LPIC Level 3 305-300 Question # 16 Topic 2 Discussion

A hypervisor is a software that creates and runs virtual machines (VMs) by separating the operating system and resources from the physical hardware. One of the main tasks of a hypervisor is to map the resources of VMs to the resources of the host system, such as CPU, memory, disk, and network. This allows the hypervisor to allocate and manage the resources among multiple VMs and ensure that they run efficiently and independently123. Another important task of a hypervisor is to isolate the VMs and prevent unauthorized access to resources of other VMs. This ensures the security and privacy of the VMs and their data, as well as the stability and performance of the host system. The hypervisor can use various techniques to isolate the VMs, such as virtual LANs, firewalls, encryption, and access control145.

The other tasks listed are not part of a hypervisor’s responsibility, but rather of the guest operating system or the application running inside the VM. A hypervisor does not create filesystems during the installation of new VMs, as this is done by the installer of the guest operating system6. A hypervisor does not provide host-wide unique PIDs to the processes running inside the VMs, as this is done by the kernel of the guest operating system7. A hypervisor does not manage authentication to network services running inside a VM, as this is done by the network service itself or by a directory service such as LDAP or Active Directory8. References: 1 (search for “What is a hypervisor?”), 2 (search for “How does a hypervisor work?”), 3 (search for “The hypervisor gives each virtual machine the resources that have been allocated”), 4 (search for “Benefits ofhypervisors”), 5 (search for “Isolate the virtual machines and prevent unauthorized access”), 6 (search for “Create filesystems during the installation of new virtual machine quest operating systems”), 7 (search for “Provide host-wide unique PIDs to the processes running inside the virtual machines”), 8 (search for “Manage authentication to network services running inside a virtual machine”).