A virtual machine (VM) is an computer system that is emulated on top of a physical host machine. It appears as a genuine computer to the user and runs various operating systems, such as Windows Linux or macOS. VMs are popular because they permit multiple environments to be hosted on the same server, resulting in significant savings for companies.
Typically, each VM is the “guest” of a host machine that provides hardware resources like processors, hard IT infrastructure: the backbone of modern enterprises disk drives, memory and network connections. This allows a business to put multiple VMs onto the same host computer, allowing IT infrastructures to grow and shrink according to the needs. This flexibility allows IT teams to be less busy making changes to software since they are able to manage each physical machine, instead of having to manage them all.
There are two kinds of VM Hypervisors two types: Type 2 and Type 1. Type 1 hypervisors are more performant because they run directly on a host computer without the need for a full-blown OS. Type 2 hypervisors route each VM request to the host operating system. This can slow down processing speeds and add cost.
Virtual machines can help improve IT security and also disaster recovery. Virtual machines are not tied to the physical hardware that they are based on. This makes it much easier to restore the VM in the event of an outage or natural disaster. This can help prevent downtime and data loss which can negatively impact your business’s bottom-line.