Hypervisor

A hypervisor (also: Virtual Machine Monitor) refers to software that maps the virtualization layer. This virtualization layer allows virtual machines that can work with different operating systems and their control parameters. All hardware resources are shared by all VMs (network, controller, CPU, memory, hard drives).

The two variants of the hypervisor consist of the native hypervisor and the hosted hypervisor:

Native Hypervisor (Typ-1, Bare-Metal)

The virtual machine monitor (VMM) is located directly on the hardware of the native hypervisor. Accordingly, it is necessary to equip the VMM with all the necessary drivers, but in return it also leads to lower resource consumption.

Examples of native hypervisors:

• IBM z/VM (Paravirtualization)
• VMware ESX/ESXi
• Xen/Citrix Xen
• Oracle VM
• Hyper-V (Microsoft)

Hosted Hypervisor (Typ-2)

In contrast to the native hypervisor, the hosted hypervisor requires and uses all device drivers from the host. He therefore relies on a full-fledged operating system, which provides the necessary hardware drivers.

Examples of hosted hypervisors:

• Microsoft Virtual Server
• Windows Virtual PC
• VMware Fusion, Player, Server
• Parallels Desktop for Mac, Workstation
• KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine)
• VirtualBox