Cloud Computing Assignment (Types of Hypervisor)

Assignment (Hypervisor Types)

Cloud Computing

Submitted to:
Ma’am Samia
Submitted By:

Name Roll#
Javeria Comp.Sc-17008

Subject:
Cloud Computing
Course Code: CS-441
Department:
Computer Science
BS honors
8th semester
(2017-2021)

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Cloud Computing Assignment (Types of Hypervisor)

Type 1 Hypervisor

The Type 1 hypervisor is referred to as the “bare-metal” hypervisor. This means that it runs directly
on the physical hardware of the host machine — it doesn’t have to load an underlying Operating
System before that. Due to the fact that Type 1
hypervisors have direct access to the underlying
hardware (and no other Operating Systems and
device drivers to content with) this type of Hypervisor
is considered to be the best performing and most
efficient for enterprise computing.

Examples
A few examples of Type 1 hypervisors are Citrix/Xen
Server, VMware ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V.
While considered efficient and well performing, these
hypervisors are also known to be very secure. This is
because the flaws and vulnerabilities that are endemic
to Operating Systems are often absent from Type 1,
bare metal hypervisors. The underlying OS has been eliminated. Therefore, each Virtual Machine
is isolated from the other and that same isolation guards them against malicious activities or threats.

Hardware Support: Type 1

When it comes to hardware support, Type 1 hypervisors use hardware acceleration software and
cannot function without the availability of this technology. Hardware acceleration technologies
basically help the Hypervisor perform the intensive tasks required to manage the virtual resources
of the computer. Without these technologies, the hypervisor would have to handle the intensive
tasks required for virtualization on its own. This would ultimately lead to a drop in virtualization
performance and also restrict the number of guest VMs that could be hosted on a computer.

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Type 2 Hypervisors

The main difference between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors is that Type 2 hypervisors are typically
installed on an existing Operating System. This makes it a hosted hypervisor, seeing as it relies on
the host machine’s OS to undertake certain operations like managing calls to the CPU, managing
network resources, managing memory and storage. This allows for Type 2 hypervisors to support
a wide range of hardware.

Examples
Examples of type 2 Hypervisors include Microsoft
Virtual PC, Oracle Virtual Box, VMware
Workstation, Oracle Solaris Zones, VMware
Fusion, Oracle VM Server for x86 and more.
The origins of Type 2 Hypervisors go back to the
days of x86 virtualization. This was a time when
existing systems used pre-existing Operating
Systems, while the hypervisor was deployed as an
advanced software layer.
Now, while the goal of both types of hypervisors
remained the same, the usage of the underlying
Operating System introduced a certain amount of
latency. This is because, with a Type 2 hypervisor,
all activities and the work of each VM had to go through the host OS.

Hardware Support: Type 2

Type 2 Hypervisors typically use hardware acceleration technologies, if the features are available.
However, they tend to fall back on software emulation if the support isn’t available on the physical
host system.

One interesting technology is the KVM hypervisor. This open sourced Linux-based hypervisor is
mostly classified as a Type-1 hypervisor, which turns the Linux kernel into a “bare metal”
hypervisor. At the same time, the overall system is categorized as a type-2 hypervisor due to the
full functional Operating System used. The unique KVM model allows for full virtualization and

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customized kernels (the core component of computer operating systems), allowing you the
opportunity to set limits for the resources used, it also ensures that your virtual machines are more
isolated and can host different Operating Systems other than Linux.

Few linux VPS Hosting providers also use KVM hypervisor to create account isolation in their
system. In the KVM hypervisor, the Linux kernel acts as a Type 2 hypervisor, and can, therefore,
be installed along with the Linux kernel. With KVM, every VM is implemented as a regular Linux
process, is scheduled by the Linux scheduler. Each VM comes with dedicated virtual hardware,
such as graphics adapter, CPU(s), network cards, memory and disks.

Today, most hypervisors used in production are Type 1 hypervisors. However, there are still a few
IT environments that prefer Type 2. Type 1 hypervisors are more common in production due to the
low overhead. However, the low cost and ease of installation of a Type 2 hypervisor make it an
ideal option for home labs or other test environments.

Type 1 vs. Type 2 Hypervisor

Choosing the right type of hypervisor strictly depends on your individual needs.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is the size of the virtual environment you intend to run.

For personal use and smaller deployments, you can go for one of the type 2 hypervisors. If budget
is not an issue, VMware will provide every feature you need. Otherwise, Oracle VM VirtualBox
is a hypervisor that will provide most of the functionalities generally needed.

Enterprise Environments

Even though type 1 hypervisors are the way to go, you do need to take into consideration many
factors before making a decision.

The critical factor is usually the licensing cost. This is where you need to pay extra attention
since licensing may be per server, per CPU or sometimes even per core. In the current market,
there is a battle going on between VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V. While Hyper-V was
falling behind a few years ago, it has now become a valid choice, even for larger deployments.
The same argument can be made for KVM.
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Many vendors offer multiple products and layers of licenses to accommodate any organization.
You may want to create a list of the requirements. Such as, how many VMs you need, maximum
allowed resources per VM, nodes per cluster, specific functionalities, and then check which of
these products best fits your needs. Note: trial periods can be very useful when testing for which
hypervisor to choose.

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References:

1. What is a Hypervisor? Types of Hypervisors Explained (1 & 2) (phoenixnap.com)

2. https://vgyan.in/type-1-and-type-2-hypervisor/
3. Type 1 and Type 2 Hypervisors: What Makes Them Different | by ResellerClub |
ResellerClub | Medium

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