Best Hypervisors

Build virtualization solutions on top of a lightweight hypervisor, without third-party kernel extensions. Hypervisor provides C APIs so you can interact with virtualization technologies in user space, without writing kernel extensions (KEXTs). As a result, the apps you create using this framework are suitable for distribution on the Mac App Store. Use this framework to create and control hardware-facilitated virtual machines and virtual processors (VMs and vCPUs) from your entitled, sandboxed, user-space process. Hypervisor abstracts virtual machines as processes, and virtual processors as threads. The Hypervisor framework requires hardware support to virtualize hardware resources. On Apple silicon, that includes the Virtualization Extensions. On Intel-based Mac computers, the framework supports machines with an Intel VT-x feature set that includes Extended Page Tables (EPT) and Unrestricted Mode.

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Xvisor® is an open-source type-1 hypervisor, which aims at providing a monolithic, light-weight, portable, and flexible virtualization solution. It provides a high performance and low memory foot print virtualization solution for ARMv5, ARMv6, ARMv7a, ARMv7a-ve, ARMv8a, x86_64, RISC-V and other CPU architectures. In comparison to other ARM hypervisors, it is one of the few hypervisors providing support for ARM CPUs which do not have ARM virtualization extensions. In RISC-V world, it is world first Type-1 RISC-V hypervisor. The Xvisor source code is highly portable and can be easily ported to most general-purpose 32-bit or 64-bit architectures as long as they have a paged memory management unit (PMMU) and a port of the GNU C compiler (GCC). Xvisor primarily supports Full virtualization hence, supports a wide range of unmodified Guest operating systems. Paravirtualization is optional for Xvisor and will be supported in an architecture independent manner (such as VirtIO PCI/MMIO devices).

µ-visor is Green Hill Software’s virtualization solution for microcontrollers. It features robust hardware-enforced software separation, multiple-OS support and real-time efficiency to safely and securely consolidate critical workloads on resource-constrained processors. µ-visor’s scalable and efficient architecture guarantees freedom-from-interference to multiple operating systems running on the same CPU and offers flexible options to fully utilize multiple cores and limited processor resources. Like other Green Hills products, µ-visor is designed for systems with critical requirements for industry-specific safety and security certifications and it enjoys the powerful support of Green Hills’ advanced integrated development tools. µ-visor’s virtual machines and their operating systems enjoy freedom-from-interference from each other through hardware-enforced separation

IBM z/VM is an operating system with security-rich and scalable hypervisor and virtualization technology designed to run guest servers such as Linux, z/OS and z/TPF virtual machines as well as Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Z and LinuxONE servers. IBM z/VM runs hundreds to thousands of guest servers on a single IBM Z or IBM LinuxONE server with high efficiency and elasticity. It supports multiple machine images and architectures, simplifying migrations, facilitating application transitions, and consolidating systems onto one server. IBM z/VM excels in sharing system resources among virtual machines, offering extreme scalability, security, and efficiency, leading to cost savings and a robust foundation for cognitive computing. Use on-premises cloud computing in a hybrid cloud strategy. Scale and run thousands of Linux and container workloads efficiently. Help ensure continuous availability with IBM's resiliency offerings.

The AWS Nitro System is the foundation for the latest generation of Amazon EC2 instances, enabling AWS to innovate faster, reduce costs for customers, and deliver enhanced security and new instance types. By reimagining virtualization infrastructure, AWS has offloaded functions such as CPU, storage, and networking virtualization to dedicated hardware and software, allowing nearly all server resources to be allocated to instances. This architecture comprises several key components: Nitro Cards, which offload and accelerate I/O for functions like VPC, EBS, and instance storage; the Nitro Security Chip, providing a minimized attack surface and prohibiting administrative access to eliminate human error and tampering; and the Nitro Hypervisor, a lightweight hypervisor that manages memory and CPU allocation, delivering performance nearly indistinguishable from bare metal. The Nitro System's modular design allows for rapid delivery of EC2 instance types.