OS & Hardware

What is the software called that runs multiple operating systems simultaneously on one computer, each as an independent virtual machine?

  1. ACompiler
  2. BDevice driver
  3. CHypervisor
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Answer: C. Hypervisor

A hypervisor (virtual machine monitor) divides CPU, memory and devices among multiple virtual machines, making each OS believe it has a computer to itself. Virtual machines are isolated, so a failure in one rarely affects others, and hypervisors are widely used in cloud servers. CPU virtualization support and nested paging underpin their performance. A compiler translates programs, and a device driver operates devices.

  • A. A compiler translates programs into machine code.
  • B. A device driver is an OS component that operates devices.
  • C. Correct. It is the software that runs multiple virtual machines.
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More OS & Hardware questions

  1. Which correctly describes the types of hypervisors?
  2. In virtualization with nested paging (two-stage address translation), which describes what the hardware does?
  3. In nested paging where both guest and host use 4-level page tables, how many memory accesses can a TLB miss require in the worst case?
  4. What is it called when a guest OS executes a privileged instruction, control passes to the hypervisor, and the hypervisor reproduces the instruction's effect on its behalf?
  5. Which describes paravirtualization?