Mainstream Virtual Machine technology is one of the most exciting technological advancements in computing in recent years. We deploy solutions that make use of VMware ESXi "bare iron" (i.e., no Operating System required on host machine) and embedded Virtual Machine technology.
There are two common approaches to virtualization: "hosted" and "bare-metal". Hosted virtualization software runs as an application or "guest" on top of a general-purpose operating system. Bare-metal virtualization, like VMware ESX / ESXi, interfaces directly with computer hardware, without the need for a host operating system.
There are various compelling reasons to use Bare-Metal Virtualization with VMware ESXi; one of those being security. The picture above quickly demonstrates how the hosted/host-based virtualization solution differs from the bare-metal approach, and how the bare-metal hypervisor offers some protection against common security issues.
One rather significant potential savings that can be realized with bare-iron virtualization is a simple one: the cost of an Operating System license for the host machine (as compared to using a "hosted" VM solution where you need that host-system's operating system license).
Bare-Iron Virtualization
