Republic of the Philippines

NORTHERN ILOILO STATE UNIVERSITY

Batad Campus, Batad Viejo, Batad, Iloilo

College of Information and Computing Studies

Information Technology Dept.
2nd Sem. AY 2025-2026

Subject No. : PROF 103

Course Title : Virtual System and Services

Course Description : This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the design,

management, and optimization of virtual systems and services. Topics covered
include virtualization technologies, cloud computing, server management, and the
integration of virtual systems into business operations. The course emphasizes
practical applications of virtual environments, virtualized infrastructure, and the
services built on top of them, preparing students for modern IT environments where
virtualized systems are prevalent.

No. of Units : 3 Time Frame : 90 hrs/sem

Pre-Requisite : None

TOPIC 1
Introduction to Virtualization

I. Introduction

Virtualization is a technology that allows you to create virtual, simulated

environments from a single, physical machine. Through this process, IT professionals
can make use out of their previous investments and optimize a physical machine’s full
capacity by distributing resources that are traditionally bound to hardware across
many different environments.

Used for decades, virtualization is a powerful technology within IT infrastructure that

can be used to increase efficiency, retain flexibility, and improve scalability. Because
multiple operating systems can share the same physical hardware, virtualization can
improve resource use, reduce costs associated with physical maintenance, and boost
security through isolated systems.

Whether you’re a virtualization administrator running test environments on your

workstation or a large organization running a multitude of virtual machines (VMs)
across your hybrid cloud platform, virtualization plays a key role in modern IT
infrastructure and workloads.

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you must have to:
1. Define virtualization.
2. Understand the functions of virtualization.
3. Identify the different types of virtualization.

III. Learning Contents

Overview of Virtualization

What is virtualization?

Virtualization creates virtual versions of computing resources (servers,

storage, networks, operating systems) from a single physical machine, using a
software layer (hypervisor) to abstract hardware, allowing multiple isolated "guest"
systems to run simultaneously on one physical "host". This technology boosts
efficiency, reduces costs, improves scalability, and enables flexible management by
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consolidating workloads, running different OSes on one server, and powering cloud
computing.

Virtualization helps us to create software-based or virtual versions of a

computer resource. These computer resources can include computing devices,
storage, networks, servers, or even applications. It allows organizations to partition a
single physical computer or server into several virtual machines (VM). Each VM can
then interact independently and run different operating systems or applications while
sharing the resources of a single computer.

Brief History of Virtualization

Virtualization’s roots go back to the 1960s and IBM, where programmer Jim
Rymarczyk was deeply involved in the first mainframe virtualization effort. In July 1,
1963 when Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced Project MAC
(Mathematics and Computation, later renamed to Multiple Access Computer). This
project was funded by a $2 Million grant from DARPA to fund research into computers,
specifically in the areas of Operating
Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and
Computational Theory. As part of
this research grant, MIT needed new
computer hardware capable of more
than one simultaneous user and
sought proposals from various
computer vendors including GE and
IBM.

Virtualization in the late 1960s, early

1970s
Prior to virtualization,
engineers and admins relied on key
punches, batch jobs and a single OS
to satisfy IT operational needs. This
was this time-consuming and
expensive. In 1964, IBM designed
and introduced CP-40, the first
mainframe system to rely on time-sharing technology. CP-40 provided computer
hardware capable of supporting more than one simultaneous user. Not long after,
SIMMON, a software testing tool, and CP-40 began production use, offering the
first hypervisor to provide full virtualization.

In 1974, Gerald Popek and Robert Goldberg classified the hypervisor into two
types: Type 1 and Type 2. The two types helped distinguish between hypervisors that
run on bare metal and those that run on top of an OS. Type 1 hypervisors provide
increased security because of their location in the physical hardware, which eliminates
the attack surface often found in an OS. Type 2 hypervisors are closely related to the
beginnings of x86 virtualization and are generally used for client or end-user systems.
This is because Type 2 hypervisors run on top of the host OS, which can lead to
latency issues and security risks.

Virtualization's foray into the IT Industry

In the early 1990s, several virtualization companies introduced services and
software to better virtualize admins' workloads and increase data center efficiency. In
1995, Red Hat Software Inc. released the first generally available version of Red Hat
Commercial Linux, which provided an OS based on the Linux kernel. In 1998, VMware
was founded by Diane Greene, Mendel Rosenblum, Scott Devine, Ellen Wang and
Edouard Bugnion and the following year, the company released its first product:
VMware Workstation. Workstation provided a Type 2 hypervisor that ran on x86
versions of Windows and Linux OSes, which enabled admins to set up VMs on a single

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machine. Each VM could then replicate and execute its own OS simultaneously. Later,
VMware offered support for x64 versions as well.

Virtualization Waves in the 2000s

With many virtualization companies such as VMware, Red Hat, IBM and Citrix
Systems well established, virtualization began to take off in the 2000s. Admins had
different services and software to choose from to virtualize their data centers and
hardware components, such as virtual CPUs, memory, storage and network adapters.
In 2001, VMware released ESX 1.0 Server, a Type 1 hypervisor based on the VMkernel
OS and geared toward enterprise-level organizations. ESXi runs on bare metal and
supports traffic shaping, virtual memory ballooning, role-based security access,
logging and audition, GUIs and vSphere PowerCLI.

2003 marked the release of Xen Project, the first opensource Type 1 hypervisor.
The Xen Project was one of many initiatives to introduce paravirtualization, a
technique that enhances virtualization by modifying an OS prior to VM installation.
This enables the OS to disregard any attempts to emulate a hardware environment.
Rather, it encourages the OS to share resources and collaborate with the system,
which can help reduce execution time.

Microsoft made its move with Hyper-V in 2008. Previously known as Windows
Server Virtualization, Hyper-V is a native hypervisor that helps admins create VMs on
x64 and x86 systems running on Windows. Microsoft shipped the first beta version of
Hyper-V with a few x86-64 editions of Windows Server 2008, and Hyper-V was officially
released to the public in June of that year.

In 2010, Microsoft continued its virtualization journey with Windows Azure.

Azure is a public cloud computing service that couples computer, networking and
storage resources with analytics to help admins develop and scale new or existing
applications in the public cloud.

Docker Inc. made a name for itself in 2013 with the release of its container
software. Prior to containers, the VM was the main virtualization instance type. Both
VMs and containers enable admins to virtually package and isolate applications for
deployment. But containers offer several benefits that VMs don't, such as increased
resource efficiency and scalability. This is because containers share the same
underlying OS kernel, which results in a single OS and smaller container instances.

How Does Virtualization Work?

Hypervisor software facilitates virtualization. A hypervisor sits on top of an
operating system but we can also have hypervisors that
are installed directly onto the hardware. Hypervisors take
physical resources and divide them up so that virtual
environments can use them. When a user or program
issues an instruction to the VM that requires additional
resources from the physical environment, the hypervisor
relays the request to the physical system and caches the
changes.
A virtual machine created by a hypervisor
functions as a single data file, and we can move it from
one computer to another, open it there, and it works the
same as on any other machine. Thus, it provides a lot of
flexibility and portability.

Virtual machine architecture can be separated into four different components,

listed from the bottom up:

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 An underlying system which includes the physical machine and its operating
system. Bare metal hypervisors do not require an underlying operating system
at this layer.
 A hypervisor which acts as a communication and translation layer.
 Multiple virtual machines that use the host’s resources by communicating with
the hypervisor.
 Applications and processes that run on each guest’s operating system.

How it Works
 Abstraction Layer: A software layer sits between hardware and virtual
machines (VMs), tricking VMs into thinking they have dedicated hardware.
 Hypervisor: This software (like VMware, Hyper-V) manages and allocates the
physical resources (CPU, RAM, storage) to each VM.
 Multiple Guests: A single server can host several VMs, each with its own
independent OS and applications, sharing resources efficiently.

Types of virtualization
Virtualization creates virtual versions of IT resources, with main types
including Server Virtualization (running multiple OS on one server), Desktop
Virtualization (remote access to virtual desktops like VDI), Application
Virtualization (running apps isolated from the OS), Network
Virtualization (software-defined networks), and Storage Virtualization (pooling
storage), plus Data Virtualization, GPU Virtualization, and Operating System
Virtualization, each offering improved efficiency and flexibility
.

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[Link]

Types of Virtualization

 Server Virtualization: The most common, it uses a hypervisor to run multiple

virtual servers (VMs) on a single physical server, isolating them and efficiently
using hardware.

Server virtualization is 1 of the most common types of virtualization, especially in

enterprise IT environments. Made possible by
hypervisors that separate and distribute physical
resources, server virtualization is a process that
involves partitioning a server so that the
resources can be used to serve multiple functions.

Server Virtualization - servers are computers

designed to process a high volume of specific
tasks so that other computers such as laptops
and desktops can do a variety of different jobs.
Virtualizing a server lets it do more of those
particular functions and involves partitioning it so
that the components can serve multiple purposes.
Server virtualization attempts to address both of these issues in one fell swoop. By
using specially designed software, an administrator can convert one physical server
into multiple virtual machines. Each virtual server acts like a unique physical device,
capable of running its own operating system (OS). In theory, you could create enough
virtual servers to the use all of a machine's processing power, though in practice that's
not always the best idea.

Why Use Server Virtualization

There are many reasons companies and organizations are investing in server
virtualization. Some of the reasons are financially motivated, while others address
technical concerns:

 Server virtualization conserves space through consolidation. It's common

practice to dedicate each server to a single application. If several applications
only use a small amount of processing power, the network administrator can
consolidate several machines into one server running multiple virtual
environments. For companies that have hundreds or thousands of servers, the
need for physical space can decrease significantly.

 Server virtualization provides a way for companies to

practice redundancy without purchasing additional hardware. Redundancy
refers to running the same application on multiple servers. It's a safety
measure -- if a server fails for any reason, another server running the same
application can take its place. This minimizes any interruption in service. It
wouldn't make sense to build two virtual servers performing the same
application on the same physical server. If the physical server were to crash,
both virtual servers would also fail. In most cases, network administrators will
create redundant virtual servers on different physical machines.

 Virtual servers offer programmers isolated, independent systems in which

they can test new applications or operating systems. Rather than buying a
dedicated physical machine, the network administrator can create a virtual
server on an existing machine. Because each virtual server is independent in
relation to all the other servers, programmers can run software without
worrying about affecting other applications.
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 Server hardware will eventually become obsolete, and switching from one
system to another can be difficult. In order to continue offering the services
provided by these outdated systems -- sometimes called legacy systems -- a
network administrator could create a virtual version of the hardware on
modern servers. From an application perspective, nothing has changed. The
programs perform as if they were still running on the old hardware. This can
give the company time to transition to new processes without worrying about
hardware failures, particularly if the company that produced the legacy
hardware no longer exists and can't fix broken equipment.

 Desktop Virtualization: Delivers virtual desktops to users, allowing access

from anywhere, often via VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure).

Desktop virtualization allows a central administrator (or automated administration

tool) to deploy desktop environments to multiple physical machines at once. Desktop
virtualization allows admins to perform mass
configurations, updates, and security checks on all
virtual desktops.

Desktop Virtualization lets us deploy simulated

desktop environments to many physical machines at
once. Unlike traditional desktop environments that
are physically installed, configured, and updated on
each machine, desktop virtualization allows admins
to perform mass configurations, updates, and
security checks on all virtual desktops. Desktop
virtualization is a technology that allows the creation
and storage of multiple user desktop instances on a single host, residing in a data
center or the cloud. It is achieved by using a hypervisor, which resides on top of the
host server hardware to manage and allow virtual desktops to utilize the computing
power of the underlying server hardware. The hypervisor creates VMs that simulate
the user’s desktop environments, which can hold different operating systems,
applications, personalized settings, and user data. Users can remotely access as well
as operate these desktops from any endpoint device.

Benefits of Desktop Virtualization

Depending on the deployment model you choose, virtualized desktops offer
many benefits. However, six prominent ones stand out:

Simplified Administration. Desktop virtualization enables IT admins to manage a

server from a centralized location, allowing for quicker deployments and simplified
maintenance. This saves IT resources and time for an organization.

Secure and Mobile Access to Apps. Organizations can use virtualized desktops to
provide their remote employees high-throughput apps by enabling GPU sharing via a
secure connection from any end-device or platform.

Enhanced Employee Productivity. Employees can securely access their corporate

virtual desktops from any end-device, location, and at any time. Desktop
virtualization is a perfect fit for telework because employees access specialized apps
and functionalities on-the-go as opposed to typical mobile computing technologies.

Reduced Downtimes and Accelerated Deployments. With virtualized desktops, users

can easily be migrated to other VMs in case there is a hardware failure. As such,
there’s no lost time and productivity. Similarly, IT admins can quickly deploy new
hardware within a centralized infrastructure—getting new employees on board and
up to speed.

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Reduced IT Costs. Desktop virtualization allows organizations to shift their IT budgets

from the capital to operating expenditures. By delivering computationally-intensive
apps on VMs that are hosted on a data center, organizations can extend the shelf life
of older PCs or even less powerful machines. Besides, you also save on software
licensing requirements because you only need to install apps on a single, centralized
server as opposed to individual workstations.

Enhanced user Experience. Desktop virtualization can provide feature-rich

experience without sacrificing the hardware on which apps run on. For example,
users can still access USB ports or printing services on their end-devices.

 Application Virtualization: Packages applications to run independently, without installation

on the local OS, enabling remote access or portability (e.g., App-V).

Application virtualization provides a way for applications to be deployed and used by

making them available outside of the OS on which
they were originally installed. By separating the
application from its OS, it can be used remotely by
running it in a virtual environment. This approach
allows greater flexibility for management and
deployment. Application virtualization differs from
desktop virtualization because the application runs
virtually while the OS on the user’s device runs as
normal.

Application Virtualization - is abstracting the

application layer away from the operating
system. This way, the application can run in an encapsulated form without being
depended upon on by the operating system underneath. This can allow a Windows
application to run on Linux and vice versa, in addition to adding a level of isolation.

Benefits of Application Virtualization

These server images facilitate regulatory compliance with standards such as the
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Since data is not processed or stored on
endpoint devices, no data breach occurs, should the device become compromised. The
endpoint device is but a display terminal.
The benefits of application virtualization are many, some of which are listed below:
 Simple Installation: You can install an application to the server once, and simply
virtualize it to as many endpoints as you desire. Hence, the need to install the
application on every endpoint is reduced.
 Easy deployment: Deploying the applications for clients or partners is also easy.
You can simply send them the executable file that has already been configured,
and the deployment of these applications becomes easier.
 Better Portability: Virtualized applications can be used anywhere and
everywhere, on any endpoint, be it Windows, Android, or iOS. This extra
portability further allows critical information to stay on the server, and there is
no need to worry if an endpoint is compromised or stolen.
 Simple to get rid of applications: You can simply delete virtual applications to
get rid of them. Hence uninstallation in each computer is not required.
 Reduced conflicts between applications: Installing one application can
sometimes lead to issues and crashing of the other. Since virtualized
applications are virtual versions running on endpoints, this issue is reduced to a
great extent.
 Easier Rollback: If an application does not work as expected, it can easily be
reverted or rolled-back to its most stable state centrally.

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 Improved Security: Since virtualized applications are isolated from each other as
well as the operating system, malware that appears in one cannot affect the
other.
 Easier updates: You can update the virtualized applications once, from a central
location, and these updates do not have to be done individually on all the
desktops.
 Simplified Support: If there are issues with the working of the virtual
applications, then helpdesk personnel can easily view it from a central location
and solve the issues centrally.
 Independence from the Operating System: Virtualized applications are
independent of the operating system used, hence making them usable in any
endpoint be it Microsoft, iOS, or Android.

