Virtualization in Cloud Computing

Chapter 4

Ashim Khadka
Outline

1 Virtualization
Virtualization reference model
Virtual machine (VM)
Hypervisor

2 Types of virtualization
Hardware virtualization
Software virtualization
Server Virtualization
Storage virtualization

3 Containerization

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 Virtualization

Virtualization

Process of creating virtual version of something like - storage, network

resource etc
A technique which allows to share single physical instance of a
resource among multiple users or organizations
It does this by assigning a logical name to a physical storage and
providing a pointer to that physical resource on demand
With the help of virtualization, multiple operating system and
applications can run on same machine and its same hardware at same
time increasing the utilization and flexibility of hardware
Virtualization is not cloud computing, but rather a technology that
enables cloud computing (e.g. resource pooling)

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 Virtualization

Virtualization

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 Virtualization

Needs of virtualization

Purchasing Many Machines For Different purposes (costly)

Setting up them on Network and connecting them (Adding the new
machine or server)
no need of any installation process
No need to provide extra
Electricity
Networking facility
Floor space

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 Virtualization Virtualization reference model

Virtualization reference model

Three major components fall under this category in a virtualized

environment:
Guest
Host
Virtualization layer
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 Virtualization Virtualization reference model

Virtualization reference model

Host
The host represents the original environment where the guest is
supposed to be managed
Each guest runs on the host using shared resources donated to it by
the host
The operating system, works as the host and manages the physical
resource management, and the device support
Virtualization layer
The virtualization layer is responsible for recreating the same or a
different environment where the guest will operate
It is an additional abstraction layer between a network and storage
hardware, computing, and the application running on it
Usually it helps to run a single operating system per machine which
can be very inflexible compared to the usage of virtualization.
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 Virtualization Virtualization reference model

Virtualization reference model

Guest
The guest represents the system component that interacts with the
virtualization layer rather than with the host
Guests usually consist of one or more virtual disk files, and a VM
definition file
Virtual Machines are centrally managed by a host application that
sees and manages each virtual machine as a different application

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Virtual machine (VM)

A virtual machine (VM) is a virtual representation of a physical
computer
Virtualization allows an organization to create multiple virtual
machines - each with their own operating system (OS) and
applications on a single physical machine
A virtual machine can’t interact directly with a physical computer
It requires a lightweight software layer called a hypervisor to
coordinate with the physical hardware upon which it runs
Public cloud services are using virtual machines to provide virtual
application resources to multiple users at once, for even more cost
efficient and flexible compute
VMs can perform specific tasks considered too risky to carry out in a
host environment, such as accessing virus-infected data or testing
operating systems
The VM is separated from the rest of the system, the software inside
the virtual machine cannot tamper with the host computer
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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Virtual Machine

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Benefits of Virtual Machine

Save energy (less servers are running), go green

Reduce the data center footprint
Create virtual lab environments
Reduce hardware vendor lock-in
Improve disaster recovery
Isolate applications (from each other)
Extend the life of older applications
Easy migrate (Help move things to the cloud)

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Hypervisor

It is a software layer that can supervisor and virtualize the resources

of a host machine conferring to the user requirements
It is an middling layer between operating system and hardware
The hypervisor allocates only the amount of necessary resources for
an instance to be fully functional
Classified as
Native (Bare Metal or Type 1): based hypervisor runs directly on
the hardware
Host (Type 2): based hypervisor runs on the host operating system

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Hypervisor type

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Type 1 Hypervisor

A bare-metal hypervisor is a layer of software, which is install directly

on top of a physical server and its underlying hardware
On top of type 1 hypervisors, virtual machines run
There is no software or any operating system in between, hence the
name bare-metal hypervisor
Proven in providing excellent performance and stability since it
does not run inside any operating system
The physical machine with Type 1 hypervisor: serves virtualization
purposes only
cannot use it for anything else
Type 1 hypervisors are mainly found in enterprise environments
Highly secure: an attack on a guest VM is logically isolated to that
VM and can’t spread to others running on the same hardware

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Type 2 Hypervisor

A Type 2 hypervisor is typically installed on top of an existing OS of

host machine.
Mainly used for personal use and small development
not used for data center computing
used where performance and security are lesser concerns

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

How Hypervisors Enable the Benefits of Virtualization?

