AWS Solutions Architect Associate Practice Test

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What is the underlying hypervisor for Amazon EC2?

  1. Hyper-V

  2. ESX

  3. Xen

  4. OVM

The correct answer is: Xen

The underlying hypervisor for Amazon EC2 is indeed Xen. Amazon EC2 originally utilized the Xen hypervisor, which is an open-source type-1 hypervisor, meaning it runs directly on the hardware instead of on top of an operating system. This contributes to improved performance and efficiency, as it allows for better resource allocation among virtual machines. Xen provides features such as paravirtualization and full virtualization, which enable EC2 to run various operating systems and instances effectively. While Amazon has introduced a new virtualization technology called Nitro, which builds on principles similar to Xen and enhances performance, the legacy support and initial architecture of Amazon EC2 are closely tied to the Xen hypervisor. In the context of the question, the focus is on identifying the foundational hypervisor used in Amazon EC2, which is why Xen is the correct choice.