Other Virtualization Benefits Include:

 Allows the running of legacy apps (e.g., those developed for end-of-life OS
platforms like Windows 7 and XP).
 Enables cross-platform operations (e.g., running Windows apps on iOS, Android,
macOS, and Chrome OS).
 Prevents conflicts with other virtualized apps (e.g., conflicting anti-malware
software).
 Permits users to run multiple app instances if not virtualized, many apps can
detect the running of an instance and won't allow new ones.

Use Cases for Application Virtualization

Cost Control - if you have a huge number of employees or end-users, then purchasing
expensive PCs for everyone can turn out to be drastically expensive. Application
virtualization comes to the rescue in such a situation as it allows you to deliver critical
applications to any endpoint.

Application Mobility - enterprise applications should be accessible from any kind of

mobile device for ease of use. Application virtualization offers application mobility by
allowing applications to be delivered to any endpoint.

Secure Remote Access Capabilities - application virtualization allows employees to

access critical applications from anywhere and that too in a secure manner. Hence,
application virtualization is useful for work from home scenarios that not only ensures
ease but also security.

Simplified Migrations - since application virtualization separates applications from the

underlying operating system, there is no need to carry out extensive migrations from
one kind of OS to the other.

Deploying In-house Applications - another important use case of application

virtualization is the deployment of in-house applications which are updated frequently
by developers. The updates, installation, and delivery of these applications are made
remote and quick using application virtualization. Hence, application virtualization is
equally important for organizations that deploy in-house applications.

 Network Virtualization: Creates virtual networks (Software-Defined Networking - SDN) on

shared physical hardware, separating network functions from the physical devices (e.g.,
AWS VPC).

Network virtualization – Hardware and

software network functionality is abstracted
into a virtual network with a simplified
representation of nodes and links. Multiple
LANs can be combined into a single virtual

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network (VLAN), and a single LAN can be subdivided into multiple VLANs. You also can
use network virtualization to emulate a physical network within a single server.

Used by telecommunications service providers, network functions virtualization

(NFV) separates a network’s key functions (like directory services, file sharing, and IP
configuration) so they can be distributed among environments. Once software
functions are independent of the physical machines they once lived on, specific
functions can be packaged together into a new network and assigned to an
environment. Virtualizing networks reduces the number of physical components—like
switches, routers, and cables—that are needed to create multiple, independent
networks.

Network Functions Virtualization - separates the network functions such as IP

configuration, file sharing, and directory services. Virtualizing networks helps to
reduce the number of physical components such as switches, routers, servers, cables,
and hubs.

The Benefits of Network Functions Virtualization

Network operators who virtualize their network can save money, shorten the
time-to-market for new or updated products, and better scale and adjust resources
available to applications and services. Other benefits include:

Less Vendor Lock-in: Running VNFs on COTS hardware, which means organizations
aren’t locked into proprietary, fixed-function boxes that take truck rolls and
significant time and labor to deploy and configure.

Greater Resource Efficiency: A virtualized data center or other infrastructure is more

efficient to operate because more can be done with less. Data center footprint,
power consumption, and cooling requirements can all be reduced or kept the same,
but with increased workload capacity. This is possible because a single server can
run multiple VNFs at once, so not as many servers are needed to do the same
amount of work. When network demand changes, an organization can update its
infrastructure through software instead of doing another truck roll.

Flexibility: Organizations can use the agility of NFV to quickly adapt to changing
business requirements and new market opportunities. In other words, the time-to-
market period is shortened because the network infrastructure can be changed to
adequately support the organization’s new products. A network that has gone
through NFV is also able to adjust quickly and easily to changes in resource demand
as traffic coming to the data center increases or decreases.

NFV Architecture Consists of:

 Virtualized network functions (VNFs) are software applications that deliver
network functions such as file sharing, directory services, and IP configuration.
 Network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVi) consists of
the infrastructure components compute, storage, networking on a platform to
support software, such as a hypervisor like KVM or a container management
platform, needed to run network apps.

Management, automation and network orchestration (MANO) provides the framework

for managing NFV infrastructure and provisioning new VNFs.

 Storage Virtualization: Pools physical storage

from multiple devices into a single, manageable
virtual storage unit.

Storage virtualization allows you to manage and

access storage in a single storage device. All
storage devices on a network can have their

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storage pooled into 1 location. Storage virtualization improves efficiency for storage
actions like archiving and recovery and maximizes storage usage available in an
infrastructure.

Storage Virtualization - is the pooling of physical storage from multiple network

storage devices into what appears to be a single storage device that is managed from
a central console. Storage virtualization is commonly used in storage area networks.

Storage virtualization is a system administration practice that allows decoupling

the physical organization of the hardware from its logical representation. Using this
technique, users do not have to be worried about the specific location of their data,
which can be identified using a logical path. Storage virtualization allows us to harness
a wide range of storage facilities and represent them under a single logical file system.
There are different techniques for storage virtualization, one of the most popular being
network-based virtualization by means of storage area networks (SANs). SANs use a
network-accessible device through a large bandwidth connection to provide storage
facilities.

Storage virtualization is also called cloud storage. The management of storage and
data is a difficult and time-consuming task. Storage virtualization helps to solve this
problem by providing the facility of secure backup, archiving, and recovery takes by
consuming less time. Storage virtualization accumulated the function and hides the
actual complexity of the storage area network (SAN). By using software applications,
storage virtualization can be implemented.

Types of Storage Virtualization

 Block virtualization
 Disk virtualization
 Tape virtualization
 File virtualization

Reasons to Implement Storage Virtualization

 To improve storage management in a different IT environment.
 Better storage virtualization
 It provides improved availability and estimation of down-time with automated
management.

Storage Virtualization Model

 Storage devices
 Block aggregation layer
 File/record layer
 Application layer

Advantages of Storage Virtualization

 Data is stored in the more efficient locations, which is away from the particular
host. If any host will cause failure, than the data will not lost.
 The storage device can perform an advanced function like replication,
reduplication, and disaster recovery functionality.
 By performing abstraction of the storage level, IT operations became more
flexible in how storage is provided, partitioned, and protected.

Storage Virtualization Methods

There are different ways where storage can be applied to a virtualized
environment.
1. Host–based storage virtualization: in host-based storage virtualization, the host,
or a hyper-converged system made up of multiple hosts, presents virtual drives
of a set capacity to the guest machines, whether they are VMs is an enterprise
environment or PC’s accessing cloud storage. All of the virtualization and

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management are done at the host level through software, and the physical
storage can be almost in any device or array.
2. Array-based storage virtualization: in this method, a storage array is present in
various types of physical storage for use as storage tiers. Storage tier is made
up of solid-state drives (SSDs), or HDDs is handled by software in the array and
is hidden at the guest machine or user level.
3. Network-based storage virtualization: it is the most common form of storage
virtualization used in enterprises. A network device smart, like a smart switch or
purpose-built-server, connects to all storage devices in a fiber channel (FC)
storage area network (SAN).

 Data Virtualization: Provides a unified view of data from various sources without moving it,
simplifying access and analysis.

Data virtualization, more commonly known as a

data federation or a global namespace, allows data
that’s been distributed to be consolidated into a
single source. It brings together data from multiple
sources, easily accommodates new data sources,
and transforms data according to user needs. A
global namespace sits in front of multiple data
sources and allows them to be treated as a single
source, delivering the needed data—in the required
form—at the right time to any application or user.

Data virtualization solutions allow an organization

to present to their data consumers (people and
systems) a real-time integrated view of data
brought together from various locations and technologies and transformed into the
format required. This is not a new business desire; rather, it’s just that previous
technical solutions tended to be too slow to make the real-time transformation and
consolidation usable. Data virtualization is the culmination of all the techniques and
technologies perfected in data integration and business intelligence over the last two
decades. Data virtualization solutions are not meant to replace data warehouses but
to build on top of them to integrate historical data in the data warehouse in real time
with current data from various types of data structures that are local,
remote, structured, unstructured, and transient and then to present them for instant
use to the applications or users who need them in the format required.

 GPU Virtualization: Shares GPU resources among multiple users or VMs, critical for
graphics-intensive applications.

 Operating System Virtualization (Containerization): Runs multiple isolated user-space

instances (containers) on a single OS kernel, lighter than VMs (e.g., Docker).

OS Virtualization - operating system virtualization happens at the OS kernel, and it’s a

useful way to run multiple operating systems side-by-side. It reduces hardware costs,
increases security, and limits software maintenance (update/patching) costs.

Advantages of OS Virtualization
 OS virtualization usually imposes little or no
overhead.
 OS Virtualization is capable of live migration
 It can also use dynamic load balancing of
containers between nodes and a cluster.
 The file level copy-on-write (CoW) mechanism is
possible on OS virtualization which makes easier

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to back up files, more space-efficient and simpler to cache than the block-level
copy-on-write schemes.

Virtual Disks in OS Virtualization

The client will be connected via the network to the virtual disk & will boot
the OS installed on virtual disk. Two types of virtual disks are there for
implementation.

These are:
 Private Virtual Disk: is used by one client only like that of a local hard disk.
Users can save information on the virtual disk based on the rights assigned. So
as the client restart the system, the settings are retained just like working with
physical local hard disk.

 Shared/Common Virtual Disk: It is used by multiple clients at the same time. The
changes are saved in a special cache & these caches gets cleaned as the user
restarts or shutdowns the system. In other words, when a client is booting up, it
will use the default configuration available on the virtual disk.

Benefits of Virtualization

Among many advantages for specific IT priorities and use cases, the following are the six
main benefits of virtualization to a company or organization.

1. Lower expenses
Virtualization can make a huge difference in the efficiency of hardware utilization. By
enabling multiple VMs – each with its own self-contained operating system – to share the
compute, memory, and storage resources of a single physical server, organizations can
reduce the total number of servers needed to run their workloads. In turn, this also
lowers costs for power, cooling, and data center space. The benefits of server
virtualization are echoed in other forms of virtualization, where portable, hardware-
independent VMs allow organizations to choose more cost-effective ways to deploy
various resources.

2. Better flexibility and scalability

In the hardware-based days, it could take weeks or months for a company to deploy a
new server or shift workloads from one location to another. That’s much too slow to keep
pace with variable demand and changing business requirements. Now, organizations can
spin up and move VMs in minutes whenever and wherever they’re needed, whether on-
premises or in the cloud, and decommission unneeded VMs just as fast.

3. Improved disaster recovery and continuous business

When a physical device goes down, it can take hours or days to repair it – leaving a gap
in the organization’s available resources. When a VM fails, on the other hand, IT can
simply deploy a clone and resume normal operations. High-availability configurations no
longer call for a pool of duplicate physical servers to sit idle; instead, the business can
keep duplicate VMs on standby for deployment on any available server capacity. Fast
and simple backup, replication, and restoration of VMs greatly enhances disaster
recovery and continuous business, including the ability to shift entire environments to an
alternate data center or cloud provider.

4. Increased IT efficiency and productivity

IT teams used to spend endless hours installing, updating, maintaining, and backing up
software device by device across the organization. One key benefit of virtualization is the
ability to shift most of these tasks to centrally stored and managed VMs. Virtual

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instances of applications, desktops, servers, network components, and more can be

cloned easily for faster deployment at scale.

5. Better performance and availability

Balancing workloads across physical resources and mitigating the impact of failed
devices can be a full-time job. With virtualization, IT Ops teams can move VMs easily
across the IT infrastructure to load-balance workloads and resolve bottlenecks. The
failure of a single VM won’t affect others sharing its host or the system as a whole. VM-
level metrics make it easier to optimize resource usage, improve performance, enhance
availability, and streamline operations.

6. Faster development
Developers can’t move at agile speed if they have to wait for IT to provision physical
servers for development and testing. A key advantage of virtualizing services is the
ability of DevOps teams to quickly spin up VMs replicating the production environment
for development and testing. Multiple versions of applications, including those built for
different operating systems, can run side by side on the same server hardware, enabling
developers to simulate a variety of testing and deployment scenarios simultaneously.

Advantages of Virtualization

The advantages of utilizing a virtualized environment include the following:

Lower Costs. Virtualization reduces the amount of hardware servers necessary

within a company and data center. This lowers the overall cost of buying and
maintaining large amounts of hardware.

Easier Disaster Recovery. Disaster recovery is very simple in a virtualized

environment. Regular snapshots provide up-to-date data, allowing virtual machines to
be feasibly backed up and recovered. Even in an emergency, a virtual machine can be
migrated to a new location within minutes.

Easier Testing. Testing is less complicated in a virtual environment. Even if a

large mistake is made, the test does not need to stop and go back to the beginning. It
can simply return to the previous snapshot and proceed with the test.

Quicker Backups. Backups can be taken of both the virtual server and the
virtual machine. Automatic snapshots are taken throughout the day to guarantee that
all data is up-to-date. Furthermore, the virtual machines can be easily migrated
between each other and efficiently redeployed.

Improved Productivity. Fewer physical resources result in less time spent

managing and maintaining the servers. Tasks that can take days or weeks in a
physical environment can be done in minutes. This allows staff members to spend the
majority of their time on more productive tasks, such as raising revenue and fostering
business initiatives.

Disadvantages of Virtualization

Programs that Require Physical Hardware - with any programs that require
physical hardware, virtualization won’t suit well. An example is anything that uses a
dongle or other attached piece of hardware. Since this is a physical piece that is
required for the program to function, virtualization will cause more headache than
staying on a physical system.

Performance Quality Can Decrease - if you’re running an application that is

running up RAM usage or CPU utilization, virtualization could cause a lag in
performance. A VM runs in layers on its hosting systems so unless you use one

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program or server, any operation using extreme performance will see a lowered
quality of performance. The advantage of virtualization is that it allows many
programs to run on minimal physical servers, so dedicating one host to one server will
defeat the purpose.

Testing is Critical - the purpose of IT is really to drive your business goals, so

you wouldn’t want to rely on an untested platform for programs that keep your
business running. This is especially true for virtualization because once it
malfunctions, it’s not like you can turn it off and back on again. Implementing
virtualization in a system that is already working seamlessly can introduce errors and
therefor risk wasted time and expense. Always test before switching to a VM.

Unexpected Expenses - initially, virtualization may appear to save you a bit of

money. But this is a process that takes effort and should be done properly the first
time. In order to account for that attention to time and detail, you may be spending
more than originally anticipated. Be sure to look into the tools and management
systems that you’ll need in order to support the shift to a virtual machine before
taking the plunge.

Virtualization Technologies

Virtualization technologies create virtual versions of resources like servers, storage, networks, and
desktops, with popular examples including VMware (vSphere, ESXi), Microsoft Hyper-
V, KVM, Proxmox VE, Xen, VirtualBox, and Parallels Desktop. These tools enable running
multiple virtual machines (VMs) on single physical hardware, improving efficiency, flexibility, and
disaster recovery across server, desktop, network, storage, and application virtualization types.

1. VMware: vSphere, ESXi (bare-metal), Workstation, Fusion (macOS).

VMware vSphere is a comprehensive virtualization and cloud computing platform
developed by VMware. vSphere enables the creation and management of VMs; each
VM represents a self-contained and isolated instance of an operating system and
applications, running on a single physical server.

