A hypervisor is a virtual machine monitor that allows multiple operating systems to run on the same host computer simultaneously.
In non-technical words, a hypervisor is an operating system which allows you to use another operating system. It is similar to the concept of having an operating system which runs another operating system.
For example, you have Windows 10 and you want to run Linux Mint on top of it. This blog post will explain what a hypervisor is, how it works and why you should use one.
The word “hypervisor” has been thrown around a lot in tech circles lately. But what is a hypervisor? How do they work? And why do you care? I’ll answer all of these questions in this blog post.
What Is A Hypervisor?
A hypervisor is a software program that allows you to run one or more “virtual machines” on a physical computer. Virtual machines are an abstraction of physical hardware turning one server into many servers. The hypervisor allows each virtual machine to share the resources of a single physical server across multiple environments.
Hypervisors allow many operating systems (OSes) to run on a single physical computer at the same time. It abstracts the underlying hardware, making it appear as if there are multiple computers running when in reality there is only one (see image below). Each virtual machine is capable of running its own operating system, and each thinks it has the processor, memory, and other resources all to itself.
The diagram below shows how hypervisors create virtual machines:
A hypervisor is a piece of software that allows multiple operating systems to connect with “virtual” hardware.
I’ll explain how it works, what you can use it for, and why it has become so important in the last few years.
Why You Need A Hypervisor
The problem with computers is that they are very complex machines. There are millions of parts, and there are hundreds of different types of part. RAM memory chips, disk drives, network cards, cooling fans – all these things have to work together and fit into the same box.
It would be impossible for a manufacturer to make a computer that could do everything for everyone. That is why we have different versions of computers to suit different needs – desktop PCs, laptops, servers, smartphones…
You can’t just put any kind of hardware into any kind of computer and expect it work. For example you can’t put a PC motherboard in your smartphone case and expect it to work as a phone because:
A hypervisor, also called a virtual machine monitor (VMM), is software that creates and runs virtual machines. It allows you to have a single physical computer (the host) to run multiple operating systems and applications (the guests) in isolated environments. The software that controls the host system is called a “Type 1” or bare metal hypervisor.
For example, you can use a Type 1 hypervisor to set up an environment where one guest runs Windows 10 while another runs Linux. Each environment is isolated from the other, with each running its own operating system and applications. The isolation means that if one guest crashes or is attacked, then the other guests will be unaffected. This makes it easier to run different applications or operating systems side-by-side on the same computer without worrying about security or stability issues.
A Type 2 hypervisor runs inside of an operating system, such as Windows or macOS. It provides similar functionality but with less performance overhead since it relies on the existing OS for hardware access and management.
A hypervisor is a virtualization technology that allows a physical computing device to be divided into multiple logical computing devices. This process is also known as “virtual machine monitoring.”
A hypervisor allows one host computer to support multiple guest operating systems. These may be different operating systems, but can also be the same operating system, e.g., multiple Linux distributions. Multiple virtual machines running on a single physical machine greatly increases the efficiency of hardware usage and reduces costs by eliminating the need for physical hardware duplication.
Virtual machines can be used to run applications or servers in isolated environments. The isolation and security benefits of virtualization allow you to run potentially untrusted software or explore new operating systems without fear of compromising your main system.
A hypervisor is a technology that allows you to run a virtual machine (also known as a guest machine) on top of another computer (also known as the host). The virtual machine uses the computer’s hardware resources, such as CPU and memory, just like any other application would.
The hypervisor can allow multiple virtual machines on the same host, or limit each virtual machine to only use a portion of the host’s available resources. The hypervisor also provides isolation so that if one of the virtual machines misbehaves, it does not affect the other running virtual machines.
There are two types of hypervisors: Type 1 and Type 2.
We have a server located in a secure data centre that only our IT support team can physically access.
In this secure environment we have a hypervisor.
The hypervisor sits between the hardware and the operating system (OS) and allows for multiple operating systems to be installed on the server, as long as they are of the same type.
This means we can install multiple Windows Server operating systems on the same server or multiple Linux Servers, but not one of each.