- The hypervisor is the software that allows you
to run one or more guest operating systems
on a single computer.
And because of this, it's known as
the virtual machine manager or VMM.
So a VMM hypervisor, it's the same thing.
So that hypervisor is that actual software you're gonna use.
And there's two types.
Type 1 is known as the native hypervisor,
which is also known as a bare metal hypervisor,
meaning that it runs directly
on the hardware of the computer.
There's no software intervention with this.
The software of the hypervisor runs directly
on the hardware of the computer.
So that's the more powerful type.
Examples of this include VMware's vSphere,
and also Microsoft's Hyper-V for Windows server.
The other is Type 2, which is the hosted hypervisor.
The hosted hypervisor is something that runs
inside of your operating system.
And examples of this include Oracle's VirtualBox
and also Microsoft's Windows Virtual PC.
Now this is not as powerful.
If you need to run critical systems,
you're gonna want a Type 1 hypervisor.
If you are doing some testing,
or you want to learn about operating systems,
then Type 2 is fine.
Let's show a couple examples on the internet
of both types of hypervisor software.
The first here is VMware and their vSphere software.
That is a very common type of hypervisor.
That's a Type 1 hypervisor.
It would be used in cloud computing and by web hosts
and large enterprise networks that are gonna run servers
and client operating systems
from a single server using a hypervisor.
So that's VMware's example
and Microsoft's example is Hyper-V,
which can work on windows server 2008 or higher.
And it's the same type of thing.
It runs bare bones.
It's right on the hardware of the server.
So this is a very powerful program
that requires a powerful processor,
or more than one,
for example, an Intel Xeon processor and tons of Ram.
We're talking anywhere from 384 gigabytes
to a terabyte of Ram on these servers.
They need to be really powerful
so that they can give enough resources
to all of the clients that will run on them.
So those are two examples of the Type 1 hypervisor.
And Hyper-V also has a version for the client
for Windows 8 and higher, there's Client Hyper-V.
And it's basically the same type of software.
It allows you to run one or more operating systems
as guests, but this is done
within Windows 8 or whatever newer version
of Windows you're running.
So this is more of a Type 2 hypervisor, it's really hosted.
So Client Hyper-V looks the same,
but architecturally it doesn't work the same way
as the server based Hyper-V.
And something you want to keep in mind.
Other examples of Type 2 hypervisors include
Oracle's VirtualBox, and this is a great program.
We're gonna show Hyper-V on Windows 8.
We're gonna show VirtualBox in the following sub lesson.
And then there's also Microsoft's Virtual PC.
So you've seen all the types
and you've seen the links there
if you wanna find out more about them or work with them.
Now, Hyper-V for Windows 8 comes with the software
if you're running Windows 8 or 8.1 Pro or Enterprise.
Oracle VirtualBox and Windows Virtual PC are
free downloads.
So you can run a Type 2 hypervisor for free
if you want to on your system.
And I recommend it.
It's a great way to study the different operating
systems that we work with in this course.
So know the difference between Type 1
and Type 2 hypervisors.
Type 1, once again is native,
and it's known as bare metal.
Runs directly in conjunction with the hardware
of the computer.
Type 2, that's hosted, and it runs internally
within your operating system.
So it's not gonna perform nearly as well as Type 1,
but it's a little bit easier to use and configure.
Now, one other thing we need to talk about is extensions.
In order to use virtualization software,
your computer has to be compatible.
That means the CPU needs to have the right code,
the right extensions to work with that hypervisor software.
And you may need to turn these extensions on
in the motherboard UEFI or bios.
For example, if you have an Intel based system,
you're gonna use the VT-X extension for the CPU,
and you'll use other extensions for the chip set.
For example, for input/output memory management,
you'll use VT-D.
And for network management, you'll use VT-C.
So you wanna make sure these are enabled
in the motherboard, especially VT-X.
And it might just say, you know, VT.
It just might say virtualization,
and that's what you have to turn on.
It depends on the firmware that you're working in.
On the AMD side, you have other extensions.
And for the CPU, it would be AMD-V.
And for the chip set, it would be AMD-VI.
So if you have an AMD CPU, you're gonna use these.
And if you have an Intel CPU,
you're gonna use these.
Just again, you need to make sure
that the CPU you're using can handle these extensions,
has these extensions available to you.
Quite often on a Type 1 hypervisor,
you can't just use any old CPU.
You can't just get yourself a Core i5
and think that it's gonna work.
You may need a specific type of CPU, like a Xeon CPU.
So make sure that you're using the right CPU
based on the hypervisor you wanna run.
And in addition, make sure that you turn
on the correct extensions for the CPU
and for the chip set.
And you do that in the motherboard's firmware
in your bios or UEFI.
So, that's about it for this sub lesson on hypervisors.
And in the next sub lesson, we're gonna actually show
some of the virtual software
and show you how that works.