Introduction to VMware

Infrastructure
ESX Server 3.5, ESX Server 3i version 3.5
VirtualCenter 2.5

Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Revision: 20071213
Item: VI-ENG-Q407-432

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on our Web site at
http://www.vmware.com/support/
The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
docfeedback@vmware.com

2006-2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242,
6,496,847, 6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022,
6,944,699, 6,961,806, 6,961,941, 7,069,413, 7,082,598, 7,089,377, 7,111,086, 7,111,145, 7,117,481,
7,149,843, 7,155,558, 7,222,221, 7,260,815, 7,260,820, 7,269,683, 7,275,136, 7,277,998, 7,277,999,
7,278,030, 7,281,102, and 7,290,253; patents pending.
VMware, the VMware boxes logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or
trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names
mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

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3401 Hillview Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
www.vmware.com
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VMware, Inc.

Contents

AboutThisBook

VMwareInfrastructureIntroduction 9
PhysicalTopologyofVIDatacenter 12
ComputingServers 12
StorageNetworksandArrays 13
IPNetworks 13
VirtualCenterServer 13
DesktopClients 13
VirtualDatacenterArchitecture 14
Hosts,Clusters,andResourcePools 15
VMwareInfrastructureDistributedServices 17
NetworkArchitecture 20
StorageArchitecture 23
VMwareConsolidatedBackup 26
VirtualCenterServer 27
CommunicationBetweenVirtualCenterandESXServer 30
AccessingtheVirtualDatacenter 31
FirstTimeUse 32
WebAccess 32
WheretoGofromHere 33

Glossary

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

VMware, Inc.

About This Book

Thismanual,theIntroductiontoVMwareInfrastructure,providesinformationaboutthe
featuresandfunctionalityofVMwareInfrastructure.
IntroductiontoVMwareInfrastructurecoversbothESXServer3.5andESXServer3i
version3.5.Foreaseofdiscussion,thisbookusesthefollowingproductnaming
conventions:

FortopicsspecifictoESXServer3.5,thisbookusesthetermESXServer3.

FortopicsspecifictoESXServer3iversion3.5,thisbookusesthetermESXServer
3i.

Fortopicscommontobothproducts,thisbookusesthetermESXServer.

Whentheidentificationofaspecificreleaseisimportanttoadiscussion,thisbook
referstotheproductbyitsfull,versionedname.

WhenadiscussionappliestoallversionsofESXServerforVMwareInfrastructure
3,thisbookusesthetermESXServer3.x.

Intended Audience
Thismanualisintendedforanyonewhoneedstofamiliarizethemselveswiththe
componentsandcapabilitiesofVMwareInfrastructure.Theinformationinthismanual
iswrittenforexperiencedWindowsorLinuxsystemadministratorswhoarefamiliar
withvirtualmachinetechnologyanddatacenteroperations.

VMware, Inc.

Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Document Feedback
VMwarewelcomesyoursuggestionsforimprovingourdocumentation.Ifyouhave
comments,sendyourfeedbackto:
docfeedback@vmware.com

VMware Infrastructure Documentation

TheVMwareInfrastructuredocumentationconsistsofthecombinedVMware
VirtualCenterandESXServerdocumentationset.

Abbreviations Used in Figures

ThefiguresinthismanualusetheabbreviationslistedinTable 1.
Table 1. Abbreviations
Abbreviation

Description

database

VirtualCenterdatabase

datastore

Storageforthemanagedhost

dsk#

Storagediskforthemanagedhost

hostn

VirtualCentermanagedhosts

SAN

Storageareanetworktypedatastoresharedbetweenmanagedhosts

tmplt

Template

user#

Userwithaccesspermissions

VC

VirtualCenter

VM#

Virtualmachinesonamanagedhost

Technical Support and Education Resources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportresourcesavailabletoyou.You
canaccessthemostcurrentversionsofthismanualandotherbooksbygoingto:
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs

Online and Telephone Support

Useonlinesupporttosubmittechnicalsupportrequests,viewyourproductand
contractinformation,andregisteryourproducts.Goto
http://www.vmware.com/support.
6

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About This Book

Customerswithappropriatesupportcontractsshouldusetelephonesupportforthe
fastestresponseonpriority1issues.Goto
http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html.

Support Offerings
FindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds.Goto
http://www.vmware.com/support/services.

