What is the term used to describe programs that create and manage virtual machines?
An intro to virtualization and the benefits of VMs Show
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, disks to store your files, and can connect to the internet if needed. While the parts that make up your 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. How does a virtual machine work?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. What are VMs used for?Here are a few ways virtual machines are used:
What are the benefits of using VMs?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. And, because VMs are independent of each other, they're also extremely portable. You can move a VM on a hypervisor to another hypervisor on a completely different machine almost instantaneously. Because of their flexibility and portability, virtual machines provide many benefits, such as:
Related products and services for VMsWindows Virtual MachinesOn-demand, highly scalable, and protected virtualized infrastructure with Windows virtual machines in Azure
Linux Virtual MachinesCreate and deploy enterprise-grade open-source and community-driven software in seconds and reduce costs Azure Dedicated HostDedicated physical server to host and run virtual machines for Windows and Linux on Azure Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to get started with VMsLearn how to choose the right VM for your workload and reduce costs with Microsoft Azure. Ready when you are—let's set up your free accountWhat is used to manage virtual machines?Container vs virtual machine
Virtual machines are often managed by a hypervisor, whereas container systems provide shared operating system services from the underlying host and isolate the applications using virtual-memory hardware.
What is another term for a virtual machine?A hypervisor (also known as a virtual machine monitor, VMM, or virtualizer) is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is called a host machine, and each virtual machine is called a guest machine.
What is the term used to describe the OS running on the virtual machine?A guest operating system is the operating system installed on either a virtual machine (VM) or partitioned disk. It is usually different from the host operating system. Simply put, a host OS runs on hardware, while a guest OS runs on a VM.
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