hypervisorului

A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM), is a software, firmware, or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines (VMs). VMs are essentially virtualized instances of computer systems that can run their own operating systems and applications, independent of the host machine's underlying hardware. The hypervisor acts as a layer between the physical hardware and the virtual machines, managing and allocating the host's resources such as CPU, memory, storage, and network interfaces to each VM.

There are two main types of hypervisors. Type 1 hypervisors, also known as bare-metal hypervisors, run directly on the host's hardware without an underlying operating system. Examples include VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Xen. They offer better performance and security because they have direct access to the hardware. Type 2 hypervisors, also known as hosted hypervisors, run on top of a conventional operating system, similar to any other application. Examples include Oracle VM VirtualBox and VMware Workstation. These are generally easier to set up and use but may have slightly lower performance due to the additional layer of the host OS.

Hypervisors are fundamental to virtualization technology, enabling efficient resource utilization, server consolidation, improved disaster recovery, and the creation of isolated environments for testing and development. They are widely used in cloud computing, enterprise data centers, and personal computing scenarios.