At the core of vSphere is the VMware ESXi hypervisor, a Type 1 “bare-

metal” hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware. ESXi can be installed
without using vSphere or vCenter, and can be managed independently. Using vSphere,
multiple ESXi hosts can be managed and operated in unison. For managing multiple
ESXi hosts, VMs, and advanced features, vSphere offers a centralized management
interface called vCenter Server. It provides a single point of control for managing
multiple ESXi hosts, VMs, and advanced features. Administrators can monitor
performance, allocate resources, and automate tasks through the vCenter interface.
[Link]

Some key features of vSphere:

vMotion: Allows live migration of running VMs between hosts, ensuring zero downtime
and enabling load balancing.

vSphere High Availability (HA): Automatically restarts VMs on different hosts in the
event of a host failure, minimizing downtime.
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS): Dynamically balances VM workloads across
hosts, optimizing resource allocation.

Storage vMotion: Enables live migration of VMs' virtual disks between storage devices
without service interruption.

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Fault Tolerance (FT): Provides continuous availability by creating a real-time mirrored

copy of a VM on a different host.

Distributed Switch: Simplifies network management by centralizing network

configuration across multiple hosts.

VMware vSphere can potentially support thousands of VMs on a cluster of hosts. It

leverages features like Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and Distributed Power
Management (DPM) to optimize resource utilization and energy efficiency.

2. Microsoft Hyper-V: Integrated into Windows Server and Windows Pro.

Microsoft Hyper-V is a robust, Type 1 “bare-metal” hypervisor developed by Microsoft
specifically for Windows workloads. Hyper-V enables users to create and manage
virtual machines (VMs) running on Windows-based operating systems, allowing for the
virtualization of various Windows applications and
services as well as a wide range of Windows guest
operating systems.

For managing multiple Hyper-V hosts, VMs, and advanced

features, Microsoft provides the Hyper-V Manager and
System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) as
management tools for performance
monitoring and resource allocation (similar to vSphere’s
vCenter).
Some key features of Microsoft Hyper-V:

PowerShell Integration: Offers extensive automation capabilities through PowerShell

cmdlets, allowing administrators to streamline management tasks and perform bulk
operations.
Hyper-V Replica: Provides asynchronous replication of VMs to a secondary site for
great disaster recovery capabilities and data protection.

Integration Services: A set of optimized drivers and services that ensures Hyper-V can
smoothly and efficiently communicate and work together with Windows guest
operating systems.
Microsoft Hyper-V is particularly well-suited for users heavily invested in the Microsoft
ecosystem; it seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft products and tools, such as
Active Directory and System Center suite, allowing for a cohesive management
experience. Hyper-V is able to support a significant number of VMs on a cluster of
hosts, and between its live migration feature and centralized management
capabilities, it scales well.

Note: Hyper-V Server is available to download for free from the Windows site, but you
would still need licenses for Windows VMs. Using Hyper-V, the Windows Server OS
allows you to use one Standard license for up to two Windows Server VMs. Using one
Windows Server DataCenter OS allows for unlimited VMs.

3. KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine): Open-source, built into Linux.

KVM, which stands for Kernel-based Virtual Machine, is
an open-source virtualization technology that is tightly
integrated with the Linux kernel. It provides a platform
for virtualizing Linux-based workloads, making it an
ideal choice for users running Linux applications and
services.

In terms of management, KVM offers several options,

including command-line tools and graphical interfaces
like Virt-Manager. While the management interface for
KVM may not be as feature-rich or user-friendly as

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some of the others on this list, it does provide essential management capabilities,
such as creating, starting, stopping, and monitoring VMs.

Some key features of KVM:

Linux Integration: KVM leverages virtualization extensions found in modern processors.

Being "kernel-based "means that KVM is implemented as a module within the Linux
kernel, the core component of the Linux operating system (which directly interacts
with the hardware and manages system resources). KVM's integration with the Linux
kernel allows it to provide efficient and flexible
virtualization support directly within the kernel itself,
resulting in excellent performance for Linux VMs and a
wide range of Linux guest operating systems.

Extensibility and Customizability: KVM provides extensive

options for tailoring virtualization environments to specific
requirements for hardware optimization, workload
customization, and application-specific configurations. This
flexibility makes KVM great for a variety of use cases and
enables efficient resource allocation.

Virtio: A specialized interface that enhances the efficiency of I/O operations by

enabling the guest operating system to be aware of the hypervisor 2.

KVM is particularly popular among cloud providers and Linux-focused deployments due
to its performance and strong integration with the Linux ecosystem. It offers excellent
support for virtualizing Linux workloads and can accommodate a large number of VMs
on a single physical server. Overall, it’s a reliable and efficient choice for anyone
seeking to virtualize Linux workloads, offering strong security as well as good
scalability and integration with the Linux ecosystem.

(Note: while KVM itself is open source, there are various distributions and
management tools available that provide additional features and support for KVM-
based virtualization.)

4. Oracle VM VirtualBox: Free, cross-platform desktop virtualization.

Oracle VirtualBox is a widely used open-source virtualization platform that enables
users to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single physical machine.
A type 2, or “hosted ”hypervisor, it provides a flexible solution for desktop
virtualization, offering compatibility with various host operating systems, including
Windows, macOS, Linux, and Oracle Solaris.

Oracle VirtualBox was intended for individual use, so in

comparison to the other platforms mentioned, its
management interface has fewer of the more advanced
features necessary for a multiple-user environment. You
can use it to configure virtual hardware settings, manage
storage, and control network configurations, but as far as
virtualization platforms go, it's not the most
sophisticated. If you need a temporary environment for
testing or for running remote applications, VirtualBox can function as a short-term
solution, but we wouldn’t recommend using it long-term for larger-scale organizational
use.

5. Parallels Desktop: Popular for running Windows/Linux on Mac.

Parallels Desktop is a powerful virtualization software designed
specifically for Mac users. It uses a type 2 (hosted) hypervisor,
allowing you to run Windows, Linux, and other operating systems
seamlessly alongside macOS on your Mac computer.

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Parallels Desktop has a very user-friendly and feature-rich management interface

called Parallels Desktop Control Center. It provides easy access to tools for controlling
resource allocation, configuring networking options, and a variety of other
management features.
Some key features of Parallels Desktop:
Performance and Graphics: Parallels Desktop delivers excellent performance, ensuring
smooth and responsive virtual machine experiences. It supports demanding
applications and provides advanced graphics support for gaming, design software, and
other resource-intensive tasks.

Coherence Mode: This feature enables seamless integration between Windows and
macOS, hiding the Windows desktop so that Windows applications appear as if they
are running directly on your Mac. You can launch Windows applications from the
macOS Dock and use them side by side with Mac applications.

One-Click Tools: Parallels Desktop offers a range of one-click tools that simplify
common tasks, such as optimizing virtual machine performance, managing disk space,
and installing guest operating systems.

The platform offers flexible licensing options to suit different needs. There is a
standard edition, geared towards individual users, and a Pro edition for professionals
and businesses (which mostly offers enhanced features, such as integration with
development tools and centralized administration capabilities).

Parallels Desktop is the ideal choice for Mac users who need to run specific Windows
applications or require compatibility with other operating systems. Using Parallels
Desktop, you can take advantage of the capabilities of different operating systems
without the need for dual-booting or purchasing additional hardware.

Nutanix AHV: Hypervisor for Nutanix's HCI solutions.

Run Multiple Operating Systems: With VirtualBox, you can run several operating
systems at the same time on one computer. It's useful for tasks like software
development, testing different setups, and using older software. However, when using
some of the other operating systems outside of the preset list of options, you may run
into some compatibility issues.

USB Device Support: VirtualBox allows you to use USB devices plugged into your
physical hardware while operating your virtual machines; that means you can
seamlessly connect to USB devices, such as external storage, printers, and other
peripherals, while working within your new virtual environment.

Networking Capabilities: Oracle VirtualBox offers a range of networking options,

including Network Address Translation (NAT), bridged networking, and internal
networking. Users can customize their network configurations within VirtualBox,
enabling virtual machines to interact with the network and other devices as needed.

Oracle VirtualBox is favored by individuals, developers, and small-scale environments

due to its open-source nature and cross-platform compatibility. It is a cost-effective
virtualization option great for testing software configurations, running virtualized
environments, or exploring new operating systems.

6. Proxmox VE: Open-source server management platform (KVM & LXC).

Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) is an open-source virtualization platform that
combines virtualization, containerization 3, and
software-defined storage in a single solution. It
is based on Debian GNU/Linux and utilizes the
KVM hypervisor and LXC (Linux Containers)
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technology to provide a robust virtualization platform, and its integration with

Zettabyte File System (ZFS) is a big draw for many of its users.

Proxmox VE offers a web-based management interface, Proxmox GUI (Graphical User

Interface), which allows users to easily create, configure, and manage virtual
machines and containers. Unfortunately, its GUI doesn’t have dockers, making it a
little more difficult to deploy applications. However, the interface does provide a
comprehensive set of tools for monitoring and managing resources, performing
backups and restores, and implementing high availability and clustering.

Some key features of Proxmox VE:

High Availability: Proxmox VE includes built-in high availability features that ensure
the continuous availability of virtual machines and containers. It uses a shared storage
infrastructure and automatic failover mechanisms to minimize downtime and maintain
service availability.

Clustering: Proxmox VE supports clustering, allowing multiple Proxmox hosts to be

combined into a cluster for centralized management and load balancing. Clustering
provides resource pooling, live migration, and centralized storage management,
enhancing scalability and fault tolerance.

Backup and Restore: Proxmox VE offers comprehensive backup and restore

capabilities for virtual machines and containers by supporting both full and
incremental backups, snapshot-based backups, and the ability to restore individual
files or entire virtual machines.

Software-Defined Storage: Proxmox VE utilizes Ceph, a distributed storage system, to

provide flexible, software-defined storage capabilities, including replication and
erasure coding, providing data redundancy and resilience.

Integration with ZFS: Proxmox VE integrates with the ZFS file system, offering data
integrity checks, snapshotting, and data compression. With ZFS, data is verified before
it is committed to the disk, a neat feature that enhances data protection. And by
offering features such as copy-on-write, data deduplication, and efficient storage
allocation, ZFS improves efficiency in virtualized environments.

Overall, Proxmox VE provides a solid foundation for virtualization. As far as

virtualization platforms go, Proxmox VE is pretty quick to get up and running; the
combination of its open-source nature and the access the platform provides to a
robust set of features makes it particularly popular among educational and research
institutions. (Which in turn makes for excellent community support.) Its flexible
architecture allows for easy integration of virtual machines and containers, enabling
efficient resource management, high availability, and some top-notch scalability.

Good to know: Containerization is a way to package applications and all the things
they need to run into small, self-contained units called containers. These containers
are like little isolated bubbles that can be easily moved around and run on different
computers. They make it easier for developers to build, ship, and run applications,
and they help save computer resources by running more efficiently.

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7. Citrix Hypervisor (XenServer): Enterprise-grade virtualization.

Xen is a powerful open-source server virtualization platform that provides efficient and
secure virtualization capabilities for a wide range of workloads. Developed by the Xen
Project, Xen offers a reliable solution for virtualizing server environments.

As a Type 1 hypervisor, Xen runs directly on the server hardware, enabling the
creation and management of multiple VMs. It supports various guest operating
systems, including Linux, Windows, and BSD, making
it a versatile choice for users with diverse workload
requirements.
Xen provides a management interface called
XenCenter, which allows administrators to monitor
and control virtual machines, allocate resources, and
perform essential management tasks. Given the
extensive features that some other platforms offer,
we only gave XenCenter three stars, but XenCenter does still offer essential
functionality for managing virtualized environments.
One important aspect of Xen is its focus on security. It ensures that each virtual
machine is isolated from others, which means that even if one VM is compromised or
experiences an issue, it does not affect the other VMs running on the same server.
This isolation helps protect sensitive data and applications from unauthorized access
or potential threats.

Some key features of Xen:

Paravirtualization: Xen employs paravirtualization techniques, enabling guest

operating systems to collaborate effectively with the hypervisor and achieve near-
native performance.

Live Migration: Similar to other machines, Xen supports live migration, allowing VMs to
be seamlessly moved between physical hosts with minimal downtime and ensuring
high availability.

Security Isolation: As mentioned, Xen provides strong security isolation between VMs,
ensuring that each VM operates independently and securely.

Resource Pooling: Xen enables resource pooling, making for efficient allocation and
sharing of hardware resources among virtual machines.

Distributed Architecture: Xen's distributed architecture allows you to create virtual

environments that spread across many computers. This means your virtual machines
can be distributed among multiple servers, helping to balance the workload and
protect against hardware failures. It's a pretty neat way to handle more work as your
needs grow.

Xen is particularly well-suited for anyone looking to consolidate their server

infrastructure and improve efficiency. It offers excellent security measures, ensuring
isolation between VMs, and has a reputation for stability and performance. Xen's live
migration and distributed architecture contribute to its outstanding scalability, a facet
of Xen that has made it an appealing choice for cloud service providers, hosting
providers, research environments, and financial institutions.

Note: While Xen offers a robust open-source solution, Citrix's XenServer is a popular
alternative option if you’re looking for something more enterprise-grade. XenServer,
based on the Xen hypervisor, provides a commercial virtualization platform with

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additional tools for high availability, a centralized management console, live migration,
and advanced networking options. We chose to focus on Xen because it’s open-source
and compatible with a wide range of operating systems, but Citrix's XenServer is a
very solid option.

Virtualization vs. Traditional IT Infrastructure

Traditional IT infrastructure uses dedicated physical hardware, while virtualization

abstracts these resources using a software layer (a hypervisor) to run multiple
independent virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical server. This fundamental
difference drives key variations in cost, flexibility, and use cases.

Key Differences
Category Traditional IT Infrastructure Virtualization

Hardware One operating system and Multiple isolated VMs share a

Use application per physical server, single physical server,
leading to often underutilized maximizing hardware utilization.
hardware.

Resource Requires manual configuration Centralized management via

Management and physical access to hardware software tools, allowing for
for maintenance or upgrades. automated IT management and
remote configuration.

Scalability Limited; scaling requires Highly flexible; new VMs can be

purchasing, installing, and deployed or scaled up/down in
configuring new physical minutes using existing hardware
hardware (can take days or resources.
weeks).

Cost Model High initial capital expenditure Lower upfront costs; reduces
(CapEx) for hardware purchase overall hardware needs, power
and ongoing operational costs consumption, and physical
for power, cooling, and space, saving operational
maintenance. expenses in the long run.

Downtime & Disaster recovery can be time- Faster disaster recovery with
Recovery consuming, requiring manual features like snapshots and live
intervention to fix or replace migration, allowing for quick
physical parts. restoration or automated
failover.

Performance Consistent, dedicated Potential for performance

performance as resources are overhead or resource contention
not shared. if not managed correctly, as VMs
share the host's resources.

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Uses

Traditional IT Infrastructure is best for:

 Resource-intensive workloads that require dedicated, consistent
performance, such as large databases or specific analytics engines.
 Security-sensitive environments with strict compliance requirements that
necessitate complete physical isolation and direct control over hardware.
 Legacy systems or specialized software that is not compatible with virtualized
environments.

Virtualization is ideal for:

 Development and testing environments, allowing developers to spin up or clone
environments quickly without affecting production systems.
 Server consolidation to reduce physical data center footprints, energy
consumption, and associated costs.
 Supporting remote workforces by enabling access to virtual desktops and
applications from any device and location.
 Cloud computing platforms (public, private, and hybrid) which are built on
virtualization technology to deliver resources as a service.

