User guide

HP Virtual Connect for Cisco Network Administrators (version 4.x)
Document Number: C01386629 Date: January 2014
page 37
After comparing the components and their functionality, it is obvious why many customers treat a c-
Class enclosure with Virtual Connect the same way they would a single VMware ESX server. In
other words, VC allows an entire enclosure to look to the network just like a big VMware ESX
server. From a network redundancy and load balancing perspective, from a security perspective,
from a port monitoring perspective, etc.; VC simplifies the network connectivity for an entire
enclosure and makes it behave on the network like a single VMware ESX server.
Just to reiterate the commonality between the two products from a networking technology
perspective, below is a table of similarities.
Figure 19: Networking Technology Similarities Between VC and VMware
VMware
Virtual Connect
Provides network connectivity
for multiple servers
(virtual)
(physical & virtual)
Provides redundancy external
connectivity for internal
servers
Provides load balanced external
connectivity for internal servers