Hir Sanghani - 53003220023
Assignment 2
VIRTUAL MACHINE
A Virtual Machine (VM) is a compute resource that uses software instead of a physical computer to run programs and deploy apps. One or more virtual “guest” machines run on a physical “host” machine. Each virtual machine runs its own operating system and functions separately from the other VMs, even when they are all running on the same host. This means that, for example, a virtual MacOS virtual machine can run on a physical PC.
Virtual machines (VMs) allow a business to run an operating system that behaves like a completely separate computer in an app window on a desktop. VMs may be deployed to accommodate different levels of processing power needs, to run software that requires a different operating system, or to test applications in a safe, sandboxed environment.
Virtual machines have historically been used for server virtualization which enables IT teams to consolidate their computing resources and improve efficiency. Additionally, virtual machines can perform specific tasks considered too risky to carry out in a host environment, such as accessing virus-infected data or testing operating systems. Since the virtual machine is separated from the rest of the system, the software inside the virtual machine cannot tamper with the host computer.
The virtual machine runs as a process in an application window, similar to any other application, on the operating system of the physical machine. Key files that make up a virtual machine include a log file, NVRAM setting file, virtual disk file and configuration file.
Users can choose from two different types of virtual machines—process VMs and system VMs:
A process virtual machine allows a single process to run as an application on a host machine, providing a platform-independent programming environment by masking the information of the underlying hardware or operating system. An example of a process VM is the Java Virtual Machine, which enables any operating system to run Java applications as if they were native to that system.
A system virtual machine is fully virtualized to substitute for a physical machine. A system platform supports the sharing of a host computer’s physical resources between multiple virtual machines, each running its own copy of the operating system. This virtualization process relies on a hypervisor, which can run on bare hardware, such as VMware ESXI, or on top of an operating system.
