Virtualization in Cloud Computing

Virtualization is the "creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such
as a server, a desktop, a storage device, an operating system or network resources".

In other words, Virtualization is a technique, which allows to share a single physical

instance of a resource or an application among multiple customers and organizations. It
does by assigning a logical name to a physical storage and providing a pointer to that
physical resource when demanded.

What is the concept behind the

Virtualization?
Creation of a virtual machine over existing operating system and hardware is known as
Hardware Virtualization. A Virtual machine provides an environment that is logically
separated from the underlying hardware.

The machine on which the virtual machine is going to create is known as Host
Machine and that virtual machine is referred as a Guest Machine

Types of Virtualization:
1. Hardware Virtualization.
2. Operating system Virtualization.
3. Server Virtualization.
4. Storage Virtualization.

1) Hardware Virtualization:
When the virtual machine software or virtual machine manager (VMM) is directly
installed on the hardware system is known as hardware virtualization.

The main job of hypervisor is to control and monitoring the processor, memory and
other hardware resources.

After virtualization of hardware system we can install different operating system on it

and run different applications on those OS.
Usage:

Hardware virtualization is mainly done for the server platforms, because controlling
virtual machines is much easier than controlling a physical server.

2) Operating System Virtualization:

When the virtual machine software or virtual machine manager (VMM) is installed on the
Host operating system instead of directly on the hardware system is known as operating
system virtualization.

Usage:

Operating System Virtualization is mainly used for testing the applications on different
platforms of OS.

3) Server Virtualization:
When the virtual machine software or virtual machine manager (VMM) is directly
installed on the Server system is known as server virtualization.

Usage:

Server virtualization is done because a single physical server can be divided into multiple
servers on the demand basis and for balancing the load.

4) Storage Virtualization:
Storage virtualization is the process of grouping the physical storage from multiple
network storage devices so that it looks like a single storage device.

Storage virtualization is also implemented by using software applications.

Usage:

Storage virtualization is mainly done for back-up and recovery purposes.

How does virtualization work in cloud

computing?
Virtualization plays a very important role in the cloud computing technology, normally
in the cloud computing, users share the data present in the clouds like application etc,
but actually with the help of virtualization users shares the Infrastructure.

The main usage of Virtualization Technology is to provide the applications with the
standard versions to their cloud users, suppose if the next version of that application is
released, then cloud provider has to provide the latest version to their cloud users and
practically it is possible because it is more expensive.

To overcome this problem we use basically virtualization technology, By using

virtualization, all severs and the software application which are required by other cloud
providers are maintained by the third party people, and the cloud providers has to pay
the money on monthly or annual basis.

Conclusion
Mainly Virtualization means, running multiple operating systems on a single machine
but sharing all the hardware resources. And it helps us to provide the pool of IT
resources so that we can share these IT resources in order get benefits in the business.
Pros and cons of Virtualization in Cloud Computing

Pros of Virtualization in Cloud Computing :

Utilization of Hardware Efficiently –

With the help of Virtualization Hardware is Efficiently used by user as well as Cloud
Service Provider. In this the need of Physical Hardware System for the User is
decreases and this results in less costly.In Service Provider point of View, they will
vitalize the Hardware using Hardware Virtualization which decrease the Hardware
requirement from Vendor side which are provided to User is decreased. Before
Virtualization, Companies and organizations have to set up their own Server which
require extra space for placing them, engineer’s to check its performance and require
extra hardware cost but with the help of Virtualization the all these limitations are
removed by Cloud vendor’s who provide Physical Services without setting up any
Physical Hardware system.

Availability increases with Virtualization –

One of the main benefit of Virtualization is that it provides advance features which
allow virtual instances to be available all the times. It also has capability to move
virtual instance from one virtual Server another Server which is very tedious and risky
task in Server Based System. During migration of Data from one server to another it
ensures its safety. Also, we can access information from any location and any time
from any device.

Disaster Recovery is efficient and easy –

With the help of virtualization Data Recovery, Backup, Duplication becomes very easy.
In traditional method , if somehow due to some disaster if Server system Damaged
then the surety of Data Recovery is very less. But with the tools of Virtualization real
time data backup recovery and mirroring become easy task and provide surety of zero
percent data loss.
Virtualization saves Energy –
Virtualization will help to save Energy because while moving from physical Servers to
Virtual Server’s, the number of Server’s decreases due to this monthly power and
cooling cost decreases which will Save Money as well. As cooling cost reduces it means
carbon production by devices also decreases which results in Fresh and pollution free
environment.

Quick and Easy Set up –

In traditional methods Setting up physical system and servers are very time-
consuming. Firstly Purchase them in bulk after that wait for shipment. When Shipment
is done then wait for Setting up and after that again spend time in installing required
software etc. Which will consume very time. But with the help of virtualization the
entire process is done in very less time which results in productive setup.

Cloud Migration becomes easy –

Most of the companies those who already have spent a lot in the server have a doubt
of Shifting to Cloud. But it is more cost-effective to shift to cloud services because all
the data that is present in their server’s can be easily migrated into the cloud server
and save something from maintenance charge, power consumption, cooling cost, cost
to Server Maintenance Engineer etc.

