What is a hypervisor?

A hypervisor serves as a software layer that facilitates the creation, management, and operation of virtual machines (VMs) on a physical host. It acts as an intermediary between the hardware and the VMs, allowing multiple operating systems to run concurrently on the same physical machine. By efficiently distributing resources like CPU, memory, and storage among the VMs, the hypervisor enables isolation and scalability, which are essential for cloud computing and virtualization environments.

In the context of virtualization, this function is critical because it allows organizations to maximize hardware utilization, minimize costs, and streamline IT management. Hypervisors can be classified into two types: type 1, which runs directly on the host hardware, and type 2, which runs on top of a conventional operating system. This flexibility makes hypervisors a fundamental component in modern computing infrastructures.

Other options do not accurately describe what a hypervisor is. For instance, calling it a type of storage device fails to address its primary function in virtualization. Additionally, while networking protocols are essential for communication between systems, they do not involve the management of virtual machines. Identifying it as an operating system feature is also misleading, as hypervisors operate independently of the host operating system to manage guest operating systems.