VMware Education Services

VMwarecoursesofferextensivehandsonlabs,casestudyexamples,andcourse
materialsdesignedtobeusedasonthejobreferencetools.Formoreinformationabout
VMwareEducationServices,gotohttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfm.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

VMwareInfrastructureisafullinfrastructurevirtualizationsuitethatprovides
comprehensivevirtualization,management,resourceoptimization,application
availability,andoperationalautomationcapabilitiesinanintegratedoffering.VMware
Infrastructurevirtualizesandaggregatestheunderlyingphysicalhardwareresources
acrossmultiplesystemsandprovidespoolsofvirtualresourcestothedatacenterinthe
virtualenvironment.
Inaddition,VMwareInfrastructurebringsaboutasetofdistributedservicesthat
enablesfinegrain,policydrivenresourceallocation,highavailability,and
consolidatedbackupoftheentirevirtualdatacenter.Thesedistributedservicesenable
anITorganizationtoestablishandmeettheirproductionServiceLevelAgreements
withtheircustomersinacosteffectivemanner.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

TherelationshipsamongthevariouscomponentsoftheVMwareInfrastructureare
showninFigure 1.
Figure 1. VMware Infrastructure
VMware Infrastructure

VI Client

DRS

VI Web Access

VI SDK

Consolidated
Backup

HA

Plug-in

VirtualCenter Server

apps

apps

virtual machines
apps
apps
apps

apps

apps

OS

OS

OS

OS

OS

Virtual SMP

OS

ESX Servers

OS

VMFS

enterprise
servers

enterprise
network

enterprise
storage

VMwareInfrastructureincludesthefollowingcomponentsshowninFigure 1:

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VMwareESXServerArobust,productionprovenvirtualizationlayerrunon
physicalserversthatabstractsprocessor,memory,storage,andnetworking
resourcesintomultiplevirtualmachines.TwoversionsofESXServerareavailable:

ESX Server 3containsabuiltinserviceconsole.Itisavailableasaninstallable

CDROMbootimage.

ESX Server 3idoesnotcontainaserviceconsole.Itisavailableintwoforms,

ESX Server 3i EmbeddedandESX Server 3i Installable.
ESX Server 3i Embeddedisfirmwarethatisbuiltintoaserversphysical
hardware.ESX Server 3i Installableissoftwarethatisavailableasan

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

installableCDROMbootimage.YouinstalltheESX Server 3i Installable

softwareontoaserversharddrive.

VirtualCenterServerThecentralpointforconfiguring,provisioning,and
managingvirtualizedITenvironments.

VMwareInfrastructureClient(VIClient)Aninterfacethatallowsusersto
connectremotelytotheVirtualCenterServerorindividualESXServersfromany
WindowsPC.

VMwareInfrastructureWebAccess(VIWebAccess)AWebinterfacethat
allowsvirtualmachinemanagementandaccesstoremoteconsoles.

VMwareVirtualMachineFileSystem(VMFS)Ahighperformanceclusterfile
systemforESX Servervirtualmachines.

VMwareVirtualSymmetricMultiProcessing(SMP)Featurethatenablesa
singlevirtualmachinetousemultiplephysicalprocessorssimultaneously.

VMwareVMotionandVMwareStorageVMotionVMwareVMotionenables
thelivemigrationofrunningvirtualmachinesfromonephysicalservertoanother
withzerodowntime,continuousserviceavailability,andcompletetransaction
integrity.VMwareStorageVMotionenablesthemigrationofvirtualmachinefiles
fromonedatastoretoanotherwithoutserviceinterruption.

VMwareHighAvailability(HA)Featurethatprovideseasytouse,
costeffectivehighavailabilityforapplicationsrunninginvirtualmachines.Inthe
eventofserverfailure,affectedvirtualmachinesareautomaticallyrestartedon
otherproductionserversthathavesparecapacity.

VMwareDistributedResourceScheduler(DRS)Featurethatallocatesand
balancescomputingcapacitydynamicallyacrosscollectionsofhardwareresources
forvirtualmachines.Thisfeatureincludesdistributedpowermanagement(DPM)
capabilitiesthatenableadatacentertosignificantlyreduceitspowerconsumption.

VMwareConsolidatedBackup(ConsolidatedBackup)Featurethatprovidesan
easytouse,centralizedfacilityforagentfreebackupofvirtualmachines.It
simplifiesbackupadministrationandreducestheloadonESX Servers.

