HP VMware ESXi management environment integration note

Abstract

VMware virtualization technology has changed the computing landscape, transforming IT

infrastructure with market-leading virtual machine products. More and more enterprises are compelled

to use resources more efficiently, respond quickly to business needs, and increase consistency of IT

operations to reduce costs and deliver quality service at times of uncertainty. VMware vSphere™ is

the industry’s first cloud operating system. It contains VMware

ESXi/ESX – a next-generation thin

architecture hypervisor that provides an efficient foundation for building a dynamic and automated

data center. VMware ESXi/ESX tightly integrates into HP ProLiant platforms for building next-

generation data centers, simplifying virtualization deployments, and providing reliable management

platforms. This document will clarify how adopting HP ProLiant with VMware provides organizations

greater control, efficiency, and scalability.

Introduction

VMware vSphere takes advantage of the power of virtualization to transform data centers into

simplified cloud computing infrastructures. It allows IT organizations to deliver the next generation of

flexible and reliable IT services. With VMware vSphere providing the foundation for internal and

external clouds, organizations of all sizes can achieve the full benefits of cloud computing:

 Reduced costs and maximum IT efficiency.

 Increased IT control through service level automation.

 Empower IT departments with choice.

VMware ESXi is the next-generation hypervisor, providing a new foundation for cloud infrastructures.

This innovative architecture operates independently from any general-purpose operating system and

offers improved security, increased reliability, and simplified management. The compact architecture

is designed for integration directly into virtualization-optimized server hardware, enabling rapid

installation, configuration, and deployment.

Functionally, ESXi 4 is equivalent to ESX 4, offering the same levels of performance and scalability,

while reducing the footprint to less than 70MB of memory. ESXi 4 provides remote command line

interfaces vSphere command line interface (vCLI), APIs for hypervisor and virtual machine

management, and adherence to system management standards. Administrators can use the vCLI for

storage, network, and host configuration, as well as for maintenance, patches, and updates. The

automatic configuration capabilities in VMware ESXi provide detection, discovery, and intelligent-

default configuration. Because ESXi is functionally equivalent to ESX, it supports the entire vSphere 4

suite of products and features.

Customers have the choice of deploying ESXi on HP ProLiant Servers either with select flash media

devices or onto the local hard drive of a server. ESXi 4 also introduces support for PXE boot

installation, which allows truly stateless compute nodes to be used. It takes just minutes to implement a

virtualized environment. This innovative way of distributing virtualization technology removes time-

consuming installation steps and simplifies host configuration.

HP VMware ESXi provides seamless, out-of-the box integration with HP Systems Insight Manager (HP

SIM), the industry’s only unified storage and server management platform. HP Systems Insight

Manager 5.3.2, and later, software incorporates user-friendly features and an improved installation

process, and it supports association and discovery for VMware ESXi. Customers can actively receive

information about the health of their ProLiant servers with enhanced hardware alerting and inventory

management. Companies can eliminate risk, lower potential costs, and resolve server problems

before they result in actual downtime.