Virtualization

Types of Virtualization

Virtual Machine

A term referring to the virtualization or emulation of an entire computer system. They differ in that they are meant to either vitalize an entire computer system, known as *system virtual machines, or vitalize a process or collection of processes, known as a process virtual machine or a application virtual machine.

Emulation

Emulation is the act of one computer system (the host) emulating or otherwise imitating another (the guest) in order to interface with a program or device. The system on which the emulation occurs is know as an emulator. The emulator is thus enabled to run computer programs or interface with devices designed to operate with for the emulated system, rather than the host system.

Hypervisor

Hypervisor are similar to emulators but is the foundation that makes Virtualization of entire systems possible, be it computer software, hardware, or firmware.

OS-level Virtualization

OS-level virtual involves the virtualization of an operating system kernel and allows for the existence of multiple isolated user space instances called containers, zones, virtual kernels, or some such term. Such instances may look like real computers from the point of view of the programs running in on such systems.