Virtual Machine

Can anyone give a simple explanation of the virtual machine concept and how it is implemented. I am not sure that I have understood it from the text book and study guide. Thanks

Hi,

Lets try, very simply:
You can run multiple computers, on one computer.
Imagine multiple computers, then visualise 1 computer being able to do what all the others were able to (without thinking of the processing power).

With some depth:
Multiple "virtual" computers can be run from one physical computer.
In each virtual machine, you would see a BIOS screen booting the virtual computer.
So this means you could be running several operating systems (multiple Linux, WinXP) at the same time.

You could download a demo of VMware if you're still not sure.
http://www.vmware.com

VMware can boot from an existing disk, or you can create a virtual disk and install a new operating system on it to get a better grasp of the idea.

Hope that helps

The concept of virtual machines also refers to the likes of the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) which is an environment in which applications are run which is separate from the rest of the operating system.