Module 2

Virtualization
 Virtualization
• The term Virtualization is nothing but creation of a
virtual version of hardware platform, operating
system, storage or network resources rather than
actual.

• Basically Virtualization allows to run multiple

operating systems on a single physical machine
called host machine.
Characteristics of virtualized
environment
• Maximum resource utilization
• Reduces Hardware Cost
• Minimize the maintenance cost
• Supports Dynamic Load balancing
• Easy VM management
• Maintaining Legacy applications and can test Beta
Software's
• Disaster recovery
 Hypervisors
• The virtualization can be achieved through the
software called Virtual Machine Manager or
Hypervisor.

• The hypervisor software provides two different

structures of Virtualization namely Hosted structure
(also called Type 2Virtualization) and Bare-Metal
structure (also called Type 1Virtualization)
Implementation Levels of
Virtualization
 Instruction Set Architecture
Level
• At the ISA level, virtualization is performed by
emulating a given ISA by the ISA of the host
machine.
• With this approach, it is possible to run a large
amount of legacy binary code writ-ten for various
processors on any given new hardware host
machine. Instruction set emulation leads to virtual
ISAs created on any hardware machine.
 Hardware Abstraction Level
• Hardware-level virtualization is performed right on
top of the bare hardware.
• On the one hand, this approach generates a virtual
hardware environment for a VM.
• On the other hand, the process manages the
underlying hardware through virtualization.
• The idea is to virtualize a computer’s resources,
such as its processors, memory, and I/O devices.
 Operating System Level
• This refers to an abstraction layer between
traditional OS and user applications.
• OS-level virtualization creates
isolated containers on a single physical server and
the OS instances to utilize the hard-ware and
software in data centers.
• The containers behave like real servers.
 Library Support Level
• Most applications use APIs exported by user-level
libraries rather than using lengthy system calls by
the OS. Since most systems provide well-
documented APIs, such an interface becomes
another candidate for virtualization.
• Virtualization with library interfaces is possible by
controlling the communication link between
applications and the rest of a system through API
hooks.
 User-Application Level
• Virtualization at the application level virtualizes an
application as a VM. On a traditional OS, an
application often runs as a process.

• Therefore, application-level virtualization is also

known as process-level virtualization.
 Paravirtualization
• Paravirtualization (PV) is an enhancement
of virtualization technology in which a guest operating
system (guest OS) is modified prior to installation inside a
virtual machine (VM) in order to allow all guest OS within
the system to share resources and successfully collaborate,
rather than attempt to emulate an entire
hardware environment.
• With paravirtualization, virtual machines can be accessed
through interfaces that are similar to the underlying
hardware. This capacity minimizes overhead and optimizes
system performance by supporting the use of VMs that
would otherwise be underutilized in conventional or full
hardware virtualization.
 Full Virtualization
• Full virtualization is a virtualization technique
used to provide a VME that completely simulates
the underlying hardware.

• In this type of environment, any software capable of

execution on the physical hardware can be run in
the VM, and any OS supported by the underlying
hardware can be run in each individual VM.
Hardware-assisted Virtualization

• Hardware-Assisted Virtualization is a type of Full

Virtualization where the microprocessor
architecture has special instructions to aid the
virtualization of hardware. These instructions might
allow a virtual context to be setup so that the guest
can execute privileged instructions directly on the
processor without affecting the host. Such a feature
set is often called a Hypervisor.
 Virtualization of CPU,
Memory and I/O Devices
Virtualization and
Cloud Computing
Pros and Cons of virtualization
• Pros of Virtualization
• Uses Hardware Efficiently
• Available at all Times
• Recovery is Easy
• Quick and Easy Setup
• Cloud Migration is Easier
• Cons of Virtualization
• High Initial Investment
• Data Can be at Risk
• Quick Scalability is a Challenge
• Performance Witnesses a Dip
• Unintended Server Sprawl
 Technology Examples: KVM
• KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full
virtualization solution for Linux on a variety of
architectures. It is built into the standard Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7 kernel and integrated with the
Quick Emulator (QEMU), and it can run multiple
guest operating systems.
 Xen
• The Xen Project hypervisor is an open-source type-
1 or baremetal hypervisor which makes it possible
to run many instances of an operating system or
indeed different operating systems in parallel on a
single machine (or host). The Xen Project
hypervisor is the only type-1 hypervisor that is
available as open source
 Vmware
• Simply put, VMware develops virtualization software.
• Virtualization software creates an abstraction layer over
computer hardware that allows the hardware elements
of a single computer processors, memory, storage, and
more to be divided into multiple virtual computers,
commonly called virtual machines (VMs).
• Each virtual machine runs its own operating system
(OS) and behaves like an independent computer, even
though it is running on a portion of the actual
underlying computer hardware.
 Hyper v
• Hyper-V is virtualization software that, well,
virtualizes software.
• It can not only virtualize operating systems but also
entire hardware components, such as hard drives
and network switches.
• Unlike Fusion and Virtualbox, Hyper-V is not
limited to the user’s device. You can use it for
server virtualization, too.