As software, hypervisors decouple the OS and apps from the physical

host
This decoupling provides an array of benefits, including the ability to
easily and quickly migrate the VM from one host to another without
disruption
Virtualization enables cost savings through reducing physical
footprint, which in turn reduces costs for electricity, cooling, and
maintenance
Virtualization also greatly improves agility and speed in delivering IT
services
For example, it is far easier to spin up a VM than to provision new
environments to satisfy customer requests

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Security Issues and Recommendations

The hypervisor creates a virtual environment in the data centers

In a virtualized environment, hypervisor is the higher authority entity
that has the direct access to the hardware
most of the attackers will target the hypervisor as an entry point to
attack the system
In bare metal hypervisor: very difficult to perform the attack as it is
deployed directly on the hardware
In hosted hypervisors: more vulnerable to the attacks as hypervisors
are running on top of the host OSs.
There are two possibilities of attacking the hypervisor:
1 Through the host OS
2 Through the guest OS

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Through the host OS

Attacks from the host OS can be performed by exploiting the

vulnerabilities of the host OS
Once the OS gets compromised, the attackers have full control over
actual hardware
the applications running on top of the OS
The attacker can do the following malicious activities:
Denial of service attack, where the attacker can deny the virtual
resources when there is a request from the new VM
Stealing the confidential information that is stored in the VMs

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Through the host OS

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Through the guest OS

The guest OS is communicating with the hypervisor to get virtual

resources, any malicious code from the guest OS or VMs can
compromise the hypervisor
The attacker will try to attack or compromise the hypervisor from the
malicious VMs
Once the hypervisor gets compromised by the guest OS or malicious
VMs, it can misuse the hypervisor’s high privilege on the hardware
After the hypervisor gets compromised, the attacker can do the
following malicious activities:
Get unauthorized access to the other VMs that share the physical
hardware
Attacker can utilize the hardware resources fully to launch resource
exhaustion attacks, etc

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Through the guest OS

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Recommendations to avoid hypervisor attacks

Update the hypervisor software and the host OS regularly.

Disconnect the unused physical resources from the host system or
hypervisor.
Enable the least privilege to the hypervisor and guest OS to avoid
attacks through unauthorized access.
Deploy the monitoring tools in the hypervisor to detect/prevent
malicious activities.
Strong guest isolation.
Employ mandatory access control policies.

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Virtualization as a Concept of Cloud Computing

Virtualization is considered to be the backbone of cloud computing

because of the following features:
Partitioning: Virtualization technology divides the available resources
into multiple partitions and provides the allocation of resources and
applications in the virtual form among multiple users or organizations.
Isolation: Virtualization keeps all virtual versions isolated from each
other on single physical resources
crashing of one VM doesn’t affect another one
Scalability: The feature of scaling up and down the resources as per
the demands of the customers
essential characteristic of virtualization
enables the efficient growth of a business
Flexibility: Enables the availability of resources or applications to
multiple clients or organizations at the same time.

