Virtual Machine

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A Virtual Machine is a software-defined computing subject that operates through virtualized processor, memory, storage, network, and other computing resources supplied by a virtualization platform.

A Virtual Machine may include:

• Virtual processors
• Virtual memory
• Virtual storage devices
• Virtual network interfaces
• Firmware or boot configuration
• An operating system
• Installed software
• Runtime configuration
• Attached persistent storage
• Security and identity configuration

A virtualization platform creates a Virtual Machine from an applicable configuration and may use a Machine Image to initialize its software and filesystem content.

A Virtual Machine differs from a Machine Image:

• A Machine Image is an Image used to instantiate a Virtual Machine
• A Virtual Machine is the instantiated computing subject

Multiple Virtual Machines may be instantiated from the same Machine Image while maintaining separate runtime state.

A Virtual Machine differs from a physical machine:

• A Virtual Machine uses virtualized computing resources
• A physical machine uses directly associated physical computing resources

A Virtual Machine differs from a container:

• A Virtual Machine generally includes or executes its own guest operating system
• A container generally shares operating-system kernel capabilities supplied by its host environment

The exact boundary depends on the virtualization and container technologies used.

software-defined computing subject that operates through virtualized computing resources supplied by a virtualization platform

Dido Solutions, Inc. and Jackrabbit Consulting, Inc.

A Virtual Machine may be:

• Created
• Started
• Stopped
• Suspended
• Resumed
• Reconfigured
• Replaced
• Migrated
• Snapshotted
• Retired

A Virtual Machine does not by itself establish that the subject is:

• Authorized for operation
• Compliant with an applicable Baseline
• Securely configured
• Free from vulnerabilities
• Connected to a network
• Persistent
• Suitable for a specified purpose

Separate requirements govern those determinations.

The term does not prescribe a particular hypervisor, virtualization platform, processor architecture, operating system, cloud provider, or Provider Implementation.

Crucible deploys a Virtual Machine by selecting a Machine Image, allocating virtual processors, memory, storage, and network interfaces, and instructing the target virtualization platform to instantiate the computing subject.