-End of Topic 1-

“Excel in your chosen field of interest and endeavor”

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TOPIC 2
Virtual Machines (VMs) and Hypervisors

I. Introduction

Running a whole operating system traditionally requires a set of essential

hardware, all at the disposal of the operating system. To run multiple OSs, what could
also be done is multiple booting, but in that case, you cannot run two operating
systems at the same time. Virtual Machines have provided us the possibility of using
more than one operating system simultaneously on the same set of hardware. As the
name suggests, a virtual machine (VM) is a virtual environment that simulates a
physical machine. VMs have their own central processing unit (CPU), memory, network
interface, and storage, but they are independent from physical hardware. Multiple VMs
can coexist in a single physical machine without collision, as long as the hardware
resources are efficiently distributed. VMs are implemented using software emulation
and hardware virtualization.

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you must have to:

1. Define virtual machine.
2. Identify the advantages of virtual machine.
3. Know the types of virtual machine.

III. Learning Contents

Understanding Virtual Machines

History of Virtual Machine
o System Virtual Machines are notably implemented within the CTSS (Compatible
Time-Sharing System). Time-Sharing permitted more than one user for using the
computer concurrently. All the programs displayed to have complete access to a
machine, but a single program can only run at a time. It was derived into virtual
machines by the research system of IBM notably. The 44X/M44 are using partial
virtualization, and SIMMON and CP-40 are using full virtualization. These are
some examples of hypervisors.
o The first architecture of the virtual machine was CMS/CP-67. An important
differentiation was among using many virtual machines on a single host for
time-sharing as within the CP-40 and 44X/M44.
o Emulators date turn to the 360/IBM System in 1963 with hardware emulation of
previous systems for compatibility.
o Originally, process virtual machines developed as abstract environments for any
intermediate language applied as a program's intermediate representation by
the compilers. The O-code machine was an example of early 1966. The O-code
machine was a VM that runs object code (O-code) expanded by the BCPL
compiler's front end. This abstraction permitted the compilers to be ported to
any new architecture easily.
o The Euler language applied the same design with an intermediate language
called portable (P). It was promoted by Pascal in 1970, notably within the
Pascal-P system and Pascal-S compiler. They were known as p-code and the p-
code machine as the resulting machine.
o It has been affecting, and VMs within this type of sense have been generally
known as p-code machines often. In addition, Pascal p-code was run by an
interpreter directly which is used for implementing VM.
o Another example is SNOBOL (1967). It was specified in SIL (SNOBOL
Implementation Language) that is an assembly language for VM. It was
intended to physical machines through transpiling to the native assembler by a
macro assembler.
o Process VM was a famous approach for implementing microcomputer software,
containing adventure and Tiny BASIC games. It can be done by some
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Implementations like Pyramid 2000 to any general-purpose engine such as z-

machine of Infocom.
o Significant advances illustrated in the Smalltalk-80 implementation (specifically
the Schiffmann/Deutsch Implementations). They can push forward the JIT (Just
In Time) compilation as the implementation approach which applies process VM.
Notably, later Smalltalk virtual machines were Strongtalk, Squeak Virtual
Machine, and VisualWorks.
o A complimentary language generated many VM innovation which pioneered
generational garbage collection and adaptive optimization. Commercially, these
methods were approved successfully within the HostSpot Java virtual machine in
1999.
o Other innovations contain the register-based VM to match various underlying
hardware, instead of a stack-based VM that is closer for any programming
language. It was pioneered in 1995 for the Limbo language by Dis VM. OpenJ9 is
a substitute for HotSpot Java virtual machine inside the OpenJDK. Also, it is an
open-source project requesting good startup and fewer resource consumption
when compared to HotSpot.

Overview of Virtual Machines

The virtual machine gives a deliberation of the hidden physical framework to
the visitor working framework running on it. You can classify virtual machines into
different types based on the level of abstraction provided by VMM and whether the
host and guest systems use the same ISA (Instruction Set Architecture). There are two
main development methods for system virtual machines: complete system
virtualization and Para virtualization. Virtual machines have great potential in various
research fields because they can provide ideal functions such as software flexibility,
enhanced protection, and independence from hardware.

Virtual
The meaning of virtual is the logical representation of one physical thing. In the
computer world, the meaning of Virtual is a logical representation of a physical thing
created in a computer through software. For example, a photo album on a computer is
a virtual family. In a bike racing game, the bike is a virtual bike. In the temple run
game, the person running and jumping is a virtual human being. In these examples,
the family, the bike, and the person are created virtually using the software on the
computer. They are not physically existed inside the computer.

What is a Virtual Machine (VM)?

A virtual machine (VM) is software that runs programs or applications without
being tied to a physical machine. In a VM instance, one or more guest machines can
run on a physical host computer. Virtual machine is a virtual environment that
functions as a virtual computer system with its own CPU, memory, network interface,
and storage, created on a physical hardware system (located off- or on-premises).
Software called a hypervisor separates the machine’s resources from the hardware
and provisions them appropriately so they can be used by the VM.

The physical machines, equipped with a hypervisor such as Kernel-based Virtual

Machine (KVM), is called the host machine, host computer, host operating system, or
simply host. The many VMs that use its resources are guest machines, guest
computers, guest operating systems, or simply guests. The hypervisor treats compute
resources like CPU, memory, and storage as a pool of resources that can easily be
relocated between existing guests or to new virtual machines. VMs are isolated from
the rest of the system, and multiple VMs can exist on a single piece of hardware, like a
server. They can be moved between host servers depending on demand or to use
resources more efficiently.

Virtual Machines: Virtual Computers Within Computers

A virtual machine, commonly shortened to just VM, is no different than any
other physical computer like a laptop, smart phone, or server. It has a CPU, memory,

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disks to store files, and can connect to the internet if needed. While the parts that
make up the computer (called hardware) are physical and tangible, VMs are often
thought of as virtual computers or software-defined computers within physical servers,
existing only as code. Virtual machines (VMs) act as virtual computers or virtual
servers, that can be hosted in the cloud taking advantage of scalable on-demand
resources at a lower price-point than purchasing a new server or on your existing
hardware like high-powered workstations or business servers.

How do VMs Work?

Virtualization technology allows you to share a system with many virtual
environments. The hypervisor manages the hardware and separates the physical
resources from the virtual environments. Resources are partitioned as needed from
the physical environment to the VMs. When the VM is running and a user or program
issues an instruction that requires additional resources from the physical environment,
the hypervisor schedules the request to the physical system’s resources so that the
virtual machine’s operating system and applications can access the shared pool of
physical resources.

Virtualization is the process of creating a software-based, or "virtual" version of

a computer, with dedicated amounts of CPU, memory, and storage that are
"borrowed" from a physical host computer such as your personal computer and/or a
remote server such as a server in a cloud provider's datacenter. A virtual machine is a
computer file, typically called an image, that behaves like an actual computer. It can
run in a window as a separate computing environment, often to run a different
operating system or even to function as the user's entire computer experience as is
common on many people's work computers. The virtual machine is partitioned from
the rest of the system, meaning that the software inside a VM can't interfere with the
host computer's primary operating system.

Why use a VM?

Server consolidation is a top reason to use VMs. Most operating system and
application deployments only use a small amount of the physical resources available
when deployed to bare metal. By virtualizing the servers, it can place many virtual
servers onto each physical server to improve hardware utilization. This keeps from
needing to purchase additional physical resources, like hard drives or hard disks, as
well as reducing the need for power, space, and cooling in the datacenter. VMs provide
additional disaster recovery options by enabling failover and redundancy that could
previously only be achieved through additional hardware. A VM provides an
environment that is isolated from the rest of a system, whatever is running inside a
VM won’t interfere with anything else running on the host hardware. Because VMs are
isolated, they are a good option for testing new applications or setting up a production
environment. It can also run a single purpose VM to support a specific process.

 Building and deploying apps to the cloud.

 Trying out a new operating system (OS), including beta releases.

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 Spinning up a new environment to make it simpler and quicker for developers to

run dev-test scenarios.
 Backing up your existing OS.
 Accessing virus-infected data or running an old application by installing an older
OS.
 Running software or apps on operating systems that they weren't originally
intended for.
 Trying out a new operating system (OS) – Running a new OS on a virtual
machine can provide technicians and administrators with the perspective
needed to determine if the new OS is right for their business.
 Use Desktop as thin client – the virtual desktop turns even a PC with fewer
resources into a productivity machine.
 Testing software – One of the most prevalent uses is to test new software before
installing it on a larger computing infrastructure.
 Consolidation – Virtual machines are being used more than ever. Today, virtual
server technology can allow organizations to roll out one server and use it to
host several. This presents the opportunity for major cost savings.
Types of Virtual Machine
The virtual machine works like a computer, and it is sandboxed from the rest of
the host system. The software within the guest cannot make changes to the software
of the host system. Thus, the
virus files can be tested
using a virtual machine
without affecting the main
computer system. The
computer software that
creates and runs the virtual
machine is known as
Hypervisor. Based on their functions there are two different types of virtual machines –
System virtual machines and process virtual machines.

1. System Virtual Machines

- these types of VMs
provide full virtualization.
Acting as the substitute for
the real machine, these will
provide functionalities to
execute an entire operating
system. Hardware
resources are shared and
managed, forming multiple
environments on the host
system. These
environments are isolated
from each other but exist on the same physical host. Thus, these provide time-sharing
among several single-tasking operating systems. To allow memory sharing between
different virtual machines on one computer operating system, memory over
commitment systems can be applied. Memory pages having identical content can be
shared among multiple virtual machines present on the same physical host. This is
highly useful for read-only pages.

These types of virtual machines give complete system platform and gives the
execution of the complete virtual operating
system. Just like virtual box, system virtual
machine is providing an environment for an
OS to be installed completely. We can see in
below image that our hardware of Real
Machine is being distributed between two

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simulated operating systems by Virtual machine monitor. And then some programs,
processes are going on in that distributed hardware of simulated machines separately.

2. Process Virtual Machines (VM) - these VMs are also known as Application virtual
machines, Managed runtime
environments. This type of VM runs
as a normal application inside the
host’s operating system,
supporting a single process. It is
created with the starting of the
process and is destroyed when the
process ends. It is used to provide
a platform
independent programming environ
ment to the process, allowing it to
execute in the same manner on
any of the other platforms. These are
implemented using interpreters and provides
high-level abstractions. These are popularly
used for Java programming which uses Java virtual machine for execution of programs.
There is a special case of a process VM that abstracts over the communication
mechanism of a computer cluster. These contain one process per physical machine in
the cluster. These help the programmer to focus on the algorithm instead of the
communication process provided by the interconnect and virtual machine in OS. The
application running on these VM has access to all the operating system services.
Parallel virtual machine, Message passing interface are examples of these virtual
machines (VM).

While process virtual machines, unlike system virtual machine, does not provide
us with the facility to install the virtual operating system completely. Rather it creates
virtual environment of that OS while using some app or program and this environment
will be destroyed as soon as we exit from that app. Like in below image, there are
some apps running on main OS as well some virtual machines are created to run other
apps. This shows that as those programs required different OS, process virtual
machine provided them with that for the time being those programs are running.

Working of System Virtual Machines

The host could emulate various guests, all of which could emulate distinct
hardware platforms and operating systems. A craving to execute more than one
operating system was a starting objective of the virtual machines. It allows time-
sharing between many individual tasking operating systems. A system VM can be
could be considered the concept generalization of virtual memory that preceded it
historically. CMS/CP of IBM, the initial systems that permit full virtualization, equipped
to be sharing by giving all users an individual-user OS (Operating System). The system
VM designated the user for writing privileged instructions inside the code. This type of
method has some advantages like including output/input devices not permitted by any
standard system.

Memory over-commitment's new systems may be used for managing memory

sharing between several VMs over a single computer OS. It is because technology
expands VM for various virtualization purposes. It can be possible to distribute
memory pages that include identical contents for many VMs that execute on a similar
physical machine. As a result, mapping them to a similar physical page by a method
called KSM (kernel-same page merging). It is useful especially for various read-only
pages, like those containing code segments. It is a case for more than one VM
executing the similar or same middleware components, web servers, software

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libraries, software, etc. A guest OS doesn't require to be compliant with any host
hardware, hence making it feasible to execute distinct OS on a similar computer (such
as an operating system's prior version, Linux, or Windows) for supporting future
software.

Benefits of using a Virtual Machine

While virtual machines run like individual computers with individual operating
systems and applications, they have the advantage of remaining completely
independent of one another and the physical host machine. A piece of software called
a hypervisor, or virtual machine manager, lets you run different operating systems on
different virtual machines at the same time. This makes it possible to run Linux VMs,
for example, on a Windows OS, or to run an earlier version of Windows on more
current Windows OS.

Because of their flexibility and portability, virtual machines provide many

benefits, such as:

 They allow multiple operating systems (OS) environments to exist

simultaneously on the same machine.
 They empower users to go beyond the limitations of hardware to achieve their
end goals.
 Using VMs ensures application provisioning, better availability, easy
maintenance and recovery.
 Cost savings -running multiple virtual environments from one piece of
infrastructure means that you can drastically reduce your physical infrastructure
footprint. This boosts your bottom line decreasing the need to maintain nearly
as many servers and saving on maintenance costs and electricity.
 Agility and speed - spinning up a VM is relatively easy and quick and is much
simpler than provisioning an entire new environment for your developers.
Virtualization makes the process of running dev-test scenarios a lot quicker.
 Lowered downtime - VMs are so portable and easy to move from one hypervisor
to another on a different machine this means that they are a great solution for
backup, in the event the host goes down unexpectedly.
 Scalability - VMs allow you to more easily scale your apps by adding more
physical or virtual servers to distribute the workload across multiple VMs. As a
result you can increase the availability and performance of your apps.
 Security benefits - because virtual machines run in multiple operating systems,
using a guest operating system on a VM allows you to run apps of questionable
security and protects your host operating system. VMs also allow for better
security forensics, and are often used to safely study computer viruses, isolating
the viruses to avoid risking their host computer.

Personalization - there is great flexibility and personalization with virtual machines.

No two environments have to be exactly the same; finance can have a different

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virtual environment than that of marketing. Likewise, depending on the user

and their title, a virtual machine can be configured to maintain user defined
settings for each session or can be configured to reset those settings at the
beginning of each session.
 Virtualization - virtualization involves using software to creating a “virtual”, non-
physical form or copy of something. This includes the reproduction of hardware
in a digitally accessible manner. VMs can transform a workplace into a more
mobile, flexible workplace where traditional hardware is replaced with virtual
environments, infrastructure, and storage. Employees can access these virtual
environments from anywhere at any time, allowing businesses to forgo the
upfront costs of expensive hardware.
 Backup by VM at a time - with virtual machines, businesses can backup or store
data one VM at a time. Instead of backing up individual files, the entire virtual
machine can be backed up altogether. Remember, the VM is not locally hosted
on the computer itself; instead all of the data and files used within the VM are
accessed over a network like the internet. This model allows businesses to
replicate or backup entire VMs at a time.
 Easy Recover/Failover - since virtual machines can be backed up one VM at a
time, the recovery/failover process is made much easier. Businesses not only
can seamlessly failover to VMs, but can restore those VM’s quickly and
efficiently, making file and application access simple. This can help reduce
downtime in the face of error or disaster.
 Run multiple Operating Systems - VM’s allow users to work in multiple
environments. For example, Microsoft Office users can run a Mac operating
system or vice versa thanks to virtual machines. It’s not just about running
multiple operating systems, either. Users can utilize certain applications within
the VM without having to provision it on their local computers. This saves IT
professionals time, allowing them to work on patching, updating and testing the
application, or even focus on other core competency projects.
 OS and Application Updates - software updates are performed by the service
provider that administers the VM. If there are new updates to the operating
system, the service provider also manages those updates so that the end user’s
environment is always up to date.

