what are vmware and virtualization?

what are they? I know virtualization is about creating a virtual machine on the network so that the remote server will not know your actual configuration of your PC?
I don't quite understand the concept of virtualization how it could improve the business performance or etc....

Anyone can highlight me the general concept of virtualization?

In fact, I do not want my actual PC configuration and operating environment to be collected and remembered by the remote service / server, however I do not want to buy a new computer or upgrade all the hardware and windows environment. Would vmware or virtualization work for me??

Thanks

 

Virtualization creates a sandbox of sorts on your machine that allows you to run an operating system within an operating system without giving the secondary operating system direct access to anything outside of the sandbox. For example, you can install Windows 7 in a virtual machine and get around 90-95% of the native performance but with the added security of the operating system in the virtual machine not having access to your hardware or software outside of it. There are many use case scenarios for virtual machines. I used to have one that was just for browsing the web and set to restore its image every time it was run so I always had a totally clean OS to mess around with and never had to worry about anything. VMs are a great way to have multiple OSes on your machine too without ever having to worry about data corruption. More advanced virtual machine setups have limitless potential like being able to run Linux as your main OS and have a Windows virtual machine that has your graphics card attached to it for close to full native performance!

 

^For the Cliffnotes, basically think of a VM as a completely separate computer within a computer (this computer being your physical conputer).

There are a few ways to break through the virtualization layer to get to the native OS, but such attacks attacks really highly specialized and I wouldn't really worry about the tiny possibility of that happening to your VM.

 

Thanks Ethrem and Jarhead for the very useful information.

In my situation, I am looking for a solution in which I will be treated as having two totally different computer or operating environment while I am on the same single PC.

We know that any websites, services or applications could silently, unnoticeably collect your hardware and software information in order to "fingerprint" your identity on the internet. When you are using the same service with different accounts / identities on the same computer, it's possible that their systems could recognize or put you into the special list of surveillance in their systems.

If I had many computers I think this would not be a concern. I could login different accounts with different computers. However, physically it is not possible because of budget reasons. Would virtualization or virtual machines work well for my situation?


btw, I've found Oracle VM VirtualBox which is free. Is it Good enought? Any opinion?

 

Personally, I use both VMWare and VirtualBox and they both work just fine.

And yes, if all you're looking for is to let 3rd parties collect information on a dummy computer, a VM would certainly work for that.

 

What would be the hardware details look like for the virtual machine?

Is there anything else I can use to create a "virtual" connection as well. Because using the virtual machine alone will not change the connection IP to the internet, will it??

 

The hardware specs are whatever you provide it. How many CPU cored, how much RAM, how much disk space, etc.

And yes, ultimately you only have one connection to your ISP, so it'll be the same address (though likely a different set of ports), though you're connecting through a virtualize network card. As far as changing your apparent IP address, you can use a proxy, though if you are looking for actual security, I'd look into a VPN.

 

Hello

Apparent IP ? The IP provided by my ISP is probably dynamic but it doesn't change often, only sometimes. is VPN the way like Virtual machine to hide your actual locations of your PC?

I know about VPN a little bit, but it's like even more insecure because the data will go through a third party

 

What I meant by apparent is your external IP address, such as 69.123.100.29. The address your IP gives you is likely a private IP address out of a pool of address other subscribers get (especially if your ISP has a NAT between you and the world).

A VPN is an encrypted "tunnel" between you and whatever your VPN endpoint is. For example, my university had a VPN service I could connect with so that my traffic was protected between my computer and their network (and, as a side effect, I had an address that made me look like I was located at ten university).

Usually, VPN service is at subscription you have to pay for.

 

What is the difference between private IP and apparent IP?

Would the connection speed suffer a lot after connecting through the VPN service (paid one)

 

Private IP addresses are a special class of addresses which aren't routable over the open Internet. It's nice in that it allows people to use the same private addresses on different internal networks (most people's routers use 192.168.1.1, an example of a private address). Someone like me (on a different network) can't directly ping or otherwise access your computer (with an example address of 192.168.1.2) since that's an invalid address as far as the open Internet cares. This is regardless of if that computer is a real computer or a VM.

A public address (don't use "apparent", that was a stupid mistake of mine to use that word) is an address that *is* routable over the open Internet. For exampke, everyone can access Google's DNS servers (4.4.4.4 and 8.8.8.8). And everyone can address the servers running this very website (the IP address or addresses being whatever "forum.notebookreview.com" resolves to). Unlike private addresses, public addresses can only be used by one network devices at a time (I can't address my computer as 8.8.8.8 for example). However, that 1-to-1 correspondence isn't technically true when you have NAT in play.

