hypervisor
nounEtymology Blend of hyper- + supervisor.
1
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A firmware or software system that provides a virtual machine and allows it to operate directly on underlying hardware (instead of via emulation), but within specified constraints.
- The hypervisor is the component that translates the virtual machines into the underlying hardware. There are two types of hypervisors: The type 1 hypervisor runs directly on the host hardware; the type 2 or hosted hypervisor runs in software.2011, Edward Whalen, Oracle VM Implementation and Administration Guide, McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 17:
- Derived terms
- storage hypervisor