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Virtual Machine in OS

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27 views4 pages

Virtual Machine in OS

Uploaded by

Alieu Keita
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Virtual Machine in OS

A virtual machine (VM) is a virtual environment which functions as a


virtual computer system with its own CPU, memory, network interface, and
storage, created on a physical hardware system.

VMs are isolated from the rest of the system, and multiple VMs can exist on a
single piece of hardware, like a server. That means, it as a simulated image
of application software and operating system which is executed on a host
computer or a server.

It has its own operating system and software that will facilitate the resources
to virtual computers.

Characteristics of virtual machines


The characteristics of the virtual machines are as follows −

 Multiple OS systems use the same hardware and partition resources between virtual
computers.
 Separate Security and configuration identity.
 Ability to move the virtual computers between the physical host computers as
holistically integrated files.

The below diagram shows you the difference between the single OS with no
VM and Multiple OS with VM −

Benefits
Let us see the major benefits of virtual machines for operating-system
designers and users which are as follows −
 The multiple Operating system environments exist simultaneously on the same
machine, which is isolated from each other.
 Virtual machine offers an instruction set architecture which differs from real
computer.
 Using virtual machines, there is easy maintenance, application provisioning,
availability and convenient recovery.

Virtual Machine encourages the users to go beyond the limitations of


hardware to achieve their goals.

The operating system achieves virtualization with the help of a specialized


software called a hypervisor, which emulates the PC client or server CPU,
memory, hard disk, network and other hardware resources completely,
enabling virtual machines to share resources.

The hypervisor can emulate multiple virtual hardware platforms that are
isolated from each other allowing virtual machines to run Linux and window
server operating machines on the same underlying physical host.

Advantages:
1. There are no protection problems because each virtual
machine is completely isolated from all other virtual
machines.
2. Virtual machine can provide an instruction set
architecture that differs from real computers.
3. Easy maintenance, availability and convenient recovery.
Disadvantages:
1. When multiple virtual machines are simultaneously
running on a host computer, one virtual machine can be
affected by other running virtual machines, depending on
the workload.
2. Virtual machines are not as efficient as a real one when
accessing the hardware.
Why use a hypervisor?
Hypervisors make it possible to use more of a system’s available resources and provide
greater IT mobility since the guest VMs are independent of the host hardware. This
means they can be easily moved between different servers. Because multiple virtual
machines can run off of one physical server with a hypervisor, a hypervisor reduces:

 Space
 Energy
 Maintenance requirements

Types of hypervisors
 There are two main hypervisor types, referred to as “Type 1” (or “bare metal”) and
“Type 2” (or “hosted”). A type 1 hypervisor acts like a lightweight operating system
and runs directly on the host’s hardware, while a type 2 hypervisor runs as a
software layer on an operating system, like other computer programs.
 The most commonly deployed type of hypervisor is the type 1 or bare-metal
hypervisor, where virtualization software is installed directly on the hardware where
the operating system is normally installed. Because bare-metal hypervisors are
isolated from the attack-prone operating system, they are extremely secure.

What is a hypervisor?
 A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor or VMM, is software that
creates and runs virtual machines (VMs). A hypervisor allows one host computer to
support multiple guest VMs by virtually sharing its resources, such as memory and
processing.

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