Cloud Computing vs Virtualization – In 3 Easy Points

Introduction

A prospering business that wishes to thrive in the market must keep up with innovations in the said market.  The speed and efficiency in collecting, processing and storing information is the need of the hour, and this can be done through the right use of the right technologies. However, within the corporate IT environment, several technical terms cause confusion among the public.

Even though used across multiple industries, it is quite understandable that one may often confuse the concepts of virtualization and cloud, particularly due to the fact that both revolve around creating useful environments from abstract resources. Interchanging of the two is not as uncommon as when one breaks down each term, the cloud does seem to have more in common with virtualization technology than it does differences.

1. What is Cloud Computing
2. What is virtualization
3. Comparison between Cloud computing and Virtualization

1) What is Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is the remote use of application commonly used on the internet that enables universal, easy access to a collection of configurable computing assets such as servers and applications shared among many. This can be rapidly fitted out and released with minimal managerial effort or interaction with the service provider.  After obtaining the required assent, said Cloud can be obtained via the internet and accessed externally. Examples of services that use cloud computing include Netflix, Google Cloud, etc. This is a payment and usage business tool where a fee is paid for the usage of service.

There are certain benefits that come with cloud computing. They are as follows:

• It is universally accessible without any kind of restriction to those who have proper credentials. This shows that it has a user-centric focus.
• It is more cost-efficient to use the cloud for applications.
• The chances of the occurrence of inability to access are nil as there is no dependency on just one machine.
• Cloud computing provides independence from the need to access machines and allows real-time access to users where many people can access and work on the same resource or application.
• Cloud Computation allows for Globalization as it provides access to applications worldwide.
• Furthermore, such global access will make applications popular among users and service-providing industries.
• Cloud security is better than premise security.
• Cloud solutions provide insight into data and how people work with it, making it a powerful market analytics tool.

Cloud computing essentially allows an enterprise to make their resources available on-demand while meeting access and accountability regulations that have been set out. 

2) What is virtualization

Virtualization is essentially a technological process. Here, a software creates “separated” multiple images of the same machine’s hardware and software. This allows for multiple Operating Systems, software and applications being installed on the same physical machine. By using virtualization, the software can reduce the expenses that come with the hardware, and it also increases the utilization and efficiency of the infrastructure.

There are mainly 7 different kinds of virtualization: network, hardware, Operating System, Application, server, administrative and storage, administrative, network, hardware and storage virtualization.

There are certain benefits of Virtualization as well. They are as follows:

• By using virtualization, IT industries can set up multiple servers’ machines.
• The cost of setting up is meagre as Virtualization can be done even on a Personal computer.
• Virtualization reduces the cost of investment in hardware as a single server can serve as multiple machines.
• Virtualization allows for the creation and use of millions of machines, and the software can virtualize servers that are physical in nature in no time. 

Virtualization assists enterprises in working more efficiently in comparison to the use of traditional workflows or applications installed directly on the server.

3) Comparison between Cloud computing and Virtualization

1. Expandability: Cloud can be expanded to any rate to meet want, but virtual machine configuration limits virtualisation’s expandability.
2. Assembling: assembling the cloud is quite strenuous; however, it is quite easy to set up a virtual environment.
3. Adaption to dynamic needs and wants: Cloud computing is very flexible in terms of user access. It allows a user to access anywhere and anytime as long as there is internet available. However, virtualization requires proper authentication before virtual machines can be accessed.
4. Type of service: Cloud computing provides laaS(Infrastructure as a Service) and Virtualization provides SaaS (Software as a Service).
5. Hardware dedication: Cloud computing is generated via multiple hardware, while virtualization uses dedicated hardware to create multiple virtual machines.
6. The extent of Integration: Cloud integration allows for future expansion of users, applications, etc., while Virtualization integration allows the expansion of novel machines within the same infrastructure.
7. Level of Dependency: In cloud computing, numerous users can access the network using the same link, and from anywhere while in virtualization, multiple OSs can be installed on a single server.
8. Outreach and accessibility: Cloud computing allows for global access, while virtualization requires permissions to be taken before accessing from outside the network.
9. Adverse consequences recovery: In cloud computing, disaster recovery is not dependent on one machine due to multiple accessibilities. However, in Virtualization, a single machine failure can bring down multiple virtual machines.
10. Kinds: Cloud Computing has Private cloud, Public Cloud and Hybrid Cloud, while Virtualization has 7 types that have been mentioned above, such as Hardware virtualization and application virtualization.

Conclusion

There is often a constant debate between cloud computing vs virtualization. It must be understood that even if at the outset virtualization may seem more restrictive than Cloud computing. However, the non-restrictive nature of cloud computing has its own handicaps. For instance, in a public cloud, computing resources are available to all users at large, thus providing no form of security whatsoever. This could also affect the websites loading time and speed. 

Furthermore, Cloud infrastructure cannot be established singlehandedly. It needs the help of virtualization. Virtualization is the foundation of cloud networks. In a technological infrastructure, cloud computing and virtualization go hand in hand to build a cloud infrastructure. At the end of the day, what is more, advantageous to a certain business, virtualization vs cloud, depends on the type of business and its requirements.

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• What is a Managed cloud? Benefits of Managed Cloud Services in 2021