Overview
A hypervisor, also known as a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), is a layer of software that enables virtualization. It sits between the physical hardware and the virtual machines, managing the distribution of physical resources (like CPU, RAM, and storage) to each VM.
Types of Hypervisors
- Type 1 (Bare Metal): Runs directly on the host's physical hardware (e.g., VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM).
- Type 2 (Hosted): Runs as an application on top of an existing operating system (e.g., VMware Workstation, Oracle VirtualBox).
Key Functions
- Resource Allocation: Dynamically assigns hardware resources to VMs.
- Isolation: Ensures that VMs do not interfere with each other.
- Management: Provides tools for creating, starting, stopping, and monitoring VMs.