Server Virtualization: Overview and Benefits

Server virtualization is a technology that enables multiple OS instances to run on a single physical machine, to simplify systems management and improve hardware utilization.

Many OSs, One Computer

In the context of computer systems, the term virtual is used in many different ways, such as in Java Virtual Machines or virtual memory. In this report, virtualization refers to a method of abstracting and decoupling a computer’s physical hardware from a conventional OS (such as Windows or Linux), thereby allowing additional multiple OSs to run on the same computer at the same time without subdividing the physical hardware resources into separate partitions. In most of today’s virtualization technologies, only the host OS (the first OS installed on the computer) is communicating directly with the hardware. All other OSs (called guest OSs when run this way) and the applications installed on them run in virtual machines (VMs), which emulate the CPU, memory, I/O controller, graphics adapter, network adapter, and other peripherals. A physical server can run multiple VMs simultaneously.