Virtualization is creating the virtual – rather than actual – version of something, like an operating system, a server, a storage device, and network resources.
It uses software or applications that simulate hardware functionality to create a virtual system. This practice permits IT organizations to operate so many operating systems, one or more than one virtual system, and various applications on one server. The advantages of it include more efficiencies and economies of scale.
Operating system virtualization uses software to permit a piece of hardware to run so many functional system images simultaneously. The technology started on mainframes decades ago, allowing administrators to avoid wasting expensive processing power.
Types of virtualization
We may see a few about it if we have ever divided our hard drive into multiple partitions. The partition is the logical division of a hard disk drive to make, in effect, two separate hard drives.
There are six areas where it is creating headway:-
Network Virtualization:-
It is a process of linking the available resources in the network by splitting up the available bandwidth in channels, each of which is independent of the others and can assign – or reassigned – to a particular server or device in real-time. The idea is that it farces the true complexity of the network by dividing it into manageable parts, much like our partitioned hard drive makes it easier to manage our files.
Storage Virtualization:-
It is the process of pooling physical storage from so many network storage devices in what appears to be one storage device managed by a central console. It is generally used in storage area networks.
Server Virtualization:-
It is the masking of server resources from server users, including the number and identity of particular physical servers, processors, and operating systems. The intention is to extra the user from understanding and managing complicated details of server resources while raising resource sharing and utilization and maintaining the capacity to expand later.
Data Virtualization:-
It is essentially the traditional technical details of information or data and data management, like location, performance, or format, in favor of broader access and more resiliency tied to organization needs.
Desktop Virtualization:-
It virtualizes a workstation burden rather than a server. To permit the user to use the desktop remotely, typically using a thin client at the desk. The workstation is essential to running in a data center server; used to it can be both more secure and portable. The operating system license still wants to be accounted for and the infrastructure.
Application Virtualization:-
It abstracts an application layer away from the OS. This way, the application can execute in an encapsulated form without depending on the operating system. It can permit a Windows application to run on Linux and vice versa and add an isolation level.
Importance of Virtualization
It is the designing and managing virtual machines from a specific place. It provides a platform for sharing resources with many network resources. The benefits of virtualization are:
- It is affordable and easy to maintain.
- It supports multiple operating systems in a single virtualization platform.
- An application does not rely on heavy hardware to execute.
- The merging servers used to crash a server tenacity arranged by virtualization.
- It minimizes the space used by the manufacturer data and the data centers.
