A virtual machine (VM) is a software program or operating system that not only exhibits the behavior of a

separate computer, but is also capable of performing tasks such as running applications and programs like
a separate computer. The virtual machine is comprised of a set of specification and configuration files and
is backed by the physical resources of a host. Every virtual machine has virtual devices that provide the
same functionality as physical hardware and have additional benefits in terms of portability,
manageability, and security.

Each virtual machine has virtual devices that provide the same
functionality as the physical hardware and scalability, management and have the additional
advantage in terms of safety. VM storage based on a variety of files is stored for each device. For
example, .Vmx virtual machine configuration with Vmdk extend and expand a file with the file
with the actual data collected by the VM holds.
The virtual machine that you have supported many of the files
stored on the storage device types. Home files that make up the virtual machine configuration
file, virtual disk file, NVRAM setup files, and log files.
Virtual machines are implemented by software emulation methods
or hardware virtualization techniques. Depending on their use and level of correspondence to any
physical computer, virtual machines can be divided into two categories:
1. System Virtual Machines: A system platform that supports the sharing of the host
computer's physical resources between multiple virtual machines, each running with its
own copy of the operating system. The virtualization technique is provided by a software
layer known as a hypervisor, which can run either on bare hardware or on top of an
operating system.

2. Process Virtual Machine: Designed to provide a platform-independent programming

environment that masks the information of the underlying hardware or operating system
and allows program execution to take place in the same way on any given platform.

Frequently multiple virtual machines with their own OS's are used in server
consolidation, where different services are run in separate virtual environments, but on the same
physical machine. Then the main advantages of using the virtual machine concept in the
operating system are Multiple OS environments can exist simultaneously on the same machine,
isolated from each other, Virtual machine can offer an instruction set architecture that differs
from real computers.
The popular virtual machines are:
VM WARE
&
JAVA virtual machine
VM WARE: In simple VMware is a virtualization and cloud
computing software provider for x86-compatible computers. VMware virtualization is based on
the ESX/ESXi bare metal hypervisor, supporting virtual machines. The term "VMware" is often
used in reference to specific VMware Inc.

VMware provides three different types of desktop software:

VMware Workstation: This application is used to install and run multiple copies or instances
of the same operating systems or different operating systems on a single physical computer
machine.
VMware Fusion: This product was designed for Mac users and provides extra compatibility
with all other VMware products and applications.
VMware Player: This product was launched as freeware by VMware for users who do not
have licensed VMWare products. This product is intended only for personal use.

VMware's software hypervisors intended for servers are bare-metal embedded hypervisors that can
run directly on the server hardware without the need of an extra primary OS. VMwares line of server
software includes:

VMware ESX Server: This is an enterprise-level solution, which is built to provide better
functionality in comparison to the freeware VMware Server resulting from a lesser system
overhead. VMware ESX is integrated with VMware vCenter that provides additional solutions
to improve the manageability and consistency of the server implementation.
VMware ESXi Server: This server is similar to the ESX Server except that the service
console is replaced with Busy Box installation and it requires very low disk space to operate.
VMware Server: Freeware software that can be used over existing operating systems like
Linux or Microsoft Windows.

JAVA virtual machine: A Java virtual machine (JVM) is an abstract

computing machine that enables a computer to run a Java program. JVMs are available for many
hardware and software platforms.

The Java Virtual Machine Specification defines an abstract -- rather than a real -- machine or
processor. Once a Java virtual machine has been implemented for a given platform, any Java
program can run on that platform. A Java virtual machine can either interpret the bytecode one
instruction at a time (mapping it to a real processor instruction) or the bytecode can be compiled
further for the real processor using what is called a just-in-time compiler.