Virtualisation consists in running several systems, servers or applications on the same physical server. Key component of Cloud Computing, virtualisation is based on the following mechanics
- An OS installed on a physical server that hosts other OSes.
- Virtualisation software installed on the main OS to create closed and independent environments on which other OSes will be installed (see VM)
- A guest system installed in a VM that works independently of other OSes. Each virtual machine has an access to the physical server resources (memory, disk space...).