Cloud computing and virtualization are not interchangeable terms, nor are they two different options to choose from when building your IT environment, system, or network. Virtualization, created in the 1960s, maximizes hardware resources by creating a virtual layer on a host or computer. Virtualization is at the heart of cloud computing. Because of it, cloud vendors can offer a wide range of different services, operating systems and other virtual machines while maximizing the use of data centers.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing has revolutionized IT infrastructure, eliminating hardware and software costs and allowing customers to access these resources over the Internet. Cloud computing resources include physical and virtual services, applications, data storage, development tools, artificial intelligence services, and virtual machines.
Cloud assets are hosted in a cloud data center and managed by a cloud service provider. Cloud computing allows companies to pay only for what they use, operate with a high level of security, automate with built-in cloud capabilities, and take advantage of innovations like machine learning.
Cloud computing can run on public clouds from vendors such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure Cloud and Amazon Web Services, as well as private clouds.
Key features of cloud computing
Reduce costs while improving technology availability: Cloud computing enables organizations to access the latest technology without having to invest in expensive hardware and software that drives innovation.
Improve deployment and return on investment: Deploying IT systems in the cloud dramatically reduces the time it takes a company to get up and running and can quickly impact performance and return on investment.
Service, scale, support and security: Cloud vendors offer a wide range of services, full support for employees at all levels and built-in security, features that reduce costs and help improve the business and strengthen its security profile - scaling in the cloud is just a few clicks away.
Virtualize IT: With cloud computing, organizations can quickly create virtualized IT infrastructure, including servers, operating systems, software, networks, and other infrastructure.
What is virtualization?
Virtualization involves creating VMS on hosts in layers. Using software called Hypervisor, users can create multiple virtual machines on their data servers, computers, or hosts. For example, with virtualization, if a customer needs to run three different operating systems, namely macOS, Windows, and Linux, instead of having to boot three machines, the user can create them virtually in a single data center or host.
While anyone can create their own virtual machine, virtualization is taken to the extreme in cloud computing. Virtualization is the essence of cloud computing. Cloud vendors take full advantage of their data centers and hosts by offering a variety of virtual machines that can be deployed with just a few clicks. Virtualization not only saves time and money. VMS can be transferred from one host to another almost instantaneously, avoiding the risk of downtime when one host is shut down.
The software that coordinates the virtual machines on the host is called the hypervisor. It acts as an interface between the physical hardware and the virtual machines, ensuring that all the virtual machines get the processing power and resources they need from the hardware. As the name implies, a virtual machine is a virtual device that exists in the form of software. The VM can copy the operating system or create a virtual network.
Class 1 hypervisors or "bare metal" hypervisors are the most common hypervisor used to create virtual machines. They interact directly with hardware and physical resources that replace traditional operating systems. The Type 2 hypervisor runs as an application on the operating system installed on the main hardware and is primarily used by endpoint devices to run the alternative operating system.
Key features of virtualization
Vm: Virtualization Creates VMS on primary hosts.
Agility and performance: The ability to create virtual machines on a single piece of hardware opens up unlimited possibilities for companies to maximize resource utilization.
Cost savings: Virtualization saves costs by creating virtual machines and IT infrastructure in the cloud or other data centers. Virtual machines can also improve disaster recovery and business continuity.
Virtual operating systems and virtual networks: Organizations can utilize different operating systems and networks by deploying virtual machines, which allows them to build complex IT architectures while keeping costs low.
Support for development operations: Virtual machines can be easily turned off or on, migrated, and adjusted to provide maximum flexibility for development, and they can be used to test environments, quickly migrate, and consolidate systems on a server.
What's the difference between cloud computing and virtualization?
Without the concept of virtualization, there is no cloud computing. The difference between cloud computing and virtualization is that the former is a term specifically used for computing resources that can be accessed on demand over the Internet. In contrast, virtualization refers to the simple creation of virtual machines that are entirely layers of software on top of the host or primary hardware.
Cloud computing, on the other hand, is a broader term that includes everything the cloud offers, from data storage to artificial intelligence analytics. Cloud computing is a service that is typically offered to customers in the form of infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service. Although virtualization is also available as a service, it is more commonly used as a technical term. This term defines how hardware resources are used to create virtual networks and virtual machines.
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