A virtualization stack is simply the set of tools that, in conjunction with the virtualization hypervisor, create the Microsoft Hyper-V environment on a computer. In a general computing context, a virtualization stack is an ordered set of interconnected or independent components. Some examples include software, hardware and operating systems. In the case of Hyper-V, this stack includes virtual machine drivers, managed services, storage area networks (SAN), service discovery and network deployment. The virtualization stack in Hyper-V creates a “virtual private server,” or VPS.
Virtualization for enterprise applications has become quite popular. In particular, device virtualization stack provides a way to manage hardware devices such as printers, scanners, keyboards, processors, memory sticks, video cards and others through a web browser. With device virtualization, administrators can manage hardware devices via the management console without having to actually connect to those devices physically. Since many IT staffs spend a considerable amount of time sitting in front of the computer trying to troubleshoot problems in these areas, this can be a real boon. The management console will also allow administrators to make adjustments or upgrades to applications and programs without having to restart the entire machine.
There are four components of the virtualization stack. The first is software. Software virtualization stack enables administrators to run applications as if they were on a physical machine. For example, the hyper-v supervisor allows a user to run Windows Server 2020 on a virtualized server. This feature can be useful when applications that do not normally run on virtual machines are needed on the virtual server.
The second piece of the virtualization stack is device virtualization architecture. This part basically emulates a computer hardware platform. It is generally part of the hypervisor architecture and enables the administrator to treat multiple virtual machines as if they were one real physical machine. For example, this can be used to run multiple Linux operating systems on a single physical computer. It also allows administrators to create different volumes of data for VDI’s and enables them to be rebooted independently of the rest of the system.
The third piece is the root partition. It is what actually maintains the isolation of VDI’s and makes sure no other processes interfere with it. The supervisor provides the kernel with the necessary instructions to allow this to happen. The root partition is usually implemented as an image of a physical machine that is stored on the storage medium that the virtual machines reside on. It allows for the parent supervisor to provide kernel support for the guest OS as well as being a place where any attached VMs can be found. It also allows for any additional work to be done on the underlying physical computer via the hypervisor.
Lastly, the fourth and final component is the vms. This is the platform service card that allows communication between the parent OS and the child OS. The vms acts as an authentication device that verifies the integrity of the underlying physical machines. The was also controls the communication between the supervisors and software such as the bus layer.
