What is a bare-metal hypervisor?
Veertu - Native Virtualization for OS X 1.0.4 If you ever need to access Windows or Linux software, you can use Veertu Labs's Veertu ( Mac App Store Link ) to create and run virtual machines.
- Native Virtualization for macOS. Veertu Inc has 17 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub. Native Virtualization for macOS. Veertu Inc has 17 repositories available. Java 0 1 0 0 Updated Jul 10, 2020. Jenkins-job-examples 0 0 0 0 Updated Jul 8, 2020.
- Veertu is using OS X's new hypervisor frameworks, they aren't installing kexts like VMware or Parallels do, and they're leaving CPU scheduling to OS X. The app is 20MB, that should speak for itself. As for use cases, can you not imagine where someone might need a VM for something but not require a.
The Hypervisor is a software layer that allows the user to control and monitor Virtual machines. It allows users to run multiple types of guest operating systems on a single host machine. For example, we can run Windows 10, Ubuntu, Redhat, and more OS on a single Linux /Windows/macOS host machine to test or run different software. You can also call it Virtualization software that we used in our day to day life such as VirtualBox and VMware Workstation.
Now, what is the difference between VirtualBox kind of software and bare-metal hypervisor?
So, both are a kind of hypervisor, or shall I say Virtualization software technology, however, the way they work is different. The open-source VirtualBox, VMware Player, and other such kinds of Virtualization software fall under Type 2 Hypervisor; while bare-metal virtualization software is Type 1 hypervisors.
Actually, the Hypervisor technique is divided into two categories: Type 1 and Type 2 virtualization technology.
Type1 hypervisors:
Hypervisor or Virtualization software that falls under the Type 1 has direct contact with the physical hardware. Direct handling of the hardware increased the efficiency and performance of the guest operating system running over it. Such kinds of Virtualization operating systems also called Bare-metal Hypervisor. Mostly they are used in Datacenters or in a cloud environment or by enterprises.
Type 1 hypervisor examples: Microsoft Hyper V, Oracle VM Server for x86, VMware ESXi, Oracle VM Server for SPARC, open-source hypervisor distros like Xen project are some examples of bare metal server Virtualization…
Type2 hypervisors:
Type2 Hypervisors are commonly used software for creating and running virtual machines on the top of OS such as Windows, Linux, or macOS.
Type 2 hypervisor examples: The perfect examples of Type2 are VirtualBox, Qemu, VMware Workstation Player, and Parallel. You can call them the best hypervisors for home-usage.
Running virtual guest operating systems over the host operating not only consumes lots of resources but also needs host permission to reach the hardware; which adds an extra layer of complexity, hence decreases the performance as compared to Type1 virtualization.
Here in this article we only talk about the free and open-source Type1 Virtualization software. However, if you have time you can dwell on this article: Best Free Virtualbox Alternative for Linux
Before moving further, you should know more about the types of virtualization technology. There are four types of virtualization methods that are commonly used in today's world.
- FV: Full Virtualization
- PV: Para Virtualization
- OSV: Operating system virtualization.
- HAV Hardware-Assisted Virtualization.
You can test below the bare-metal hypervisor on a laptop or your PC/server to experience the power of Virtualization.
Best Free & open-source bare-metal hypervisor (foss)
Xen Project
Xen is an open-source software platform or Linux hypervisor distro maintained by the global community of developers It supports virtualization for x86, x86_64, IA64, ARM, and other CPU architectures. The Xen hypervisor is an enterprise-class alternative to proprietary virtualization platforms and hypervisors for x86 and IA64 platforms. Besides the open-source, it also available in the commercial version from Citrix.
Xen hypervisor is a kernel-based virtual machine platform that can virtualize a wide range of guest operating systems such as Windows, Linux, BSD, and its other versions. It used by so many commercial platforms for server virtualization, Cloud platforms (Amazon, Google, Cisco, and more) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), security applications, and more… Supports multiple Cloud platforms: CloudStack, OpenStack.
