Chapter 2Understanding Hypervisors

In this chapter, you will learn what a hypervisor is, take a closer look at its beginnings more than 40 years ago on mainframe computers, and trace its history. You will examine the different hypervisor types, get a better understanding of what they do, and then compare some of the modern hypervisors that are available today.

  • Describing a hypervisor
  • Understanding the role of a hypervisor
  • Comparing today's hypervisors

Describing a Hypervisor

At the highest level, a hypervisor is an arbiter of resources. It is software that sits between the physical resources on a physical server and the virtual machines that run on that server. In addition to resource allocation, hypervisors provide a virtual environment ...

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