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Q3 What Do Business Professionals Need to Know About Software? 129

Figure 4-12
Linux Mint Virtual Machine
Running in Microsoft Windows
7 Professional

Virtualization

Virtualization is the process by which one physical computer hosts many different virtual (not
literal) computers within it. One operating system, called the host operating system, runs one
or more operating systems as applications. Those hosted operating systems are called virtual
machines (vm). Each virtual machine has disk space and other resources allocated to it. The
host operating system controls the activities of the virtual machines it hosts to prevent them
from interfering with one another. With virtualization, each vm is able to operate exactly the
same as it would if it were operating in a stand-alone, nonvirtual environment.
Three types of virtualization exist:
• PC virtualization
• Server virtualization
• Desktop virtualization
With PC virtualization, a personal computer, such as a desktop or laptop, hosts several
different operating systems. Say a user needs to have both Linux and Windows 8 running on a
computer for a training or development project. In that circumstance, the user can load soft-
ware like Oracle VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation on the host operating system in order to
create Linux and Windows 8 virtual machines. The user can run both systems on the same hard-
ware at the same time if the host operating system has sufficient resources (i.e., memory and
CPU power) as shown in Figure 4-12.
With server virtualization, a server computer hosts one or more other server computers.
In Figure 4-13, a Windows Server computer is hosting two virtual machines. Users can log on

Figure 4-13
Windows Server Computer
Hosting Two Virtual Machines
Source: Microsoft Corporation