Server virtualization is one of the most trending topics in the tech genre. The sole credit of virtualization goes to hypervisors. It allows the OS to run separate applications and use physical resources on the same server. Virtual machines or VMs allow system and network administrators to have a dedicated machine for running each service. It not only reduces the number of physical servers but also saves time while spotting issues. In this blog, we will discuss what hypervisors are, their types, their working, and more.

What is a hypervisor?

A hypervisor or virtual machine monitor or simply VMM is software that allows the creation and running of virtual machines. It is something similar to an emulator. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more machines is called a host machine. Moreover, every virtual machine is called a guest machine. A hypervisor allows a host computer to support numerous guest VMs by sharing resources like memory and processor virtually.

What are the types of hypervisors?

There are two main types of hypervisors named “Type 1” and “Type 2”. The Type 1 hypervisors act as a lightweight OS and run directly on the host’s hardware. On the other hand, Type 2 hypervisors run as a software layer on the OS, similar to other computer applications.

Type 1 hypervisor (bare metal or native hypervisors)

Type 1 hypervisors are deployed directly over the host hardware allowing access to the hardware without any OS or device drivers making hypervisors effective for enterprise computing. Furthermore, the implementation is extremely secure against operating-system-level vulnerabilities. 

Type 2 hypervisor (hosted hypervisors)

Type 2 hypervisors run as applications over the traditional operating system. Additionally, developers, security professionals, or whoever needs access to the applications only available on the selected operating systems that rely on the Type 2 hypervisors.

What are the examples of hypervisors?

VMware and Hyper-V are two key examples of hypervisors. Both VMware and Hyper-V are bare-metal hypervisors. VMware is owned by Dell and Hyper-V is created by Microsoft. VMware is software that is made for cloud computing and virtualisation. Additionally, it can install a hypervisor on the physical server to allow multiple VMs to run at the same time. Moreover, the Hyper-V does the same thing and allows you to virtualise the servers. Hyper-V comes with pre-installed Windows 10. Oracle VM VirtualBox is a hosted hypervisor.

What are the benefits of hypervisors?

There are numerous advantages of using a hypervisor that hosts several virtual machines

Speed

Hypervisors enable the instant creation of virtual machines, unlike bare metal servers. It allows the easier provision of the resources as needed for the dynamic workloads.

Flexibility

Bare metal hypervisors allow OS and their linked applications to run on a variety of hardware because the hypervisor separates the operating system from the hardware. Thus the software does not rely on specific hardware drivers and devices.

Efficiency

Hypervisors that run multiple virtual machines on one physical machine resource enable effective utilisation of the physical server. Moreover, it is pocket-friendly and energy-efficient to run multiple VMs on one physical machine than to run several underutilised physical machines for the same task.

Portability

Hypervisors enable the residence on the same physical server. Moreover, the virtual machine that the hypervisor runs is not dependent on the physical machine. IT teams can shift their workloads and allocate memory, processing power, and storage resources across several servers according to the need. When the application requires more processing power then virtualization software allows it to access additional machines.

Why use hypervisors?

Hypervisors help to use more of the system's available resources and provide more IT mobility since the guest virtual machines are independent of the host hardware. Hence it can be easily moved among different servers because several VMs can run on one physical server with a hypervisor. Additionally, a hypervisor reduces:

 

Maintenance

Energy

Space 

What is a cloud hypervisor?

In the cloud computing model, a hypervisor is an invaluable tool that helps in running virtual machines and driving innovation in the cloud ecosystem. However, a hypervisor is a software layer that allows one host computer to support several virtual machines. Hypervisors are an essential element of the technology that makes cloud computing a thing. Additionally, it makes cloud-based applications accessible to users across a virtual ecosystem. Furthermore, it allows IT to have control over the cloud environment's infrastructure, applications, and sensitive data.

How does a hypervisor work?

Hypervisors are the supporting pillars in the creation and management of virtual machines by pumping the software of computers from the hardware. Moreover, it virtualises by translating requests between the physical and virtual resources. Type 1 or bare-metal hypervisors are often embedded into the firmware at the same level as the motherboard's basic input/output system (BIOS) allowing the OS on the computers to access and use virtualization software.

Container vs hypervisor

Both containers and hypervisors are involved in making applications faster, secure, and efficient. Moreover, it can achieve that in different ways.

Containers

Can run on any operating system

Allows applications to run independently.

Are portable because in a container, an application has everything that it needs to run.

Hypervisors

Share storage, virtual computing, and memory resources.

Allow an operating system to run independently from the hardware using VMs.

Can run numerous operating systems on the top of the server (bare metal hypervisor) or installed on top of a standard OS and isolated from it (hosted hypervisor).

However, containers and hypervisors both are used for different purposes. Hypervisors are used to create and run VMS that have their own operating system, isolated from others. On the other hand, containers package up an app and its services making it more portable and lightweight than VMs. Thus containers are used for flexible and rapid application development and movement.

Conclusion

A hypervisor is software that allows the OS to run separate applications and use physical resources on the same server. It is available in two types, Type 1 & Type 2. Moreover, a hypervisor works on the principle of virtualisation. For more information about cloud hosting and virtual machine hypervisor, keep reading our blogs.