Virtual Machine

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Definition

A fake computer that runs inside a real computer. It's like having multiple phones running on one device.

Real-World Example

You can run Windows and Mac operating systems at the same time on one computer using virtual machines.

Cloud Provider Equivalencies

All four services provide Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) virtual machines: you choose an OS image, CPU/RAM, disk, and networking, then manage the guest OS and installed software. They differ mainly in instance families, pricing models, and ecosystem integrations.

AWS
Amazon EC2
AZ
Azure Virtual Machines
GCP
Compute Engine
OCI
OCI Compute

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