Hypervisor: Types, How It Works, and Use cases

Imagine cloning yourself to take care of many different work tasks at the same time. You could attend a meeting, respond to emails, work on your team’s new application, and train a new team member all in the same hour.

Sounds like productivity-inspired, science fiction, doesn’t it? 

Humans can't yet replicate themselves, but in computing, hypervisors transform one computer into many. These hypervisors create the conditions for multiple virtual machines to operate at the same time, each performing a distinct task without slowing down the others.

Businesses use hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solutions to virtualize servers, storage, and networks. HCI uses a software-centric approach, with each element integrated and managed as a single system to give businesses more infrastructure flexibility.

How do hypervisors work? 

Hypervisors extract and manage a computer’s physical hardware, including its memory, storage, and central processing unit (CPU). They then allow for resource sharing by distributing the resources across many virtual machines. Each one operates independently from the others. Hypervisors apply scheduling algorithms and memory management techniques to allocate the host computer’s resources to ensure each VM has what it needs for efficient operations.

In a word, hypervisors create a pool of shared resources to distribute among virtual machines, but they don’t interfere with one another. 

Understanding hypervisors in context

Think about it this way. Suppose Sarah,  an IT manager for a growing tech company, works tirelessly to support her company’s global workforce. The company has employees across different time zones and continents in North America, Australia, India, and Canada. The tech company has committed to fully remote work, and Sarah needs to make sure the team has seamless, secure, efficient access to company resources to do their jobs. 

Sarah identifies an enterprise-level hypervisor the company can use and begins configuring the servers to get the most from them in terms of performance and security. She then installs the hypervisor software on each server so they can host multiple VMs simultaneously. Each VM will serve as a standalone computer, similar to how things might work if the tech company had a physical office and each team member had their own machine at their desk.

Sarah configures the VMs to meet the needs of different departments across the organization, from the engineering team to the business analysts and beyond. The engineering team receives VMs equipped with robust development environments for their workloads. The business analysts get VMs preloaded with the software they need to run effective data analysis. Sarah has meticulously programmed the VMs for the best execution and safety at the department level. 

Now, no matter where employees work, they can log in to their virtual workspaces and access what they require. Thanks to centralized management capabilities, Sarah and the IT team can update VMs and deploy patches to secure the company’s virtual environment. As the company grows over the next few months, Sarah will be able to quickly create new VMs.

Type of hypervisors: type 1 vs. type 2 

Two types of hypervisors are available: type 1 and type 2. Businesses should choose the best one for their infrastructure while also considering cost, growth planning, and equipment needs. 

Type 1 hypervisors (bare-metal) 

Type 1 hypervisors run directly on the host machine’s hardware. A user installs virtualization software onto the host computer’s hardware, and then the software creates virtual machines.

These efficient hypervisors offer high performance since the intermediary level doesn’t exist, and they have direct access to the host’s hardware resources. IT professionals use type 2 hypervisors in data centers, enterprise environments, and cloud infrastructures that require high performance and comprehensive security.  

Type 2 hypervisors (hosted) 

A type 2 (also known as hosted) hypervisor runs on the host machine's operating system (OS). This added layer between the host and virtual machine – which type 1 lacks – can introduce latency challenges.

IT professionals and individuals use Type 2 hypervisors in development environments and on desktops with fewer resource-intensive workloads than those in data centers and enterprise environments. They’re ideal when simplicity and convenience are more important than raw performance. 

Type 1 vs. type 2 hypervisors compared 

Take a closer look at the differences between type 1 and type 2 hypervisors. 

Benefits of hypervisors 

Companies that use hypervisors experience several benefits, including the ones explained here.

Resource optimization 

Hypervisors allow IT administrators and professionals to make the best use of their host computer’s available resources without purchasing additional equipment. They get the top performance from their available hardware, saving costs since they don’t require as many physical machines to support their teams. Instead, they can dynamically allocate resources like CPU, memory, and storage based on their team’s needs and size.