Download:Xen Project
XenServer Open source
XenServer hypervisor runs an open-source type-1 or bare-metal hypervisor available in three versions: community, standard, and enterprise. However, the ISO file is the same for all versions. The free version offers basic features that include hypervisor including capabilities like VM migration, Health check, snapshot, and more. Whereas the standard one is meant for SMBs along with Citrix support. The last Enterprise one suitable for large organization offers supports and live patching and Windows update support. Being a commercial product, it is one of the best free hypervisors.
Download Xen Server (link)
Oracle VM Server for x86
Oracle VM Server for x86 is a free Type1 virtualization platform that uses open-source Xen hypervisor technology. It is an enterprise-class hypervisor that includes an integrated Web-based management console. One can download it from the official website page Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. Since being a commercial featured product, one needs to create an account on the Oracle website then only he can get the ISO file of this bare-metal hypervisor.
Linux KVM
Linux KVM( Kernal Based VirtualMachine) is another Type -1 hypervisor that is a base for different Linux hypervisor distros. Furthermore, it can convert different operating systems such as Redhat, OpenSuse, Centos, and Ubuntu into a full virtualization platform.KVM is acquired by the RedHat and supports all most all Linux, BSD, Solaris, and Windows operating systems as a guest. The administrator can control and manage the KVM installed virtual server either by command line or via a Graphical user interface (GU) provided by VirtManager. It supports x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V). By default, it is a command-line tool.
Proxmox- Open-Source Virtualization Platform
Proxmox VE is a complete open-source virtualization management platform that closely integrates two virtualization technologies: KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) hypervisor and Linux container (LXC) to provide enterprise-class virtualization.
Proxmox VE also supports Paravirtualization (virtIO drivers for network, Grafik, hard disks); also HAV is possible with Proxmox VE.
Proxmox VE is based on Debian GNU/Linux and uses a customized Linux Kernel. The current stable 5.x release uses the latest Ubuntu 18.04 based kernel, which will be regularly updated. It supports full virtualization (with KVM) and container-based virtualization with LXC.
The Proxmox Open-Source Virtualization Platform has a monolithic system that provides three major functionalities of computing, network, and storage in a single package. It offers both command line and graphical user interface to control, deploy, destroy, monitor, and manage containers and virtual machines. Scalable and easy to use option for data centers, one must try it once.
DownloadProxmox (Link)
Openvz
It is another enterprise approach hypervisor with a bit different approach because it is an open-source container-based virtualization platform for Linux. If you want to create your own Virtual Private server then try out the OpenVZ.
So, what exactly is it, the OpenVZ is a free and open-source offered by Virtuozzo, now. It comes with an ability to create multiple virtual machines in an isolated Linux container. This means the admin can treat each container as a standalone server. All the containers can reboot independently on a single physical server just like we do in VES and VPS environments provided by different cloud hosting companies. OpenVZ is also a Linux hypervisor distro available for bare metal installation. OpenVZ provides a web interface.
Download OpenVZ ISO (Link)
Extra Information: Non- Bare Metal virtualization options…
oVirt
oVirt is an open-source distributed virtualization solution developed for Linux operating systems such as RedHat Enterprise, CentOS, Scientific Linux, Fedora 28, and also available as oVirt Node which is CentOS based. It is a Linux KVM hypervisor designed for enterprise infrastructure.
oVirt built upon several other community projects, including libvirt, Gluster, PatternFly, and Ansible.
Download oVirt (Link)
SmartOS
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SmartOS is a free and open-source SVR4 hypervisor based on the UNIX operating system that combines OpenSolaris technology with Linux's KVM virtualization. It employs NetBSD pkgsrc package management.
Download SmartOS (Link)
Note: VMware ESXi is not a FOSS project but free to download and use. It is here just for knowledge…
VMware ESXI
If you have the perception that all VMWare products are paid then you didn't check thoroughly. Because there are some products those free and VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) is one of them.
VMware free ESXi is another best free hypervisor for creating a virtual environment to install different operating systems. After the installation, the user can connect the virtualized Vmware server using the Vsphere client. That gives an easy to use a graphical user interface to create, deploy, destroy unlimited VMs. Being a part of a commercial entity, it supports a wide range of server hardware and well optimized to run virtual servers for production usage. The user needs to enter the free license key to use the Vmware Type1 hypervisor otherwise it will expire after 60 days.
