Technical overview of virtualization technologies
What is virtualization?
In its broadest definition, virtualization is the process of using physical resources to create a virtual environment. It consists of three elements: operating systems, networks and storage media. Basically, virtualization is used to create a virtual environment consisting of several installations from a specific base of a set of hardware resources. Through virtualization, the end user can have a virtual view of the hardware.
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What are the different types of virtualization?
1* Hardware virtualization
Hardware virtualization or server virtualization is one of the most common forms of virtualization. Hardware virtualization is a process in which virtual machines are created by sharing the resources of a physical server, such as storage, RAM and CPU. The physical server is also known as a host. The software used in hardware virtualization is called a hypervisor.
2* Software virtualization
In this type of virtualization, you manage your virtualization systems from the software environment. Several environments can be run on the same platform. From one platform, we can manage the OS, the applications and all the services needed in a virtual environment. For example VMWare and Virtual Box.
3* Memory virtualization
Memory virtualization is a concept of aggregating physical memory from individual systems into a single virtualized memory pool. Operating systems or applications will use this memory pool. The application will access this memory pool through the API. It can be distributed and used as a high-speed cache or as a shared memory resource for your application. For the operating system, a page cache can use the memory pool. The memory pool will be a large memory resource.
4* Storage virtualization
Storage virtualization separates the physical storage into a small storage network for virtualized environments. All small storage units can be accessed from a centralized console. Storage virtualization has many advantages, such as data backup, archiving and recovery. You may have heard of SAN (Storage Area Network). Backing up and restoring data takes less time than SAN.
5* Network virtualization
Network virtualization manages the network to connect virtualized networks or VLANs to the physical network. In addition, firewall networks and load balancing can also be managed here. And it also provides SDN – software-defined networking and NFV – network functions virtualization. With this, it becomes more efficient and scalable.
6* Desktop virtualization
It is also called client virtualization. Desktop virtualization is a technology used to provide a separate desktop environment for the end user. It provides the desktop environment for the user to interact with virtual machine systems. It can be maintained through a remote desktop system.
What are virtualization technologies?
The Internet connection can be erratic at times. For this reason, it is unrealistic to maintain any type of hardware computer system over the Internet continuously for 24 hours. In addition to this unpredictability, the hardware system is also costly in terms of electricity, maintenance, procurement and a host of other expenses.
Today, many companies want to have an uninterrupted, secure Internet presence and a low cost of operation. Fortunately, the right virtualization technology exists for almost every conceivable need. This is where the above-mentioned types of virtualization come into play.
Within the broader scope of virtualization technology, there are a number of cloud-based technologies capable of providing virtualization with a number of web technologies, data centers, software, etc.
How do virtualization technologies work?
As mentioned above, the virtualization process involves the creation of a software environment on a physical server that can be accessed by anyone anywhere in the world. There is no single virtualization technology that can be used to perform virtualization. There are many.
All system management functions are assumed by a hypervisor at the host level. At the host level, you can have more than one HyperV node. Any HyperV node can create virtual machines.
The job of the hypervisor is to establish a number of multiple virtual machines sharing operating systems, storage and networking. To achieve this, the help of firmware is needed. Using a physical server, the hypervisor can create more virtual machines, determine their needs and install a number of operating systems according to the requirements. Such an operating system will be referred to as a guest OS.
Virtualization technologies list
1* HyperV
Hyper-V virtualization technology is provided by Microsoft for Windows Server virtualization. You can create virtual machines on Windows Server using Hyper-V virtualization technology.
Hyper – v virtualization technology is one of the most usable Microsoft products known as Microsoft client and server virtualization technology, which is used to build a software environment of a computer system.
With the help of hypervisor layer, this technology controls the hypervisor hardware resource and allocates the resources to virtual machines. The Hyper-v virtualization platform was introduced starting with Windows Server 2008. HyperV is the bare-metal or native hypervisor, also known as type 1 hypervisor. Hyper-v virtualization technology is primarily compatible with Windows, Linux and freeBase operating systems.
A hypervisor called Hyper-V manager handles all management of Hyper-V virtualization technology. Using the Hyper-V manager, the user can manage a number of aspects such as backups, server status, VHD files on the VPS, add a host and check server status.
Live migration in HyperV
In live migration, two virtual machines can be transferred between two hosts without experiencing service interruption or downtime. Hyper-V technology has the ability to support the seamless transfer of one virtual machine from the original host to the next. The shared network between two hosts helps keep the server running while the user moves the virtual machine between hosts.
What is fast migration in HyperV?
Fast migration is much like any other network migration, except that it causes an interruption of service while virtual machines are moved between two hosts or nodes. It has been around for a long time, going back to the days when the concept of virtualization was just beginning. Rapid migration is still viable today.
