Terms related to virtualization, including definitions about virtualization technologies and words and phrases about server virtualization, desktop virtualization and storage virtualization.
agnostic - Agnostic, in an information technology (IT) context, refers to something that is generalized so that it is interoperable among various systems.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a web-based service that enables businesses to run application programs in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Machine Image (AMI) - An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a master image for the creation of virtual servers -- known as EC2 instances -- in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment.
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) - Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is a semiconductor company, known for designing and developing computer processors and graphics technologies.
AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) - AMD-V (AMD Virtualization) technology refers to a set of hardware extensions and on-chip features for the AMD family of x86 microprocessors.
application layering (app layering) - Application layering (app layering) is a technology for delivering virtual applications that run in layers separate from a virtual desktop, but interact with the operating system and other apps as if they are installed natively on the base image.
application sandboxing - Application sandboxing, also called application containerization, is an approach to software development and management and mobile application management (MAM) that limits the environments in which certain code can execute.
AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) - AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) are virtual servers that run in AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) or AWS Relational Database Service (RDS) and are purchased at a fixed rate per hour.
bare-metal hypervisor (Type 1 hypervisor) - A bare-metal hypervisor, also known as a Type 1 hypervisor, is virtualization software that has been installed directly onto the computing hardware.
bare-metal provisioning - Bare-metal provisioning is the process of installing an operating system (OS) or Type 1 hypervisor directly on a computer's hard disk.
Changed Block Tracking (CBT) - VMware Changed Block Tracking is an incremental backup technology for virtual machines (VMs), comparable to snapshot differential or backup delta block.
Citrix DesktopPlayer - Citrix DesktopPlayer is a desktop virtualization platform with a Type 2 hypervisor that administrators install locally on top of a Windows or Mac OS X operating system.
Citrix HDX 3D Pro - Citrix HDX 3D Pro is a group of graphics acceleration technologies that help optimize the delivery of resource-intensive virtual applications on a company's XenDesktop and XenApp platforms.
Citrix StoreFront - Citrix StoreFront is an enterprise application store that provides an interface for users to access Citrix Virtual Apps -- formerly XenApp apps -- and Citrix Virtual Desktops -- formerly XenDesktop -- remotely.
Citrix XenApp - Citrix XenApp, now called Citrix Virtual Apps, was a product that extends Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Host (formerly known as Terminal Services) desktop sessions and applications to users through the Citrix HDX protocol.
Cloud Foundry - Cloud Foundry is an open source cloud platform as a service (PaaS) on which developers can build, deploy, run and scale applications.
cloud provisioning - Cloud provisioning is the allocation of a cloud provider's resources and services to a customer.
cluster quorum disk - A cluster quorum disk is the storage medium on which the configuration database is stored for a cluster computing network.
container (disambiguation) - This page explains how the term container is used in software development, storage, data center management and mobile device management.
containers as a service (CaaS) - Containers as a service (CaaS) is a cloud-based service that provides a secure environment for running containerized applications.
ControlUp - ControlUp is a monitoring software company that sells tools IT professionals can use to manage, monitor and analyze virtual desktop and application performance.
dedicated cloud - A dedicated cloud is a single-tenant cloud infrastructure, which essentially acts as an isolated, single-tenant public cloud.
desktop as a service (DaaS) - Desktop as a service (DaaS) is a cloud computing offering in which a third party hosts the back end of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment.
desktop virtualization - Desktop virtualization is the concept of isolating a logical operating system (OS) instance from the client used to access it.
digital workspace - A digital workspace is an integrated technology framework that centralizes the management of an enterprise's applications, data and endpoints, allowing employees to collaborate and work remotely.
diskpart (Disk Partition Utility) - Diskpart is a command line utility in Windows operating systems (OSs) that is used to manage disks, partitions, and volumes.
Docker Engine - Docker Engine is the underlying client-server technology that supports the tasks and workflows involved in building, shipping and running containerized applications using Docker's components and services.
Docker image - A Docker image is a file used to execute code in a Docker container.
Docker Swarm - Docker Swarm is a container orchestration tool for clustering and scheduling Docker containers.
edge data center - An edge data center is a small data center that is located close to the edge of a network.
edge virtualization - Edge virtualization is the practice of using software versions of physical computing resources at the edge of a network, closest to the devices that produce data.
EG Innovations - EG Innovations is an end-user experience and infrastructure monitoring software vendor best known for its EG Enterprise product.
embedded hypervisor - An embedded hypervisor is a hypervisor that is programmed
(embedded) directly into a processor, personal computer (PC) or server.
failover cluster - In computing, a failover cluster refers to a group of independent servers that work together to maintain high availability of applications and services.
