aid: virtualization name: Virtualization kind: topic description: >- An index and topic collection covering virtualization across two intertwined domains: machine virtualization (hypervisors, virtual machines, VDI, and cloud VM platforms) and API/service virtualization (mock servers, service mocks, and contract-based stubs). Machine virtualization abstracts physical hardware so multiple isolated operating systems can run on shared infrastructure, while API virtualization simulates the behavior of real APIs and services so teams can develop, test, and demo against realistic endpoints without depending on live production systems. This collection brings together hypervisors and VM platforms like VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, Xen, Proxmox, Nutanix, and KubeVirt; cloud VM offerings from AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode, Hetzner, Scaleway, and OVHcloud; and API/service virtualization tools like WireMock, Microcks, Hoverfly, MockServer, Mockoon, Prism, Beeceptor, Pact, Specmatic, ReadyAPI, and Speedscale. type: Index image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg tags: - Virtualization - vm - Hypervisor - API Virtualization - Service Virtualization - Mock Servers - VDI tags_raw: - Virtualization - VM - Hypervisor - API Virtualization - Service Virtualization - Mock Server - VDI url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/virtualization/refs/heads/main/apis.yml created: '2026-05-19' modified: '2026-05-19' specificationVersion: '0.19' apis: [] network: - name: Amazon EC2 url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/amazon-ec2/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/amazon-ec2-auto-scaling/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Amazon EC2 Image Builder url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/amazon-ec2-image-builder/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Amazon Lightsail url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/amazon-lightsail/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Azure Virtual Machines url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/microsoft-azure-virtual-machines/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Beeceptor url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/beeceptor/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Broadcom url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/broadcom/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Citrix url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/citrix/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Digital Ocean url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/digital-ocean/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Firecracker url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/firecracker/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Google Cloud Compute Engine url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/google-cloud-compute-engine/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Google Cloud VMware Engine url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/google-cloud-vmware-engine/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Hetzner url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/hetzner/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Hoverfly url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/hoverfly/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: KubeVirt url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/kubevirt/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Lima url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/lima/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Linode url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/linode/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Microcks url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/microcks/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Mock Service Worker url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/mock-service-worker/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: mockAPI url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/mockapi/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Mockoon url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/mockoon/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: MockServer url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/mockserver/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Nutanix url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/nutanix/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: OpenStack url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/openstack/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: OVH Cloud url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/ovh-cloud/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Pact url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pact/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Postman url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/postman/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Prism url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/prism/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Proxmox VE url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/proxmox/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: ReadyAPI url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/readyapi/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Scaleway url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/scaleway/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: SmartBear url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/smartbear/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Specmatic url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/specmatic/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Speedscale url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/speedscale/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Stoplight url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/stoplight/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: Vagrant url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/vagrant/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: VMware