If your home network uses private addresses (very likely that it does), then your router is used to translate between those addresses and a single external address, and vice versa (this is NAT). In the past, this meant that your private address(es) is translated into a public address supplied by your ISP. However, more recently as older IP addresses are almost completely used up (IPv4, of which there are only 4 billion of those addresses possible, private and public), it's become common for ISPS to implement NATs within their networks. So in reality, your computer's private address is being translate into a different private address, which is then being translated into a public address somewhere down the line (and vice versa).

 

Businesses use it to run multiple virtual servers in one computer. Much more efficient than running several physical servers doing various stuff for the workers.

 

In addition to this answer, another good reason to use VMs would be for use in a development environment. If your code has the possibly of messing up your OS or any important applications/settings, you're better off trashing a VM that you can quickly restore rather than the native OS on the computer.

 

To most large business , it is more economical to have a single powerful server to host application + os for a cluster of weak terminal.
Scales easier and able to provision on demand.
ie Not everyone needs a 12 core + 128GB of ram ... when can do fine with a 2 core + 4GB RAM.
And there are some groups needs high specs for a week, but rest of the time with 4 core + 16GB + 3D Vision ...etc.

OS Licensing under VMss are different and are typically cheaper than a standalone.

Funny how we gone full circle.

Restoring a VM is seriously fast, usually takes under a second or two regardless how large.

 

Hi all.

After starting a virtual machine with a virtual operating system in my windows environment on the same physical PC, will I be able to send files between two machine?

Or are they completely sealed from each other?


by the way , is VM available for mobile devices?

 

What virtual machine program are you using?

The easiest way (I have found) in VirtualBox is to make a shared folder(s) between the host and client operating systems. Whatever you put into this folder can be accessed by both OS'. It will show as a regular folder in the host OS and as a shared drive on the client OS. You could also use cloud storage such as Dropbox, where it will sync your Dropbox folder across the two operating systems. If I remember correctly you need the 'additions' pack for VirtualBox to use shared folders - but it's free and you just have to download it from Oracle. As standard they are 'sealed' from each other - which can be a good thing if you want to try suspicious software or do anything else which might harm your computer, without causing damage to the host OS.

In regards to the latter part, I don't know. The surface book would run VirtualBox, which is also touch-enabled - but I don't think Android has anything yet.

 

"but I don't think Android has anything yet."

It does. My Samsung 12.2 inch android tablet has a stock VM already installed. It just has to be activated.

 

I'd heard that Android could run another Android OS as a VM - is that what you mean? Can Windows now be emulated fully on Android? (Meaning, be used for desktop-like things) I would have though that the ARM chips used on the majority of Android devices would make virtualising a full-fat Windows desktop (As Virtualbox and others do) very difficult. That would be pretty neat if it was now possible - I must confess that this is an area that I haven't really looked into much - Google doesn't seem to be abundant with info.

This might exceed what the OP wanted to know but I have wondered about it for a while...

 

It is possible to run another vm in android.
However, wouldn't recommend it as it is extremely slow, unstable, limited and inconsistent.
Very dependent on host model and guest os.

Unless you meant the other way around, you can run OS meant for ARM devices as a VM.
MS Hyper-V does that the most easiest.

For file sharing, just enable integration services so you can just drag&drop/copy&paste, which is the most easiest route.
Integration services is available on all major VM Clients at all level.

VMWare and MS Hyper-V does this automatically by default. VMWare have easiest the best integration of them due to the widest support.

 

Sorry all !

I now really urgently need a software where I can run a virtual machine on the same physical computer,

I've tried VirtualBox . It's a little bit quite difficult to setup. I do not quite understand the user manual.

Any easier software that I can run a virtual machine?? I don't need any advanced settings, I only need the virtual environment to be able to get onto the internet, that's fine

 

Virtualbox really isn't all that complicated. Just install it, create a new machine, give it whatever resources you want (CPU, RAM, etc), and install the OS onto it.

Can't think of any easier way of going about it. Maybe watch a YouTube video on it?

 

I refuse to believe that there isn't a spoon-feeding guide on Google that explains how to set up virtualbox - there are probably even youtube videos if reading comprehension is an issue.

2 minutes on Google...

http://betanews.com/2013/10/21/install-windows-8-1-on-oracle-virtualbox/

http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/how-to-install-windows-7-in-virtualbox-guide-hatryst

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26217_01/E26796/html/qs-create-vm.html

You need either the Windows install CD or the install ISO file on your computer - either work. You'll also need a Windows product key, unless you're planning on going jolly-roger style.

It's honestly not hard - how long did you honestly spend trying to make it work?

P.S: The network will be automatically set up and ready to go - so no need to set it up.

 

It doesn't get any easier than the free VMware Player - https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_workstation_player/12_0 - download and don't enter a serial number for the free version.