What is Virtual Machine (VM)?

A Virtual Machine (VM) is an emulation of a computer - just like your desktop or laptop, you're using now. Each Virtual Machine (VM) includes an operating system and hardware that appears to the user like a physical computer running Windows or Linux. You can then install whatever software you need to do the tasks you want to perform.

Virtual Machine (VM)s are created to perform specific tasks that are risky to perform in a host environment, such as accessing virus-infected data and testing operating systems. Since the virtual machine is sandboxed from the rest of the system, the software inside the virtual machine cannot tamper with the host computer. A hypervisor is computer software, firmware, or hardware that is used to create and run virtual machines.

Advantages of Virtual Machines:

• Provides disaster recovery and application provisioning options
• Virtual Machine (VM)s are simply managed, maintained, and are widely available
• Multiple operating system environments can be run on a single physical computer