Dedicated Servers | Windows & Linux Hosting Hypervisors Vs Bare Metal Servers: a Beginner’s Gu | Page 6

What Is A Hypervisor?
A hypervisor is an operating system with the ability to create virtual machines (VM) inside a bare
metal infrastructure. With hypervisors, an operating system such as Ubuntu, Windows, or Debian is
directly installed on the server after which apps run natively within the OS. When a hypervisor and a
bare metal server are both installed on the OS, the user can play the role of a manager and create
virtual machines on the server.
The hypervisor’s purpose is not to run native applications but to virtualize workloads into isolated
virtual machines. This concept allows for enhanced reliability and flexibility of virtualization.
Hypervisors are fundamental components in the IT backbone because they make it possible for you to
have a range of virtual machines all functioning optimally on one piece of computer hardware.
Hypervisors were introduced in the 1960s but it wasn’t until the introduction of Unix and Linux that
they surged in popularity. These two operating systems heavily utilized hypervisors to expand their
hardware capabilities, improve reliability, control costs, and enhance security.