Advantages of VM

Some of the advantages of the virtual machines are as follows:

 Virtual machines provide software compatibility to the software running on it.
Thus, all the software written for the virtualized host will also run on the virtual
machine.
 It provides isolation between different types of operating systems and
processes. Thus, the processor operating system running on one virtual
machine cannot modify the processes of the other virtual machines and Host
system.
 These provide encapsulation and software present on a virtual machine can be
modified and controlled.
 For the multi-operating system host, these provide various features like no dual
booting, transfer of files between virtual machines, error in one OS doesn’t
affect the other OS present on the host, fresh OS can be added easily.
 These provide good software management like these can run a complete
software stack of the host machine, run legacy OS, etc.
 Here it is possible to share Hardware resources with independent software
stacks and to balance the load, the Virtual machines can be transferred to the
different computers.
 Can use multiple operating system environments on the same computer.
 Virtual machines can provide an instruction set architecture, or ISA, structure
different than the actual computer. The ISA serves as the interface between
software and hardware.

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 When you create your virtual machine, you create a virtual hard disk. So,
everything on that machine can crash, but if it does, it won’t affect the host
machine.
 There are security benefits to running virtual machines. For example, if you
need to run an application of questionable security, you can run it in a guest
operating system. So, if the application causes damage, then it will be only
temporary after the guest is shut down. Virtual machines also allow for better
security forensics by monitoring guest operating systems for deficiencies and
allowing the user to quarantine it for analysis.

Modern computing systems are becoming more complex which contains various
closely interacting software and hardware components. Here, virtualization acts as an
interconnection technology. Virtual machines make incompatible subsystems to work
together. It also provides more flexible and effective use of hardware resources among
multiple operating systems. These provide interoperability between hardware, system
software, and applications.

Disadvantages
 When multiple virtual machines are simultaneously running on a host computer,
each virtual machine may introduce an unstable performance, which depends
on the workload on the system by other running virtual machines;
 Virtual machine is not that efficient as a real one when accessing the hardware.
 Running more than one virtual machine can lead to an unstable output.
 It is less efficient and slow running than a physical machine.
 Virtual machines are less efficient than real machines because they access the
hardware indirectly. Running software on top of the host operating system
means that it will have to request access to the hardware from the host. That
will slow the usability.
 When several virtual machines are running on the same host, performance may
be hindered if the computer it’s running on lacks sufficient power. Your virtual
machine still uses the resources of your host machine. The more powerful the
host computer, the more quickly the virtual machine will run.
 A virtual machine can be infected with the weaknesses of the host machine. As
an example, process isolation is a feature usually employed by operating
systems. However, there are bugs that violate it. A regular computer devoid of
virtual machines would then only be affected. But, a computer with a number of
virtual machines would then infect each of those “machines” as well.

Practical Uses for Virtual Machines

Use software requiring an outdated operating system: if you’ve got an important

application that only runs on Windows XP, you can install XP in a virtual machine and
run the application there. This allows you to use an application that only works with
Windows XP without actually installing it on your computer. This is important since
Windows XP no longer receives support from Microsoft.

Run software designed for another operating system: Mac and Linux users can run
Windows in a virtual machine to use Windows software on their computers without
compatibility headache. Unfortunately, games are a problem. Virtual machine
programs introduce overhead and 3D games will not run smoothly in a VM.

Test software on multiple platforms: if you need to test whether an application works
on multiple operating systems, you can install each in a virtual machine.

Consolidate servers: for businesses running multiple servers, they can place some into
virtual machines and run them on a single computer. Each virtual machine is an
isolated container, so this doesn’t introduce the security headaches involved with
running different servers on the same operating system. The virtual machines can also
be moved between physical servers.

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Challenges in using a Virtual Machine

VMs have a huge number of advantages, especially when people need to run
more than one operating system in a single physical device. However, there are
several challenges associated with using VMs:
 When simultaneous VMs run on a host computer, each can introduce an
unstable performance depending on the workload of the system.
 The efficiency of VMs falls short compared to physical machines.
 Licensing models of virtualization solutions can be tricky. They can result in
huge upfront investment costs due to additional hardware requirements.
 Due to the increasingly high number of breaches on VM and cloud deployments,
security is an added concern.
 For every virtualization solution, the infrastructure setup is complex. Small
businesses have to hire experts to deploy these solutions successfully.
 VMs pose data security threats when multiple users try to access the same or
different VMs on the same physical host.
 If not managed properly, the snapshots and backups of VMs can quickly
consume storage space.
 In an unmanaged environment, prioritization issues occur in case of resource
requests.

Virtual Machine Downsides

Virtual machines do have a few disadvantages. Running multiple VMs on one
physical host can result in unstable performance, especially if infrastructure
requirements for a particular application are not met. This also makes them less
efficient in many cases when compared to a physical computer. Most IT operations
utilize a balance between physical and virtual systems.

Hypervisors
What is a Hypervisor?
A hypervisor is firmware, software, or hardware that is the center component of
a VM. The hypervisor is the layer that manages all the resources between the VMs and
the actual hardware of the system (or the OS that hosts the hypervisor). Even though
the OSs are being run on virtual
hardware, it is the job of the
hypervisor to make it seem like
that the OS has access to the
real hardware.

In addition to providing an
impermeable virtual border
between multiple OSes,
hypervisor will simulate the
hardware components of a
traditional operating system.
Virtualized versions of hardware resources like CPU, I/O, memory, and others will be

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available in your hypervisor. A major advantage to hypervisors is their ability to work

without special hardware. For this reason, VMs really do live up to their name as a
flexible solution for multi-OS systems. Because the hypervisor can isolate each
simulated system from the others, a virtual environment can contain multiple
hypervisors for an ever-expanding number of virtual machines.

All hypervisors need some operating system-level components such as a

memory manager, process scheduler, input/output (I/O) stack, device drivers, security
manager, a network stack, and more—to run VMs. The hypervisor gives each virtual
machine the resources that have been allocated and manages the scheduling of VM
resources against the physical resources. The physical hardware still does the
execution, so CPU is still executing CPU instructions as requested by the VMs, for
example, while the hypervisor manages the schedule. Multiple different operating
systems can run alongside each other and share the same virtualized hardware
resources with a hypervisor. This is a key benefit of virtualization. Without
virtualization, you can only run 1 operating system on the hardware.

Types of Hypervisors

Type 1 Hypervisors (Bare Metal)

A Type 1 hypervisor is installed directly on top of the
physical machine. Type 1 hypervisors are also known
as bare-metal hypervisors due to the nature of their
installation type. These categories of hypervisors are
more popular and secure than the Type 2 hypervisors.
Type 1 hypervisors have a lower amount of latency
and are the most used in the market. Some examples
of these hypervisors are VMware ESXi, Microsoft
Hyper-V, or open-source Kernel-based VMs (KVMs).

Type 1: Bare Metal Hypervisor - the bare metal

hypervisor sits on top of the firmware/driver layer.
This means that it can interact with the hardware
directly, just as an OS. All of the required OSs will be
installed on top of the bare metal hypervisor, and the
applications on top of that. This adds several
advantages. All the OSs installed on the hypervisor
run very well, almost as native OSs, with minimal lag
or stuttering. If the hardware that the hypervisor is
being installed on is powerful (as usually is the case
with gaming computers or servers), it will be able to
manage multiple OSs quite easily.

Type 2 Hypervisors (Hosted)

On the other hand, for Type 2 hypervisors, there is a layer of host OS that sits
between the physical server and the hypervisor. For this
reason, we call these hypervisors “hosted hypervisors”.
They are less common and mostly used for end-user
virtualization. They are known to have more latency
compared to Type 1 due to their hosted nature. Type 2
hypervisors include Oracle VirtualBox or VMware
Workstation.

Type 2: Hosted Hypervisors - This is an application

that allows you to install an OS as a virtual machine
inside of OS (the OS in which the application itself is

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installed). For example, you run an application on the guest OS. This will send a syscall
to the kernel of the guest OS. This, in turn, will be interpreted and converted to
another syscall by the hypervisor, which will now send that syscall to the kernel of the
host OS (because remember, the hosted hypervisor is just another application for the
host OS). The kernel of the host OS will send the response to the hypervisor, which will
now need to be converted into the appropriate response for the application in the
guest OS. All this means that hosted hypervisors have to go through quite a long
process. On most modern hardware, it doesn’t take as long as it seems but is not like
native speed and performance. The solution to this is type 1 hypervisor.

What is a Container?
There is often a hazy distinction between VMs and containers. A container is
another component of your virtual environment, but containers are not based on
hypervisor software. In essence, a container is a virtual OS without the virtual
hardware components of a complete VM. Containers can operate inside VMs, and they
exist within a hypervisor, but they are just one part of a complete VM. Containers can
be useful when you need to operate multiple applications from the same OS, without
using a multi-OS scenario. Containers are somewhat similar to VMs, but there is quite
a bit of difference. VMs are used to install a whole OS, and then applications are
installed and used on top of those OSs. A container, on the other hand, packages up
the code of an application, its dependencies, tools, libraries, runtimes, and all other
required things and runs just that application in a virtual environment.

Should Businesses use Virtual Machines?

Resource and cost efficiency - organizations use virtualization to host multiple

VMs on one server. If an organization wants to deploy several applications. Instead of
investing in extra servers, they can deploy VMs on one server for each application the
same outcome at a fraction of the cost. This improves cost-efficiency since the
physical hardware is utilized to its maximum capacity.

Scalability - adding a VM is as simple as cloning copies of existing VMs in the

physical machine. Organizations can respond better to fluctuations in load, which
helps stabilize performance. This is faster and more efficient compared to installing
different operating systems on physical servers.

Security - VM environments are isolated from the host operating system, which
boosts security as vulnerabilities like malware don’t impact the underlying hardware.
This makes VMs ideal for testing new applications or software changes before they
enter production. A compromised VM can be easily reverted to older versions. It can
also be deleted and recreated quickly to speed up disaster recovery.

Cloud Computing - virtualization goes hand-in-hand with cloud computing.

Organizations can deploy cloud-native VMs and migrate them to on-premises servers
and back to take advantage of hybrid clouds. Cloud services can also be tweaked in
real-time to meet varying usage levels. This improves scalability not only for end users
but also internally. Developers, for example, can create ad hoc virtual environments
on the cloud to test their implementations.

VM Management Techniques
Virtual machines can be quite effective in saving time and money, but they can
also come with their fair share of challenges. Compared to the traditional setup of one
OS per hard drive, your hard drive will bear a much heavier workload when hosting
multiple VMs and hypervisors. Without the right management plan, VMs can quickly
eat up your storage resources, slow down performance due to bottlenecks, and
consume lots of space with VM sprawl.

Virtual Machine Apps

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There are several different virtual machine programs:

 VirtualBox: (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X): VirtualBox is very popular because it’s
open-source and completely free. There’s no paid version of VirtualBox, so you
don’t have to deal with the usual “upgrade to get more features” upsells and nags.
VirtualBox works very well, particularly on Windows and Linux where there’s less
competition, making it a good place to start with VMs.
 VMware Player: (Windows, Linux): VMware has their own line of virtual machine
programs. You can use VMware Player on Windows or Linux as a free, basic virtual
machine tool. More advanced features many of which are found in VirtualBox for
free require upgrading to the paid VMware Workstation program. We recommend
starting out with VirtualBox, but if it doesn’t work properly you may want to try
VMware Player.
 VMware Fusion: (Mac OS X): Mac users must buy VMware Fusion to use a VMware
product, since the free VMware Player isn’t available on a Mac. However, VMware
Fusion is more polished.
 Parallels Desktop: (Mac OS X): Macs also have Parallels Desktop available. Both
Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion for Mac are more polished than the virtual
machine programs on other platforms, since they’re marketed to average Mac users
who might want to run Windows software.
While VirtualBox works very well on Windows and Linux, Mac users may want to
buy a more polished, integrated Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion program.
Windows and Linux tools like VirtualBox and VMware Player tend to be targeted to a
geekier audience.

Terms that are often associated with virtual machines:

 Virtualization - virtualization is the process where information that is found on
physical hardware (or the physical hardware itself) is transferred into a virtual
environment.
 Hypervisor - the process that takes hardware resources and combines them in a
way where they can be delivered into a virtual environment.
 P2V - short for “physical-to-virtual”, which is the act of migrating resources from
a physical server to a virtual one.
 Snapshot - an image of the state of a virtual machine at any specific point. In a
snapshot you can see all of the data, configurations, and programs that are
open at the time, in effect saving all the work that has been done on that
system.
 Clone - an exact copy of a virtual machine that can be transferred to another
VM.

Virtual Machine Technology

Virtual machine technology serves a variety of purposes. It enables hardware
consolidation, simplified system recovery, and the re-hosting of earlier applications
because multiple operating systems can run on one computer. One key application for
virtual machine technology is cross-platform integration. Other key applications
include server consolidation, the automation and consolidation of development and
testing environments, the re-hosting of earlier versions of applications, simplifying
system recovery environments, and software demonstrations.

A Practical Comparison
Virtualization can make 1 resource act like many, while cloud computing lets
different departments (through private cloud) or companies (through a public cloud)
access a single pool of automatically provisioned resources.

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VM Resource Allocation

VM resource allocation is the hypervisor-managed process of distributing a physical

server's CPU, memory, and storage among multiple virtual machines (VMs) to ensure
performance, efficiency, and stability, using settings like shares, reservations, and
limits to balance workloads and avoid over-allocation. Proper allocation prevents
resource contention, allowing VMs to run smoothly, but requires finding the right
balance between giving each VM enough power and ensuring all VMs (and the host)
remain functional.

The primary resource allocation settings used to control the amount of CPU, memory,
storage, and network resources a virtual machine (VM) receives
are Reservations, Limits, and Shares.

Resource Types and Allocation Settings

Different resources have specific configuration options:
 CPU: You can allocate a specific number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) to a VM.
Controls such as reservations (guaranteed minimum processing power), limits
(maximum processing power), and relative weight/shares (priority during
contention) help manage CPU usage.
 Memory (RAM): This involves setting the amount of RAM the VM can use.
Settings include reservations (guaranteed minimum RAM), limits (maximum
RAM consumption), and shares (priority for memory access during contention).
Features like "Dynamic Memory" (in Hyper-V) or "ballooning" (in VMware) can
dynamically adjust memory based on demand.
 Storage: Storage allocation involves specifying disk space. Key settings include
choosing between thin provisioning (allocates space on demand, saving
physical storage) and thick provisioning (pre-allocates the entire disk space).
 Network: Network resource allocation typically involves managing bandwidth
and using virtual switches to control traffic flow and throughput between VMs
and the physical network.

Key Resource Control Settings

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The following settings are common across most hypervisor platforms like VMware and
Hyper-V:
 Reservations: A guaranteed minimum amount of a specific resource (CPU or
memory) that the VM is entitled to at all times. If the host cannot meet the
reservation, the VM will not power on.
 Limits: An upper bound on the amount of resources the VM can consume.
Setting a limit caps the VM's usage even if more physical resources are
available.
 Shares/Relative Weight: These determine a VM's priority during resource
contention. A VM with higher shares or weight gets a larger proportion of
available resources compared to a VM with lower shares when the physical host
is overcommitted.
 Configured Size/Number: The basic configuration of how many vCPUs are
assigned or how much initial memory/disk space is allocated.

Administrators typically use a combination of these controls to balance the needs of

different VMs and optimize the overall performance and efficiency of the virtualization
environment.

VM Migration

VM migration is the process of moving a virtual machine (VM) from one physical
server, storage, or environment to another, enabling tasks like load balancing,
hardware maintenance, and upgrades with minimal or zero downtime, using methods
like live migration (running VM moves) or cold migration (powered-off VM moves)
for efficiency and continuous service. It's essential for infrastructure optimization,
ensuring applications stay available and perform well by transferring compute,
storage, and network resources seamlessly.

