Welcome to day two of the virtualization 101 series. We will explore how server virtualization works, and the basics of x86 CPU architecture.
How
does server
virtualization work?
How does server virtualization work?
In
a virtual machine, computations are
performed using a physical
CPU,
memory, and disk storage – although in some cases the amount of resources presented to the virtual machine
does not really exist. There are various techniques used to optimize actual
physical resource utilization.
Screen capture of VMware Workstation 8.
Using
a layered model, the VM runs on a virtual machine monitor (VMM)
[1] which is part of, or controlled by a hypervisor which acts as a scheduler or intermediary between the virtual
hardware presented by the VMM and the physical counterparts.
Layered Model
Understanding x86 CPU Architecture
The x86 platform has four levels of privilege with respect to hardware control. The operating system expects to be running at the most privileged level (0) and have complete control over the CPU.
Four Levels of Privilege in x86 CPU Architecture
What happens when a hypervisor is introduced?
That's it for now. Day three of this series will explore methods of virtualizing the x86 Platform.
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Keep on virtualizing!
the virtualization 101 series:
References
[1] “Understanding Full Virtualization, Paravirtualization, and Hardware Assist.” VMware, Inc., 2007.
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