Download Vmware free ESXi (Link)
Free Hyper-V server 2019 Standalone
The standalone version of the Hyper-V is a free product from Microsoft and available to download free of cost. However, there are some disadvantages of the standalone version, it doesn't come with GUI, yes it is Microsoft product without a graphical user interface plus less drive support, roles, and hard to manage. Still, if you want to try the standalone product you are free to go. However, I recommend the Windows server rather just alone hyper.
Oracle VirtualBox
Those are familiar with virtualization they would already know about the VirtualBox. It is the best Type-2 Virtual machine creator platform available for almost all mainstream operating systems such as Windows, macOS, FreeBSD, and macOS. The interface is super easy to understand and use. Even a new user can easily install it and start creating virtual machines in a few minutes.
So, these are few free and best open-source bare-metal hypervisor options, if you are using any of them or some different, let us know your experience.
Other Useful Resources:
We have talked lot about various VMware products and even deep dive articles about VMware vSphere and its components. I am getting lot of requests from the beginners, who want to start their career with VMware virtualization. Beginners who want to learn VMware virtualization often get confused with the different terms like VMware vSphere, VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter. This post i am going to focus the basics of VMware virtualization and also helps them to understand what is VMware vSphere with very basic information about VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter Server. I Will explain detailed architecture information about ESXi and vCenter server in the upcoming articles.
What is VMware vSphere ?
VMware vSphere is not a specific product or software. VMware vSphere is the commercial name for entire VMware suite. The VMware vSphere stack comprises virtualization, management, and interface layers. The two core components of VMware vSphere are ESXi server and vCenter Server. ESXi is the hypervsior, where you create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances. vCenter Server is the service through which you manage multiple ESXi hosts connected in a network and pool host resources. I hope this simple information clears your mind from the question 'What is VMware vSphere'. VMware vSphere is being the master in virtualization industry as compared to other hypervisors such as Microsoft Hyper-v and Citrix Xen Server. Take a look at my article comparison deep dive VMware vs Hyper-v
History of VMware vSphere ?
Prior to VMware vSphere, entire VMware product suite is called 'VMware Infrastructure'. VMware renamed its flagship product name 'VMware Infrastructure' to 'VMware vSphere' with the release of VMware vSphere 4.
VMware first released the VMware Workstation in 1998 which is the root product of VMware. Followed by VMware Workstation, They released ESX (Elastic Sky X) and GSX (Ground Storm X) hypervisors. Where ESX ran directly on the server hardware (bare metal hypervisor) and GSX required a host OS. VMware GSX has be retired but ESX line is now renamed to ESXi with the lot of architectural differences and improvements across each release of ESXi host. Take a look at my article to understand Difference between VMware ESX and VMware ESXi
Below are brief product release history of VMware vSphere products shows the evolution of VMware workstation to VMware vSphere 6.5.
I hope this table helps you to understand what is VMware vSphere and evolution of VMware vSphere. If you are looking for comparison between various vSphere versions . Take a look at my article on the below link
SmartOS is a free and open-source SVR4 hypervisor based on the UNIX operating system that combines OpenSolaris technology with Linux's KVM virtualization. It employs NetBSD pkgsrc package management.
Download SmartOS (Link)
Note: VMware ESXi is not a FOSS project but free to download and use. It is here just for knowledge…
VMware ESXI
If you have the perception that all VMWare products are paid then you didn't check thoroughly. Because there are some products those free and VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) is one of them.
VMware free ESXi is another best free hypervisor for creating a virtual environment to install different operating systems. After the installation, the user can connect the virtualized Vmware server using the Vsphere client. That gives an easy to use a graphical user interface to create, deploy, destroy unlimited VMs. Being a part of a commercial entity, it supports a wide range of server hardware and well optimized to run virtual servers for production usage. The user needs to enter the free license key to use the Vmware Type1 hypervisor otherwise it will expire after 60 days.
Download Vmware free ESXi (Link)
Free Hyper-V server 2019 Standalone
The standalone version of the Hyper-V is a free product from Microsoft and available to download free of cost. However, there are some disadvantages of the standalone version, it doesn't come with GUI, yes it is Microsoft product without a graphical user interface plus less drive support, roles, and hard to manage. Still, if you want to try the standalone product you are free to go. However, I recommend the Windows server rather just alone hyper.
