What is Virtualization?

Understanding Virtualization

The simulation of the software and/or hardware upon which other software runs. Virtualization enables multiple operating systems, applications, or infrastructure components to run concurrently on a single physical machine, abstracting the underlying hardware. This technology allows for more efficient resource utilization, server consolidation, isolation between systems, and improved disaster recovery capabilities. Security considerations for virtualization are unique and critical. Virtualization security is addressed in standards like NIST SP 800-125, ISO 27001, and various cloud security frameworks. Organizations secure virtualized environments through hypervisor hardening, virtual network segmentation, VM isolation, resource controls, and management plane protection. For example, a financial services company might implement a secure virtualization environment with strict isolation between production and development virtual machines, micro-segmentation between application tiers, hardened hypervisors without unnecessary features, encrypted VM storage, separate management networks for virtualization administration, and continuous monitoring for unauthorized VM creation. Related terms: Hypervisor, Virtual machine (VM), Host, Virtual network, Containerization, VM escape, VM isolation, Cloud computing, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software-defined datacenter.