Virtualization packages are means for users to run various operating systems without “bare-metal” hardware – basically, you can run more than one operating system on a single computer without dual-booting or similar approaches. Virtualization software emulates a real machine and “fools” the guest operating system into thinking it’s running on a real computer. Besides the more obvious advantages, virtual machines help create a greener and easier to administer computing environment. Looking at the trends in the IT industry, virtualization has seen quite a boom in the last few years, because it fits the concepts of utility computing and/or software as a service.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://linuxconfig.org/virtualization-solutions-on-linux-systems-kvm-and-virtualbox/