Virtual Machine (VM) migration involves transferring a VM's state, memory, and
storage from one physical machine to another with minimal or no downtime. Key
technologies include live migration (for seamless, active moving), snapshots (for
point-in-time state records), cloning (for exact replicas), and backup strategies (for
long-term safety).

1. Live Migration (Hot Migration)

Live migration allows a running virtual machine to be moved from one physical host to
another without disconnecting users or shutting down the operating system.
 Techniques:
o Pre-copy: Memory pages are iteratively copied from source to
destination while the VM runs; a final "stun" phase moves remaining dirty
pages.

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o Post-copy: The VM is suspended, minimal state transferred, resumed on

destination, and memory is moved on-demand.
 Use Cases: Load balancing, maintenance, energy management (consolidating
VMs to reduce power), and maintaining high availability.
 Platforms: vMotion (VMware), Hyper-V Live Migration, Nutanix AHV.

2. Snapshots (Checkpoints)
A snapshot is an exact, point-in-time record of a VM, capturing its disk, memory, and
configuration.
 Purpose: Ideal for testing updates, making risky changes, or quick rollbacks.
 Limitations: They are not backups. They are delta-based, dependent on the
original file, and can degrade performance if left active too long.
 Migration Constraint: Migrating a VM with many snapshots can be complex
and is often discouraged in favor of cloning or backup.

3. Cloning
Cloning creates an exact, independent copy of a VM.
 Full Clone: A complete, independent copy that does not share resources with
the original.
 Linked/Linked Clone: Shares a base disk with the original, saving storage
space but depending on the parent.
 Use Cases: Rapidly provisioning development/testing environments or scaling
workloads.

4. Backup Strategies
Unlike live migration or snapshots, backups are long-term, independent copies of data
designed for disaster recovery.
 Methods:
o Agent-based: Software installed within the VM.
o Image-level: Captures the entire VM state, often using Changed Block
Tracking (CBT) for efficiency.
 Best Practices:
o 3-2-1 Rule: Keep 3 copies of data, on 2 different media, with 1 copy off-
site.
o Consistency: Use quiesced snapshots (pausing applications
momentarily) to ensure data integrity during backup.
o Tools: Veeam, Nutanix Mine, and native hypervisor tools.

Why Should We Migrate Virtual Machines?

Live VM mobility is not only a technical innovation. It addresses serious issues

related to data center management and cloud operations.

One of the most common causes of migration is hardware maintenance. A physical

server might need an upgrade of memory, new CPU or a replacement of the power
supply. In the older systems, this kind of maintenance required the scheduling of
maintenance, which usually started late at night or on the weekend thus affecting
service. Live migration allows the cloud provider to migrate all the virtual
machines in the server that are affected to another healthy server. The server that
has been emptied is then maintenance-performed, during which the virtual
machines are completely oblivious as to what is occurring.

Load balancing is another major driving force. An example is where there is one
server in a cluster that is highly loaded in temperature whilst operating an
overcapacity of virtual machine as opposed to an adjacent server that is not busy
at all. This kind of arrangement is an incompetent use of resources. This imbalance
can be identified by the management software used by the hypervisor and the
migration of one or more virtual machines can easily be instigated using a live
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migration process that will remove the overloaded server and automatically move
it to its idle counterpart. This functionality gives a balance to workload and ensures
a consistent performance of the users.

In addition to this, migration is an essential component of disaster recovery and

energy optimization. Virtual machines can be evacuated in advance when there
are indicators that a server is about to fail. To save power, virtual machines may
be clustered to fewer servers during periods of low utilization, and thus the other
idle servers may be shut down altogether.

The Two Main Types of VM Migration

No migration is identical. The strategy to be used will rely on the situation and the
end result. There are two major types namely cold migration and live migration.

The cold migration is the less complex of the two methods. It involves shutting
down the virtual machine before it is moved. The virtual machine is then shut
down after which its files are copied to the destination host after which the virtual
machine is then started again. The process is similar to the transfer of a physical
desktop computer which is turned off, unplugged and relocated to a different desk
before being reconnected.

The advantage of cold migration is mostly in the fact that it is simple and reliable.
The state is frozen since the virtual machine is switched off, and the possibility of
data being changed in the course of transfer is non-existent. The only downside
though is inevitable downtime. The service offered by such a virtual machine will
go offline at the time of the move. This planned down time is tolerable to a
multitude of non-critical workloads.

Live migration or as it is also known as hot migration is a more sophisticated and

amazing process. It involves moving a running virtual machine in one host to
another without any apparent failure. Connection to the network is maintained in
an active state and the users and applications that are linked to the virtual
machine continue to be completely unaware of the fact that they are being
relocated to a new physical machine.

This is the wonder of the contemporary data centers. It has enabled smooth
hardware upkeep, dynamic load balancing and active fault tolerance without
service failure. The rest of this discussion shall now revolve around the mechanics
of the live migration process.

The Process of Live Migration: Step-by-Step

Live migration is a complex communication involving 2 physical servers,

coordinated by the hypervisor. The most commonly used method is known as pre-
copy migration. This process is outlined in a simple way by the following stages.

The process of the journey begins with a preparation stage. The administrator, or
an automated system makes the decision of relocating a virtual machine on Host A
to Host B. The first check made by the system is to ensure that Host B has enough
CPU, memory, and network bandwidth to accommodate the new virtual machine. It
also makes sure that both hosts share the same shared storage which contains the
hard disk of the virtual machine. This is an important detail: the disk of the virtual
machine is not moved, the state of memory and the state of CPU context are only
sent over.

After the destination is set up, the iterative pre-copy process is started. The
hypervisor on Host A begins to transfer the entire contents of the memory of the
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virtual machine across the network to Host B. In this first transfer, the virtual
machine still runs and alters its memory. Therefore, some of the memory pages
have already been altered by the time the original copy is sent.
The hypervisor then starts a second transfer in which only the memory pages that
have been changed during the first transfer are copied by the hypervisor. It is then
followed by the third round, where the pages that have been changed in the
second round are transferred and so on. As the number of iterations increases, the
dirty memory page set that must be transferred also decreases.

The system moves to the switchover stage following several quick iterations. The
hypervisor determines that the remaining set of dirty pages is small enough to be
moved quickly. It accordingly suspends the virtual machine on Host A in brief. At
this pause, typically only a few milliseconds long, the hypervisor replicates the last
set of dirty pages, and the precise state of the CPU to Host B.
Lastly, the system will go into the commit stage. Host B immediately resumes the
virtual machine. The hypervisor instructs the network switches to send all traffic of
that virtual machine to Host B. According to the end-user, there might have been
one, hardly noticeable network interruption. The migration is therefore complete
and the virtual machine runs on its new host.

The Various Methods of Live Migration

Though the standard method is the pre-copy method, the procedure can be
tailored to the nature of assets to be relocated. The location of the virtual machine
storage is the most important variable.

The scenario we just described is the most common and is known as a shared
storage migration. In this setup, the VM’s virtual hard disk file resides on a central
storage system, like a Storage Area Network. Both the source and destination
hosts are connected to this SAN. Since both hosts can already see the disk, the
migration only needs to transfer the VM’s active memory and CPU state. This
makes the process very fast and efficient.

In the absence of shared storage, a more complicated process called live storage
migration is used. This process includes the movement of both the memory and
the storage of the virtual machine of one host to a different host with the disk
blocks of the VM being transferred over the network as the virtual machine is still
running.

This is a process that consumes more bandwidth on the network and takes a
significantly longer time. The hypervisor is an iterative process that duplicates the
storage, and is simultaneously tracking disk block changes that occur in the
duplication process. The augmented overhead of this method is a reason that it is
selected only when it is necessary like a virtual machine that needs to be moved
across data centres or different storage architectures.

Another method is the post-copy migration. This less common approach leaves the
hypervisor to only copy the minimum amount of CPU state to the target host, and
then applies the boot at the same time to cause the virtual machine to start
running. Once the virtual machine on the new host tries to access a memory page
which is not yet transferred, fault is signalled and an on demand page is accessed
on the source host. Although this method can reduce the overall time of migration,
it is associated with the possibility of reduced performance in case the virtual
machine reads a significant number of unwritten memory pages at the same time.

The Benefits

The ability to perform live virtual-machine migration has tangible gains which can
be transferred to all the cloud users. Unmatched availability and zero-downtime
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maintenance is the most conspicuous benefit. Operations systems and applications

can be stored on the latest and most protected hardware without having to plan an
outage and this would be a ground-breaking process to most companies in the
world that need constant operational access.

Another major benefit is improved performance and resource efficiency.

Automated load balancing ensures that no single server becomes a bottleneck.
This creates a “noisy neighbor” effect, where one VM’s resource hunger can impact
others on the same host. If that happens, the hungry VM can be migrated to a host
with more capacity, restoring performance for everyone else.

For businesses, this also translates into robust disaster recovery and business
continuity. If a hardware failure is predicted, VMs can be evacuated before it
happens. In the event of a full data center disaster, VMs can be migrated to a
secondary site, ensuring that critical services remain online.

Finally, migration enables incredible energy efficiency through dynamic

consolidation. During nights and weekends, when demand is low, VMs can be
concentrated onto a minimal number of servers. The now-idle servers can be
powered down, leading to significant savings in power and cooling costs and
reducing the cloud’s environmental footprint.

Caption: The migration manager acts as a central brain, coordinating the complex
movement of VMs across the physical host landscape.

Beyond the Data Center

Cross data center migration is a new reality. One of the more prominent examples
is cross-cloud migration. Businesses are moving live virtual machines (VMs) from
one private cloud to a myriad of public cloud options like AWS or Azure. This is a
growing trend as companies seek to make the most of services without the
constraints of a single provider. Businesses can optimize operational flexibility and
avoid vendor lock-in in the most progressive cloud environments. Firms can assess
myriad service offerings and pick the most sophisticated options.

The complexity of cross-cloud migration makes it much more challenging than

local moves. It requires format conversion of the VM and hypervisor of the new
cloud which is subsequently secured via public internet and folds in the cloud
memories and storage. The virtualization hypervisor complex and public internet
protocols are leapfrogged by specialized cloud migration software and combining
together metadata. It is much closer to the goal.

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The Container Connection

Containers and virtual machines share many traits. This is most notable from VM-
centric systems to hyper-converged systems. Container migration is much more
direct as the most prevalent method is to pause and restart the container on
another host.

This is made possible because containers do not have their own full-fledged
operating system; they share the host kernel. They typically store their internal
application state somewhere else, such as a database or persistent storage.
Therefore, “migrating” a container simply means telling the orchestrator (for
example, Kubernetes) to stop the old instance and launch a new instance on the
candidate node. This can happen in seconds. This is a very different, perhaps even
faster philosophy of movement than the stateful, heavy lifting of live VM
migration.

About the migration process

Migrate to Virtual Machines provides a path for you to migrate your VMs to Compute
Engine. The migration process occurs in the following distinct phases:
 Onboard: Select a source VM that you want to migrate.
 Replication: Replicate data from the source VM to Google Cloud. Data
replication is a continuous process that takes place in the background until the
final cut-over or you delete the migration.
 Set VM target details: Configure Compute Engine settings for the migrated
VM, such as the project, instance type, memory, network, and more.
 Test-clone: Optionally create a Compute Engine clone of the source VM from
the replication data and test it on Google Cloud.
 Cut-over: Migrate the source VM to Compute Engine. This process includes
stopping the source VM, completing a final replication, and creating the
production Compute Engine instance from the source VM.
 Finalize: Perform any final cleanup after a successful migration.

The following image shows these phases:

[Link]

-End of Topic 2-

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TOPIC 3
Cloud Computing and Virtual Systems

I. Introduction

Cloud Computing has fundamentally changed how businesses and individuals

store, access, and manage data. It is a technology that allows you to use data and
applications over the internet, moving beyond the limitations of a local computer's
hard drive or a private server.

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you must have to:

1. Define cloud computing.
2. Know the service models and deployment models.
3. Understand the relationship between virtual systems and cloud computing.

III. Learning Contents

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is a technology that allows you to store and access data and
applications over the internet instead of using your computer’s hard drive or a local
server.

Architecture Of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing architecture refers to the components and sub-components

required for cloud computing. These components typically refer to:
1. Front end (Fat client, Thin client)
2. Back-end platforms (Servers, Storage)
3. Cloud-based delivery and a network (Internet, Intranet, Intercloud)

Cloud Computing Architecture

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[Link]

1. Front End (User Interaction Enhancement)

The User Interface of Cloud Computing consists of 2 sections of clients. The Thin
clients are the ones that use web browsers facilitating portable and lightweight
accessibilities and others are known as Fat Clients that use many functionalities for
offering a strong user experience.

2. Back-end Platforms (Cloud Computing Engine)

The core of cloud computing is made at back-end platforms with several servers for
storage and processing computing. Management of Applications logic is managed
through servers and effective data handling is provided by storage. The combination
of these platforms at the backend offers the processing power, and capacity to
manage and store data behind the cloud.

3. Cloud-Based Delivery and Network

On-demand access to the computer and resources is provided over the Internet,
Intranet, and Intercloud. The Internet comes with global accessibility,
the Intranet helps in internal communications of the services within the organization
and the Intercloud enables interoperability across various cloud services. This
dynamic network connectivity ensures an essential component of cloud computing
architecture on guaranteeing easy access and data transfer.

The 5 Core Characteristics of Cloud Computing

All cloud services share five fundamental characteristics that define them:
1. On-Demand Self-Service: Users can provision computing resources like
servers and storage automatically, without requiring human intervention
from the service provider.
2. Broad Network Access: Capabilities are available over the network and
can be accessed through standard mechanisms by any device, such as
laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
3. Resource Pooling: The provider's computing resources are pooled to
serve multiple customers using a multi-tenant model. Resources are
dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand.
4. Rapid Elasticity (Scalability): Resources can be scaled up or down
quickly and, in some cases, automatically, to meet demand. This ensures
you have enough power during traffic spikes and aren't paying for idle
resources during quiet periods.
5. Measured Service (Pay-as-you-go Model): Cloud systems automatically
control and optimize resource use. Usage is monitored, controlled, and
reported, providing transparency for both the provider and the consumer.
You only pay for what you use.

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The Shared Responsibility Model

Security in the cloud is a partnership between the cloud provider and the customer.
This is known as the Shared Responsibility Model.

 The Cloud Provider (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) is responsible for the
security OF the cloud. This includes the physical security of the data
centers, the hardware, and the core networking infrastructure.
 The Customer (You) is responsible for security IN the cloud. This includes
managing who has access to your resources, encrypting your data,
configuring firewalls (like Network Policies), and securing your applications.

The amount of responsibility you have depends on the service model you choose.

Types of Cloud Computing Services

The following are the types of Cloud Computing:
1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)
4. Function as as Service (FaaS)

[Link]

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a type of cloud computing that gives people
access to IT tools like virtual computers, storage, and networks through the internet.
You don’t need to buy or manage physical hardware. Instead, you pay only for what
you use.

Here are some key benefits of using IaaS:

 Flexibility and Control: IaaS comes up with providing virtualized
computing resources such as VMs, Storage, and networks facilitating users
with control over the Operating system and applications.
 Reducing Expenses of Hardware: IaaS provides business cost savings
with the elimination of physical infrastructure investments making it cost-
effective.
 Scalability of Resources: The cloud provides in scaling of hardware
resources up or down as per demand facilitating optimal performance with
cost efficiency.

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model where a third-party provider
offers the software and hardware tools needed to develop, test, and run applications.
This allows users to focus on building their applications without worrying about
managing servers or infrastructure.

