Virtualization is a means of veiling computer resources. It can be a means of hiding technical details of underlying software running under an external interface. It could mean having a single resource function like there were multiple resources. But it could also allow multiple resources to run like a single resource. Computer environments can be simulated. This is what’s known as platform virtualization. On the other hand, there’s also something that’s known as resource virtualization which means the simulation of fragmented and combined resources.
Virtualization can also be done on the storage device level. This means that the virtualization is actually operating on the file level. This is what’s called the file virtualization or the storage virtualization. Typically what happens is that multiple storage devices are pooled together into a single logical storage. In other words, it would be like unifying multiple storage devices into a unified pool of files.
As with any type of virtualization, file virtualization is typically done so as to hide the underlying storage environment. One important reason for doing file virtualization is for easy and simplification of file management. With a unified file storage, it would be easier and more convenient to manage. With less storage to manage less personnel would be needed to do it. Less time would also be needed. This would translate to less management cost. File virtualization is also done to maximize on capacity usage and allocation. Such activity is very important in file area network and just as much in network file management.