Title: (Optional) Identify advantages and disadvantages of using virtual machines.
Course: Cybersecurity Fundamentals (10302-I) > Section: Securing Operating Systems

Identification of advantages should include, but not be limited to

- reduced cost in
  - capital expenditure
  - energy expenditure
  - operational expenditure

- consolidation of resources
  - physical server consolidation
  - management of server consolidation
  - many applications on each server
  - multiple operating systems can exist, isolated from each other, on the same virtual server

- isolation
  - if one virtual server has a software failure, others are not affected
  - upgrades and changes can be made only where required.

Identification of disadvantages should include, but not be limited to

- efficiency
  - virtual machines are not as efficient in accessing hardware as a real machine
  - multiple virtual machines running on a host computer may introduce unstable performance to the host on each virtual machine and thus affect the other virtual machine’s application

- cost
  - software for virtual machines may cost more due to the expense of virtualization software
  - additional software management tools may be required

- compatibility (e.g., not all servers and applications are virtualization-friendly)
- complex root-cause analysis.