As Microsoft readies Hyper-V, the new hypervisor software that forms the foundation for virtualization in Windows Server 2008, VMware is finally facing some real competition in the Windows server virtualization market. Unfortunately, Microsoft has followed in VMware's footsteps by creating its own, proprietary way of doing things, and VMware doesn't want to play along. The result: IT faces a choice between two virtualization options that are incompatible.
Virtualization services are built on top of a thin layer of code, called a hypervisor, that sits on top of the hardware and abstracts it away from the virtual Windows servers running above. The primary purpose of this program is the redirection of requests between multiple virtual machines and the underlying hardware so that each VM thinks that it is in charge. It is, in essence, basic plumbing.
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