url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/vmware/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: VMware Tanzu url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/vmware-tanzu/refs/heads/main/apis.yml - name: WireMock url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/wiremock/refs/heads/main/apis.yml common: - type: Portal url: https://apievangelist.com - type: GitHubOrganization url: https://github.com/api-evangelist - type: Features data: - name: Hypervisors and Virtual Machine Platforms description: Type-1 and type-2 hypervisors (VMware vSphere/ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, Xen, Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, Citrix Hypervisor) abstract physical hardware so multiple isolated guest operating systems can share compute, memory, and storage. - name: Cloud Virtual Machines description: Cloud providers expose VM-as-a-service offerings (Amazon EC2, Azure Virtual Machines, Google Compute Engine, DigitalOcean Droplets, Linode, Hetzner, Scaleway, OVHcloud) that programmatically provision, scale, and manage VMs across regions and instance types. - name: VM Images and Templates description: Image and template tooling (EC2 Image Builder, Vagrant boxes, OVAs, AMIs, Proxmox templates) capture reproducible OS and application baselines that can be launched as new VMs on demand. - name: Lightweight and Container-Native Virtualization description: Modern microVM and container-native virtualization platforms (Firecracker, KubeVirt, Lima) deliver VM isolation with container-like density and startup times for serverless, multi-tenant, and developer workloads. - name: API and Service Virtualization description: API virtualization tools (WireMock, Microcks, Hoverfly, MockServer, Mockoon, Prism, Beeceptor) simulate the behavior of real HTTP, REST, gRPC, and message-based services so teams can develop, test, and demo against realistic endpoints without live dependencies. - name: Contract Testing and Mocking from OpenAPI description: Contract-based virtualization (Pact stubs, Specmatic, Prism, Microcks, Postman Mock Server) generates mocks directly from OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, GraphQL, and Pact contracts to validate consumer/provider behavior throughout the SDLC. - name: Performance and Traffic Replay description: Tools like Speedscale and Hoverfly capture and replay real production traffic against virtualized services for load testing, regression testing, and resilience engineering. - type: UseCases data: - name: Infrastructure Consolidation and Server Virtualization description: Enterprises consolidate physical servers onto VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, or Proxmox clusters to improve hardware utilization, simplify operations, and enable live migration of workloads. - name: Self-Service Cloud VM Provisioning description: Platform teams expose Amazon EC2, Azure VMs, or Google Compute Engine through internal portals and APIs so developers can spin up VMs on demand without raising tickets. - name: Local Development Environments with Vagrant and Lima description: Developers use Vagrant, Lima, and similar tools to reproducibly build local VM-based environments that match production OS, runtime, and dependency baselines. - name: Parallel Front-End and Back-End Development description: Front-end and back-end teams use WireMock, Mockoon, or Postman Mock Server to virtualize APIs from OpenAPI contracts so UI work can proceed before the real backend is implemented. - name: Integration Testing Against Third-Party APIs description: QA teams virtualize third-party APIs (payments, identity, shipping) with Microcks, MockServer, or Hoverfly to run integration tests deterministically without hitting rate limits or burning real money. - name: Demos and Sales Engineering Environments description: Sales engineers and partners use API mocks and lightweight VMs to spin up disposable demo environments that look and behave like production without exposing real customer data. - name: Disaster Recovery and VM Migration description: Operators use VMware, Nutanix, and OpenStack tooling to snapshot, replicate, and migrate VMs across sites for DR drills, datacenter exits, and cloud migrations. - type: Integrations data: - name: VMware description: Enterprise virtualization platform spanning vSphere, ESXi, NSX, and vCenter for managing VMs, networking, and storage across private and hybrid clouds. - name: Amazon EC2 description: AWS elastic compute service providing on-demand virtual machines across hundreds of instance types, AMIs, and regions through a programmable API. - name: Azure Virtual Machines description: Microsoft Azure's IaaS VM offering with Linux and Windows images, scale sets, spot instances, and tight integration with Azure networking and identity. - name: Google Cloud Compute Engine description: Google Cloud's VM service offering custom machine types, live migration, sole-tenant nodes, and confidential VMs. - name: Proxmox VE description: Open-source virtualization platform combining KVM hypervisor and LXC containers with a unified web UI and REST API for self-hosted clouds. - name: Nutanix description: Hyperconverged infrastructure platform with the AHV hypervisor that unifies compute, storage, and networking for private and hybrid clouds. - name: WireMock description: Open-source API mocking and service virtualization tool for HTTP services, widely used in CI pipelines and contract testing. - name: Microcks description: CNCF Sandbox API mocking and contract testing platform that turns OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, gRPC, and Postman collections into deployable mocks. - name: Hoverfly description: API simulation and service virtualization tool that captures and replays HTTP/HTTPS traffic for testing and development. - name: MockServer description: Flexible mock server for HTTP and HTTPS that can match requests, return canned responses, and verify expectations across multiple languages. - name: Mockoon description: Desktop and CLI tool for designing and running local API mocks from OpenAPI specs without writing code. - name: Prism description: Stoplight's open-source HTTP mock server and contract validator that runs OpenAPI 3 specs as live mock APIs. maintainers: - FN: Kin Lane email: kin@apievangelist.com humanURL: https://apievangelist.com