VMwareInfrastructureSDKFeaturethatprovidesastandardinterfacefor
VMwareandthirdpartysolutionstoaccesstheVMwareInfrastructure.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Physical Topology of VI Datacenter

AsFigure 2shows,atypicalVMwareInfrastructuredatacenterconsistsofbasic
physicalbuildingblockssuchasx86computingservers,storagenetworksandarrays,
IPnetworks,amanagementserver,anddesktopclients.
Figure 2. VMware Infrastructure Datacenter Physical Topology
VirtualCenter
Management Server

server
group 1

VI Client

server
group 2

Web browser

terminal

server
group 3

virtual machines
VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

fibre channel switch fabric / IP network

ESX Server

fibre channel
storage array

iSCSI
storage array

NAS
storage array

Computing Servers
Thecomputingserversareindustrystandardx86serversthatrunVMwareESX Server
onthebaremetal.ESX Serversoftwareprovidesresourcesforandrunsthevirtual
machines.Eachcomputingserverisreferredtoasastandalonehostinthevirtual
environment.Anumberofsimilarlyconfiguredx86serverscanbegroupedtogether
withconnectionstothesamenetworkandstoragesubsystemstoprovideanaggregate
setofresourcesinthevirtualenvironment,calledacluster.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Storage Networks and Arrays

FiberChannelSANarrays,iSCSISANarrays,andNASarraysarewidelyusedstorage
technologiessupportedbyVMwareInfrastructuretomeetdifferentdatacenterstorage
needs.Sharingthestoragearraysbetween(byconnectingthemto)groupsofservers
viastorageareanetworksallowsaggregationofthestorageresourcesandprovides
moreflexibilityinprovisioningthemtovirtualmachines.

IP Networks
EachcomputingservercanhavemultipleEthernetnetworkinterfacecards(NICs)to
providehighbandwidthandreliablenetworkingtotheentiredatacenter.

VirtualCenter Server
TheVirtualCenterServerprovidesaconvenientsinglepointofcontroltothe
datacenter.Itprovidesmanyessentialdatacenterservicessuchasaccesscontrol,
performancemonitoring,andconfiguration.Itunifiestheresourcesfromthe
individualcomputingserverstobesharedamongvirtualmachinesintheentire
datacenter.Itaccomplishesthisbymanagingtheassignmentofvirtualmachinestothe
computingserversandtheassignmentofresourcestothevirtualmachineswithina
givencomputingserverbasedonthepoliciessetbythesystemadministrator.
Computingserverswillcontinuetofunctionevenintheunlikelyeventthat
VirtualCenterServerbecomesunreachable(forexample,thenetworkissevered).They
canbemanagedseparatelyandwillcontinuetorunthevirtualmachinesassignedto
thembasedontheresourceassignmentthatwaslastset.AftertheVirtualCenterServer
becomesreachable,itcanmanagethedatacenterasawholeagain.
ThearchitectureofVirtualCenterServerwillbedescribedindetailinlatersections.

Desktop Clients
VMwareInfrastructureprovidesaselectionofinterfacesfordatacentermanagement
andvirtualmachineaccess.Userscanchoosetheinterfacethatbestmeetstheirneeds:
VMwareInfrastructureClient(VIClient),WebAccessthroughaWebbrowser,or
terminalservices(suchasWindowsTerminalServices).

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Virtual Datacenter Architecture

VMwareInfrastructurevirtualizestheentireITinfrastructureincludingservers,
storage,andnetworks.Itaggregatestheseheterogeneousresourcesandpresentsa
simpleanduniformsetofelementsinthevirtualenvironment.WithVMware
Infrastructure,ITresourcescanbemanagedlikeasharedutilityanddynamically
provisionedtodifferentbusinessunitsandprojectswithoutworryingaboutthe
underlyinghardwaredifferencesandlimitations.
Figure 3showsthekeyelementsinvirtualdatacenter.Youcanview,configure,and
managethesekeyelementsusingVirtualCenterServer.Theseelementsinclude:

