Virtualization - Other Types

Other Types

Software

• Operating system-level virtualization, hosting of multiple virtualized environments within a single OS instance.
• Application virtualization and workspace virtualization, the hosting of individual applications in an environment separated from the underlying OS. Application virtualization is closely associated with the concept of portable applications.
• Service virtualization, emulating the behavior of dependent (e.g., third-party, evolving, or not implemented) system components that are needed to exercise an application under test (AUT) for development or testing purposes. Rather than virtualizing entire components, it virtualizes only specific slices of dependent behavior critical to the execution of development and testing tasks.

Memory

• Memory virtualization, aggregating random-access memory (RAM) resources from networked systems into a single memory pool
• Virtual memory, giving an application program the impression that it has contiguous working memory, isolating it from the underlying physical memory implementation

Storage

• Storage virtualization, the process of completely abstracting logical storage from physical storage
• Distributed file system, any file system that allows access to files from multiple hosts sharing via a computer network
• Virtual file system, an abstraction layer on top of a more concrete file system, allowing client applications to access different types of concrete file systems in a uniform way
• Storage hypervisor
• Virtual disk drive, a computer program the emulates a disk drive such as a hard disk drive or optical disk drive (see comparison of disc image software)

Data

• Data virtualization, the presentation of data as an abstract layer, independent of underlying database systems, structures and storage.
• Database virtualization, the decoupling of the database layer, which lies between the storage and application layers within the application stack over all.

Network

• Network virtualization, creation of a virtualized network addressing space within or across network subnets
• Virtual private network (VPN), a network protocol that replaces the actual wire or other physical media in a network with an abstract layer, allowing a network to be created over the Internet