XenServer, now known as Citrix Hypervisor, is a virtualization platform that allows multiple virtual machines (VMs) to run on a single physical server. It’s built on the Xen Project hypervisor, which is an open-source technology widely used in enterprise environments.

🧠 What XenServer Does

• Hosts multiple operating systems simultaneously on one physical machine
• Provides tools for managing VMs, storage, networking, and performance
• Supports live migration, snapshots, and high availability features

🏗️ Type of Hypervisor

XenServer is a Type 1 hypervisor, also known as a bare-metal hypervisor. That means:

• It runs directly on the hardware, not on top of an operating system
• Offers better performance and security compared to Type 2 hypervisors
• Uses a special privileged VM called Dom0 (Domain 0) to manage hardware and other guest VMs

Type 2 hypervisors, by contrast, run on top of an existing OS—like VirtualBox or VMware Workstation—and are typically used for desktop virtualization.