In a heterogenous environment wherein your application need to be working across multiple platforms using a physical server always tends to be time consuming and costly.Here is where virtualization comes in handy,providing a simple yet efficient solution by which one can pack many virtual machines onto a few powerful hosts and balance the loads between them.
Oracle VM VirtualBox and VMWare dominates the virtualization software market.
Find below a ready-reckoner on VirtualBox setup and usage.
The official VirtualBox website
Quick guide on VirtualBox usage with pictures
Official VirtualBox usermanual