OS virtualization

Virtualization of OS 

 

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization allows multiple operating system instances to run concurrently on a single computer;
it is a means of separating hardware from a single operating system. Each “guest” OS is managed by a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), also known as a hyper visor. Because the virtualization system sits between the guest and the hardware, it can control the guests’ use of CPU, memory, and storage, even allowing a guest OS to migrate from one machine to another.

Why Virtualization?

As virtualization separates the operating system from the hardware, a number of very useful

new tools become available. Virtualization allows an operator to control a guest operating system’s

use of CPU, memory, storage, and other resources, so each guest receives only the resources that it

needs. This distribution eliminates the danger of a single runaway process consuming all available

memory or CPU. It also helps IT staff to satisfy service level requirements for specific applications.

Ways of Virtualization

Full virtualization

Is virtualization in which the guest operating system is unaware that it is in a virtualized environment, and therefore hardware is virtualized by the host operating system so that the guest can issue commands to what it thinks is actual hardware, but really are just simulated hardware devices created by the host.

Para virtualization

Is virtualization in which the guest operating system (the one being virtualized) is aware that it is a guest and accordingly has drivers that, instead of issuing hardware commands, simply issue commands directly to the host operating system. This also includes memory and thread management as well, which usually require unavailable privileged instructions in the processor.

Partial virtualization

Including address space virtualization, the virtual machine simulates multiple instances of much of an underlying hardware environment, particularly address spaces. Usually, this means that entire operating systems cannot run in the virtual machine—​which would be the sign of full virtualization— ​but that many applications can run. A key form of partial virtualization is address space virtualization, in which each virtual machine consists of an independent address space. This capability requires address relocation hardware, and has been present in most practical examples of partial virtualization.

Virtualization of OS

To start, we need to download a copy of VMware vCentre Converter Standalone: the actual software that will convert our physical machine to a virtual image.

Then follow the following steps or watch the tutorial below

For more info about Virtualization, read the paper by Redhat