Virtualization Essentials

CHAPTER 12

Managing Additional Devices in Virtual Machines

Server virtualization focuses most of the attention on the CPU, memory, disk storage, and networking—the four main resources responsible for providing a superior user experience in a virtual environment. This makes perfect sense, but these four are not the only devices that users and applications need to work with in a virtual machine. Hypervisors support a wide selection of device types and connections to allow everything from serial and parallel device connection, up to the latest USB devices and advanced graphical displays. Vendors handle optimization of devices in many ways, usually with an installation of a software suite that can provide a number of enhancements to the guest.