A virtual representation of the computer on your desk. It can do everything a physical machine does, only everything is virtual and usually delivered over a network connection.
What is Virtual Machine (VM)?
100
Essentially a small operating system that enables virtualization. Its job is to take physical hardware resources and combine them into a platform that is then delivered virtually to one, or many different users.
What is Hypervisor?
100
Also referred to as the parent, is where the physical hardware and software is installed.
What is Host system?
100
Also referred to as the child, is where the VM is accessed.
What is Guest system?
200
An image of the state of the virtual machine at a specific point of time. This includes all of the data, configurations, and even windows or programs open at that time.
What is Snapshot?
200
Software that resembles and behaves like a traditional Ethernet Adapter. It has a MAC address, and it receives and sends Ethernet packets.
What is Virtual Network Interface Card?
200
The action of taking one VM and creating an exact copy that can then be used by another computer or user.
What is Clone?
200
Resembles and behaves like a physical disk. It may be a file, a set of files, software, or some other entity, but to a VM, it appears to be a SCSI disk.
What is Virtual Disk?
300
A network provided by virtual switches. It may be an extension of a traditional network that is built on physical switches and VLANs, or, it may be an isolated network formed strictly from virtual switches.
What is Virtual Network?
300
The migration of a traditional server, such as a specific Windows 2008 sever, from physical server hardware to a VM.
What is P2V (Physical to Virtual)?
300
A VM running a server OS such as a Windows Server or a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server.
What is Virtual Server?
300
Allows the user, or guest machine, to continue operations if the host fails.
What is Failover?
400
A VM that is running a desktop OS, such as Windows 7 or Red Hat Enterprise Desktop.
What is Virtual Desktop?
400
A Hypervisor that runs directly on a host, eg: VMware ESX Server, Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V Server and Oracle Virtual Iron. Also known as a “Type 1” or “Native” Hypervisor.
What is Bare Metal Hypervisor?
400
A virtual machine (VM) that is running a distribution of Linux as the guest operating system (guest OS).
What is Linux virtual machine?
400
Ethernet-based shared storage protocol.
What is iSCSI?
500
A high-speed network of storage devices that also connects those storage devices with servers.
What is SAN (storage area network)?
500
The vSphere Hypervisor from VMware.
What is ESXi?
500
Image file, taken from ISO 9660file system for optical drives.