Virtualization

Terms related to virtualization, including definitions about virtualization technologies and words and phrases about server virtualization, desktop virtualization and storage virtualization.

AFF - HYP

affinity rules - Affinity rules are settings that establish a relationship between two or more VMware virtual machines (VMs) and hosts.
agnostic - Agnostic, in an information technology (IT) context, refers to something that is generalized so that it is interoperable among various systems.
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web-based service that allows businesses to run application programs in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon EC2 instance - An Amazon EC2 instance is a virtual server in Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for running applications on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure.
Amazon Machine Image (AMI) - An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a master image for the creation of virtual servers -- known as EC2 instances -- in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) - Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a scalable, high-speed, web-based cloud storage service.
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) - Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is a semiconductor company, known for designing and developing computer processors and graphics technologies.
AMD-V (AMD virtualization) - AMD-V (AMD virtualization) is a set of hardware extensions for the X86 processor architecture.
app virtualization (application virtualization) - App virtualization (application virtualization) is the separation of an installation of an application from the client computer that is accessing it.
AppBlast (Project AppBlast) - AppBlast is a VMware initiative that allows users to access their Windows and Mac applications from any device running an HTML 5 browser.
application containerization (app containerization) - Application containerization is an OS-level virtualization method used to deploy and run distributed applications without launching an entire virtual machine for each app.
application layering (app layering) - Application layering (app layering) is a technology for delivering virtual applications that run in layers separate from a virtual desktop, but interact with the operating system and other apps as if they are installed natively on the base image.
application sandboxing - Application sandboxing, also called application containerization, is an approach to software development and management and mobile application management (MAM) that limits the environments in which certain code can execute.
application streaming - Application streaming is an on-demand software delivery model that takes advantage of the fact that most applications require only a small fraction of their total program code to run.
bare-metal hypervisor - A bare-metal hypervisor, also known as a Type 1 hypervisor, is virtualization software that has been installed directly onto the computing hardware.
Blue Cloud - Blue Cloud is an approach to shared infrastructure developed by IBM.
browser virtualization (in desktop virtualization) - Virtualizing a browser helps companies run mission-critical applications in legacy browsers.
bubble network - A bubble network is a series of interconnected virtual machines (VMs) that communicate through a virtual network switch (vSwitch) and remain isolated from the physical network.
Changed Block Tracking (CBT) - VMware Changed Block Tracking is an incremental backup technology for virtual machines (VMs), comparable to snapshot differential or backup delta block.
checkpoint - A checkpoint, in a virtualization context, is a snapshot of the state of a virtual machine.
Citrix App Layering (formerly Citrix AppDisk) - Citrix App Layering, formerly Citrix AppDisk, is a tool that delivers applications in layers independently from the virtual desktop operating system.
Citrix AppDNA - Citrix AppDNA is an application testing and management technology for XenApp and XenDesktop that analyzes virtual applications' compatibility with specific operating systems and configurations.
Citrix Director - Citrix Director is a management console in XenDesktop and XenApp that allows IT administrators to monitor virtual desktop and application deployments, including user and infrastructure tracking.
Citrix FlexCast - Citrix FlexCast is a delivery technology that allows an IT administrator to personalize virtual desktops to meet the performance, security and flexibility requirements of end users.
Citrix HDX 3D Pro - Citrix HDX 3D Pro is a group of graphics acceleration technologies that help optimize the delivery of resource-intensive virtual applications on a company's XenDesktop and XenApp platforms.
Citrix Machine Creation Services (Citrix MCS) - Citrix Machine Creation Services is a desktop image delivery feature in XenDesktop used to configure and distribute virtual desktops to end users.
Citrix Provisioning Services (Citrix PVS) - Citrix Provisioning Services (Citrix PVS) is a software-streaming technology that allows administrators to patch or reconfigure an entire deployment of virtual desktops from one shared master image.
Citrix Receiver - Citrix Receiver is a suite of products that allows client devices to connect to various desktop virtualization services offered by Citrix.
Citrix Secure Browser - Citrix Secure Browser is virtualization software that allows web applications to run in incompatible browsers.
Citrix StoreFront - Citrix StoreFront is an enterprise application store that acts as a central location for users to access XenDesktop and XenApp virtual desktops and applications from their mobile devices, laptops, Windows PCs or Macs.
Citrix User Profile Management - Citrix User Profile Management is a tool in the company's XenDesktop and XenApp desktop virtualization platform that allows IT administrators to deliver employees' personal data and settings to physical and virtual endpoints.
