What Is a Hypervisor? A Key Element of Server Virtualization

In the modern digital landscape, it’s important to invest in platforms and solutions that will enhance your company’s resource management and secure your network. This need is where the concept of virtualization stemmed from. Virtualization is exactly what its name suggests – the process of making something virtual (Read more on?What is Server Virtualization ). In this case, that something is the servers in place that are used to process, store, and relay your data. Virtualization helps to create a virtual environment in which virtual machines can run off the resources of a singular physical server and provide individual virtual servers.

The process of virtualization relies on the use of the hardware resources of a server - which is the CPU, RAM, Networking, and storage in some cases – to be divvied up into smaller sections to allow virtual machines to isolate the given resources and create a guest operating system on top of the main host operating system of the physical server. This process is only possible through the use of a software layer between the host operating system and the guest operating systems created. This is called the hypervisor – but what is a hypervisor?

What Is a Hypervisor?

In simple terms, a hypervisor is a piece of software that creates and manages virtual machines on a physical host computer. This layer allows one host operating system to operate and manage multiple guest operating systems and applications using its physical hardware. Hypervisors create a virtual version of each of the physical hardware resources and allocate them to each virtual machine it creates. Think of it as a large building that is sitting idle and catering to the needs of only one person. This is a server that does not make use of virtualization, whereas, if you started renting out individual apartments within that building, the resources are fully optimized. The hypervisor is like the landlord in this analogy. It enables the isolated, secure, and resource-orientated use of a server’s hardware.

The purpose of a hypervisor – or virtual machine manager - is to ensure that each virtual server created can run independently and securely without interfering with one another and only making use of the resources allocated to them. In the analogy used earlier, it would be the same as using the same water and electricity but nobody else stepping into your shower or coming to use your kitchen.?

How Does a Hypervisor Work?

Hypervisor is a core element of?Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) . The concept may seem slightly complex but it is quite simple. Hypervisors simply relay the requests made from each virtual machine (software) to the host operating system (hardware) and seamlessly allow computing to carry on.??

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