Which major Type 1 hypervisors can a systems administrator evaluate for future migration?

The major Type 1 hypervisors that a systems administrator can evaluate for future migration include ESXi, Hyper-V, and XEN. Type 1 hypervisors, also known as bare-metal hypervisors, run directly on the physical hardware instead of an operating system. This direct connection generally results in better performance, scalability, and management compared to Type 2 hypervisors, which run on an operating system.

ESXi is VMware's enterprise-grade hypervisor known for its ability to handle large virtualized environments and its robust feature set. Hyper-V, developed by Microsoft, offers strong integration with Windows environments and is often chosen for organizations already utilizing Microsoft infrastructures. XEN is an open-source hypervisor that can be deployed on various operating systems and is well-regarded for its flexibility and strong community support.

In contrast, VMware Workstation and VirtualBox are examples of Type 2 hypervisors, and while they are useful for desktop virtualization, they do not meet the criteria for major Type 1 hypervisors in a cloud or enterprise environment. KVM, while being a Type 1 hypervisor, is not as traditionally recognized alongside the others in the context of migration discussions noted. Lastly, Linux, Windows Server, and ZFS