Hyper-V Architecture (Types, Virtualization, Cloud Computing)
Hyper-V Architecture (Types, Virtualization, Cloud Computing). Microsoft Hyper-V is a powerful virtualization platform that allows users to create multiple VMs and manage their workloads in the cloud or onsite with unparalleled scalability, availability and security. It supports both Windows Server OS and Linux systems and offers an array of possibilities, such as development & testing environments or personal clouds.
Moreover, Hyper-V is an hypervisor that provides a consolidated technical solution for running multiple operating systems and applications on the same physical server. This article discusses the Hyper-V architecture in depth, including its types, how it virtualizes IT resources, and its application in cloud computing.
Shall we start with Hyper-V Architecture (Types, Virtualization, Cloud Computing). Please Read on!
What Type of Hypervisor is Hyper-V?
Hyper-V Types
Generally, there are two critical types of Hyper-V hypervisors:
- Type 1- Bare Metal Hypervisor.
- Type 2- Hosted Hypervisor.
Firstly, a Type 1 hypervisor functions as a lightweight operating system and operates directly on the host’s hardware. On the other hand, a Type 2 hypervisor is like a software layer on an operating system. Type 1 hypervisors are highly secure since they are remote from vulnerable operating systems. Additionally, they tend to perform more efficiently than Type 2 hypervisors. These make Type 1 hypervisors suitable for data center computing requirements.
At its core, Hyper-V is a Type 1 hypervisor. It virtualizes memory and processors and manages how the root partition manages virtual machines. Its root partition directly accesses physical I/O devices. The hypervisor provides a virtualization stack that includes virtualized I/O devices, management APIs, and a virtual machine memory manager.
Components of Hyper-V
Here are the main components that make up the Hyper-V hypervisor:
Parent Child Partition
Significantly, the Hyper-V must contain at least one host or parent partition. The virtualization stack runs within the parent partition and has direct access to the hardware machines. The parent partition then generates the Guest VMs (child partitions), where guest operating systems such as Windows and Linux can install.
The Guest VM does not have direct access to the physical processor nor manages the processor interrupts. Instead, the hypervisor manages all interrupts to the processor and redirects them to their corresponding guest VM. This parent child partitioning architecture allows administrators to create trust relationships between Guest VM → Parent Partition → Hypervisor, which sometimes enables guest code to run in all processor rings, modes, and segments.
VMbus
The VMbus is a channel like inter partition communication protocol that establishes a communication channel between the Hyper-V host and Guest VM. It also assists during machine enumeration on systems with several active virtualized partitions. This component is in charge of avoiding any additional layer of communication.
VSP – VSC
Virtual Service Client (VSC) and Virtual Service Provider (VSP) are the critical components of Hyper-V that facilitate easy and reliable communication between the Hyper-V server and Guest VMS. Hence, the VSPs always run in the Parent Partition (Host) while the corresponding VSCs run in the child partition (Guest VM). All in all, VSPs and their respective VSCs communicate with each other via VMbus.
There is only be four VSPs (Video, Network, HID, and Storage) running on an individual Hyper-V server. However, multiple VSCs run simultaneously on the same Hyper-V Server as a part of several Guest VMS. VSPs are multithreading components that run as part of the VMMS.exe and can make various VSCs requests simultaneously.
VM Management Service
Virtual Machine Management Service, also known as vmms.exe or VMMS, is the key module in Microsoft Windows OS that manages every aspect of Hyper-V server virtualization. Virtual Machine Management Service is a core Hyper-V component that runs under the system account, which has similar privileges to admin accounts.
The Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management Service must be running, or the Virtual machines will continue to run. But you won’t be able to control, create, or delete virtual machines until the service runs.
VM Worker Process
VM worker or vmwp.exe relates to a specific virtual machine. The Virtual Machine Management Service creates a VM Worker Process for each virtual machine running on Hyper-V. This process manages the VM.
