The main difference between VirtualBox and VMware is that VirtualBox is a free and open source hypervisor developed by Oracle Corporation, while VMWare is a company that provides cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services.
Generally, virtualization is the process of creating a virtual version of a device, network, server or a storage device. Virtualization allows users to create virtual machines. Moreover, a hypervisor is a software that is capable of creating and managing virtual machines. VirtualBox is a free and open source hypervisor, while VMware is an organization that provides virtualization facilities to users.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is VirtualBox
-Definition, Functionality
2. What is VMware
-Definition, Functionality
3. Difference Between VirtualBox and VMware
-Comparison of key differences
Key Terms
Hypervisor, Virtualization, VirtualBox, VMWare, Virtual Machine
What is VirtualBox
A virtual machine is an emulation of a computer system which provides functionalities similar to a physical computer. A hypervisor or a virtual machine monitor helps to create and run virtual machines. Thus, VirtualBox is a free and open source hypervisor developed by Oracle Corporation. It allows creating and managing virtual machines on operating systems such as Windows MacOS, Linux and Solaris. Furthermore, it provides a “guest additions” package of device drivers and system applications for some guest operating systems to improve the performance.
VirtualBox allows the user to load multiple guests operating systems on a single host operating system. It is possible to start, pause and stop each guest independently within its own virtual machine. Moreover, the user can configure every VM separately and run it as software-based virtualization or hardware-based virtualization. Guest operating systems can communicate with each other by configurations. Furthermore, the host and guest OS can communicate using a virtual network facility.
What is VMware
VMware is an organization that provides cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services. There are two levels of VMware products, which are desktop and server applications.
First, let’s look at some common desktop types. VMware Workstation helps to install and run multiple copies of the same or different operating systems on one computer. Moreover, VMware Fusion is designed for Mac devices. Also, VMware player is suitable for personal use.
Moreover, VMware software hypervisors are suitable for servers. VMware ESX Server provides additional solutions to improve manageability and consistency of the server implementation. Additionally, VMware ESXi server is similar to ESX server, which requires minimum disk space. Furthermore, it is possible to use VMware with an existing operating system like Windows or Linux.
Difference Between VirtualBox and VMware
Definition
VirtualBox is a free and open source hosted hypervisor developed by Oracle Corporation, while VMware is a company that provides different software and applications for virtualization.
Usage
Furthermore, VirtualBox allows loading multiple guests operating systems on a single host operating system so that each guest can operate its own virtual machine. On the other hand, VMware provides platform virtualization and cloud computing services
Conclusion
In brief, VirtualBox and VMware are related to virtualization. The main difference between VirtualBox and VMware is that VirtualBox is a free and open source hypervisor developed by Oracle Corporation while VMware is a company that provides cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services.
References:
1.“VirtualBox.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 May 2019, Available here.
2.“VMware.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 June 2019, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1.”2 virtual box, with ubuntu and kubuntu on windows Seven” By Morphdown – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2.”The logo and computer icon of VMWare Workstation version 8.0″ By VMware, Inc. – This file is retrieved from VMware Workstatio 8.0.4 build 744019. This version is released 9 June 2012. A trial version of it (which allows verifying the origins of this icon) may be freely downloaded from VMware Coupon website (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
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