Which of the following statements best defines a live migration in virtualization?

A live migration in virtualization refers specifically to the process of moving a virtual machine (VM) from one physical host to another without causing any downtime or interruption in service. This capability is critical for maintaining availability and performance in cloud computing environments, as it allows administrators to balance workloads, perform hardware maintenance, or reallocate resources dynamically, all while end-users continue to operate the applications hosted on those VMs seamlessly.

The ability to perform live migrations is a key feature in modern virtualization technologies, enhancing flexibility and operational efficiency in managing cloud environments. By ensuring that a VM stays operational during the migration, organizations can improve their overall system reliability and responsiveness to changing workloads. This distinguishes live migration from other actions related to virtual machine management, such as shutting down the VM or creating duplicates or snapshots, which inherently involve periods of unavailability or additional resource consumption.