How Hyper-V Virtualization Works
Image Source: Ionos.com
Importantly, virtualization works by isolating or abstracting a computer’s hardware from every software that might run on that hardware. Abstraction recognizes the computer’s physical resources (memory, processors, network interfaces, and storage volumes) and generates logical aliases. For instance, Hyper-V abstracts a physical process into a logical representation known as a virtual CPU or vCPU.
Hyper-V is responsible for handling all the virtual resources that it abstracts. Additionally, Hyper-V manages all data exchanges between physical resources and their virtual counterparts.
What is more, Hyper-V uses virtualized resources to generate logical representations of computers or Virtual Machines. Each VM is assigned memory, virtualized processors, network adapters, storage, and other virtualized elements, such as GPUs, which Hyper-V manages. When Hyper-V provisions a Virtual Machine, the subsequent logical instance is fully remote from the underlying hardware and every Vms established by Hyper-V. This means a virtual machine does not know the other Vms or physical computers that might share the physical device’s resources.
This logical isolation and careful resource management enables Hyper-V to create and manage several VMs on the same physical machine. Each VM is capable of functioning as a complete and fully functional computer. Virtualization allows companies to carve multiple virtual servers from a single physical server.
Once Hyper-V establishes a VM, it requires a full suite of software installation, including drivers, an OS, libraries, and a suitable enterprise application. This allows organizations to use multiple operating systems to support various workloads on the same physical computer.
The abstraction enabled by virtualization provides virtual machines with flexibility that is impossible with conventional physical software and physical computer installations. All VMS exists and runs within a computer’s physical memory space so that you can save Vms as ordinary memory image files. You then use these saved files to create duplicate Vms on the same or different computers across the organization or save the VM at a particular time.
How to Use Hyper-V in Cloud Computing
Next part of Hyper-V Architecture is to understand how it works in cloud computing. You create a Hyper-V high availability group using Manager. A high availability group or failover group is a group of at least two nodes. Hyper-V also runs in cluster mode, providing failover and high availability for virtual machines with minimal downtime.
While the failover service takes over and transfers the VM between nodes, the virtual machine is inaccessible for a few seconds. The Failover Cluster Manager controls all Hyper-V clusters.
Using Hyper-V manager, admins manage it remotely or locally. Manager installs during the installation of Management Tools, which you can do with a complete installation or by installing the tools. Installing a tool only enables you to use the tools to host software on devices that fail to meet the hardware requirements.
Applications of Hyper-V in Cloud Computing
Hyper-V has a wide range of applications, primarily cloud computing. Most private clouds use Hyper-V to virtualize physical devices. Here are some of the applications of Hyper-V in cloud computing:
Virtual Computing Environment
This instance shows a Hyper-V virtual machine, that has the similar elements as a physical computer, including processors, memory, networking, and storage. These components contain options and features you configure in various ways to achieve various objectives.
Backup and Disaster Recovery
For disaster recovery, Hyper-V Replica generates a copy of a VM to be stored by the system in another physical location so that you restore the VM from the copy. For backup, one software type uses the Volume Snapshot Service, while the other uses the saved state. This enables you to perform app compatible backups of VSS enabled apps.
Optimization
Each guest operating system has a set of drivers and services known as integration services. The integration services facilitate the use of the OS in a Hyper-v virtual machine.
Thank you for reading Hyper-V Architecture (Types, Virtualization, Cloud Computing). We will conclude this article blog.
Hyper-V Architecture (Types, Virtualization, Cloud Computing) Conclusion
Finally, Hyper-V is a powerful virtualization software product that easily competes with other solutions such as Fusion and VM VirtualBox. The tool is especially great if you are using the Windows platform. You do not need to purchase or download it separately. However, it only functions on Windows devices, so Linux and Mac users need to install a Linux distribution. Overall, it’s an excellent choice if you want to create virtual instances of a physical device.
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