
The virtual storage can then be managed as one storage device, and you can allocate, change, move, and set up resources more flexibly across your infrastructure as needed. This is when storage from multiple physical storage devices is combined and treated as one storage device (like network resources above). If network usage is variable, by virtualizing the network you can then allocate and distribute resources more efficiently and keep performance stable and high.


The collective abilities of those resources can then be aggregated, and the entire network managed as one entity. Networks can be virtualized by collecting network resources such as switches, routers, and other network infrastructure. You might use this to run a Mac-only application on a Windows device, for instance. This is where an application is virtualized and stored on servers external to the physical device you’re using to access the application. The next kind of virtualization most people have used is called application virtualization. This is particularly useful for testing applications on different operating systems or software in development. This way, you could use Windows on your computer and a Linux virtual machine. The hypervisor could then, for instance, set up a virtual machine running Linux.
Best virtualization for mac and win 10 install#
You can also install an operating system first (such as Windows), then install the hypervisor on top of the OS. This software is called a hypervisor, and can be installed directly on the hardware. This is where instead of an operating system being installed on the physical hardware of a computer, a software layer exists between the hardware and the virtual desktop.

Most people are already familiar with desktop virtualization. I’ll go through the different kinds of virtualization, then look at software to create and manage virtual machines. For example, you can virtualize networks, desktops, applications, storage and server infrastructure, and data. Virtualization comes in many forms and can be applied differently depending on what you’re trying to virtualize.