Google App Engine - Google App Engine (GAE) is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) product that enables web app developers and enterprises to build, deploy and host scalable, high-performance applications in Google's fully managed cloud environment without having to worry about infrastructure provisioning or management.
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) - Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a managed Kubernetes service for containers and container clusters running on Google Cloud infrastructure.
guest operating system (guest OS) - A guest operating system is the operating system installed on either a virtual machine (VM) or partitioned disk.
guest virtual machine (guest VM) - A guest virtual machine (VM) is the software component of a VM, an independent instance of an operating system (OS), called a guest OS, and its associated software and information.
Hadoop - Hadoop is an open source distributed processing framework that manages data processing and storage for big data applications in scalable clusters of computer servers.
hardware emulation - Hardware emulation is the use of one hardware device to mimic the function of another hardware device.
headless system - A headless system is a computer that operates without a monitor, graphical user interface (GUI) or the typical peripherals used to control it, such as a keyboard and mouse.
host virtual machine (host VM) - A host virtual machine is the server component of a virtual machine the underlying hardware that provides computing resources to support a particular guest VM.
hosted virtual desktop (HVD) - A hosted virtual desktop (HVD) is a user interface that connects to applications and data that are stored on a cloud provider's servers rather than on the user's computer or the corporate network.
hyperconverged appliance (HCI appliance) - A hyperconverged appliance (HCI appliance) is a hardware device that provides multiple data center management technologies within a single box.
hypervisor - A hypervisor is software that facilitates running multiple virtual machines (VMs) with their own operating systems on a single computer host's hardware.
hypervisor security - Hypervisor security is the process of ensuring the hypervisor -- the software that enables virtualization -- is secure throughout its lifecycle.
Java virtual machine (JVM) - A Java virtual machine (JVM), an implementation of the Java Virtual Machine Specification, interprets compiled Java binary code (called bytecode) for a computer's processor (or "hardware platform") so that it can perform a Java program's instructions.
Kubernetes node - A Kubernetes node is a logical collection of IT resources that runs workloads for one or more containers in a Kubernetes cluster.
Kubernetes volume - A Kubernetes volume is a directory containing data accessible to containers in a given pod, the smallest deployable unit in a Kubernetes cluster.
Linkerd - Linkerd is an open source network proxy installed as a service mesh for Kubernetes.
Linux Secure Boot - Linux Secure Boot is a Hyper-V feature that Microsoft introduced in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.
live migration - Live migration refers to the process of moving a virtual machine running on one physical host to another host without disrupting normal operations or causing any downtime or other adverse effects for the end user.
logical volume management (LVM) - Logical volume management (LVM) is a form of storage virtualization that offers system administrators a more flexible approach to managing disk storage space than traditional partitioning.
memory paging - Memory paging is a memory management technique used to control sharing of memory resources belonging to a computer or virtual machine (VM).
Microsoft App-V (Microsoft Application Virtualization) - Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) is an application virtualization client that makes an application available to end users without installing it on a personal computer (PC).
Microsoft Azure VM Scale Sets - A Microsoft Azure VM Scale Set is a group of individual virtual machines (VMs) within the Microsoft Azure public cloud that IT administrators can configure and manage as a single unit.
Microsoft Hyper-V Shielded VM - A Microsoft Hyper-V Shielded VM is a security feature of Windows Server 2016 that protects a Hyper-V second-generation virtual machine (VM) from access or tampering by using a combination of Secure Boot, BitLocker encryption, virtual Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and the Host Guardian Service.
Microsoft Nano Server - Microsoft Nano Server is a lightweight version of the Windows Server operating system that was introduced with Windows Server 2016 for use as an OS layer for virtualized container instances.
Microsoft System Center 2012 - Microsoft System Center 2012 is a bundled suite of systems management products that offers tools to monitor and automate virtualized environments, including private clouds based on Microsoft Hyper-V.
Microsoft UE-V (User Experience Virtualization) - Microsoft UE-V (User Experience Virtualization) is a tool that lets users move from one Windows device to another and maintain the same operating system and applications settings.
Microsoft Windows Defender Device Guard - Windows Defender Device Guard is a security feature for Windows 10 and Windows Server designed to use application whitelisting and code integrity policies to protect users' devices from malicious code that could compromise the operating system.
N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) - N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) is a Fibre Channel (FC) standard that makes it possible to create multiple virtual ports on a single physical node port (N_Port), with each virtual port appearing as a unique entity to the FC network.
