Hypervisor

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Hypervisor

A hypervisor is a software layer that sits on top of the physical hardware and manages multiple virtual machines (VMs), each of which runs its own guest operating system and applications. It allows each VM to have its own dedicated resources and operate independently of the other VMs and the underlying physical hardware.

What does Hypervisor mean?

A Hypervisor, also known as a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), is a Software layer that virtualizes hardware resources to run multiple guest operating systems (OSS) on a single physical host machine. It acts as an intermediary between the physical hardware and multiple virtual machines (VMs), providing them with isolated and independent operating environments.

Hypervisors create virtual environments that simulate the underlying hardware, allowing each VM to operate as if it were running on its own dedicated hardware. This allows multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a single physical Server, sharing the same hardware resources such as CPU, memory, and storage.

The hypervisor manages the allocation and usage of these resources, ensuring that each VM receives the resources it needs to operate efficiently and securely.

Applications

Hypervisors have revolutionized the way IT infrastructure is managed and utilized. They offer numerous advantages and applications in technology today:

  • Server consolidation: Hypervisors enable multiple servers to be consolidated onto a single physical host, reducing hardware costs, power consumption, and space requirements.
  • Resource optimization: By dynamically allocating resources to VMs, hypervisors optimize resource utilization and prevent resource wastage.
  • Disaster recovery: In the event of a hardware failure, VMs can be easily migrated to another physical host, ensuring business continuity and minimizing downtime.
  • Security: Hypervisors provide isolation between VMs, ensuring that the security of one VM is not compromised by the vulnerabilities of another.
  • Cloud computing: Hypervisors are central to cloud computing platforms, enabling the creation and management of virtualized infrastructure As a service (IaaS) offerings.

History

The concept of virtualization has been around since the 1960s with IBM‘s CP-40 and CP-67 operating systems. However, the first dedicated hypervisor was developed by IBM in 1972 and was called Virtual Machine (VM).

In the 1990s, virtualization gained traction with products like VMware ESX and Microsoft Virtual Server. These early hypervisors were type 1 or bare-metal hypervisors, which ran directly on the hardware without requiring an underlying OS.

Type 2 or hosted hypervisors emerged later, running as software applications within a host OS. They are less efficient than type 1 hypervisors but are easier to deploy and manage.

Today, virtualization and hypervisors are widely adopted in data centers, cloud computing, and enterprise environments. They have become essential tools for optimizing IT resources, enhancing security, and enabling the delivery of cloud-based services.