Computingandmemoryresourcescalledhosts,clusters,andresourcepools

Storageresourcescalleddatastores

Networkingresourcescallednetworks

Virtualmachines

Figure 3. Virtual Datacenter Architecture

cluster1
host1

RP2
VM

VM

RP1

RP3

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

datastores

network A
network B

Ahostisthevirtualrepresentationofthecomputingandmemoryresourcesofa
physicalmachinerunningESX Server.Whenoneormorephysicalmachinesare
groupedtogethertoworkandbemanagedasawhole,theaggregatecomputingand
memoryresourcesformacluster.Machinescanbedynamicallyaddedorremoved
fromacluster.Computingandmemoryresourcesfromhostsandclusterscanbefinely
partitionedintoahierarchyofresourcepools.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Datastoresarevirtualrepresentationsofcombinationsofunderlyingphysicalstorage
resourcesinthedatacenter.Thesephysicalstorageresourcescancomefromthelocal
SCSI,SAS,orSATAdisksoftheserver;theFiberChannelSANdiskarrays;theiSCSI
SANdiskarrays;orNetworkAttachedStorage(NAS)arrays.
Networksinthevirtualenvironmentconnectvirtualmachinestoeachotherortothe
physicalnetworkoutsideofthevirtualdatacenter.
Virtualmachinesaredesignatedtoaparticularhost,clusterorresourcepool,anda
datastorewhentheyarecreated.Avirtualmachineconsumesresourceslikean
applianceconsumingelectricity.Afterbeingpoweredontheyconsumeresources
dynamicallyastheworkloadincreasesorgivebackresourcesdynamicallyasthe
workloaddecreases.
Provisioningofvirtualmachinesismuchfasterandeasierthanphysicalmachines.
Newvirtualmachinescanbecreatedinseconds.Whenavirtualmachineis
provisioned,theappropriateoperatingsystemandapplicationscanbeinstalled
unalteredonthevirtualmachinetohandleaparticularworkloadjustasthoughthey
werebeinginstalledonaphysicalmachine.Tomakethingseasier,avirtualmachine
canevenbeprovisionedwiththeoperatingsystemandapplicationsalreadyinstalled
andconfigured.
Resourcesareprovisionedtovirtualmachinesbasedonthepoliciessetbythesystem
administratorwhoownstheresources.Thepoliciescanreserveasetofresourcesfora
particularvirtualmachinetoguaranteeitsperformance.Thepoliciescanalsoprioritize
andsetavariableportionofthetotalresourcestoeachvirtualmachine.Avirtual
machinewillbepreventedfrombeingpoweredon(toconsumeresources)ifdoingso
wouldviolatetheresourceallocationpolicies.Formoreinformationonresourceand
powermanagement,seetheResourceManagementGuide.
Thefollowingsectionsexamineindetailthevirtualelementsofthedatacenter.

Hosts, Clusters, and Resource Pools

Hosts,clusters,andresourcespoolsprovideflexibleanddynamicwaystoorganizethe
aggregatedcomputingandmemoryresourcesinthevirtualenvironmentandlink
thembacktotheunderlyingphysicalresources.
Ahostrepresentstheaggregatecomputingandmemoryresourcesofaphysicalx86
server.Forexample,ifthephysicalx86serverhasfourdualcoreCPUsrunningat
4 gigahertzeachand32gigabytesofsystemmemory,thehostwillhave32gigahertzof
computingpowerand32gigabytesofmemoryavailableforrunningvirtualmachines
thatareassignedtoit.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Aclusteractsandcanbemanagedmuchlikeahost.Itrepresentstheaggregate
computingandmemoryresourcesofagroupofphysicalx86serverssharingthesame
networkandstoragearrays.Forexample,ifthegroupcontainseightservers,each
serverhasfourdualcoreCPUsrunningat4gigahertzeachand32gigabytesof
memory.Theclusterwillthenhave256gigahertzofcomputingpowerand256
gigabytesofmemoryavailablefortherunningvirtualmachinesassignedtoit.
Resourcepoolsarepartitionsofcomputingandmemoryresourcesfromasinglehost
oracluster.Anyresourcepoolcanbepartitionedintosmallerresourcepoolstofurther
divideandassignresourcestodifferentgroupsorfordifferentpurposes.Inother
words,resourcepoolscanbehierarchicalandnested.
Figure 4. Hosts, Clusters, and Resource Pools
Finance Department
Accounting
VM

