A virtual machine (VM) is a virtualized environment that operates as a computer system with a virtual CPU, memory, network interface & storage. It is established on a physical hardware system, whether on-premises or off-premises. The machine’s resources are isolated from the hardware by hypervisor software, which allocates them effectively for utilization by the VM.
The physical machines, equipped with a hypervisor such as Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), are referred to as the host machine, host computer, host operating system, or simply host. The multiple VMs that utilize its resources are guest machines, computers, operating systems, or simply guests.
The hypervisor treats compute resources, such as CPU, memory & storage, as a pool of resources quickly relocated between existing guests or new virtual machines, ensuring efficient resource utilization.
Virtual Machines (VMs) enable the simultaneous operation of multiple operating systems on a single computer. For instance, you can run a Linux® distro on a MacOS laptop.
Each operating system operates in the same manner as it would on the host hardware, resulting in an end-user experience within the VM that resembles running an operating system on a physical machine.
How Do VMs Work?
Virtualization technology enables the sharing of a system among multiple virtual environments. The hypervisor effectively manages the hardware, efficiently separating physical resources from the virtual environments. Resources are dynamically allocated from the physical environment to the VMs based on demand.
When the virtual machine (VM) is in operation & a user or program initiates an instruction that necessitates additional resources from the physical environment, the hypervisor effectively allocates these resources from the shared pool of physical resources.
This ensures that the VM’s operating system & applications can access the required resources seamlessly.
Read More About Virtualization & Why Is Virtualization Important For Businesses?
Types Of Hypervisors
2 different types of hypervisors can be used for virtualization.
Type 1
A type 1 hypervisor operates on bare metal, scheduling virtual machine resources directly to the hardware. KVM was an example of a type 1 hypervisor integrated into the Linux® kernel in 2007. Therefore, KVM is readily available if you are utilizing a contemporary version of Linux.
Type 2
A type 2 hypervisor is hosted, where VM resources are scheduled against a host operating system & executed against the hardware. Examples of type 2 hypervisors include VMware Workstation & Oracle VirtualBox.
Why Use A VM?
Server consolidation is a crucial rationale for utilizing VMs. Operating system & application deployments typically use only a fraction of the available physical resources when deployed on bare metal. By virtualizing your servers, you can maximize hardware utilization by housing multiple virtual servers on each physical server.
This helps eliminate the requirement for extra physical resources such as hard drives or disks, reducing the data center’s power, space & cooling demands. Virtual machines (VMs) offer disaster recovery solutions by enabling failover & redundancy, previously attainable only through additional hardware.
A virtual machine (VM) offers a self-contained environment that ensures its processes do not disrupt other operations on the host hardware.
VMs offer isolation, making them suitable for testing new applications or establishing a production environment. Additionally, a single-purpose VM can be employed to streamline specific processes.
Why Choose Sea Change Systems?
Sea Change Systems has long supported virtualization software development, significantly improving the KVM hypervisor & actively contributing to both the KVM & oVirt communities since their inception.
The KVM hypervisor has become the central component in major OpenStack® & Linux virtualization distributions, establishing new performance benchmarks & enabling high-density VM deployments on a single server.
Sea Change Systems Virtualization is a cutting-edge, software-defined platform that efficiently virtualizes Linux & Microsoft Windows workloads.
Based on Sea Change Systems Enterprise Linux & KVM, this solution incorporates management tools to virtualize resources, processes, & applications. It provides a robust infrastructure for a cloud-native & containerized future, ensuring stability & scalability.
