Hardware Independence

The installation of an operating system’s configuration and application software in a unique IT hardware platform results in many software-hardware dependencies. In a non-virtualized environment, the operating system is configured for specific hardware models and requires reconfiguration if these IT resources need to be modified.

Virtualization is a conversion process that translates unique IT hardware into emulated and standardized software-based copies. Through hardware independence, virtual servers can easily be moved to another virtualization host, automatically resolving multiple hardware-software incompatibility issues. As a result, cloning and manipulating virtual IT resources is much easier than duplicating physical hardware. The architectral models explored in Part III of this book provide numerous examples of this.