What Is a Virtual Machine and How Does It Work | Microsoft Azure (2024)

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• The process of creating a software-based, or "virtual" version of something—whether that be compute, storage, networking, servers, or apps—is called virtualization. Virtualization as a technology enjoys a lengthy history, and today, it's still very relevant to building a cloud computing strategy. So, virtualization is the process, and the machines made using that process are most commonly called virtual machines or just VMs.

• Multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously on the same physical computer, all managed by a hypervisor. A hypervisor is the software that integrates the physical hardware and the VM's virtual "hardware". This is very similar to how an operating system in a typical computer works: much like a school crossing guard helps multiple students move safely back and forth across a busy intersection, the hypervisor makes sure each VM gets the resources it needs from the physical server in an orderly and timely manner.

• This is the foundational category of cloud computing services. With IaaS, you rent IT infrastructure—servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, and operating systems—on a pay-as-you-go basis from a cloud provider such as Microsoft Azure.

  Learn more about IaaS

  See Also

  Windows Sandbox

• Yes, and no! Azure Virtual Machines is the Azure infrastructure as a service (IaaS) used to deploy persistent VMs with nearly any VM server workload that you want. They are image service instances that provide on-demand and scalable computing resources with usage-based pricing.

  So, Azure Virtual Machines is the service that provides VMs optimized for general purpose or storage, memory, compute, and graphics-intensive workloads and are offered in a variety of types and sizes to meet your needs and keep your budget in check.

  Learn more about Azure IaaS

• Spot VMs are part of services offered by a cloud provider, such as Microsoft Azure, that provides scalable compute capacity at deep discounts.

  Spot VMs are ideal for workloads that can be interrupted, such as:

  • Select high-performance computing scenarios, batch processing jobs, or visual rendering applications.
  • Dev/test environments, including continuous integration and continuous delivery workloads.
  • Big data, analytics, container-based, large-scale stateless applications.

  Learn more about Azure Spot Virtual Machines

• Azure Disk Storage is a service offering high-performing, highly durable block storage designed to be used with Azure Virtual Machines. With unmatched resiliency, seamless scalability, and built-in security, Azure Disk Storage delivers the price-performance you need for your mission and business-critical apps.

  Learn more about Azure Disk Storage

• In general,hybrid cloud computingrefers to a cloud environment that combinespublic cloudand on-premises infrastructure, includingprivate cloud, by allowing data and apps to be shared between them. It expands your cloud deployment options, offering greater flexibility to scale resources and take advantage of cloud tech innovations, while giving interoperability with on-prem environments.

  Get an intro to public, private, and hybrid clouds

• Cloud services providers sometimes call cloud computing services a "stack", because they build on top of one another. While infrastructure as a service (IaaS) represents the foundational element in the stack, other services are often used together with IaaS, such as platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and serverless computing.

  Learn more common cloud computing terms