Last Updated on October 5, 2020 by Vikash Ekka
Virtualization is an important term in computing which refers to the act of emulating a virtual version of something, be it an operating system, desktop, network or storage. it was originally devised as a method of logically dividing the system resources. The most basic form of virtualization that many are familiar with is creating logical partitions in a hard drive to make separate space for the operating system and user data.
The different types of virtualizations have been briefly mentioned below:
Network Virtualization: Through this method, the available bandwidth in a network is split into channels, which can then be assigned to different devices, independent of each other.
Storage Virtualization: This method is used to combine physical storage devices from multiple networks into a single virtual storage which can be centrally managed.
Server Virtualization: Server Virtualization is used to mask server resources from users in order to share those resources without divulging the complicated details of the procedure.
Data Virtualization: This approach allows an application to manage data without knowing the details about its location or format.
Desktop Virtualization: This advanced form of hardware virtualization allows the user to interact with a host computer to another desktop computer or a mobile device over a network connection.
Application Virtualization: This process allows an application to run in an encapsulated form, distancing it from the host operating system on which it has been executed.
What is Linux Virtualization ?
Linux Virtualization is the process through which one or more virtual machines are run on a Linux-based physical computer. While it can be used to isolate a whole operating system, generally it is used to run specific software or code in a separate environment. It is mostly useful for testing performances of new software or for security purposes.
There are a number of open source as well as proprietary software available for Linux virtualization Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and VirtualBox are among the most used open source software for this purpose, while VMware ESXI/Workstation is a proprietary alternative.
KVM: It is a virtualization infrastructure based on the Linux kernel. The current version of the software is capable of supporting virtualization of a variety of guest operating systems including Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows, and OS X software package for x86 based computers.
VirtualBox: It is a virtualization Originally developed by Innotek GmbH, it was later acquired by Sun Microsystems and Oracle respectively It supports FreeBSD, Linux, OpenBSD, OS/2 Warp, Windows and Solaris operating systems in the guest machine.
VMWare: VMWare offers one entry level virtualization software, VMware Workstation, and one enterprise-level virtualization software, VMware ESX Server. The supported guest operating systems for these two alternatives include FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, and Windows.