| 1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
|---|
| 2 | <!DOCTYPE topic
|
|---|
| 3 | PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
|
|---|
| 4 | <topic xml:lang="en-us" id="virtintro">
|
|---|
| 5 | <title>Some Terminology</title>
|
|---|
| 6 |
|
|---|
| 7 | <body>
|
|---|
| 8 | <p>
|
|---|
| 9 | When dealing with virtualization, and also for understanding the
|
|---|
| 10 | following chapters of this documentation, it helps to acquaint
|
|---|
| 11 | oneself with a bit of crucial terminology, especially the
|
|---|
| 12 | following terms:
|
|---|
| 13 | </p>
|
|---|
| 14 | <ul>
|
|---|
| 15 | <li>
|
|---|
| 16 | <p>
|
|---|
| 17 | <b outputclass="bold">Host operating system (host
|
|---|
| 18 | OS).</b> This is the OS of the physical computer on
|
|---|
| 19 | which Oracle VM VirtualBox was installed. There are versions of
|
|---|
| 20 | Oracle VM VirtualBox for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Oracle Solaris
|
|---|
| 21 | hosts. See <xref href="hostossupport.dita#hostossupport"/>.
|
|---|
| 22 | </p>
|
|---|
| 23 | <p>
|
|---|
| 24 | Most of the time, this manual discusses all Oracle VM VirtualBox
|
|---|
| 25 | versions together. There may be platform-specific differences
|
|---|
| 26 | which we will point out where appropriate.
|
|---|
| 27 | </p>
|
|---|
| 28 | </li>
|
|---|
| 29 | <li>
|
|---|
| 30 | <p>
|
|---|
| 31 | <b outputclass="bold">Guest operating system (guest
|
|---|
| 32 | OS).</b> This is the OS that is running inside the
|
|---|
| 33 | virtual machine. Theoretically, Oracle VM VirtualBox can run any x86
|
|---|
| 34 | OS such as DOS, Windows, OS/2, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD. But to
|
|---|
| 35 | achieve near-native performance of the guest code on your
|
|---|
| 36 | machine, we had to go through a lot of optimizations that are
|
|---|
| 37 | specific to certain OSes. So while your favorite OS
|
|---|
| 38 | <i>may</i> run as a guest, we officially support
|
|---|
| 39 | and optimize for a select few, which include the most common
|
|---|
| 40 | OSes.
|
|---|
| 41 | </p>
|
|---|
| 42 | <p>
|
|---|
| 43 | See <xref href="guestossupport.dita#guestossupport"/>.
|
|---|
| 44 | </p>
|
|---|
| 45 | </li>
|
|---|
| 46 | <li>
|
|---|
| 47 | <p>
|
|---|
| 48 | <b outputclass="bold">Virtual machine (VM).</b> This is
|
|---|
| 49 | the special environment that Oracle VM VirtualBox creates for your
|
|---|
| 50 | guest OS while it is running. In other words, you run your
|
|---|
| 51 | guest OS <i>in</i> a VM. Normally, a VM is shown
|
|---|
| 52 | as a window on your computer's desktop. Depending on which of
|
|---|
| 53 | the various frontends of Oracle VM VirtualBox you use, the VM might
|
|---|
| 54 | be shown in full screen mode or remotely on another computer.
|
|---|
| 55 | </p>
|
|---|
| 56 | <p>
|
|---|
| 57 | Internally, Oracle VM VirtualBox treats a VM as a set of parameters
|
|---|
| 58 | that specify its behavior. Some parameters describe hardware
|
|---|
| 59 | settings, such as the amount of memory and number of CPUs
|
|---|
| 60 | assigned. Other parameters describe the state information,
|
|---|
| 61 | such as whether the VM is running or saved.
|
|---|
| 62 | </p>
|
|---|
| 63 | <p>
|
|---|
| 64 | You can view these VM settings in VirtualBox Manager, in the
|
|---|
| 65 | <b outputclass="bold">Settings</b> window, and by
|
|---|
| 66 | running the <userinput>VBoxManage</userinput> command. See
|
|---|
| 67 | <xref href="vboxmanage.dita#vboxmanage"/>.
|
|---|
| 68 | </p>
|
|---|
| 69 | </li>
|
|---|
| 70 | <li>
|
|---|
| 71 | <p>
|
|---|
| 72 | <b outputclass="bold">Guest Additions.</b> This refers
|
|---|
| 73 | to special software packages which are shipped with
|
|---|
| 74 | Oracle VM VirtualBox but designed to be installed
|
|---|
| 75 | <i>inside</i> a VM to improve performance of the
|
|---|
| 76 | guest OS and to add extra features. See
|
|---|
| 77 | <xref href="guestadditions.dita#guestadditions"/>.
|
|---|
| 78 | </p>
|
|---|
| 79 | </li>
|
|---|
| 80 | </ul>
|
|---|
| 81 | </body>
|
|---|
| 82 |
|
|---|
| 83 | </topic>
|
|---|
