HyperV

By:
Raghava Krishnan T E
Outline
1. About
2. History
3. Architecture
4. Features
5. Limitations
About Hyper V
● Codenamed Viridian, developed by Microsoft.
● Is a native hypervisor (software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs
virtual machines)
● It can not only virtualise OS but entire hardware components such as hard
drives, network switches etc.
● Not limited to user device but can be used for server virtualisation.( A physical
server can be divided into multiple isolated environments).
● A server computer running hyper V can be configured to expose individual
virtual machines to one or more networks.
History
● A beta version of Hyper-V was shipped with certain x86-64 editions of
Windows Server 2008.
● Final version released on June 26, 2008 and was delivered through Windows
update.
● Microsoft provides Hyper-V through two channels:
1. Part of Windows: Hyper-V is an optional component of Windows Server
2008 and later. It is also available in x64 SKUs of Pro and Enterprise
editions of Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
2. Hyper-V Server: It is a freeware edition of Windows Server with limited
functionality and Hyper-V component.
Architecture

The architecture diagram of hyper V is as follows:

Parent Partition
● A partition is a logical unit of isolation, supported by the hypervisor, in which
each guest OS executes.
● There must be atleast one parent partition,in a hypervisior instance, running a
supported Windows Server.
● Parent partition has direct access to the hardware components.
● The parent partition creates the child partition where the guest OS executes
using the hypercall API.
Child Partition
● Doesn’t have access to physical processor nor does it handles its real
interrupts
● Has virtual view and runs in Guest Virtual Address
● Hyper V may expose only a subset of processors to each partition
● It handles the interrupts to the processor and redirects them to respective
partitions using Synthetic Interrupt Controller.
● Hyper V can hardware accelerate the address translation of Guest Virtual
address spaces by using second level address translation provided by the
CPU.
Child Partition
● Any request to hardware will be redirected via VMBus to the devices in the
parent partition which will manage the requests.
● VMBus is a logical channel that enables inter-partition communication
● Request is also sent via the VMBus. If the devices in the parent partition are
virtual devices, then the process happens recursively until the physical
hardware components are reached.
● Parent partition runs Virtual Service Provider while the client runs Virtual
Service Client to connect to the VMBus.
● This entire process of forwarding the requests is transparent to the Guest OS
Windows Server Virtualisation feature
● Enlightened I/O
● Used for storage, networking and graphic subsystems among many others
● Is a specialised virtualisation-aware implementation of high level
communication protocols that allow bypassing any device emulation layer and
takes advantage of VMBus directly
● Communication is made more efficient,
Features
● Computing environment - A Hyper-V virtual machine includes the same
basic parts as a physical computer, such as memory, processor, storage, and
networking. All these parts have features and options that you can configure
different ways to meet different needs. Storage and networking can each be
considered categories of their own, because of the many ways you can
configure them.
● Optimization - Each supported guest operating system has a customized set
of services and drivers, called integration services, that make it easier to use
the operating system in a Hyper-V virtual machine.
Features
● Disaster recovery and backup - For disaster recovery, Hyper-V Replica
creates copies of virtual machines, intended to be stored in another physical
location, so you can restore the virtual machine from the copy. For backup,
Hyper-V offers two types. One uses saved states and the other uses Volume
Shadow Copy Service (VSS) so you can make application-consistent
backups for programs that support VSS.
● Portability - Features such as live migration, storage migration, and
import/export make it easier to move or distribute a virtual machine.
Features
● Remote connectivity - Hyper-V includes Virtual Machine Connection, a
remote connection tool for use with both Windows and Linux. Unlike Remote
Desktop, this tool gives you console access, so you can see what's
happening in the guest even when the operating system isn't booted yet.
● Security - Secure boot and shielded virtual machines help protect against
malware and other unauthorized access to a virtual machine and its data.
Limitations
● Doesn’t virtualise audio hardware.
● Optical drives virtualized in hyper V are read Only.
● Absence of SLAT will cause a significant drop in graphic performance.
Thank you