VM

Other

Payroll

VM

VM

VM

4 GHz
16 GB RAM

8 GHz
32 GB RAM
Cluster
12 GHz
48 GB RAM
virtual
physical

x86 server
4 GHz
16 GB RAM

x86 server
4 GHz
16 GB RAM

x86 server
4 GHz
16 GB RAM

Figure 4illustratestheuseofresourcepools.Threex86serverswith4gigahertz
computingpowerand16gigabytesofmemoryeachareaggregatedtoformaclusterof
12gigahertzcomputingpowerand48gigabytesofmemory.Aresourcepool(Finance
Department)reserves8gigahertzofcomputingpowerand32gigabytesofmemory
fromthecluster,leaving4gigahertzcomputingpowerand16gigabytesofmemory
reservedforthevirtualmachineOthers.FromtheFinanceDepartmentresource
pool,asmallerresourcepool(Accounting)reserves4gigahertzcomputingpower
and16gigabytesofmemoryforthevirtualmachinesfromtheaccountingdepartment.
Thatleaves4gigahertzofcomputingpowerand16gigabytesofmemoryforthevirtual
machinecalledPayroll.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Resourcesreservedcanbedynamicallychanged.Imaginethatatyearend,
Accountingsworkloadincreases,wewanttobumpuptheresourcepoolAccounting
fromreserving4gigahertzofcomputingpowerto6gigahertz.Wecanmakethechange
totheresourcepooldynamicallywithoutshuttingdowntheassociatedvirtual
machines.Resourcesreservedforaresourcepoolorvirtualmachinearenottakenaway
immediately.Theyaretakenondemanddynamically.
Forexample,ifthe4gigahertzofcomputingresourcesreservedfortheAccounting
departmentarenotbeingused,virtualmachinePayrollcanmakeuseofthose
gigahertzduringitspeaktime.WhenAccountingdemandsthoseresources,Payroll
willdynamicallygivethemback.Asaresult,eventhoughresourcesarereservedfor
differentresourcepools,theyarenotbeingwastedifnotusedbytheirowner.
Asdemonstratedbytheexample,resourcepoolscanbenested,organized
hierarchically,anddynamicallyreconfiguredsothattheITenvironmentmatchesthe
companyorganization:individualbusinessunitscanreceivededicatedinfrastructure
whilestillprofitingfromtheefficiencyofresourcepooling.

VMware Infrastructure Distributed Services

VMwareVMotion,VMwareStorageVMotion,VMwareDRS,andVMwareHAare
distributedservicesthatenableefficientandautomatedresourcemanagementand
highvirtualmachineavailability.
VirtualmachinesrunonandconsumeresourcesfromESX Server.VMotionenablesthe
migrationofrunningvirtualmachinesfromonephysicalservertoanotherwithout
serviceinterruption,asshowninFigure 5.Thisallowsvirtualmachinestomovefrom
aheavilyloadedservertoalightlyloadedone.Theeffectisamoreefficientassignment
ofresources.WithVMotion,resourcescanbedynamicallyreallocatedtovirtual
machinesacrossphysicalservers.
StorageVMotionenablesthemigrationofvirtualmachinesfromonedatastoreto
anotherdatastorewithoutserviceinterruption.Thisallowsnetworkadministratorsto
offloadvirtualmachinesfromonestoragearraytoanothertoperformmaintenance,
reconfigureLUNs,andupgradeVMFSvolumes.Administratorscanoptimizethe
storageenvironmentforimprovedperformanceandseamlesslymigratevirtual
machines.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Figure 5. Migration with VMotion

