In recent years, Virtual Server Hosting or VPS Hosting has become a trusted hosting type, with many businesses choosing VPS Hosting for their websites. With VPS Hosting, you get the benefits of hosting on a dedicated server with the cost efficiency of a shared hosting plan. It relies on the process of virtualization, which creates a virtual version of the software or hardware to separate the service from its physical delivery. It helps you run multiple applications or varied OS on the same hardware. In this article, we will talk about Hardware virtualization and OS virtualization in VPS Hosting and the difference between the two.

What is Hardware Virtualization?

Hardware virtualization is also called server virtualization. In a normal computing environment, an application or an operating system is given direct access to the hardware. In hardware virtualization, you install a virtual machine manager or hypervisor in the computing environment. This creates a layer between the hardware and the software. Once this is done, the software relies on virtual computing components rather than the physical ones. Therefore, if you have a physical system with four CPUs, you can create 12 virtual servers with one CPU each and install twelve different operating systems on them.

Benefits of Hardware Virtualization 

Here are some benefits offered by hardware virtualization:

1. Cost-efficient: Hardware virtualization consolidates the server resources, which reduces the overall cost. It allows you to install multiple OS on the same physical hardware. This reduces the rack space requirement and power utilization too.
2. Optimum utilization of Resources: It enables optimum resource utilization by sharing them between the host OS and the virtual machine OS. Further, if there are any unused resources, then they can be used by any virtual server. 

What is OS Virtualization?

An operating system virtualization is a virtualization technology that works on the OS layer where the OS-kernel allows multiple user-space instances in an isolated manner. These instances are called virtualization engines or software containers. Therefore, in OS Virtualization, a single operating system runs that offers its functionality on all isolated partitions. It is used by VPS Hosting providers to generate a virtual hosting environment, to improve security and secured distribution of finite hardware resources.

Benefits of OS Virtualization 

Here are some benefits offered by OS virtualization:

1. Space and cost-efficient: Since the virtualization technology is based on the host OS, you don’t need separate hardware to run applications. This leads to OS virtualization being space and cost-efficient. Further, maintenance costs are also reduced since you don’t need to manage multiple machines. Power consumption is reduced as well.
2. Enhances Efficiency: OS virtualization enhances the overall efficiency of your system by allowing you to utilize the physical resources optimally.

Summing Up

Both hardware and OS virtualization help in increasing the efficiency and performance of the system. This helps you enhance the user-experience and focus your time and resources on your business. We hope that this article helped you understand the difference between the two types of virtualization. If you have any further questions, please feel free to mention them in the comments below.