines, containers, and virtual networks, all of which enhance IT efficiency, security, and scalability. Various software solutions, such as VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Docker, facilitate virtualization across different operating systems.

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17 views

5.2Virtualization Technology

Virtualization allows multiple virtual machines to operate on a single physical computer, forming the foundation of modern cloud computing. Key components include hypervisors, virtual machines, containers, and virtual networks, all of which enhance IT efficiency, security, and scalability. Various software solutions, such as VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Docker, facilitate virtualization across different operating systems.

Uploaded by

megha.garg1
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Virtualization

Technology - The
Basis of Cloud
Computing
Virtualization refers to running multiple virtual computers, or virtual machines ,
inside a single physical computer. While the basic idea of virtualization is old
(dating back to mainframe computers in the 1960s), it has become mainstream
only in the last 10-15 years. Today, most new servers are virtualized.

Virtualization is the basis of modern cloud computing .

Contents
Why Virtualize?
Hypervisor
Virtual Machine
Container
Virtual Network
Virtualization Software

Why Virtualize?
Virtualization drivers in recent years have included:

 More powerful hardware, allowing each machine to run multiple


applications simultaneously
 Pressure to lower IT costs and simplify IT administration
 Need to manage large-scale installations and clusters, such as server
farms
 Improved security, reliability, scalability, and device independence
 Ability to mix multiple operating systems on same hardware.

Hypervisor
A hypervisor is an operating system instance, or a software package, that
creates and manages virtual machines. The hypervisor typically runs on real
hardware and allows multiple virtual machines to run on the same hardware.
Virtual machines are also called guests.

Modern hypervisors in the PC world include VMware ESX, VMware Player, Xen,
Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and QEMU. VMWare Player,
VirtualBox, and QEMU are application-layer hypervisors (essentially like normal
programs), though they rely on some specialized operating system support for
virtualization. Linux KVM and FreeBSD's bhyve are kernel modules that
effectively convert a normal operating system into a hypervisor. In fact, it is often
possible to log into a hypervisor (e.g., using SSH keys and use it like a normal
operating system.

For more information, see virtualization software.

Virtual Machine
A virtual machine is a virtual operating system instance run under a hypervisor. A
virtual machine may run in a cloud service or may be running on a user's desktop
or some server hardware.

Generally, a virtual machine looks like just a normal computer and operating
system to anyone logging into it over a network. A virtual machine will usually
have virtual disks, virtual network interfaces, and often a virtual display.

A typical server will run up to several dozen virtual machines. Some servers may
run hundreds or even thousands of virtual machines.

Guest Operating System and Remote


Access
A virtual machine can run almost any guest operating system, including Linux
and Windows. Linux virtual machines are typically accessed over the network
using SSH. Windows virtual machines are often accessed remotely using
Windows remote desktop. Many virtualization systems also give access to the
host's virtual console display.

Virtual Machine Device Access


A virtual machine uses virtual devices to interact with the host operating system.
The host operating system may emulate actual hardware to allow the guest
operating system (i.e., the operating system running on the virtual machine) to
access storage, network, and other resources.

Many hypervisors and guest operating systems support paravirtualized device


drivers. This means that the guest operating system driver does not actually
access emulated hardware; instead, it recognizes it is running on a particular
hypervisor, and uses a hypervisor-specific communication mechanism to access
the hypervisor's device drivers. The hypervisor may control and map access to
its device drivers to enforce security and direct the virtual machine to its own
virtual storage.

Container
A container is a special kind of virtual machine that has no guest operating
system. Instead, it is a group of processes isolated from other processes on the
same host using special namespaces. In Linux, these are
called cgroups or control groups .

Virtual Network
A virtual network is a network defined inside a computer using a virtual switch
that one or more virtual machines or containers may connect to using virtual
network interfaces.

From an IP address configuration perspective, a virtual network looks just like


any other network segment. A virtual switch is used to pass packets between
virtual machines and containers. Sometimes, network address translation is also
performed.

Virtual Networks Spanning Multiple


Computers
A virtual network may also extend to multiple servers. In this case, it's virtual
switch is also connected to a physical network interface. Often the physical
network interface is configured to use VLAN tagging to enable multiple virtual
networks to share the same physical cable.

Virtualization Software
Several virtualization software packages are available for Linux and Windows:

 VMware ESX and VMware Player


 Microsoft Hyper-V
 VirtualBox
 Citrix XenServer
 QEMU
 Docker
Various Linux distributions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux , contain
virtualization features built-in.

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