Oracle VirtualBox
Those are familiar with virtualization they would already know about the VirtualBox. It is the best Type-2 Virtual machine creator platform available for almost all mainstream operating systems such as Windows, macOS, FreeBSD, and macOS. The interface is super easy to understand and use. Even a new user can easily install it and start creating virtual machines in a few minutes.
So, these are few free and best open-source bare-metal hypervisor options, if you are using any of them or some different, let us know your experience.
Other Useful Resources:
We have talked lot about various VMware products and even deep dive articles about VMware vSphere and its components. I am getting lot of requests from the beginners, who want to start their career with VMware virtualization. Beginners who want to learn VMware virtualization often get confused with the different terms like VMware vSphere, VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter. This post i am going to focus the basics of VMware virtualization and also helps them to understand what is VMware vSphere with very basic information about VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter Server. I Will explain detailed architecture information about ESXi and vCenter server in the upcoming articles.
What is VMware vSphere ?
VMware vSphere is not a specific product or software. VMware vSphere is the commercial name for entire VMware suite. The VMware vSphere stack comprises virtualization, management, and interface layers. The two core components of VMware vSphere are ESXi server and vCenter Server. ESXi is the hypervsior, where you create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances. vCenter Server is the service through which you manage multiple ESXi hosts connected in a network and pool host resources. I hope this simple information clears your mind from the question 'What is VMware vSphere'. VMware vSphere is being the master in virtualization industry as compared to other hypervisors such as Microsoft Hyper-v and Citrix Xen Server. Take a look at my article comparison deep dive VMware vs Hyper-v
History of VMware vSphere ?
Prior to VMware vSphere, entire VMware product suite is called 'VMware Infrastructure'. VMware renamed its flagship product name 'VMware Infrastructure' to 'VMware vSphere' with the release of VMware vSphere 4.
VMware first released the VMware Workstation in 1998 which is the root product of VMware. Followed by VMware Workstation, They released ESX (Elastic Sky X) and GSX (Ground Storm X) hypervisors. Where ESX ran directly on the server hardware (bare metal hypervisor) and GSX required a host OS. VMware GSX has be retired but ESX line is now renamed to ESXi with the lot of architectural differences and improvements across each release of ESXi host. Take a look at my article to understand Difference between VMware ESX and VMware ESXi
Below are brief product release history of VMware vSphere products shows the evolution of VMware workstation to VMware vSphere 6.5.
I hope this table helps you to understand what is VMware vSphere and evolution of VMware vSphere. If you are looking for comparison between various vSphere versions . Take a look at my article on the below link
What is VMware ESXi?
VMware ESXi is the bare metal hypervisor from VMware. VMware ESXi is the piece of software available in the form of ISO which gets installs directly on the physical hardware as same like windows or linux operating systems. ESXi installation is a small footprint with size of 144 MB. Even you can install ESXi on USB pendrive. VMWare ESXi allows you to create multiple virtual machines in top of it to run multiple operating system such as windows, linux, solaris,macOS,etc in a single physical hardware. It enables you to run your workloads on top of virtual machine which allows you to consolidate multiple physical hardware's to run your workloads into fewer physical hardware.
Prior to vSphere 5, vSphere has 2 hypervisors ESX & ESXi. With the release of vSphere 5.0, ESXi is the only hypervisor. Take a look at my article to understand difference between ESX and ESXi
VMware ESXi comes with free and paid version. As you guessed, Free version of ESXi will comes with few limitation as compared to the paid ESXi. You won't be able to manage your free ESXi hypervisor using vCenter Server. I will explain about vCenter server in a little while. Eventhough Free ESxi have few limitations which is far enough to work with that on lab purposes, POC, evaluation before upgrading to advanced versions of ESXi and even in test & development purposes.
How do you build home lab using VMware ESXi. You can even install VMware ESXi in top of VMware Workstation. Take a look at my article to understand how to install ESXi on VMware Workstation
Install ESX/ESXi Server on VMware Workstation – Part 1
Install ESX/ESXi Server on VMware Workstation – Part 2
Upgrading from free version of ESXi to advanced paid version of ESXi is just an seemless by updating the new license keys.