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For example, AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a PaaS offered by Amazon Web Services that
helps developers quickly deploy and manage applications while AWS takes care of
the needed resources like servers, load balancing, and scaling.

Here are some key benefits of using PaaS:

 Simplifying the Development: Platform as a Service offers application
development by keeping the underlying Infrastructure as an Abstraction. It
helps the developers to completely focus on application logic (Code) and
background operations are completely managed by the AWS platform.
 Enhancing Efficiency and Productivity: PaaS lowers the Management of
Infrastructure complexity, speeding up the Execution time and bringing the
updates quickly to market by streamlining the development process.
 Automation of Scaling: Management of resource scaling, guaranteeing
the program's workload efficiency is ensured by PaaS.

3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a way of using software over the internet instead of
installing it on your computer. The software is hosted by a company, and you can use
it just by logging in through a web browser. You don’t need to worry about updates,
maintenance, or storage the provider takes care of all that.

A common example is Google Docs. You can write and share documents online
without downloading any software.

Here are some key benefits of using SaaS:

 Collaboration And Accessibility: Software as a Service (SaaS) helps
users to easily access applications without having the requirement of local
installations. It is fully managed by the AWS Software working as a service
over the internet encouraging effortless cooperation and ease of access.
 Automation of Updates: SaaS providers manage the handling of software
maintenance with automatic latest updates ensuring users gain experience
with the latest features and security patches.
 Cost Efficiency: SaaS acts as a cost-effective solution by reducing the
overhead of IT support by eliminating the need for individual software
licenses.

4. Function as a Service (FaaS)

Function as a service (FaaS) is a cloud-computing service that allows customers to
run code in response to events, without managing the complex infrastructure. You
just write the code, upload it and the cloud provider runs it only when it's needed.
You pay only for the time your code runs.

For example, with AWS Lambda, you can write a function that resizes images
whenever someone uploads a photo to your website. You don’t need to keep a server
running all the time AWS runs your function only when a photo is uploaded.

Here are some key benefits of using SaaS:

 Event-Driven Execution: FaaS helps in the maintenance of servers and
infrastructure making users worry about it. FaaS facilitates the developers
to run code as a response to the events.
 Cost Efficiency: FaaS facilitates cost efficiency by coming up with the
principle "Pay as per you Run" for the computing resources used.
 Scalability and Agility: Serverless Architectures scale effortlessly in
handing the workloads promoting agility in development and deployment.

Cloud Deployment Models

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1. Private Cloud: The cloud infrastructure is operated solely for a single

organization. It can be managed internally or by a third party and can exist
on-premise or off-premise. It offers the highest level of security and control.
2. Public Cloud: The cloud infrastructure is owned and operated by a third-
party cloud service provider (like AWS or Google) and is made available to
the general public over the internet. It offers massive scalability and a pay-
as-you-go model.
3. Hybrid Cloud: This model combines a private cloud with one or more
public clouds, allowing data and applications to be shared between them.
This offers flexibility, allowing companies to keep sensitive data on a
private cloud while leveraging the scalable resources of a public cloud for
other applications.
4. Multi-Cloud: A strategy where an organization uses a combination of
clouds from two or more different public cloud providers. This helps avoid
vendor lock-in and allows a company to use the "best-of-breed" service
from each provider.

Top Leading Cloud Computing Companies

The following tables show the top leading cloud computing companies along with key
details about their cloud services:
Company Cloud Service Name Key Offerings
1. Amazon AWS (Amazon Web Compute, Storage, AI/ML,
Services) Databases, Networking
1. Microsoft Azure Cloud computing, AI,
Analytics, Hybrid Cloud
3. Google Google Cloud Platform AI/ML, Big Data,
(GCP) Kubernetes, Cloud
Storage
4. Alibaba Alibaba Cloud IaaS, AI, Big Data, Cloud
Security, CDN
5. Oracle Oracle Cloud Enterprise Cloud,
Databases, SaaS, PaaS
6. IBM IBM Cloud AI, Quantum Computing,
Hybrid Cloud, Security
7. Salesforce Salesforce Cloud CRM, SaaS, AI, Analytics
8. Tencent Tencent Cloud AI, Gaming Cloud, IoT, Big
Data

Cloud Security

Cloud security recommended to measures and practices designed to protect data,

applications, and infrastructure in cloud computing environments. The following are
some of the best practices of cloud security:

1. Data Encryption
Encryption is essential for securing data stored in the cloud. It ensures that data
remains unreadable to unauthorized users even if it is intercepted.

2. Access Control
Implementing strict access controls and authentication mechanisms helps ensure
that only authorized users can access sensitive data and resources in the cloud.

3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide multiple forms of
verification, such as passwords, biometrics, or security tokens, before gaining access
to cloud services.

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Use Cases of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is used across all industries for various applications:
 Scalable Websites and Applications: Host applications that can handle
millions of users.
 Data Storage, Backup, and Recovery: Cost-effectively store vast
amounts of data and ensure it can be recovered in case of a disaster.
 Big Data Analytics: Process and derive insights from enormous datasets
efficiently.
 Software Development and Testing: Create and dismantle
development environments quickly.
 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Access powerful GPU
resources to train complex AI models.

Deployment Model

[Link]

 Public Cloud: It provides a shared platform that accessible to the general public
though an Internet connection.
Resources owned and operated by a third-party provider (AWS, Azure, GCP) and
shared among many users, offering high scalability and cost-efficiency (pay-as-you-
go).
 Private Cloud: It provides computing services to a private internal network (within
the organization) and selected users instead of the general public.
Infrastructure dedicated to a single organization, offering greater control and
security, hosted on-premises or by a third party.
 Hybrid Cloud: Combines public and private clouds, allowing data and apps to move
between them, balancing flexibility with control.
 Multi-Cloud: Uses multiple public cloud services from different providers to avoid
vendor lock-in or optimize specific workloads.
 Community Cloud: It is a cloud infrastructure that allows systems and services to
be accessible by a group of several organizations to share the information.

Cloud vs. Virtualization

Virtualization is a technology that creates virtual versions of resources (like servers)
from one physical machine, while Cloud Computing is a service model that delivers
these virtualized resources over the internet as on-demand services (like storage,
compute). In essence, virtualization is the foundational technology enabling clouds,
which offer broader, scalable, internet-accessible services with pay-as-you-go pricing,
whereas virtualization often focuses on consolidating resources on-premises for
greater control and efficiency.

Virtualization
 What it is: A technique to run multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single
physical server, isolating them from each other.
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 Where it runs: Typically on-premises, within a company's own data center.

 Control: Offers high control as you manage the hardware and software.
 Cost: Higher upfront hardware investment, but lowers long-term costs by
maximizing hardware use.
 Best for: Resource efficiency, testing, disaster recovery, and private clouds.

Cloud Computing
 What it is: Delivering shared computing resources (servers, storage,
databases, software) over the internet as a service (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS).
 Where it runs: Hosted by a third-party provider (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google
Cloud).
 Control: Less direct control; relies on the provider for infrastructure.
 Cost: Pay-as-you-go or subscription model, reducing upfront capital
expenditure.
 Best for: Scalability, accessibility (anywhere), rapid deployment, and
flexibility.

Key Relationship: Cloud Uses Virtualization

 Cloud providers heavily rely on virtualization to share vast pools of physical
hardware among many customers, creating their scalable environments.
 You can virtualize on-premises (private cloud), but true public cloud computing
inherently uses virtualization and adds self-service, elasticity, and broad
accessibility.

Cloud Computing vs. Virtualization

[Link]

Virtualization in Cloud Infrastructure

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Cloud providers utilize various virtualization techniques to efficiently deliver shared

infrastructure resources, enabling the provisioning of services like Amazon Web
Services (AWS) EC2 and Microsoft Azure's virtual machines (VMs). Key approaches
include hardware virtualization, paravirtualization, and containerization, each
offering different levels of isolation and performance.

Hardware Virtualization (Full Virtualization)

Full hardware virtualization is the most common method used by major cloud
providers. This approach uses a software layer called a hypervisor to emulate the
physical hardware (CPU, memory, network interfaces, storage) for each VM.
 Hypervisors: Cloud providers typically use enterprise-grade hypervisors:
o AWS: Historically used a modified version of the Xen hypervisor, but has
largely transitioned to a KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) variation for
newer instance types.
o Microsoft Azure: Primarily uses Hyper-V, Microsoft's proprietary
hypervisor technology.
 Mechanism: The hypervisor creates a virtual environment that is
indistinguishable from physical hardware to the guest operating system (OS).
This allows users to run unmodified OSes without needing specialized drivers.

Paravirtualization
Paravirtualization involves a more direct interaction between the guest OS and the
hypervisor. In this method, the guest OS is aware that it is running in a virtualized
environment and uses a specialized interface (hypercalls) to communicate directly
with the hypervisor for resource requests [1]. This typically results in slightly better
performance than full virtualization, as the overhead of emulating hardware is
reduced. While once common, especially with older AWS Xen instances, full hardware
virtualization with hardware-assisted features (like Intel VT or AMD-V) has largely
become the dominant approach due to its convenience and performance
improvements [1].

Containerization
While not traditional "VM" virtualization, containerization is a crucial technology in
cloud infrastructure. Containers virtualize the operating system level, allowing multiple
isolated user spaces to share a single host OS kernel.
 Mechanism: Unlike VMs, which require a full, separate OS for each instance,
containers are lightweight and share the host's kernel, making them faster to
start and more resource-efficient.
 Cloud Usage: Providers offer robust container services, such as:
o Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes
Service (EKS)
o Azure Container Apps and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
 Benefit: Ideal for deploying microservices and modern cloud-native
applications, optimizing resource utilization even further than traditional VMs.

Summary of Cloud Provider Techniques

Technology AWS (EC2) Microsoft Azure

Hypervisor KVM-based (Nitro System), Hyper-V
formerly Xen
Primary Method Hardware virtualization Hardware virtualization
Container Services EKS, ECS, Fargate AKS, Azure Container Apps

By utilizing these virtualization technologies, cloud providers can efficiently manage

massive data centers, dynamically allocate resources, ensure isolation between
tenants, and deliver highly scalable and reliable computing services.

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-End of Topic 3-

“Excel in your chosen field of interest and endeavor”

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TOPIC 4
Virtualized Network Infrastructure

I. Introduction

Virtualized Network Infrastructure uses software to create virtual versions of

physical network resources (like switches, routers, firewalls), abstracting them from
hardware for greater flexibility, scalability, and efficient management, allowing
multiple isolated networks to run on shared physical infrastructure, ideal for cloud
computing, data centers, and WANs. It decouples network functions from hardware,
enabling rapid deployment and resource pooling, unlike traditional hardware-centric
setups.

II. Learning Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you must have to:
1. Define Virtual Network
2. Identify the benefits of virtual network.
3. Know the benefits of virtual network.

III. Learning Contents

Virtual Networks

Virtual networks have gained popularity and significance in the field of computing and
communication. They offer users the ability to create and manage networks that are
independent of the physical infrastructure, such as routers, switches, cables, and
servers. It can also isolate and segment traffic from different sources or destinations
based on rules and policies. This is done through the use of software to create a logical
network over the actual hardware. This approach is more fluid and also help in smart
utilization of network resources. In this blog, we will discuss the virtual network, how it
works, its types, and advantages.

What is a Virtual Network?

A virtual network is a network that is created and controlled by software rather than
relying on physical hardware. It allows various devices like computers, servers,
routers, switches, and firewalls to communicate with each other as if they were
directly connected by wires or cables. However, in reality, these devices are
interconnected through virtual links that utilize the underlying physical network
infrastructure.

[Link] virtual-network/

A crucial element within a virtual network is the virtual network interface card (VNIC).
VNIC works as a software simulation of a physical network interface card (NIC). It
enables devices to connect with the virtual network. VNIC can effortlessly send and
receive data packets over the network with the help of its own MAC address.

Another significant component of it is the machine (VM). It acts as a software

emulation of a physical machine running an operating system along with applications.
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A VM can be equipped with one or multiple Virtual Network Interface Cards (VNICs),
enabling it to establish communication with VMs or devices within the different virtual
networks.
Physical Network vs Virtual Network

Factors Physical Network Virtual Network

Hardware Requires physical hardware such Requires minimal hardware such as a

as cables, routers, switches, and host server and a physical NIC
servers

Software Requires less software such as Requires more software such as

drivers and protocols vSwitch, network adapter, firewalls,
and security

Connectivit Connects computers and devices Connects computers and virtual

y through cabling and other machines through software and
hardware wireless technology

Manageme Requires more manual Requires more software-based

nt configuration and maintenance configuration and management of
of hardware network services

Flexibility Less flexible and scalable as it More flexible and scalable as it can
depends on the availability of create multiple virtual networks on a
hardware resources single physical network

How Virtual Networking Works?

It operates by utilizing software to generate and oversee network packets, which are
the data units that traverse a network. These packets are enclosed with information,
like source and destination addresses, and are further directed by either software
switches (vSwitch). These switches or routers can be devices or virtual devices running
on a host computer.

The host computer, being a device, runs one or more VMs (Virtual Machines) and
VNICs. It can also have NICs (Network Interface Cards) that connect it to other physical
networks. To create and manage the VMs and VNICs, the host computer utilizes a
software layer called a hypervisor. Acting as a bridge between networks and physical
networks, the hypervisor allows communication between them.

Hypervisor is a layer of software that runs on top of the hardware. It oversees the VMs
and their VNICs while also having the capability to create and manage switches. These
switches serve as software devices connecting VNICs within a network.

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[Link]

The hypervisor has the capability to incorporate network functionalities, like firewall,
load balancing, NAT, VPN, and more. These functionalities can be implemented as
software modules that operate on the switches or routers.

Classes of Virtual Networks

There are three classes of virtual networks, these are:

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

A VPN is a network or, let’s say, a connection that provides endpoint-to-endpoint
security over the internet. It can be compared to a tunnel where every bit of
information that flows through it is encrypted and thus saved from hackers or
eavesdroppers.

VPN is frequently employed by an organization to enable its workers to conveniently

gain access to the organization’s network from a distance. They are also employed by
individuals who are seeking to keep their online activities from being traced or
interfered with by other users.

VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)

A VLAN is also a type of network that partitions a single physical network into many
Virtual networks. This is done to enhance security, minimize the traffic in the network,
and enhance flexibility.

VLANs are often used in large organizations to segment different departments or

teams into separate networks. For instance, a firm may have VLAN dedicated to the
finance or perhaps the marketing department. This is effective in ensuring that
sensitive information is well-sorted and well-protected.

VXLAN (Virtual Extensible LAN)

It is to be noted that VXLAN creates a Layer 2 network over a Layer 3 infrastructure.
VXLAN’s capability makes it possible for devices within the same VXLAN segment (or
VNI) to communicate as if they reside in the same physical network irrespective of
their actual physical location. VXLAN operates over an IP network, allowing Layer 2
frames to be encapsulated within Layer 3 UDP packets for transport.

VXLAN is often used in large data centers and especially in cloud-based solutions in
order to build networks where the VXLAN overlay networks are spread across different
physical networks. It fulfils the basic purpose of traffic filtering and network
segmentation, which further enables network virtualization.

Use Cases of Virtual Networks

However, to provide a clearer picture of Virtual Networks, below are the possible use
cases.
 Mergers and acquisitions: Utmost compatibility of new networks in the
current or existing infrastructure.
 Disaster recovery: Helps in specifying the option for switching the network
quickly if there is an unfavorable event, such as a disaster.
 Network isolation: Isolate sensitive networks or devices from the rest of the
network for security.
 Network extension: Assist in connecting a remote branch or some other, i.e.,
remote location, to the company’s network.