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 Virtualization Virtual machine (VM)

Virtualization in Cloud Computing

Security: Virtualization provides a high level of security and

protection for guest machines
uses firewalls and encryption to ensure the security of data and
applications
protects the host machine from any harm or damage caused by the
guest machines

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 Types of virtualization

Types of virtualization

Hardware virtualization
Software Virtualization
Server Virtualization
Storage Virtualization

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 Types of virtualization Hardware virtualization

Hardware virtualization
Creation of virtual physical hardware resources so that multiple users
can access the hardware resources at the same time
In hardware virtualization, the virtual machine software is directly
installed on the hardware system: bare-metal virtualization
A virtual machine is created over the existing operating system and
hardware: host virtualization
Once the hardware virtualization is done, it is appropriate to install
different operating systems and run various applications on them
Usage: Hardware virtualization is mainly done for the server
platforms, because controlling virtual machines is much easier than
controlling a physical server
Types of hardware virtualization
Full virtualization
Para-virtualization
Hardware assisted virtualization
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 Types of virtualization Hardware virtualization

Full virtualization

Type of hardware virtualization that fully enables the simulation of

the underlying hardware
In this type of hardware virtualization, the application runs on the top
of the guest operating system
Each guest server runs on its own operating system
Guest OS is not aware that it is being virtualized
It sends commands directly to the simulated hardware
Provides the features of isolation and security to virtual machines and
provides the virtual machines with all the services of a physical system
Very popular and cost-efficient hardware virtualization
Complex and lower due to emulation
Installation of the new device driver is difficult.

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 Types of virtualization Hardware virtualization

Full virtualization

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 Types of virtualization Hardware virtualization

OS assisted/Para-virtualization

A modified and recompiled version of the guest operating system is

made to run in the virtual machine
Need for modifying the guest operating system is to minimize the
execution time performing operations
Hardware uses an application known as Application Programming
Interface (API) that helps in modifying guest OSs.
Guest OS is aware of the fact that it is a guest
Improve performance and lower overhead

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 Types of virtualization Hardware virtualization

Para-virtualization

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 Types of virtualization Hardware virtualization

Hardware assisted virtualization

Virtualization that makes use of the computer’s hardware as
architectural support to build and manage a fully virtualized virtual
machine
The virtual machines are created using hardware instead of software
as it is more efficient to implement virtualization functions using
hardware capabilities.
Many Hypervisors are overhead because of trapping and Emulation of
I/O Operations, and status instructions get executed and processed
within the guest OS
In hardware-assisted type, the hypervisor sends the call to the
processor.
processor’s job is to create and maintain the virtual machines
which reduces the overhead on the system which enables the host
system to host a large number of VMs
increases the performance of VMs
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 Types of virtualization Hardware virtualization

Advantages of Hardware Virtualization

It is very efficient in utilizing the resources.

Uptime is significantly increased.
It is very cost-effective and economical.
Hardware and software redundancy.

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 Types of virtualization Software virtualization

Software virtualization

Creates a multi-virtual environment on the host machine using the

same set of hardware
same as virtualization
Purpose of software virtualization is to emulate the whole computer
system and allow the guest operating system to run on it
An effective way for businesses and organizations to manage and
implement applications
Administrators install the application on the centralized server instead
of locally on each desktop computer
Ensures the security of sensitive information in case of data is lost or
stolen as all the information gets stored on the server

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 Types of virtualization Software virtualization

Types of Software Virtualization

1 OS Virtualization:
Multiple operating systems can run on a single set of hardware
resources
Each of the operating system perform their task efficiently and do not
interfere with each other’s work
2 Application Virtualization:
Virtualization method where users can remotely access their
applications on the central server
It helps to run multiple applications at the same time by building a
virtual environment
3 Service Virtualization:
Emulates the behaviour of essential components which will be present
in the final production environment
With the help of service virtualization, the complex application can go
through testing much earlier in the development process
Technique to simulate the behaviors of components in the form of
combination component-based applications
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 Types of virtualization Software virtualization

Advantages of Software Virtualization

1 Testing:
Easier to test the new operating system and software on VMs as it
does not require any additional hardware and the testing can do within
the same software
2 Utilization:
VM can modify as per the requirement such as the user can modify
ram, drive space, etc
higher efficiency in resource utilization
It requires very less amount of hardware as compared to the equivalent
number of physical machines
3 Flexible:
It provides flexibility to the user so that the user can modify the
software as per their demand
The modification can do within minutes and can adjust easily when the
workload changes