2* VMWare
VMWare virtualization technology is a cloud-based virtualization technology in which multiple instances of virtual machines can run.
Nothing defines VM ware virtualization technology and makes it as famous as its rich desktop applications (software). The primary goal of VM ware is to manage smaller virtualized environments.
The software that makes up VM ware is designed in such a way that it can establish smaller virtual machines using dedicated hardware resources as a base. The user can manage hardware resources and establish virtual machines by subdividing networks, storage, network cards and processors.
VM ware uses encryption for key management solutions, uses data encryption methods to protect client data, uses transparent data encryption for SQL server so that user data can be transferred securely, and uses various software development kits for all VM ware enterprise platforms. Which includes the lowest cost of operation, VM ware critical encryption technology. VM ware hardware can be managed on the following platforms. vCenter Server, vSphere Client, vMotion, ESXi, etc…. There are many types of hardware management tools available by VM ware technology.
Live Migration in VMWare
Users can move virtual machines between different physical servers without experiencing downtime delays. Massive storage and connection resources are used to ensure this migration. To move your virtual machine between physical servers, active memory and a highly scalable network are required.
The main advantage of live migration is that it allows you to perform hardware maintenance at your leisure without being inconvenienced by server failures and downtime. To automate and schedule the movement of virtual machines, a number of software is typically used. Some of these software include: vSphere, vMotion, etc. Some of these software allow the migration of several virtual machines at the same time in a matter of seconds.
VM ware hardware can be managed on the following platforms. vCenter Server, vSphere Client, vMotion, ESXi, etc…. There are many types of hardware management tools available by VM ware technology.
3* KVM
KVM virtulization technology is a complete Linux-based virtulization technology that is free and open source.
It is an open source software to manage the virtualization of the Linux operating system. KVM stands for Kernel-based Virtualization Machine. KVM is a virtualization technology that is specifically used for Linux operating system virtualization. It is the complete Linux x86 operating system virtualization solution. With the use of this virtualization technology, we can create virtualized Linux servers that have separate network cards, storage and graphics adapters.
In the KVM hypervisor, multiple operating systems can be shared seamlessly on one hardware host. The KVM hypervisor is designed to function as a type 2 hypervisor. If you are looking for a hypervisor with OS virtualization capabilities and great performance and management, you may not want to move away from this platform. It’s worth mentioning that the hypervisor part of KVM sets up virtual machines that support interaction between storage, network resources, OS and hard disk.
Hardware-based isolation: KVM heavily utilizes the power of hardware-based interaction to achieve virtualization and create boundaries between virtual machines. It applies access control to all virtual machines. This is achieved through rigorous implementation of virtualization.
Live migration in KVM
KVM supports live and offline migration to move virtual machines from one node to another node without failover clustering. In this case, x64-bit guest machine can be migrated only with x64 guest machines, but x32-bit guest machine can be migrated with x64 and x86 bit.
4* Citrix Server Virtualization (formerly XenServer)
Citrix virtualization technology provides virtualization for desktops and applications based on the Xen hypervisor.
Citrix server virtualization is one of the most popular virtualization technologies available. It allows the user to manage multiple storage spaces, network configuration and a number of other extended features. Citrix server virtualization is primarily used for desktop, application and server virtualization, collectively referred to as a multi-tenancy virtualization platform. It is just the right virtualization technology you need if you are looking for an option with greater scalability and higher deployment performance. This virtualization technology works best on XEN servers.
With the Citrix hypervisor, you can avoid resource exhaustion during abnormal system load time. In addition, it allows you to uniquely label and name virtual machines. Better yet, it incorporates features that support live migration and creates a secure template.
Live Migration in Citrix Server Virtualization
Citrix hypervisors are available in all versions. It provides live and offline migration of virtual machines between servers. In this feature, the virtual machine disk is shared by the source and target server. This capability enables migration of virtual machines without downtime. When storage is shared with each other, migration can be easily performed without downtime.
What security measures to adopt when using virtualization technologies?
For maximum virtualization security on both virtual servers and host servers, you should consider these aspects:
- Prefer private networks to access your Virtual Machines.
- Configure settings where to store virtualized resource files and set appropriate permissions on the files.
- Configure security firewalls to protect your server from malware attacks and theft.
- It is recommended to use second generation 64-bit processors.
Conclusion
Virtualization can alleviate the concerns of businesses and individuals experiencing hardware maintenance issues. Virtualization has many advantages, including reduced need for physical hardware, ease of setup and management by data centers.
There are various types of virtualization depending on your hardware, software, memory and even network requirements. Within the broader scope of virtualization technology, there are a number of cloud-based technologies capable of providing virtualization with a range of web technologies, data centers, software, etc.
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