Citrix VDI-in-a-Box - Citrix VDI-in-a-Box is all-in-one desktop virtualization software built for small and medium-sized businesses.
Citrix Workspace Suite - Citrix Workspace Suite combines Citrix products including XenApp, XenDesktop, XenMobile, ShareFile Enterprise and NetScaler Gateway into a single platform IT administrators can use to deliver desktops, data, applications and services to users.
Citrix WorkspacePod - Citrix WorkspacePod is a converged infrastructure product that de-centralizes storage to provide scalable and consistent mobile workspace and application delivery.
Citrix XenApp - Citrix XenApp, now part of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, was a product that extends Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Host (formerly known as Terminal Services) desktop sessions and applications to users through the Citrix HDX protocol.
Citrix XenDesktop - Citrix XenDesktop is a desktop virtualization product from software vendor Citrix Systems.
Citrix XenServer - Citrix XenServer is an open source server virtualization platform based on the Xen hypervisor.
client-based virtual machine - A client-based virtual machine is an instance of an operating system that is managed centrally on a server and executed locally on a client device.
cloud automation - Cloud automation is a broad term that refers to the processes and tools an organization uses to reduce the manual efforts associated with provisioning and managing cloud computing workloads and services.
cloud computing - Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet.
cloud database - A cloud database is a collection of informational content, either structured or unstructured, that resides on a private, public or hybrid cloud computing infrastructure platform.
Cloud Foundry - Cloud Foundry is an open source cloud platform as a service (PaaS) on which developers can build, deploy, run and scale applications on public and private cloud models.
cloud provisioning - Cloud provisioning is the allocation of a cloud provider's resources and services to a customer.
CloudAV - CloudAV is a program that combines multiple antivirus applications and scans user files over a network of servers.
Cloudburst VM escape - Cloudburst VM (virtual machine) escape is an exploit method, credited to research firm Kostya Kortchinsky Immunity Inc.
CloudHealth Technologies - CloudHealth Technologies is a provider of hybrid cloud management software that's designed to help an organization increase its visibility into and across public and private cloud infrastructure.
cluster quorum disk - A cluster quorum disk is the storage medium on which the configuration database is stored for a cluster computing network.
clustered file system (CFS) - Clustered file systems are file systems that run on multiple storage servers and can be accessed and managed as a single system.
connection broker - In desktop virtualization, a connection broker is a software program that allows the end-user to connect to an available desktop.
container (disambiguation) - This page explains how the term container is used in software development, storage, data center management and mobile device management.
Containers as a Service (CaaS) - Containers as a service (CaaS) is a cloud service that allows software developers to upload, organize, run, scale, manage and stop containers by using a provider's API calls or a web portal interface.
content management system (CMS) - A content management system (CMS) is a software application or set of related programs that help create and manage digital content.
ControlUp - ControlUp is a monitoring software company that sells tools IT professionals can use to manage, monitor and analyze virtual desktop and application performance.
corporate VM (corporate virtual machine) - A corporate VM (corporate virtual machine) is a virtual computing environment (VM) that is allocated to an end user for business use.
data warehouse appliance - A data warehouse appliance is an all-in-one “black box” solution optimized for data warehousing.
dedicated cloud - A dedicated cloud is a single-tenant cloud infrastructure, which essentially acts as an isolated, single-tenant public cloud.
Dell EMC - Dell EMC is an American multinational technology company that offers products and services across all areas of computing, networking and storage.
desktop as a service (DaaS) - Desktop as a service (DaaS) is a cloud computing offering in which a third party hosts the back end of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment.
Desktop as a Service provider (DaaS provider) - A Desktop as a Service provider is a company that hosts virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) for customers and delivers virtual desktops to those organizations' end users.
desktop virtualization - Desktop virtualization is the concept of isolating a logical operating system (OS) instance from the client that is used to access it.
differencing disk - A differencing disk is a virtual hard disk (VHD) that stores changes made to another VHD or to the guest operating system.
disk image - A disk image is a copy of the entire contents of a storage device, such as a hard drive, DVD, or CD.
Diskpart (Disk Partition Utility) - Diskpart is a command-line utility used to manipulate disk partitions in all versions of Windows and Windows Server beginning with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
Distributed Control Plane Architecture (DCPA) - A Distributed Control Plane Architecture (DCPA) is a network architecture that makes it possible to allocate control protocol functions across multiple processor levels in the network system.
