Hypervisor Architecture

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V is a hypervisor that sits between the hardware, the parent partition (with the first installed OS), and one or more child partitions.

Windows Server Hyper-V runs on AMD or Intel x64 processors with hardware virtualization assist. Hyper-V creates and manages partitions, including coordinating the shared use of the server’s hardware.

The parent partition contains the device drivers used by all of the child partitions, or virtual machines. Each child partition contains a guest OS. Virtual Service Providers manage sharing between the device drivers running in the parent partition and the child partitions that use the devices.

If the OS running in the child partition is Hyper-V-aware, then the OS running in the child partition accesses the server hardware via a Virtual Service Client through the VMBus to a corresponding Virtual Service Provider and the device driver in the parent partition. Virtual Service Clients and Providers exist in pairs for various devices, including storage, network, and video. Windows Server 2008 and 2003 R2 are Hyper-V aware, and there will be Hyper-V-aware Linux distributions.