Understanding the Relationship Between Cloud Computing and Virtualization – Digital World

Objectives: Understanding the Relationship Between Cloud Computing and Virtualization

In the world of IT, virtualization and cloud computing are not interchangeable terms. In other words, virtualization is a necessary component of cloud computing, but cloud computing does not solely rely on virtualization. For example, just because you are using virtualization, such as a hypervisor that supports running multiple virtual machine guests concurrently, does not necessarily mean you are using cloud computing.

Hypervisors play a crucial role in cloud computing. They are responsible for allowing quick deployment and operation of virtual machines on platforms like Microsoft Azure. Hypervisors run on physical server hardware, providing the foundation for virtualization.

There are two main types of hypervisors:

· Type 1

· Type 2

Type 1 hypervisor: where the hypervisor hosts virtual machines, otherwise called guests, a Type 1 is a
bare-metal hypervisor. And that means that it is the operating system that runs right on the physical hardware that supports operating system virtualization.

Type 2 hypervisor: This type of hypervisor is an app. It’s a piece of software that needs to be installed within an existing operating system like Linux, Windows, or Mac OS. So as you might have guessed, running a Type 1, or bare-metal hypervisor provides more options and better performance than a Type 2 hypervisor does. At least when it’s used in the enterprise.

Types of Virtualization,

a. Operating system virtualization

b. Application virtualization

c. Network virtualization

d. Desktop virtualization

Operating system virtualization: This refers to the ability to deploy a Linux or Windows virtual machine in the Azure cloud using a physical Type 1 hypervisor hardware, specifically Microsoft Hyper-V. It can be done quickly and easily, taking only a few moments.

Application virtualization: In this type of virtualization, a specific app is not installed on the device it’s being run on. Instead, it runs in a virtualized environment where registry entries and file system files are not written to the host device, but rather stored in the virtual environment. This allows the app to run in the operating system without actually being installed on it, providing portability. It’s important to note that application virtualization is not container technology, despite similarities to Docker containers, as it predates them.

Network virtualization: This term is often used in conjunction with software-defined networking (SDN), which is extensively used in cloud computing. SDN allows cloud customers to easily configure virtual network settings and routing tables without having to directly connect to the underlying hardware, such as routers. This provides a simplified interface for network configuration in the cloud.

Desktop virtualization: This type of virtualization involves running an entire user desktop on a centralized server that can concurrently host multiple user desktops. End users then access their virtual desktops through thin client devices that do not require much processing power or local storage, but simply need network access to the server hosting the virtual desktops. There are various types of virtualization that can be used, both on-premises and in the cloud.

What’s the benefit then of virtualization in Microsoft Azure?

Cloud tenant isolation: Customers are able to provision their own separate virtual machines and Active Directory instances, which serve as security boundaries, preventing one tenant from accessing virtual machines and Active Directory instances deployed by other tenants.
Rapid provisioning of virtual machines: Virtual Machines, also known as VMs, can be quickly and easily deployed in Azure by making a selection in the Azure portal. This can include deploying a Linux or Windows virtual machine with additional software like SQL Server installed. It can be done with just a few clicks in the portal or programmatically at the command line.

The rapid and easy provisioning of virtual machines is one of the advantages of using cloud computing in Azure. Many other services in Azure, such as big data processing, analytics, running databases of any type, or hosting websites, rely on virtual machines.

Some of these services are called managed services, where we do not specify the virtual machine deployment details. For example, when deploying a SQL Server database in the cloud, we can simply focus on the database side and Azure takes care of the virtualization for us.

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