Virtualization
What is virtualization? What tools can be used to boot up your virtual lab?
Last updated
What is virtualization? What tools can be used to boot up your virtual lab?
Last updated
Virtualization is technology that allows to create multiple virtual computers, known as Virtual Machines (VMs), using the same hardware resources, such as memory, processors and storage.
Each can run a different operating system (OS) and behave independently.
Data virtualization - Data can be treated as a dynamic supply and allows to combine multiple data sources to be seen and treated as a single source thanks to the tools used.
Desktop virtualization - Multiple simulated environments can be deployed to hundreds of physical machines. In this case, administrators can perform mass configurations on all virtual desktops.
Server virtualization - Servers can be partitioned so that components can be used to serve a variety of other functions. Allowing each virtualized server to focus on one specific function instead of running a variety of services.
Operating system virtualization - Multiple isolated instances can exist as long as the kernel allows it. This means that all virtual operating systems can be monitored and are isolated from each other. An example for this are containers.
Oracle's VirtualBox is a free x86 and AMB64/Intel64 virtualization software that can be run on Windows, Linux, MacOS, and more.
It is actively being developed and the list of features keeps getting longer, as well as the supported guest operating systems and platforms it can run on.
Furthermore, developers have gathered pre-built virtual machines where all are welcome to share their own as part of the community.
VMware Workstation Player is a hypervisor (virtualization software) that is available for free for personal use and also has other options for commercial licenses.
Docker is an operating system virtualization Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) product that can be used to deliver software in containers.
In this case, there is no possibility for having a graphical user interface (GUI) but does allow for interaction with the system itself.
