What is Virtualization?​

Virtualization can be divided into four areas:

Hardware virtualization refers to the creation of a virtual machine (VM) that behaves like a real computer with an operating system. Software deployed on these virtual machines is separated from the underlying hardware. For example, a computer that is running Windows Server may host a virtual machine with the Ubuntu Linux operating system; Ubuntu-based software can be run on the virtual machine.

In hardware virtualization, the host machine is the actual server on which the virtualization takes place, and the guest machine is the virtual machine. The words host and guest are used to distinguish the software that runs on the physical machine from the software that runs on the virtual machine. The software or firmware that creates a virtual machine on the host hardware is called a hypervisor or Virtual Machine Manager.

Desktop virtualization is the concept of separating the logical desktop from the physical machine.  The following are different aspects of desktop virtualization:

• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) can be thought of as a more advanced form of hardware virtualization. Rather than interacting with a host computer directly via a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, the user interacts with the host server capable of hosting multiple virtual machines at the same time for multiple users.

• Session Virtualization allows multiple users to connect and log into a shared but powerful computer simultaneously. Each user is given a desktop and a personal folder in which they store their files. With multi-seat configuration, session virtualization can be accomplished using a single PC with multiple monitors, keyboards, and mice.

• Thin clients is a lightweight computer that is purpose-built for remoting into a server (typically cloud or desktop virtualization environments). It depends heavily on its server to fulfill its computational roles.

Storage virtualization uses virtualization to enable better functionality and more advanced features in computer data storage systems.

A storage system is also known as a storage array or disk array. Storage systems typically use special hardware and software along with disk drives in order to provide very fast and reliable storage for computing and data processing. Storage systems are complex and may be thought of as special purpose servers designed to provide storage capacity along with advanced data protection features. Disk drives are only one element within a storage system; you also have hardware and special purpose embedded software within the system.

Network virtualization is categorized as either external virtualization, combining many networks or parts of networks into a virtual unit, or internal virtualization, providing network-like functionality to software containers on a single-network server.