X86 SUPPORT

FOR
VIRTUALIZATION
virtualization in the x86 architecture, specifically the
8086 processor and its successors It's a complex
topic, so let's break it down:
 X86
ARCHITECTURE
The x86 architecture is a family of instruction set
architectures (ISAs) used in personal computers and
other devices. It's named after the Intel 8086
processor, which was released in 1978
SOFTWARE SUPPORT FOR VIRUALIZATION
Software support is crucial for making virtualization work smoothly and efficiently

Why Software Support Key Software Components

Matters: For Virtualization
• Managing Virtual Machines: You need • Virtual Machine Images and Templates: These are
software to create, manage, and interact pre-configured files that contain the software and
settings needed to create a virtual machine. They
with virtual machines. can be used to deploy VMs quickly and
• Hardware Abstraction: Software layers consistently.
help bridge the gap between the • Virtualization Management Software: These tools
provide a graphical interface to manage and
hardware and the virtual machines, monitor virtual machines, create snapshots,
allowing them to access resources. perform backups, and manage network
• Performance Optimization: Software configurations.
tools can help optimize virtualization • Guest Operating Systems (OS): The operating
systems that run inside virtual machines are often
performance and ensure smooth called "guest" operating systems. They need to be
operation. compatible with the virtualization platform and the
host hardware.
• Security and Isolation: Software plays a
key role in providing security and • Virtualization Drivers and Utilities: Software drivers
are needed to enable communication between
isolation between virtual machines and VMs and the host hardware, while utilities help
the host system. manage and optimize virtual environments.
Key Software
Components For
Virtualization
*HYPERVISOR >TYPES
These are the core There are two main types of
hypervisors:
software components • Type 1 (Bare-Metal Hypervisor)
that manage virtual • Runs directly on the hardware,
machines. They create offering high performance but
requiring a dedicated installation
and manage the virtual (examples: VMware ESXi, Xen).
environments, allocate • Type 2 (Hosted Hypervisor):
resources, and handle • Runs on top of a host operating
system, providing a simpler setup but
communication between potentially sacrificing some
the VMs and the host performance (examples: Oracle VM
VirtualBox, VMware Workstation,
system Parallels Desktop).
 HARDWARE
SUPPORT FOR • Moving from single to multicore
VIRTUALIZATI devices imposes new architectural
constraints on designers
ON • When you run a virtual machine
(VM) , it needs to access the
physical resources of your host
machine like CPU, memory
(primary & secondary), and
network
• Hardware virtualization allows
VMs to access these resources
directly, rather than relying on
software emulation, which would
be much slower.
• Hardware virtualization features
also help create secure and
isolated environments for VMs,
preventing interference and
potential security risks.
PARA-VIRTUALIZATION
Paravirtualization is a virtualization • Advantages
technique that allows a guest • Improved performance: The guest OS and
hypervisor can work together more
operating system (OS) to efficiently, reducing the time spent on
operations that are more difficult in a virtual
communicate directly with a environment.
hypervisor, improving performance • Hardware sharing: Multiple operating
and efficiency systems can share hardware.
• Speed of native code: For timing-critical
functions, paravirtualization can provide the
speed of native code.
• How it works
• Paravirtualization modifies the OS • Disadvantages
• Limited OS options: Paravirtualization
kernel to replace nonvirtualizable requires a modified OS, which limits the
instructions with hypercalls. This number of OS options available.
allows the guest OS to access the • Security vulnerabilities: The direct
communication between the OS and
hypervisor directly, rather than hypervisor could pose security
vulnerabilities.
through an abstraction layer as in • Performance gains are unpredictable:
full virtualization. The benefits of paravirtualization vary
depending on the workload.
OTHER HARDWRE
VIRTUALIZATION TECHNIQUES
• Full virtualization: • Operating system level
This is a popular hardware virtualization method
that's considered a foundational technology for
virtualization
modern data centers and cloud computing. It's a
versatile choice for businesses because it's flexible, This technique allows multiple
compatible, and easy to manage. applications and replicas of the
same operating system to run
• Type 1 virtualization: on the same server. It provides
Also known as bare-metal virtualization, this
method runs a hypervisor directly on the physical
security and separation.
hardware. It's efficient and high performing
because VMs can interact directly with the
hardware.
• Containerization
• Type 2 virtualization This method allows multiple
This method runs a hypervisor on top of a host isolated user-space instances to
operating system. It's often used for development,
testing, and desktop virtualization because it's easy
run on a single host operating
to set up and manage. system