Microsoft Hyper-V is the hypervisor powering Microsoft Azure at global scale. Its primary responsibility is to run virtual machines (VMs). VMs run in their own isolated and dedicated space, which means that more than one VM can run simultaneously on the same physical hardware. This is done by abstracting the physical hardware and dividing it into logical units, providing organizations the benefit of business agility and lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). The hypervisor uses a bare metal architecture and runs directly on the hardware platform. The guest operating systems run one level above the hypervisor and inside the virtual machine.

Hyper-V is the foundation of the Microsoft Hybrid Cloud and is the first step in enabling the dynamic data center. Hyper-V is on the forefront in establishing and expanding a private cloud environment by providing a foundation for flexible and on-demand services such as creating and expanding VMs as utilization changes. By consolidating servers and workloads onto fewer and more powerful physical servers, Hyper-V helps to reduce the hardware footprint. Through integrated high availability, Hyper-V improves business continuity by minimizing the impact of downtimes.

Hyper-V offers many features each with its own set of benefits for Hyper-V administrators and users. Here are the top Hyper-V features and what they can do for an organization.