Virtualization can be also used for single applications, storage space or data. Application runs in virtual environment doesn’t communicate directly with OS, its not installed and doesnt make any changes in OS register nor system files. It stays in so called sandbox. Network virtualization is about connecting physical units in one or sharing network functionalities to virtual machines installed in hypervisor environment.
What is the reason to virtualize?
There are many diffrent reasons for increased popularity of virtualization. Virtualization in specifi conditions will give one huge savings, makes easier to manage and optimize resources and it increases security.
Below I listed main advantages of virtualization:
Easy creation of test environments- thanks to virtualization we can install on single computer many environments, for i.e developers to test their software. Thanks to that we do not create additional costs of new computers or office space.
Easy management- virtual machines are easier to manage and configure and it is easier to check how they work. They are also more flexible and are not so much affected by hardware restrictions. It is esy to create and delete new virtual environments and it’s easy to move one environment from one to another machine.
Greater security- it is a result of fact that you are able to isolate one virtual environment from another. It lets you to install and run diffrent programs without a risk of corrupting or deleting important system files. It is also easy to control those environments and easy backup creation and data restoration.
Opportunity to coexistence and cooperation diffrent incompatible environments- the opportunity to install diffrent operating systems and runinng them on one machine is great advantage, which is appreciated by software developers, support workers or testers. Thanks to that there is no need to buy new system or apps without testing it first in virtual environment. One can install the old version of software to find out if it will be still compatible or have a chance to check the network configuration for example between Linux and Windows.