Scalability and flexibility 

Companies use hypervisors to scale their virtual environments without separate machines for different workloads. This makes r VMs a good choice for high-growth businesses or those that need flexibility to meet varying workload demands.

Improved security through isolation 

Since hypervisors produce isolated environments for each VM, an attack or data breach in one environment doesn’t spread to the others or the host. This setup reduces the risk of cross-VM attacks and widespread system compromise.

Portability 

Portability refers to transferring software from one system to another. Hypervisors score high here since they decouple resources from the physical machine. With hypervisors, teams can quickly shift workloads and allocate resources across virtual machines, seamlessly moving from one machine to another.

Challenges with hypervisors 

While hypervisors offer numerous benefits to organizations and IT teams when it comes to virtualization and resource optimization, there are some challenges to be aware of. 

Performance issues 

Virtualization helps optimize the host computer’s resources and adds a layer between the hardware and the operating system in type 1 hypervisors and multiple layers for a type 2 hypervisor. Adding more layers can hinder application performance and increase network latency. 

Management complexity and virtualization sprawl 

Hypervisors simplify the creation and distribution of new virtual machines, which can help companies onboard new team members. However, IT teams risk experiencing virtualization sprawl – the uncontrolled growth of virtual machines on a network – without proper provisioning and governance practices for VM lifecycle management. When administrators can no longer manage VMs effectively, organizations may underutilize VMs or leave them idle. 

Poor resource management 

Hypervisors allocate and manage resources such as CPU, memory, and storage among multiple VMs, but resource allocation isn’t always perfect. When a hypervisor doesn’t distribute resources adequately enough to meet workload needs, some VMs may function well, but others may perform poorly. Allocating more resources than are physically available can cause instability and performance issues. 

Considerations for choosing a hypervisor 

Choosing the right hypervisor for your needs depends on your business and current infrastructure. Some factors to consider include those listed below.:

• Scalability: As a best practice, test how effectively a hypervisor distributes CPU, memory, storage, and network resources, keeping load balancing and dynamic allocation in mind. A hypervisor's scalability is crucial for businesses that expect rapid growth. The right hypervisor must divide resources to avoid disrupting business operations and VM access.
• Hardware requirements: What does your existing hardware infrastructure look like? Think about how well the hypervisor integrates with your IT infrastructure and networking equipment. Do you have any unique hardware requirements?  Some hypervisors have specific hardware requirements and preferred configurations, so make sure you understand whether your infrastructure works with the hypervisor.
• Budget requirements: Evaluate the hypervisor's initial and recurring costs. Additional fees might include advanced features or enterprise support for detailed setup and ongoing assistance, so it’s essential to include extra fees in your budget evaluation. Remember that some options may appear more inexpensive than others in the long term, but could require a heftier upfront setup fee.
• Supportability and community: Related to additional costs, consider the support options available when choosing a hypervisor and determine whether you anticipate needing support or community access. User communities can be valuable for troubleshooting hypervisor issues, whereas enterprise support helps businesses quickly address VM challenges in real time. 

Hypervisors vs. containers in virtualization

Hypervisors and containers are technologies that teams use for virtualization, but they serve different purposes. 

Organizations and IT administrators use hypervisors to create virtual machines, allowing them to abstract hardware and allocate resources from one host across multiple VMs. 

On the other hand, a container is a lightweight and portable software package that carries the necessary files and services to run an application on any operating system. They allow applications to run separately from an OS.

Organizations use hypervisors and containers to fulfill different needs, but both are vital in efficient and fast IT architectures. Hypervisors release the software environment from the physical hardware to maximize resource usage and allocate resources efficiently. Containers do the same for applications and specific operating systems, making them easily transferable. 

More CPU, memory, and storage over here, please!

Hypervisors provide the critical and necessary foundation for virtualization that leads to resource optimization, security, and portability in the land of modern computing. When choosing a hypervisor, factor in scalability needs, hardware requirements, budgets, and support so you get the best fit for you and your team. 

Are you still deciding whether you want to run virtual machines? Read more about the benefits, drawbacks, types, and use cases to help you decide.