Components of VMware vSphere (Module 2 Pt.2 VMware Data Center Software)

  Data Center Virtualization, VMWare

Hypervisor

  • Provides VMs with their virtual hardware
  • Provides appropriate share of physical resources (CPU, HDD, RAM, Bandwidth) as defined.
  • Performance is determined by the resources allocated to the VM.

Type 1: “Bare Metal” Hypervisors

Typically used for Data Center Virtualization due to less dependence on an OS and is more efficient because performs both rolls as single piece of software.

  • Install as the Operating System
  • No underlying OS required.
  • Perform the functions of the Hypervisor (Resource manage features)
  • Example: VMware ESXi

Type 2: “Hosted” Hypervisors

  • Operate as an application on top of a pre-installed OS.
  • Good if underlying hardware isn’t supported by Type 1 Hypervisor.
  • Example: VMware Workstation

 

ESXi

  • Bare Metal
  • Performs roll of OS
  • Direct access to hardware
  • Can be installed onto Hard Drives, USB Flash Drives, SD cards
  • Can also network boot from network tools such as PXE and TFTP Servers.

Common Tasks

  • Create VMs
  • Adjust VM Configurations
  • Monitor Performance
  • Configure and Patch Hosts
  • To Manage all VMs in a single view, you need vCenter

 

vCenter

  • Is an advanced manage suite that provides tools and features that make virtualization a natural extension of Data Center management.
  • Capable of managing several VMs across several Hypervisors.
  • Scalable – A single vCenter Instance can manage up to 1000 ESXi Hosts and 10,000 Powered On VMs. Additional instances can be installed as required.
  • Idenity Management (Active Directory)
  • Database Server
  • Application Server
  • Web Server
  • VMware vSphere Web Client
  • Can be installed on a Windows system or deployed as a virtual appliance.
  • Able to install roles on one or multiple servers, depending on needs
  • vCenter can be migrated into a Cloud Based configuration

What does vCenter Do?

  • Provides ability to perform functions that require multiple ESXi hosts
  • vMotion – Migrate running VMs from 1 ESXi host to another WITHOUT disrupting the VM!
  • Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) – Load balancing for VMs across ESXi hosts. DRS leverages vMotion to balance these hosts.
  • Distributed Power Management (DPM) – Power off unused ESXI hosts. Can also power them back on when needed!
  • Storage vMotion – Migrates running VMs hard disks from one storage device to another
  • Storage DRS – Automates Load Balancing from a Storage perspective
  • vSphere Data Protection – Provides ability to backup VMs. Also provides
    • High Availability (HA) – to restart VM on another host in case of Hardware failure
    • Fault Tolerance (FT) – Provides uninterrupted availability for VMs
    • vSphere Replication – Copy your VMs to another site for Disaster Recovery purposes

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