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Virtualization Stack
Last Updated: October 1, 2011
Definition - What does Virtualization Stack mean?
A virtualization stack is a group of software components used to support a virtual environment. Items include the management console, virtual machine processes, emulated devices, management services and the user interface combined with the hypervisor.
Techopedia explains Virtualization Stack
In computing terminology, a stack refers to a group of resources that serve a common purpose.
Related terminology includes:
- Hardware Virtualization: A software interface similar to the underlying hardware is created, allowing a single physical server to simultaneously support multiple guest OSs. Hardware virtualization also makes multiple physical servers appear to have the same hardware, so that guest OSs may be moved between hardware devices. The main purpose of hardware virtualization is improved hardware performance, compatibility and capacity. Paravirtualization is a commonly implemented hardware virtualization.
- Operating System (OS) Virtualization: A virtualization technique implemented to separate an OS from hardware to facilitate OS movement across other hardware devices and coordinate with other OS instances on the same system.
- Application Virtualization: Implemented to separate applications from the underlying OS, so that applications may run parallel to other applications while moving across other OSs.
