Datasheet

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CHAPTER 1 VMware VSphere 4 OVerView
In the following sections, we’ll provide a closer look at each type of infrastructure service.
VMware vCompute
VMware vCompute services virtualize CPU and memory resources in an x86 server. The
vCompute services also aggregate these resources from several discrete servers into shared
logical pools that can be allocated to applications running inside virtual machines.
The vCompute services comprise the following:
VMware ESX (and VMware ESXi) A bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on server
hardware. It supports different x86 virtualization technologies such as VMware-invented
binary translation, hardware-assisted virtualization, and paravirtualization. VMware ESXi
is a free version of ESX with a smaller footprint that minimizes the surface area for potential
security attacks, making it more secure and reliable. ESX also includes several advanced CPU
scheduling capabilities, as well as unique memory management features such as transparent
page sharing and memory ballooning. These sophisticated features enable ESX to achieve
higher consolidation ratios compared to its competition.
VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) Extends the resource management features
in ESX across multiple physical servers. It aggregates CPU and memory resources across many
physical servers into a shared cluster and then dynamically allocates these cluster resources to
virtual machines based on a set of configurable options. DRS makes sure that resource utiliza-
tion is continuously balanced across different servers in the shared cluster.
VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM) Included with VMware DRS, DPM auto-
mates energy efficiency in VMware DRS clusters. It continuously optimizes server power
consumption within each cluster by powering on or off vSphere servers as needed.
Figure 1.1
VMware vSphere
overview
• VMXNET
• Standard Switch
• Distributed Switch
vNetwork
• Hot Add
• Hot Plug Devices
• Hot Extend Disks
VMware
vSphere
Application
Services
Infrastructure
Services
Scalability
• VMFS
• PVSCSI
• Thin Provisioning
vStorage
• vShield Zones
• VMSafe
Security
• ESX and ESXi
• DRS
• DPM
vCompute
• VMotion
• Storage VMotion
• HA
• Fault Tolerance
• Data Recovery
Availability
• Orchestrator
• Guided Consolidation
• Update Manager
Management
Services
• Host Profiles
• Linked Mode
• Inventory Search
vCenter
Server
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