Types of Virtualisation

Types of Virtualisation

There are several types of 'Virtualisation' including:

• Hardware/Platform
• Software
• Memory
• Storage
• Data
• Network

Hardware Virtualisation/Platform Virtualisation:

The creation of a virtual machine (VM) that acts like a traditional computer with an operating system. Software on the virtual machines is separated from the underlying hardware resources. e.g. a computer that is running a Mac OS may host a VM that looks like a computer with a Windows operating system. The Windows OS software can be run on that virtual machine.

Software Virtualisation

• Operating system-level virtualization: hosting of multiple virtualized environments within a single OS instance
• Application virtualization and Workspace virtualization: the hosting of individual applications in an environment separated from the underlying OS

Memory Virtualisation

• Memory virtualization: aggregating RAM resources from networked systems into a single memory pool.
• Virtual memory: giving an application program the impression that it has contiguous working memory.

Storage Virtualisation

• Storage virtualization: the process of fully abstracting logical storage from physical storage
• Distributed file system.

Data Virtualisation

• Data virtualization: The presentation of data as an abstract layer which is independent of underlying database systems, structures and storage.
• Database virtualization: the decoupling of the database layer which lies between the storage and application layers within the application stack.

Network Virtualisation

• Desktop virtualization: Separating a desktop environment from its physical computer (and its OS) and storing it on another machine across a network e.g. on a center server. Thin clients also employ desktop virtualization.
• Network virtualization: The creation of a virtualized network addressing space within or across network subnets.