What is Server Virtualization? Explain its architecture, discuss the role of hypervisors, mention leading players and provide a real-world example where server virtualization is applied in industry.
- Server Virtualization is a technique in which a physical server is divided into multiple isolated virtual machines (VMs) using software called a hypervisor. Each VM behaves like an independent server with its own operating system and applications, even though they share the same underlying hardware.
- Need for Server Virtualization
- Better utilization of hardware resources
- Reduced server sprawl
- Cost-friendly deployment
- Faster provisioning and management
- Architecture of Server Virtualization
-
Server virtualization architecture consists of the following layers:

-
Physical Hardware Layer
- This includes:
- CPU
- RAM
- Storage devices
- Network interfaces
- This hardware is the foundation on which virtualization is deployed.
-
Hypervisor Layer
- The hypervisor sits directly on hardware or on a host OS and allows creation of multiple VMs by:
- Allocating resources (CPU/RAM/storage)
- Isolating VMs
- Managing scheduling and execution
-
Virtual Machine Layer
- Each VM includes:
- A virtual CPU
- Virtual memory
- Virtual disk
- Its own OS (Windows/Linux)
- Applications
- VMs work independently even if one VM crashes.
-
Management Layer
- Software tools used to:
- Provision VMs
- Monitor performance
- Apply patches
- Manage storage and networking
- Examples: vCenter, Hyper-V Manager.
- Role of Hypervisors
- The hypervisor is the central component in virtualization. It:
- Creates and runs Virtual Machines
- Allocates hardware resources dynamically
- Ensures isolation between VMs
- Performs scheduling of CPU cycles and memory
- Provides live migration capability (moving VMs between hosts without shutdown)
- Handles fault tolerance and load balancing
- Types of Hypervisors
- Type 1 (Bare Metal): Runs directly on hardware
- Examples: VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM
- Type 2 (Hosted): Runs on top of a host operating system
- Examples: VMware Workstation, Oracle VirtualBox
- Leading Players in Server Virtualization
- VMware (vSphere, ESXi) – industry leader
- Microsoft (Hyper-V)
- Red Hat KVM
- Citrix Hypervisor (XenServer)
- Oracle VM
- Real-World Industry Example
- Banking Sector (ICICI, HDFC, SBI):
- Banks run hundreds of applications such as transaction processing, loan management, and analytics. Using VMware virtualization, banks consolidate tens of physical servers into a few high-capacity hosts.
- This reduces hardware cost, increases security isolation, and ensures quick provisioning of new applications.