A virtual machine (VM) assigned exclusive access to a physical storage device’s spindle provides significant performance advantages. This arrangement eliminates contention for I/O resources, a common bottleneck in shared storage environments. Imagine a single hard drive dedicated solely to a particular VM’s data; this is analogous to the concept. The result is faster read and write speeds, reduced latency, and improved overall application performance, especially beneficial for demanding applications like databases or high-throughput processing.
This architecture offers substantial benefits in scenarios requiring high performance and consistent I/O operations. The guaranteed access to the physical storage eliminates unpredictable delays caused by resource sharing, leading to increased reliability and predictable application behavior. Historically, such dedicated access was only achievable with expensive, physically isolated storage solutions. Virtualization technology now allows for the creation of these highly performant, isolated environments at a significantly lower cost and with greater flexibility.
The following sections will delve into specific use cases, performance comparisons, and configurations for implementing this type of virtualized storage solution. Further discussion will explore the trade-offs between performance gains and resource utilization, and considerations for scalability and maintenance.