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 Multi-tenancy: Allows multiple organizations to use the same network, but still
the data in each organization’s network will be independent of the other. This is
known as network isolation.
 Traffic management: Reduce network congestion by isolating high-traffic
areas.

Types of Virtual Networks

Private Virtual Networks

These types of networks are mainly used by the devices that belong to them or have
access to such types of networks. It creates a secure and isolated virtual environment
in order to communicate or send sensitive data between applications. For example, an
organization can use such types of networks in order to connect its different branches
that are situated at different locations or sometimes to host its internal applications
and databases.

Internal Virtual Networks

Now, the internal virtual networks are mainly for the devices that are part of the same
server. It is used to divide as well as to organize the traffic and data. For example, an
organization can use such type of network in the case when they want to separate
their departments or teams. This will give them the opportunity to assign different
permissions to different devices or users.

External Virtual Networks

An external virtual network is a type of network that is mainly accessible by users
outside of a physical network. It is used to connect different networks or services over
the internet. For example, an organization can use such types of networks in order to
access cloud-based applications or maybe resources. Most of the time, companies use
these networks to provide services to their customers or partners.

Advantages of Virtual Networks

It offers benefits for both users and network administrators, including:

 Enhanced Security: By employing encryption authentication, isolation, and
segmentation techniques, it safeguards data and devices from access or
attacks.
 Improved Performance: Utilizing optimization load balancing, caching, and
compression techniques, it enhances the speed and quality of data transmission
within the network.
 Increased Productivity: Collaboration, mobility, automation, and innovation
are enabled by a virtual network to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of
work processes.
 Reduced Cost: By minimizing hardware usage, energy consumption, space
requirements, and maintenance needs, it reduces both capital and operational
expenses associated with the network infrastructure.
 Simplified Network Architecture: It is important to note that these networks
help achieve an easy and simplified network architecture to manage and
maintain.
 Reduced Downtime: The idea of the virtual network is to offer some level of
redundancy so that the communication path is designed not to be congested,
and the traffic is automatically rerouted in time of need.
 Faster Deployment: Virtual networking can be implemented rapidly, and the
time required to establish a new networking environment is minimal.

Challenges of Virtual Networks

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Some of the challenges associated with virtual networks are:

 Difficult to use: It can be complicated to establish and connect everything.
Diagnosing a problem may be more difficult than in the case of physical wires.
 Security Risks: The entire system can be exposed to an attack. If one
component in the network is compromised. The threats can easily spread.
 Performance Issues: Virtual networks may be slower when compared to
physical networks. They share resources, and this can develop bottlenecks and
lag.
 Resource Requirements: A virtual network requires many computing
resources in order to run. To cope with the workload, you need strong servers.
 Skill Gaps: There are limited individuals with the skills to handle virtual
networks effectively. It is sometimes extremely difficult to find and train
personnel.
 Integration Problems: It can be draining to make older, physical systems
converse with the virtual one. Not everything goes hand in hand.
 High Initial Costs: Though it is cost-effective in the future, the setup might be
costly. To start with, you have to purchase good software and hardware.

Examples of Virtual Networking

Some of the examples of virtual networking are:

 Virtual Private Networks (VPNs): With a VPN, you are establishing a secure,
private tunnel across the general web. This enables you to log on to your work
or home network remotely.
 Virtual LANs (VLANs): A VLAN divides one physical network into a large
number of different networks. It will combine devices, even when they are not
connected to the same switch. This enhances security, and traffic is controlled.
 Cloud Networks: Providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google
Cloud depend on virtual networking. They allow you to create and operate your
personal network on their servers. You can make your own servers, firewalls,
and routers using no physical equipment.
 Software-Defined Networking (SDN): SDN decouples the brain of a network
from the hardware. This eliminates the task of controlling the whole network,
which is done at one location. Software allows you to change routes and rules
rather than physically relocate cables.

Network Functions Virtualization (VFV)

Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) transforms dedicated hardware appliances

like firewalls and load balancers into software (Virtual Network Functions or VNFs)
running on standard servers, boosting flexibility, agility, and cost-efficiency by
reducing reliance on proprietary hardware and enabling faster deployment of services
on commodity hardware, often alongside SDN for unified control.

How NFV Works

 Decoupling: Separates network functions (firewalls, routers, load balancers)
from their physical boxes.
 Virtualization: Runs these functions as software applications (VNFs) in virtual
machines or containers.
 Commodity Hardware: Deploys these VNFs on standard, off-the-shelf servers
instead of expensive, specialized hardware.
 Orchestration: Uses a management framework (NFV MANO) to automate
deployment, scaling, and management of these virtual functions.

Benefits

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 Cost Savings: Reduces capital expenditure (CapEx) by using generic servers

and operational costs (OpEx) by sharing resources, lowering power/space
needs.
 Agility & Speed: Accelerates service deployment from months to hours.
 Scalability: Easily scale functions up or down by provisioning more virtual
resources.
 Flexibility: Create service chains (e.g., firewall -> load balancer -> router)
dynamically.

Role of Firewalls & Load Balancers in NFV

 Virtual Firewalls (vFirewalls): Software-based security enforcing policies on
virtualized networks, providing dynamic security at lower cost.
 Virtual Load Balancers (vLB): Distribute traffic across multiple servers or
services, offering high availability and performance through software on shared
infrastructure.

NFV & SDN: Complementary Technologies

 NFV virtualizes the functions (e.g., firewall, load balancer).
 Software-Defined Networking (SDN) virtualizes the control plane,
centralizing network intelligence.
 They work together: SDN's central controller can manage and steer traffic
through NFV-provided services like virtual firewalls and load balancers for a
truly agile network.

Network Functions Virtualization Architecture

Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

What is Software Defined Networking (SDN)?




Software defined networking (SDN) is an approach to network management that
enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration to improve
network performance and monitoring. It is a new way of managing computer
networks that makes them easier and more flexible to control.

In traditional networks, the hardware (like routers and switches) decides how data
moves through the network, but SDN changes this by moving the decision-making to
a central software system. This is done by separating the control plane (which
decides where traffic is sent) from the data plane (which moves packets to the
selected destination).

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Software Defined
Networking

SDN Architecture
In a traditional network, each switch has its own control plane and data plane.
Switches exchange topology information to build a forwarding table that decides
where to send data packets. In Software-Defined Networking (SDN), the control plane
is removed from switches and assigned to a centralized SDN controller. This allows
network administrators to manage traffic from a single console instead of configuring
each switch individually.

The data plane remains in the switch, forwarding packets based on flow tables set by
the controller. These tables contain match fields (like input port and packet header)
and instructions (forward, drop, or modify packets). If a packet doesn’t match any
entry, the switch contacts the controller, which provides a new flow entry to decide
the packet’s path. A typical SDN architecture consists of three layers.

SDN Architecture
 Application Layer: It contains the typical network applications
like intrusion detection, firewall, and load balancing.
 Control Layer: It consists of the SDN controller which acts as the brain of
the network. It also allows hardware abstraction to the applications written
on top of it.
 Infrastructure Layer: This consists of physical switches which form the
data plane and carries out the actual movement of data packets.

The layers communicate via a set of interfaces called the north-bound APIs(between
the application and control layer) and southbound APIs(between the control and
infrastructure layer).

What is a Data Plane?

All the activities involving and resulting from data packets sent by the end-user
belong to this plane. Data Plane includes:
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 Forwarding of packets.
 Segmentation and reassembly of data.
 Replication of packets for multicasting.

What is a Control Plane?

All activities necessary to perform data plane activities but do not involve end-user
data packets belong to this plane. In other words, this is the brain of the network.
The activities of the control plane include:
 Making routing tables.
 Setting packet handling policies.

What are the Components of Software Defining Networking (SDN)?

The three main components that make the SDN are:
 SDN Applications: SDN Applications relay requests or networks through
SDN Controller using API.
 SDN Controller: SDN Controller collects network information from
hardware and sends this information to applications.
 SDN Networking Devices: SDN Network devices help in forwarding and
data processing tasks.

Where is Software Defined Networking Used?

 Enterprises use SDN, the most widely used method for application
deployment, to deploy applications faster while lowering overall
deployment and operating costs. SDN allows IT administrators to manage
and provision network services from a single location.
 Cloud networking software-defined uses white-box systems. Cloud
providers often use generic hardware so that the Cloud data center can be
changed and the cost of CAPEX and OPEX saved.
Why Software Defined Networking is Important?
 Better Network Connectivity: SDN provides very better network
connectivity for sales, services, and internal communications. SDN also
helps in faster data sharing.
 Better Deployment of Applications: Deployment of new applications,
services, and many business models can be speed up using Software
Defined Networking.
 Better Security: Software-defined network provides better visibility
throughout the network. Operators can create separate zones for devices
that require different levels of security. SDN networks give more freedom
to operators.
 Better Control With High Speed: Software-defined networking provides
better speed than other networking types by applying an open standard
software-based controller.

How Does Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Works?

In Software-Defined Networking (SDN), the software that controls the network is
separated from the hardware. SDN moves the part that decides where to send data
(control plane) to software, while the part that actually forwards the data (data
plane) stays in the hardware.
This setup allows network administrators to manage and control the entire network
using a single, unified interface. Instead of configuring each device individually, they
can program and adjust the network from one central place. This makes managing
the network much easier and more efficient.
In a network, physical or virtual devices move data from one place to another.
Sometimes, virtual switches, which can be part of either software or hardware, take
over the jobs of physical switches. These virtual switches combine multiple functions
into one smart switch. They check the data packets and their destinations to make
sure everything is correct, then move the packets to where they need to go.

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What are the Different Models of SDN?

There are several models, which are used in SDN:
 Open SDN
 SDN via APIs
 SDN via Hypervisor-based Overlay Network
 Hybrid SDN

Open SDN
Open SDN is implemented using the OpenFlow switch. It is a straight forward
implementation of SDN. In Open SDN, the controller communicates with the switches
using south-bound API with the help of OpenFlow protocol.

SDN via APIs

In SDN via API, the functions in remote devices like switches are invoked using
conventional methods like SNMP or CLI or through newer methods like Rest API.
Here, the devices are provided with control points enabling the controller to
manipulate the remote devices using APIs.
SDN via Hypervisor-based Overlay Network
In SDN via the hypervisor, the configuration of physical devices is unchanged.
Instead, Hypervisor based overlay networks are created over the physical network.
Only the devices at the edge of the physical network are connected to the virtualized
networks, thereby concealing the information of other devices in the physical
network.

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Hybrid SDN
Hybrid Networking is a combination of Traditional Networking with software-defined
networking in one network to support different types of functions on a network.

Difference Between SDN and Traditional Networking

Software Defined Networking Traditional Networking

Software Defined Network is a virtual A traditional network is the old

networking approach. conventional networking approach.

Software Defined Network is

Traditional Network is distributed control.
centralized control.

This network is programmable. This network is nonprogrammable.

Software Defined Network is the open A traditional network is a closed

interface. interface.

In Software Defined Network data plane In a traditional network data plane and
and control, the plane is decoupled by control plane are mounted on the same
software. plane.

SDN vs Traditional Network Architecture

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Advantages of SDN
 The network is programmable and hence can easily be modified via the
controller rather than individual switches.
 Switch hardware becomes cheaper since each switch only needs a data
plane.
 Hardware is abstracted, hence applications can be written on top of the
controller independent of the switch vendor.
 Provides better security since the controller can monitor traffic and deploy
security policies. For example, if the controller detects suspicious activity in
network traffic, it can reroute or drop the packets.
Disadvantages of SDN
 The central dependency of the network means a single point of failure, i.e.
if the controller gets corrupted, the entire network will be affected.
 The use of SDN on large scale is not properly defined and explored.

VM Network Configuration

VM network configuration uses virtual switches (vSwitches) to connect VMs to

networks, acting like physical switches but in software, while VLANs (Virtual Local
Area Networks) segment traffic on these switches, isolating VMs and controlling
communication, often by tagging frames with VLAN IDs for trunking or assigning
specific IDs to ports. You configure VLANs on the virtual switch or the VM's network
adapter, ensuring consistency with your physical network for seamless traffic flow.

Virtual Switches (vSwitches)

 Function: Software-based switches that connect virtual machines to virtual
networks and physical adapters, enabling VM communication and external
access.
 Types: Can be external (connecting to physical NICs), internal (VMs only), or
private (isolated to host) in Hyper-V, with similar concepts in VMware (vSwitch,
Port Groups).
 Configuration: Created and managed in the hypervisor (e.g., Hyper-V
Manager, VMware vSphere Client) to define uplink ports (physical NICs) and
security settings.

VLANs (Virtual LANs)

 Function: Logically segment a network, allowing groups of devices (VMs) to
communicate as if on their own network, even if physically connected to the
same switch.
 Tagging (802.1Q): Adds a VLAN ID to network frames, allowing a single
physical link (trunk) to carry traffic for multiple VLANs.
 Configuration Methods:
o On the vSwitch/Port Group: Assigning a specific VLAN ID to a port
group (VMware) or enabling VLAN ID on the switch (Hyper-V)
for all connected VMs.
o On the VM's Network Adapter: Installing a trunking driver within the
guest OS (Virtual Guest Tagging - VGT) to tag its own traffic, often used
with trunked physical ports.
o Access vs. Trunk: Ports can be set to access mode (single VLAN)
or trunk mode (multiple VLANs).

How They Work Together (Example: Hyper-V)

1. Create Virtual Switch: In Hyper-V Manager, create an external virtual switch
connected to a physical adapter.

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2. Configure VLAN on Switch: In the Virtual Switch Manager, select the switch
and enable VLAN ID for the management OS (host) and set a specific ID (e.g.,
10).
3. Configure VM Adapter: In the VM settings, go to the network adapter, enable
VLAN ID, and set the same ID (e.g., 10).
4. Physical Switch: The physical switch port connected to the host must be
configured as a trunk port allowing VLAN 10 (and others if needed).
5. Traffic Isolation: The vSwitch tags VM traffic with VLAN 10, ensuring it only
reaches other devices on VLAN 10, creating network isolation.

Network Security in Virtual Environments

Network security in virtual environments uses software-defined tools (virtual

firewalls, micro-segmentation) to protect virtual machines (VMs) and cloud networks,
focusing on strong access controls (MFA, RBAC), isolation (VLANs), continuous
monitoring, and securing the hypervisor to prevent lateral movement and breaches,
differing from traditional hardware security by being more flexible and integrated into
the software layer. Key strategies include Zero Trust, patching, encryption, and golden
images for consistent, secure deployments.

Key Concepts & Tools

 Virtualized Security: Software-based security (virtual firewalls, intrusion
detection) that moves with workloads, unlike static hardware.
 Segmentation & Isolation: Using VLANs or micro-segmentation to separate
VMs, preventing attackers from moving freely (lateral movement).
 Zero Trust: Assuming no implicit trust; requiring verification for every access
request, even internally.
 Secure Golden Images: Hardened, pre-configured VM templates to ensure
consistency and security from deployment.

Essential Security Practices

 Access Control: Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Multi-Factor
Authentication (MFA) to enforce the Principle of Least Privilege.
 Patching & Updates: Regularly update hypervisors, guest OS, and security
software to fix vulnerabilities.
 Monitoring & Logging: Centralize and analyze logs for real-time threat
detection and auditing.
 Encryption: Encrypt data both in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest (disk encryption).
 Minimize Console Access: Use secure remote management (SSH, RDP) over
direct VM console access.
 Backup & DR: Have robust strategies for business continuity.

-End of Topic 4-

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