{"id":13242,"date":"2012-08-01T09:11:13","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T08:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=13242"},"modified":"2012-08-01T09:11:13","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T08:11:13","slug":"hyper-v-host-and-vm-terminology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=13242","title":{"rendered":"Hyper-V Host and VM Terminology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I talked<\/a> about what the names were for Hyper-V and Windows Server 2012 (WS2012).  Today I\u2019m going to talk Hyper-V terminology.<\/p>\n

Why am I posting this stuff?  I don\u2019t call my car a motorbike when I talk to a mechanic.  Ever get a request for help where someone pulling virtualisation terms out of thin air.  For example, I\u2019ve seen many people asking for help with their virtual servers. The more I read, the more I\u2019m left wondering if they are talking about a host, a virtual machine, or a virtualisation product that Microsoft released back in September 2004.  While a tiny bit of this is Hyper-V specific, most of it is industry terminology going back 10 or more years.  <\/p>\n

I think getting this stuff right is important. For example, I don\u2019t like remotely helping people who can\u2019t get the terminology right because it leaves me wondering if they are the sort of person who\u2019ll take my help, get it very wrong, screw up royally, and then blame me for their lack of knowledge. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only one who feels like that.<\/p>\n

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The Host<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The physical machine is referred to as a host<\/font><\/strong>.  It is not called a Hyper-V server.  There is a product called Hyper-V Server that you can download and install on the host. It is absolutely not called a virtual server. <\/p>\n

The operating system that is installed on the host and used to manage the hypervisor and host is referred to as the m<\/font>a<\/font>nagement OS<\/font><\/strong>. You will see some other terms floating about such as root partition and parent partition. Both are out-dated; yes there is new MSFT documentation that uses \u201croot partition\u201d and I was until recently (incorrectly) using \u201cparent partition\u201d but the correct term is management OS.  The generic term of h<\/font>o<\/font>st operating system (Host OS)<\/font><\/strong> is acceptable in my opinion seeing as it could include to many hypervisor products.<\/p>\n

The Virtual Machines<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Guess what: in virtualisation we have virtual machines<\/font><\/strong>. The are not called Hyper-V servers. The are definitely not called virtual servers.  It is simple: virtual machine or VM<\/strong><\/font>.  A VM can also be referred to as a guest<\/font><\/strong>.  <\/p>\n

When you\u2019re talking to a Microsoft licensing specialist they\u2019ll talk to you about VOSE<\/font><\/strong>s.  That\u2019s a Virtual Operating System Environment<\/font><\/strong> or a guest operating system<\/font><\/strong> or guest OS<\/font><\/strong>.  Guest OS = VOSE.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n