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 Types of virtualization Software virtualization

Advantages of Software Virtualization

4 Secure:
It can protect from any attacks
several firewalls is used to prevent hacking and virus
The data in the software virtualization is safe as it stores in several
different places so if the disaster takes place the data can retrieve easily.
5 Less Downtime:
The software is upgrading and the upgrade in the VMs can do when
the VM is working
VM can modify when it is working or it is not working which means
that the downtime of it is very less.
6 Running multiple operating systems and software:
Enables the system to run more than one operating system by dividing
the hard drive into partitions
Also allows keeping different versions of software
different versions can be placed in one system, it is much easier to
migrate from one version of software to another

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 Types of virtualization Server Virtualization

Server Virtualization

Server virtualization means dividing the physical server into multiple

virtual servers
Server administrators use virtualization software to partition the single
physical server into multiple isolated virtual environments
Each of the virtual environments can run independently without
interfering with the working of each other
Enables organizations to cut down on the hardware resources used by
them which leads to cost efficiency

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 Types of virtualization Server Virtualization

Types of server virtualization

1 Full Virtualization: interfaces directly with a physical server
The hypervisor maintains track of the actual Server’s resources while
keeping each virtual Server separate and oblivious to the others
Also transmits resources from the real Server to the appropriate virtual
server as it executes programs
2 Para-Virtualization:
each operating system on the virtual servers is aware of one another
through para-virtualization, the hypervisor can manage the operating
systems with less computing power
3 OS-Level Virtualization: basic form of server virtualization is
OS-level virtualization
Using OS-level virtualization, there is no need for a hypervisor
The duty of managing resources and separating virtual machines is
instead handled by the physical server’s operating system
drawback: each virtual machine will have to run the same operating
system, because the OS is acting as a hypervisor
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 Types of virtualization Server Virtualization

Advantages of server virtualization

1 Cost efficient:
Organizations do not need to invest a lot of money in buying physical
servers and resources
All resources are available virtually
2 Improved efficiency:
Multiple virtual servers are used in place of one physical server
This makes the system more efficient as multiple tasks can be
completed at the same time.
3 Independent environment for users:
Enables each virtual server to run independently of the other
Every user is given an isolated environment to work on
No interference is made from other users
4 Reduced need for physical infrastructure
5 Reduced energy consumption

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 Types of virtualization Storage virtualization

Storage virtualization

The single storage system is partitioned into multiple logical storage

forms and assigned to each customer
The logical storage works like real physical storage space and appears
to the server or the host as physical storage devices
The data stored by users on this virtual storage devices get stored on
the cloud only and ensure the safety and protection of data
Users do not have any idea about where all their data gets stored on
the server but they can access it using the logical path

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 Containerization

Containerization
Containerization is the packaging of software code with just the
operating system (OS) libraries and dependencies required to run the
code to create a single lightweight executable—called a
container—that runs consistently on any infrastructure
With traditional methods, code is developed in a specific computing
environment which, when transferred to a new location, often results
in bugs and errors
For example, when a developer transfers code from a desktop computer
to a VM or from a Linux to a Windows operating system
Containerization eliminates: by bundling the application code
together with the related configuration files, libraries, and
dependencies required for it to run
Containers share the machine’s operating system kernel and do not
require the overhead of associating an operating system within each
application
referred as lightweight
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 Containerization

Benefits of containerization

Lighter weight: Containers don’t carry the payload of an entire OS

instance and hypervisor. They include only dependencies necessary to
execute the code
Portability: A container creates an executable package of software
that is abstracted away from the host operating system
Speed: share the machine’s operating system (OS) kernel and speed
up start-times as there is no operating system to boot
Fault isolation: Each containerized application is isolated and
operates independently of others

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 Containerization

Docker engine

an open source platform that enables developers to build, deploy, run,

update and manage containers

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