CompTIA Network+ Practice Test

What is the primary purpose of a hypervisor in cloud environments?

1. To manage physical hardware efficiency

2. To create and manage virtual machines

3. To provide network load balancing

4. To act as a user interface for cloud services

The correct answer is: To create and manage virtual machines

The primary purpose of a hypervisor in cloud environments is to create and manage virtual machines. A hypervisor functions as a virtual machine manager that sits between the hardware and the operating system, allowing multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a host machine. This capability enhances resource utilization by allowing different virtual instances to share the underlying physical hardware. In cloud computing, this becomes especially crucial, as it enables scalability and flexibility. Organizations can deploy or shut down virtual machines as demand changes, optimizing the use of resources without the need for additional physical servers. This principle of virtualization underpins many cloud architectures, making it possible to efficiently allocate resources and manage workloads in a dynamic environment. Thus, the hypervisor's role is foundational in building a virtualized infrastructure, allowing cloud service providers to deliver software and services effectively while maintaining isolation and security between virtual machines.