Cloud Computing For Dummies®

Chapter 17. Virtualization and the Cloud

In This Chapter

• Discovering virtualization

• Dealing with management issues

• Moving virtualization to the cloud

Any discussion of cloud computing typically begins with virtualization. Virtualization is using computer resources to imitate other computer resources or whole computers.

We think of cloud computing as the transformation of computing that brings together service orientation with distributed manageability combined with the economies of scale from virtualization. In a world where almost everything is a service, virtualization is a fundamental mechanism for delivering services. Indeed, virtualization provides a platform for optimizing complex IT resources in a scalable manner (efficiently growing), which is ideal for delivering services.

When you think about cloud management, it's important to separate resources from their physical implementations. Without virtualization, the cloud becomes very difficult to manage. Virtualization is so important for cloud computing because it is possible to simplify many aspects of computing.

In this chapter, we present an overview of virtualization and how this process makes cloud computing work.

Visualizing Virtualization

Virtualization separates resources and services from the underlying physical delivery environment.

Characteristics

Virtualization has three characteristics that make it ideal for cloud computing:

• Partitioning: In virtualization, many applications and operating systems (OSes) are supported in a ...