Running Xen.pdf - Mailing List

Full Virtualization
Full virtualization (also called native virtualization) is similar to emulation. As in emulation, unmodified
operating systems and applications run inside a virtual machine. Full virtualization differs from emulation in that
operating systems and applications are designed to run on the same architecture as the underlying physical
machine. This allows a full virtualization system to run many instructions directly on the raw hardware. The
hypervisor in this case polices access to the underlying hardware and gives each guest operating system the
illusion of having its own copy. It no longer must use software to simulate a different basic architecture. Figure
1.3 illustrates full virtualization.
Figure 1.3. The full virtualization hypervisor presents the actual physical hardware "P" to each guest
so that operating systems intended for the underlying architecture may run unmodified and unaware
that they are being run virtualized.