Virtualization is a technology that allows multiple virtual environments to run on a single piece of physical hardware.
A hypervisor is the software or firmware that manages virtualization. It controls the allocation of physical resources to virtual machines and ensures their isolation and security.
There are two main types of hypervisors:
- Type 1: This runs directly on the physical hardware and does not require a host operating system, but is installed instead of the OS.
Examples include VMware vSphere/ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Xen. - Type 2: is installed as a software application on the existing OS and is commonly used for development or testing environments.
Examples include VMware Workstation, Oracle VirtualBox, Virtual PC and Parallels Desktop.
Type 2 is used mainly for modeling, testing, and training.
You can test new systems like Windows 11 before doing a large deployment, or you can test the compatibility of a piece of software with an older or newer version of Windows.
Using virtual machines (VMs) is a good practice for IT technicians. Testing can sometimes lead to system crashes, which is annoying if it happens on your main computer.
VMs help us to test a new OS or piece of software on our main work computer in a secure way without needing extra hardware.
By default VMs are isolated from the host operating system and from each other, so issues in one VM do not affect others. This enhances security and stability.
You can allow your VM to have direct access to various components of your hardware. For this reason, a computer running a hypervisor must have enough system resources. It is advisable to have at least:
- an i7 processor
- An SSD with plenty of spare capacity
- 16GB of RAM
Also make sure to turn on Virtualization Technology (VTx) in your BIOS, otherwise you will be unable to create and use virtual machines.
Type II hypervisors usually offer snapshot features to easily roll back a system to a previous stage, which is very useful for testing.
You usually have to install software tools inside the VMs (such as VirtualBox Extension pack or VMWare tools) to have smoother integration with your OS (for example, drag and drop support between your OS and your VMs).
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