Articles related to Free VMware ESXi hypervisor:
vSphere 5.5 – ESXi 5.5 Free version with no more 32 GB RAM hard limit
vSphere 5.5 – Download Free ESXi 5.5 License Keys
vSphere 6.0 – Download Free ESXi 6.0 License Keys
Download VMware vSphere 6.5 – Get your Copy to Evaluate!!!
I will explain the detailed architecture overview about VMware ESXi in the upcoming articles. Cardhop 1 1 – manage your contacts to my.
What is VMware vCenter Server?
VMware vCenter is the software which helps you to centrally manage your entire VMware Virtualzation infrastructure. vCenter can add about thousands of ESXi hosts into the inventory which allows you to manage multiple ESXi hosts and also virtual machines running on the ESXi hosts. vCenter Server provides lot of vSphere features such as VMware DRS, VMware HA (High Availability), VMware vMotion , VMware Fault Tolerance, Virtual machine templates, VM cloning,etc. We will talk about each of the features in detail in the upcoming posts. Take a look at my article to understand the difference between clone and Template.
VMware vCenter can be installed on Windows or via linux based vCenter called vCenter Server Appliance. Which was recently switched from SUSE to Photon OS (VMware's Operating system) on vSphere 6.5. To understand the difference between Windows based vCenter server and vCenter Server appliance. You need to have an external database such as Microsoft SQL server,Oracle,etc or embedded database such as PostgreSQL to install vCenter Server. PostgreSQL become embedded database from vSphere 6.0 prior to that Microsoft SQL server Express edition was the embedded database for VMware vCenter Server. vCenter server databases stores the information about virtual infrastructure inventory objects such as ESXi host information, Virtual machine information along with the performance data.
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What is vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client?
I hope your got basic idea about what is VMware vSphere, VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter Server. Let's foucs on what is vSphere Client and vSphere Web client. vSphere client and vSphere web client is nothing but the Client software which helps the end-user to connect to the vCenter Server. In simple terms, It is same as the RDP client which helps you to remotely connect your windows server. Similar to that , vCenter server is a software running on Windows or even Photo OS based appliance will just run as service. We need vSphere Client or vSphere Web client to connect to the vCenter server and manage the virtual infrastructure.
vSphere Client is the client software which needs to be installed on the user desktop or laptop but vSphere Web client is the browser based client. You don't need to install client software to manage vCenter server using vSphere web client. You can even manage ESXi host directly using vSphere Client but vSphere Web Client can only use to manage vCenter Server. We can also manage ESXi 6.5 host using host client via Web browser. There will be no more vSphere Client (windows based) from vSphere 6.5. We need to use only vSphere Web Client to manage the VMware virtual infrastructure from vSphere 6.5 onwards.
Download link for All Versions of VMware vSphere Client
vSphere 6.0 What's New – Improved and Faster vSphere Web Client
I hope this article helps you to understand what is VMware vSphere and basic information about the core components of VMware vSphere such as VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server ,vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client. We will talk in detail about each of the core components in the upcoming posts. I hope this is informative for you. Thanks for Reading!!!. Be social and share it in social media, if you feel worth sharing it.
vSphere 6.5 Blog posts:
What's New with VMware vSphere 6.5?
vSphere 6.5 -What's New with vCenter 6.5?
What's New with Virtual SAN 6.5? – New Features Overview
vSphere 6.5 -What's New with vSphere 6.5 HA & DRS
vSphere 6.5 – What's is in VMware vSphere 6.5 Fault Tolerance?
Download VMware vSphere 6.5 – Get your Copy to Evaluate!!!
vSphere 6.5 – Deploying vCenter appliance 6.5
Deploying vCenter 6.5 External Platform Services Controller
Deploying vCenter Server appliance 6.5 with External PSC
vSphere 6.5 – Configuring vCenter Server 6.5 HA
vSphere 6.5 – vCenter 6.5 Native HA Failover Testing
vSphere 6.5 Configuration Maximums – What's New?
vSphere 6.5 – How VM's are Secured using vSphere 6.5 Security Features?
Migrate Windows vCenter Server 6.0 to vCenter Server appliance 6.5
