Virtualization and the Funding Problems in Developing Countries: A Case Study of a Network Simulation of a Hospital Environment Constructed Virtually

Abstract

A virtual machine utilizes software instead of a computer to install and run programs. Virtualization software establishes an abstract layer on top of the machine hardware, which allows the hardware components of this single machine to be divided into many virtual computers. In this article, a network simulation of a hospital environment is built virtually. With some modifications, it can be adapted elsewhere. Here, the objective is to obtain the best features at the lowest cost. The constructed virtual network will be used by the hospital staff, the IT department, the patients, and the visitors. A hospital network is simulated by hosting two Windows servers on a VMware workstation application, with two Windows 10 clients as virtual machine applications. A VMware virtual switch is used to create a network between them. This virtual network system provides a variety of important and essential network functions needed by any hospital or an emerging organization at low cost, such as data sharing, user access restrictions, system policies resources, a security system, a network monitoring system, a mail server, a backup solution, and a centralized management.