Cons of Virtualization :

Data can be at Risk –

Working on virtual instances on shared resources means that our data is hosted on
third party resource which put’s our data in vulnerable condition. Any hacker can
attack on our data or try to perform unauthorized access. Without Security solution
our data is in threaten situation.

Learning New Infrastructure –

As Organization shifted from Servers to Cloud. They required skilled staff who can
work with cloud easily. Either they hire new IT staff with relevant skill or provide
training on that skill which increase the cost of company.

High Initial Investment –

It is true that Virtualization will reduce the cost of companies but also it is truth that
Cloud have high initial investment. It provides numerous services which are not
required and when unskilled organization will try to set up in cloud they purchase
unnecessary services which are not even required to them.

Types of Virtual Machines : You can classify virtual machines into two
types:
1. System Virtual Machine: These types of virtual machines gives us
complete system platform and gives the execution of the complete virtual
operating system. Just like virtual box, system virtual machine is
providing an environment for an OS to be installed completely. We can
see in below image that our hardware of Real Machine is being distributed
between two simulated operating systems by Virtual machine monitor.
And then some programs, processes are going on in that distributed
hardware of simulated machines separately.

2. Process Virtual Machine : While process virtual machines, unlike

system virtual machine, does not provide us with the facility to install the
virtual operating system completely. Rather it creates virtual environment
of that OS while using some app or program and this environment will be
destroyed as soon as we exit from that app. Like in below image, there are
some apps running on main OS as well some virtual machines are created
to run other apps. This shows that as those programs required different
OS, process virtual machine provided them with that for the time being
those programs are running. Example – Wine software in Linux helps to
run Windows applications.
Virtual Machine Language : It’s type of language which can be understood by
different operating systems. It is platform-independent. Just like to run any
programming language (C, python, or java) we need specific compiler that
actually converts that code into system understandable code (also known as
byte code). The same virtual machine language works. If we want to use code
that can be executed on different types of operating systems like (Windows,
Linux, etc) then virtual machine language will be helpful.

Virtual machine monitor

The software that creates a virtual machine (VM) environment in a computer
(for the fundamental concept, see virtual machine). In a regular, non-virtual
computer, the operating system is the master control program, which
manages the execution of all applications and acts as an interface between the
apps and the hardware. The OS has the highest privilege level in the machine,
known as "ring 0" (see ring).
In a VM environment, the VM monitor (VMM) becomes the master control
program with the highest privilege level, and the VMM manages one or more
"guest operating systems." Each guest OS manages its own applications in a
separate "virtual machine" (VM) in the computer, sometimes called a "guest
OS stack."

What Gets Virtualized

The VM monitor (VMM) is an interface between the guest OS and the

hardware. It intercepts calls to the peripheral devices and memory tables from
each guest OS and intercedes on its behalf (see virtual memory). In reverse,
when a disk or SSD write creates an interrupt, the VM monitor injects that
interrupt into the appropriate guest OS. Following are the major monitor
types.

Host OSThis VM monitor (VMM) is

installed in an existing, running computer. The VMM kernel runs alongside the host OS, and calls
for I/O are redirected to virtual drivers that call the native API of the host OS. Examples of OS-
hosted VMMs are VMware Workstation, VMware Server, Parallels Workstation and Parallels
Desktop for Mac. HypervisorThe
hypervisor monitor provides the most control, flexibility and performance, because it is not
subject to limitations of a host OS. The hypervisor relies on its own software drivers for the
hardware; however, they may limit portability to another platform. Examples of this method are

VMware ESX and IBM's mainframe z/VM.

Service OSThis method combines the robustness of the hypervisor with the flexibility of the
host model. In order to take advantage of the drivers in a popular OS, the Service OS runs as a
component of the hypervisor in a separate VM. Xen, XenServer and Hyper-V are examples of the
service VM approach. See virtual machine.
What are the benefits of using a Virtual Machine?
Being able to use apps and operating systems without the need for hardware presents
users with some advantages over a traditional computer. The benefits of virtual
machines include:

1. Compatibility
Virtual machines host their own guest operating systems and applications, using all
the components found in a physical computer (motherboard, VGA card, network card
controller, etc). This allows VMs to be fully compatible with all standard x86
operating systems, applications and device drivers. You can therefore run all the same
software that you would usually use on a standard x86 computer.

2. Isolation
VMs share the physical resources of a computer, yet remain isolated from one
another. This separation is the core reason why virtual machines create a more secure
environment for running applications when compared to a non-virtual system. If, for
example, you’re running four VMs on a server and one of them crashes, the remaining
three will remain unaffected and will still be operational.

3. Encapsulation
A virtual machine acts as a single software package that encapsulates a complete set
of hardware resources, an operating system, and all its applications. This makes VMs
incredibly portable and easy to manage. You can move and copy a VM from one
location to another like any other software file, or save it on any storage medium —
from storage area networks (SANs) to a common USB flash drive.

4. Hardware independence
Virtual machines can be configured with virtual components that are completely
independent of the physical components of the underlying hardware. VMs that reside
on the same server can even run different types of operating systems. Hardware
independence allows you to move virtual machines from one x86 computer to another
without needing to make any changes to the device drivers, operating system or
applications.