"Virtual Machines" refers to software emulation of physical computers within a virtual environment. These virtual machines (VMs) enable running multiple independent operating systems and applications on a single physical computer. Each virtual machine acts as an isolated environment and has its own virtual hardware, including processor, memory, disk, and network adapter.
Typical functions of software in the "Virtual Machines" area are:
Operating System Support: The software allows for creating and running virtual machines with various operating systems such as Windows, Linux, macOS, etc.
Resource Management: Administrators can allocate and manage CPU, RAM, disk storage, and other resources to virtual machines to ensure optimal performance.
Live Migration: The software provides the ability to move virtual machines between physical hosts without interrupting the execution of VMs to enable load balancing, maintenance, or fault tolerance.
Snapshotting and Restoration: Administrators can create snapshots of virtual machines to save their state at a specific point in time and use these snapshots for restoration when needed.
Network Connectivity: The software allows for configuring network connections for virtual machines, including virtual network adapters, VLANs, VPNs, etc.
Scalability: Administrators can increase or decrease the number of virtual machines as needed to respond to changes in resource demand.
Security: The software provides features for isolating and securing virtual machines, including encryption, firewall rules, access controls, etc.
Management Tools: Administrators have access to management tools to create, configure, monitor, and manage virtual machines, including graphical user interfaces and command-line interfaces.