Help!!! I have virtually no understanding of virtualization.

Michael2

Can someone please diagram this out for me or something? I've read a few articles but I just can't seem to grasp it.

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Mishra

You need to narrow it down a little.

What don't you understand? Do you know what VMware is? Do you know how hardware works?

cyberguypr

Maybe you read something that is highly technical and need to start from the basics. Tell us what you've tried and we'll point you in the right direction.

Michael2

I have an Associates degree in IT and am about to take the CompTIA Sec+ exam. The problem is that I seem to have graduated without an understanding of virtualization. I don't need to know a whole lot about it, but the test has a few questions about securing virtual environments and I thought it would help if I knew what they were talking about. Is it the same thing as cloud computing? What kind of data is stored on a virtual machine? What are the benefits of virtualization?

JDMurray

Here's my blog article on the subject (sorry, no diagrams):

Welcome to the TechExams.net Virtualization Forum! | TechExams.net Blogs

Michael2

That was helpful.

Does this also mean that the virtual files are completely isolated from the physical computer's files and vice versa? Is it possible to create a VPN link between a virtual machine and a host of other computers without also giving users access to data on the physical computer that has the VMWare installed on it?

Michael2

Another question; What does it mean "guest OS image"? Does that mean that only the desktop is available on virtual machines?

cyberguypr

Michael2 wrote: »

That was helpful.

Does this also mean that the virtual files are completely isolated from the physical computer's files and vice versa? Is it possible to create a VPN link between a virtual machine and a host of other computers without also giving users access to data on the physical computer that has the VMWare installed on it?

In a nutshell, you can have three basic networking modes on virtual machines:
- Bridge – connects directly to the physical network as if it were a physical machine
- NAT – shares your physical PC's IP address
- Host Only – a private network between the virtual machine and the host (real physical PC)

And yes, you can grant access to the virtual machines without giving access to the host.

JDMurray

A "guest OS" is the operating system running inside a virtual machine. A "host OS" is the operating system running the virtualization environment that is running the virtual machines. In the VM's window you see the desktop or command line of the guest OS.

Say you take a blank hard drive, install Windows 7, Install VMware Workstation 7, create a virtual machine, and install Ubuntu Linux 11 in the virtual machine. Windows 7 would be the host OS and Ubuntu 11 would be the guest OS.

You can also have a virtualization environment that is its own host OS, such as VMware ESXi.

Lamini

best way to learn is to break out w/ a lab. Nothing easy about virtualization, other than what salesmen tell you.

Daniel333

QuickStart! - Using Virtual Machines Tutorials

slinuxuzer

A Virtual machine is simply a collection of files residing on some form of storage local or shared, then when once powered on a host machine will provide the VM with processor and memory,

There are two basic types of server virtualization, bare metal and hosted.

Bare metal is where a thin layer of software such as a hypervisor like ESXI is installed directly on the host hardware, and is used to manage resource access and "host" guest virtual machines.

Hosted, this is basically where a full blown operating system such as windows is installed directly on the "host" machine and then a virtualization app is installed on top of that, such as virtualbox or vmware workstation, then inside this app guest operating systems are installed and run.

Keep in mind that virtualization is not simulation or emulation, full blown copy's of guest operating systems are installed and run inside of the virtualization environment.

The biggest benefit is server consolidation.

Check out youtube for some tutorials on vmware workstation, also you might want to DL a eval copy of vmware workstation.

instant000

Also, the virtualization that you have, cannot be "truly" virtual.

It's still tied into the underlying hardware. So, a VM may have the possibility of running on top of AMD, or Intel, for example, but you can't move a live machine from AMD to Intel, as the underlying CPU architecture is different. (You can turn the machine off and move it.)

VM's offer great flexibility for cost savings by running multiple virtual machines on the same physical server ... this is the main reason that companies do it. You can now buy two servers, and then have these two servers offer load protection for each other, versus each separate server running a load, but no protection for it. (you can also just use it for cost savings, with virtualization on a single server ... not recommended, but if you're trying to save, it's an option .... hopefully you get to add the second server in a budget cycle before the first one fails on you).

If you want to go deep into virtualization, you end up having to actually learn a lot about storage, and networking. You also end up having to learn a lot about processors, and memory.

So, just learn what you can, and have fun with it. If you find yourself wanting to focus on something, go for it with all zest.

I wish you the best.

Everyone

Lamini wrote: »

best way to learn is to break out w/ a lab.

+1 for a lab. Best part is you can play with virtualization for free. It costs nothing to run virtualization on your existing computer.