Working of System Virtual Machines

System virtual machines work by abstracting the underlying physical hardware of a computer and creating multiple virtual environments, each capable of running its own operating system and applications. The key components and processes involved in the functioning of system virtual machines include:

 

1. Hypervisor:

   • The hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM), is a layer of software that sits directly on top of the physical hardware (the host machine). It acts as a manager for the virtualized environment, creating and managing virtual machines (VMs) and providing them with access to physical resources.

2. Virtual Machine Creation:

   • The hypervisor creates virtual machines by allocating resources from the host machine, such as CPU cycles, memory, storage, and network interfaces. Each virtual machine is provisioned with its own set of virtualized hardware components, including virtual CPUs, virtual memory, virtual disks, and virtual network interfaces.

3. Guest Operating Systems:

   • Each virtual machine runs its own guest operating system (OS), which interacts with the virtualized hardware provided by the hypervisor. These guest OSes can be different from each other, allowing for diverse workloads to run concurrently on the same physical hardware.

4. Resource Management:

   • The hypervisor manages the allocation of physical hardware resources among the virtual machines based on predefined configurations and priorities. It ensures that each virtual machine receives its fair share of resources while preventing resource contention and conflicts.

5. Hardware Abstraction:

   • The hypervisor provides virtualized hardware interfaces to the guest operating systems, abstracting the underlying physical hardware. These virtualized interfaces mimic the behavior of physical hardware components, allowing guest OSes to interact with them as if they were running on dedicated physical machines.

6. Execution Control:

   • The hypervisor controls the execution of virtual machines, scheduling CPU time and managing interrupts and exceptions. It ensures that each virtual machine operates independently and does not interfere with other virtual machines or the host system.

7. I/O Handling:

   • The hypervisor handles input/output (I/O) operations for virtual machines, including disk and network access. It mediates access to physical I/O devices, providing virtualized interfaces for guest OSes to communicate with them.

8. Monitoring and Management:

   • The hypervisor monitors the health and performance of virtual machines, collecting metrics and statistics to inform resource allocation decisions. It also provides management interfaces for administrators to configure, deploy, and monitor virtualized environments.

 

Overall, system virtual machines enable efficient utilization of hardware resources, isolation between different workloads, and flexibility in deploying and managing multiple operating systems on a single physical machine. They play a crucial role in modern data centers, cloud computing environments, and development/testing workflows.

 

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