Distributed Execution Manager (DEM) - The Distributed Execution Manager is a VMware vCloud Automation Center tool that executes the business logic of custom models.
distributed virtual switch - A distributed virtual switch is an abstract representation of multiple hosts defining the same name, network policy and port group.
Docker - Docker is an open source software platform to create, deploy and manage virtualized application containers on a common operating system (OS), with an ecosystem of allied tools.
Docker Swarm - Docker Swarm is a clustering and scheduling tool for Docker containers.
dynamic memory allocation (in virtualization) - Dynamic memory allocation is a memory management technique in which a program can request and return memory while it is executing.
edge virtualization - Edge virtualization is the practice of using software versions of physical computing resources at the edge of a network, closest to the devices that produce data.
eG Innovations - eG Innovations is an end-user experience and infrastructure monitoring software vendor best known for its eG Enterprise product.
embedded hypervisor - An embedded hypervisor is a hypervisor that is programmed (embedded) directly into a processor, personal computer (PC) or server.
esxtop - Esxtop is a command-line tool that gives you real-time information on resource usage in your vSphere environment.
eventual consistency - Eventual consistency is a characteristic of distributed computing systems such that the value for a specific data item will, given enough time without further updates, be consistent each time it is accessed.
file virtualization - File virtualization is the creation of an abstraction layer between file servers and the clients that access those file servers.
FlowVisor - FlowVisor is an experimental software-defined networking controller that enables network virtualization by slicing a physical network into multiple logical networks.
Generation 1 VM (generation 1 virtual machine) - A Generation 1 VM is a virtual machine that uses the original Hyper-V BIOS-based architecture.
Glassware 2.0 - Glassware 2.
Google App Engine - Google App Engine (GAE) is a platform-as-a-service product that provides web app developers and enterprises with access to Google's scalable hosting and tier 1 internet service.
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) - Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a management and orchestration system for Docker containers and container clusters that run within Google's public cloud services.
Google Preemptible VM - A Preemptible VM (PVM) is a Google Compute Engine (GCE) virtual machine (VM) instance that can be purchased for a steep discount as long as the customer accepts that the instance will terminate after 24 hours.
green networking - Green networking is the practice of selecting energy-efficient networking technologies and products, and minimizing resource use whenever possible.
Gridstore HyperConverged Appliance (HCA) - Gridstore HyperConverged Appliance (HCA) is an all-flash storage device that includes compute, virtualization and networking resources.
guest OS (guest operating system) - A guest OS is the operating system installed on either a virtual machine (VM) or partitioned disk.
guest virtual machine (guest VM) - A guest virtual machine (guest VM) is the software component of a virtual machine (VM), an independent instance of an operating system (called a guest operating system) and its associated software and information.
Hadoop - Hadoop is an open source distributed processing framework that manages data processing and storage for big data applications running in clustered systems.
hardware virtualization - Hardware virtualization, which is also known as server virtualization or simply virtualization, is the abstraction of computing resources from the software that uses those resources.
hardware-assisted virtualization - Hardware-assisted virtualization is the use of a computer's physical components to support the software that creates and manages virtual machines (VMs).
HDX - Citrix HDX technology is a set of capabilities that work together to deliver a high-definition user experience of virtual desktops and applications to any device over any network from the data center.
headless system - A headless system is a computer that operates without a monitor, graphical user interface (GUI) or the typical peripherals used to control it, such as a keyboard and mouse.
Host OS (host operating system) - A host OS is the software installed on a computer that interacts with the underlying hardware in a computer using virtualization technology.
host virtual machine (host VM) - A host virtual machine is the server component of a virtual machine (VM), the underlying hardware that provides computing resources to support a particular guest virtual machine (guest VM).
host-based virtual machine - A host-based virtual machine is an instance of a desktop operating system that runs on a centralized server.
hosted virtual desktop (HVD) - A hosted virtual desktop (HVD) is a user interface that connects to applications and data that are stored on a cloud provider's servers rather than on the user's computer or the corporate network.
hot desking - Hot desking is a work space sharing model in which employees outnumber desks.
HTML 5 desktop client - An HTML5 desktop client is a type of remote desktop client that provides an end user with access to a desktop or application through a web browser.
hybrid SDN - A hybrid SDN (software-defined network) is a network where both traditional networking and SDN protocols operate in the same environment.

HYP - SPI