Introduction to virtualization on Linux

Virtualization appeared as a need to make more efficient use of computer hardware. It is basically an abstraction layer that takes advantage of the computer's resources. In this section, you will learn about the types of VMs, how they work on Linux, and how to deploy and manage them.

Efficiency in resource usage

The abstraction layer that virtualization uses is a software layer that allows for a more efficient use of all of the computer's components. This allows for better use of all the physical machine's capabilities and resources.

Before going any further into virtualization, let's give you an example. In our testing laboratory, we have several physical machines, in the form of laptops and desktop computers that we use as servers. Each of the systems has significant resources available, more than enough to run the services we need. For instance, our least performant system is a laptop with a dual core Intel i3...