Hypervisor
A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM), is software, firmware, or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines (VMs). It abstracts physical hardware resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage, to allow multiple guest operating systems to run concurrently on a single host machine. This enables efficient resource utilization, isolation between VMs, and flexibility in managing computing environments.
Developers should learn and use hypervisors when building or managing virtualized infrastructure, such as in cloud computing, data centers, or development/testing environments. Specific use cases include server consolidation to reduce hardware costs, creating isolated sandboxes for software testing, and deploying scalable applications in platforms like VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V. It's essential for roles in DevOps, system administration, and cloud engineering to optimize resource allocation and ensure high availability.