A full-color beginner's guide to the core concepts and skills of virtualization Virtualization is the IT world's hottest trend in recent years, and many colleges do not yet have curricula in place to prepare students for this important area. This guide fills the need, with a learn-by-doing approach to mastering the core elements of virtualization. Each chapter clearly outlines what is covered, thoroughly discusses the concepts, and engages readers with hands-on tutorials. The book covers how virtualization software operates; hypervisor products; how to manage CPU, memory, storage, and networking; and much more. * Fills the gap left by the many colleges and universities that are unprepared to educate IT students on virtualization, a megatrend in the IT world * Covers the fundamental concepts and skills, including how virtualization software operates within a computing environment * Explains the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors and tells how to create a virtual machine from scratch or by migrating from physical to virtual * Tells how to manage the basics and how to configure supporting devices for a virtual machine Virtualization Essentials gets IT students and practitioners up to speed on one of the most important aspects of today's IT environment.