NetApp FlexPod - NetApp FlexPod is a reference architecture for server, storage and networking components that are pretested and validated to work together as an integrated infrastructure stack.
network functions virtualization (NFV) - Network functions virtualization (NFV) is a network architecture model designed to virtualize network services that have traditionally run on proprietary, dedicated network appliances.
Open Virtualization Format (OVF) - The Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is an open source standard for packaging and distributing software applications and services for virtual machines (VMs).
overlay network - An overlay network is a virtual or logical network that is created on top of an existing physical network.
Parallels - Parallels is a software company best-known for its software that allows users to run Microsoft Windows systems on Apple Macintosh computers.
Parallels Desktop for Mac - Parallels Desktop for Mac is desktop virtualization software that allows Microsoft Windows, Linux and Google Chrome OSes and applications to run on an Apple Mac computer.
paravirtualization - Paravirtualization is a type of hardware virtualization that enables the guest operating system (OS) in a virtual machine (VM) to access the hypervisor directly, rather than indirectly through a complex abstraction layer, as is the case with conventional full virtualization.
PCoIP (PC over IP) - PC over IP (PCoIP) is a remote display protocol that Teradici developed for delivering remote desktops and applications to endpoints.
physical to virtual (P2V) - Physical to virtual (P2V), also called hardware virtualization, refers to the migration of physical machines to virtual machines (VMs).
purple screen of death (PSOD) - A purple screen of death (PSOD) is a diagnostic screen with white type on a purple background that's displayed when the VMkernel of a VMware ESXi host experiences a critical error, becomes inoperative and terminates any virtual machines (VMs) that are running.
raw device mapping - Raw device mapping (RDM) enables disk access in a virtual machine (VM) in the VMware server virtualization environment and allows a storage logical unit number (LUN) to be connected directly to a VM from the storage area network (SAN).
Red Hat OpenShift - Red Hat OpenShift is a multifaceted, open source container application development platform from Red Hat Inc.
remote desktop connection broker - A remote desktop connection broker is software that allows a remote desktop client to connect to a remote desktop host or server.
Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan) - Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan) is a free Microsoft tool that enables IT administrators to organize, group and control multiple remote desktop connections.
Remote Desktop Services (RDS) - Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is an umbrella term for features of Microsoft Windows Server that allow users to remotely access graphical desktops and Windows applications.
Scalable Processor Architecture (SPARC) - Scalable Processor Architecture (SPARC) is a 32- and 64-bit microprocessor architecture developed by Sun Microsystems in 1987.
service virtualization - Service virtualization is the process of creating replicas of systems that new applications depend on to test how well the application and systems integrate.
software-defined storage (SDS) - Software-defined storage (SDS) is a software program that manages data storage resources and functionality and has no dependencies on the underlying physical storage hardware.
SPI model - The SPI model is an abbreviation of the most common cloud computing service models: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) - VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) is a load balancing utility that assigns and moves computing workloads to available hardware resources in a virtualized environment.
Storage vMotion - Storage vMotion is a component of VMware vSphere that allows the live migration of a running virtual machine's (VM) file system from one storage system to another, with no downtime for the VM or service disruption for end users.
syslog - Syslog is an IETF RFC 5424 standard protocol for computer logging and collection that is popular in Unix-like systems including servers, networking equipment and IoT devices.
translation lookaside buffer (TLB) - A translation lookaside buffer (TLB) is a type of memory cache that stores recent translations of virtual memory to physical addresses to enable faster retrieval.
Type 2 hypervisor (hosted hypervisor) - A Type 2 hypervisor is a virtual machine (VM) manager that is installed as a software application on an existing operating system (OS).
unified computing system (UCS) - A unified computing system (UCS) is a converged data center architecture that integrates computing, networking and storage resources to increase efficiency and enable centralized management.
USB redirection - USB redirection is a technology that enables an end user to plug an external device into a USB port on their endpoint and access the device from within a remote desktop or application.
virtual - In computing, the term virtual refers to a digitally replicated version of something real, whether it's a machine, a switch, memory or even reality.
virtual address - A virtual address is a binary number in virtual memory that lets a process use a location in primary storage (main memory) or, in some cases, secondary storage.
virtual CPU (vCPU) - A virtual CPU (vCPU) is the processor of a virtual machine (VM).
virtual desktop - A virtual desktop is a computer operating system that does not run directly on the endpoint hardware from which a user accesses it.
virtual firewall - A virtual firewall is a firewall device or service that provides network traffic filtering and monitoring for virtual machines (VMs) in a virtualized environment.
virtual LUN (virtual logical unit number) - A virtual LUN (virtual logical unit number) is a representation of a storage area that is not tied to any physical storage allocation.
virtual machine configuration - Virtual machine configuration is the arrangement of resources assigned to a virtual machine.
