Deployment Guide 5
Introduction
VMware
®
ESX Server
™
software provides the rapid creation of multiple
virtualmachines (VMs) on a single physical server. These VMs each run in a
resource-isolated, secure environment and include a Microsoft
®
Windows,
Linux™, or Novell
®
NetWare
®
operating system (OS) with their associated
applications. The ESXServer software has a virtualization layer that
allocates virtualized Dell resources to VMs and a ServiceConsole – a
management interface for the VMware virtualization layer.
Figure1-1
shows
the ESXServer architecture.
Figure 1-1. VMwareESX Server Architecture
VMwareVirtualCenter is a management application that monitors and
manages virtualmachines distributed across ESX Server installations, as well
as the ESXServer systems themselves. VirtualCenter can show global task
lists, each individual ESXServer, or each individual VM.
When VirtualCenter-managed ESXServer farms have a common
Storage AreaNetwork (SAN), they can take advantage of VMotion™
technology. This technology allows for the “hot” migration of a running VM.
A live, state-full application, with its OS, can be moved from one
PowerEdge™ server running ESXServer to another. This migration is
transparent to the end users, who are not aware that it is taking place.
VMotion technology provides dynamic scaling, performance, and
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