Virtualization Technology for Beginners!

 

Why Virtualization?

    Definitely, why Virtualization? To begin with, it is a very popular technology now a days. Because it has many advantages over usual physical system. Two most noteworthy advantages are more security and less footprint.

    This technology allows segmentation inside a system. As a result, you can run many system in one physical computer simultaneously. In a situation of system crash or virus infection, you can go back to a previous better state using snapshot of your virtual system. This increases security.

    At the same time, Virtual system also uses low space and power consumption comparing to real systems.

    One practical use of virtual technology you may want to try is installing various operating systems inside your current operating system. To read more about this process read How to install CentOS 7 Linux using virtual technique.

What is Virtualization?

    Virtualization means using one or more guest operating system inside a host operating system. Further, it allocates system resources for different virtual systems separately. Suppose, you are using a Windows operating system. Now for some reasons you want to use a Linux operating system. In case like this, you can install Linux without using virtual technology. But as a new user of Linux you can use virtualization tools for installing Linux safely, so that it doesn’t crash your entire hard disk.

    Virtualization software creates a virtual hard disk, processor, RAM and other necessary hardware correspondingly. After that, your guest operating system will only access those virtually created hardware. So this won’t be able to affect your main operating system.

Types of Virtualization :

    All the components of a traditional data center or IT infrastructure can be virtualized today, with various specific types of virtualization:   

1. Hardware virtualization: When virtualizing hardware, virtual versions of computers and operating systems (VMs) are created and consolidated into a single, primary, physical server. A hypervisor communicates directly with a physical server’s disk space and CPU to manage the VMs. Hardware virtualization, which is also known as server virtualization, allows hardware resources to be utilized more efficiently and for one machine to simultaneously run different operating systems.
2. Software virtualization: Software virtualization creates a computer system complete with hardware that allows one or more guest operating systems to run on a physical host machine. For example, Android OS can run on a host machine that is natively using a Microsoft Windows OS, utilizing the same hardware as the host machine does. Additionally, applications can be virtualized and delivered from a server to an end user’s device, such as a laptop or smartphone. This allows employees to access centrally hosted applications when working remotely.
   
3. Storage virtualization: Storage can be virtualized by consolidating multiple physical storage devices to appear as a single storage device. Benefits include increased performance and speed, load balancing and reduced costs. Storage virtualization also helps with disaster recovery planning, as virtual storage data can be duplicated and quickly transferred to another location, reducing downtime. 
   
4. Network virtualization: Multiple sub-networks can be created on the same physical network by combining equipment into a single, software-based virtual network resource. Network virtualization also divides available bandwidth into multiple, independent channels, each of which can be assigned to servers and devices in real time. Advantages include increased reliability, network speed, security and better monitoring of data usage. Network virtualization can be a good choice for companies with a high volume of users who need access at all times.
   
5. Desktop virtualization: This common type of virtualization separates the desktop environment from the physical device and stores a desktop on a remote server, allowing users to access their desktops from anywhere on any device. In addition to easy accessibility, benefits of virtual desktops include better data security, cost savings on software licenses and updates, and ease of management.

Benefits :

• No actual hardware components for installation are required.
• You can access the virtualization from the third party or you can purchase the licenses.
• The most frequent providers of virtualization automatically update their useful hardware and software. They are installed by a third party provider instead of sending individuals to updates locally. 
• Digital entrepreneurship was practically impossible for an average person before virtualization took place to a large scale.
•  Energy consumption lowers because less power is consumed on physical servers.
• When dozens of servers can be installed on the same computer, the supply of servers is almost no extra cost.

Flaws :

• Not every application or server will work in a virtualization environment.
• You will need to invest in training existing network administrators who do not have the capabilities to manage a virtual network.
• In a virtualized system, when something is wrong, complex troubleshooting is needed.
• The difficulty is that the extra resources needed are almost impossible to estimate in advance.

Popular Tools for Virtual System :

1. VMware Workstation Pro
2. Oracle VirtualBox
3. VMware Fusion

Requirements :

  There are three main requirements for virtualization.

1. Equivalence – Virtual system has to run like a real system.
2. Resource control – Host system should have full control.
3.  Efficiency – Virtual systems have to be able to run any instruction with no or less help of host system.

Source : whilenetworking.com

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