Virtual Machines

A fairly new technology called Virtual Machines allows you to run multiple computers on a single computer. Specifically, you load a Virtual Machine application on your computer or server. Then, when you run the VM application, you can install additional operating systems. Read full article for more detail.

Running several computers on a single computer.  This is Virtual Machines my friend.  Here's how it works:

1) Install a Virtual Machine (VM) application on your computer or server.

2) Run the VM application.

3) Then feel free to install additional Operating Systems (OS) and then applications inside the new operating system.

The VM application "virtualizes" all hardware for the Guest OS.   So, the Guest OS thinks it is running natively on the hardware, but in reality, it is safely running inside of a VM hosted by the Host OS.  When the VM Guest is running, it is represented as a window on the desktop.

Advantages?  The advantages are numerous.  One use is to consolidate many servers into a single hardware.  For example, you are running Windows Server 2003, but still need to run NT because of a legacy application.  Currently, you have two physical pieces of hardware.  You can install a VM, and run the NT inside of the 2003 system.  Another use: testing and development.  You can safely install multiple guest operating systems like Linux, OS/2, Solaris, Windows 98, Windows 95, and on and on for testing purposes.  If something doesn't work right, simply delete the VM.  In addition, certain VM vendors have community forums where other users will create a specific VM file, that you can download and install.  So, it makes testing and transferring computers very easy.  In essence, you are downloading a file that contains an entire computer setup, including operating system and applications.  Wow.

It took me a while to fully digest this concept the first time I heard it.  Here is a screen shot of my Windows XP Professional computer, running a VM with Microsoft's Vista loaded:

Also, here is a Guest OS running Red Hat's Fedora Core 5 Linux os:

If you need some help getting started, email one of our techs.  The most popular VM's are vmware (vmware.com) and Microsoft's Virtual PC (microsoft.com).  In addition, the Linux kernel just incorporated a free VM called KVM.

As you can see, this new technology opens up some very interesting options.