ESX Server

ESX Server
VMotion technology

applications
guest operating
system
virtual machine

app
plicattions
t s
guesst opeerating
e
system
em
virtual
u maachine
a
e

applications
guest operating
system
virtual machine

applications
guest operating
system
virtual machine

VMwareDRSaidsinresourcecontrolandmanagementcapabilityinthevirtual
datacenter.Aclustercanbeviewedasanaggregationofthecomputingandmemory
resourcesoftheunderlyingphysicalhostsputtogetherinasinglepool.Virtual
machinescanbeassignedtothatpool.DRSmonitorstheworkloadoftherunning
virtualmachinesandtheresourceutilizationofthehoststoassignresources.
UsingVMotionandanintelligentresourcescheduler,VMwareDRSautomatesthetask
ofassigningvirtualmachinestoserverswithintheclustertousethecomputingand
memoryresourcesofthatserverasshowninFigure 6.DRSdoesthecalculationand
automatesthepairing.
Ifanewphysicalserverismadeavailable,DRSautomaticallyredistributesthevirtual
machinesusingVMotiontobalancetheworkloads.Ifaphysicalservermustbetaken
downforanyreason,DRSautomaticallyreassignsitsvirtualmachinestootherservers.
WhenDPMisenabled,thesystemcomparesclusterandhostlevelcapacitytothe
demandsofvirtualmachinesrunninginthecluster.Ifahostisfoundtohaveenough
excesscapacitytoabsorbthevirtualmachinesofanotherhost,thevirtualmachinesare
migratedandtheunusedhostisplacedinstandbymode.Inthisway,DPMoptimizes
powerconsumptionofthecluster.DRScanbeconfiguredtoautomaticallyimplement
loadbalancingandpowermanagementactions,ortoproviderecommendationswhich
thedatacenteradministratorcanassessandactonindividually.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Figure 6. VMware DRS

V
VM
VM
VM
VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

virtual machines

virtual machines

virtual machines

ESX Server

ESX Server

ESX Server

cluster

physical server

physical server

physical server

VMwareHAoffersasimpleandlowcosthighavailabilityalternativetoapplication
clustering.Itenablesquickrestartofvirtualmachinesonadifferentphysicalserver
withinaclusterautomaticallyifthehostingserverfails.Allapplicationswithinthe
virtualmachinesenjoythehighavailabilitybenefit,notjustone(throughapplication
clustering).
HAmonitorsallphysicalhostsinaclusteranddetectshostfailures.Anagentplaced
oneachphysicalhostmaintainsaheartbeatwiththeotherhostsintheresourcepool,
andlossofaheartbeatinitiatestheprocessofrestartingallaffectedvirtualmachineson
otherhosts.SeeFigure 7.HAensuresthatsufficientresourcesareavailableinthe
clusteratalltimestorestartvirtualmachinesondifferentphysicalhostsintheeventof
hostfailure.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Figure 7. VMware HA

VM
VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM
VM

VM

virtual machines

virtual machines

virtual machines

ESX Server

ESX Server

ESX Server

cluster

physical server

physical server

physical server

Network Architecture
VMwareInfrastructureistheonlysolutionthatbringsaboutarichsetofvirtual
networkingelementsthatmakesnetworkingthevirtualmachinesinthedatacenteras
easyandsimpleasinthephysicalenvironment.Furthermore,itenablesanewsetof
capabilitiesnotpossibleinthephysicalenvironmentbecausemanyofthelimitationsin
thephysicalworlddontapply.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Figure 8. Networking
VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

Network
C

port
groups

vSwitch

vSwitch
virtual

Host1

Host2

Host1

Host2 physical
physical network adapters

physical network

Figure 8showstherelationshipbetweenthenetworksinsideandoutsidethevirtual
environment.Thevirtualenvironmentprovidessimilarnetworkingelementsasthe
physicalworld.Theyarevirtualnetworkinterfacecards(vNIC),virtualswitches
(vSwitch),andportgroups.
Likeaphysicalmachine,eachvirtualmachinehasitsownvNIC.Theoperatingsystem
andapplicationstalktothevNICthroughastandarddevicedriveroraVMware
optimizeddevicedriverjustasthoughthevNICisaphysicalNIC.Totheoutside
world,thevNIChasitsownMACaddressandoneormoreIPaddresses,andresponds
tothestandardEthernetprotocolexactlyasaphysicalNICwould.Infact,anoutside
agentdoesnotknowthatitiscommunicatingwithavirtualmachine.
Avirtualswitchworkslikealayer2physicalswitch.Eachserverhasitsownvirtual
switches.Ononesideofthevirtualswitchareportgroupsthatconnecttovirtual
machines.OntheothersideareuplinkconnectionstophysicalEthernetadaptersonthe
serverwherethevirtualswitchresides.Virtualmachinesconnecttotheoutsideworld
throughthephysicalEthernetadaptersthatareconnectedtothevirtualswitchuplinks.
AvirtualswitchcanconnectitsuplinkstomorethanonephysicalEthernetadapterto
enableNICteaming.WithNICteaming,twoormorephysicaladapterscanbeusedto
sharethetrafficloadorprovidepassivefailoverintheeventofaphysicaladapter
hardwarefailureoranetworkoutage.ForinformationonNICteaming,seetheServer
ConfigurationGuide.
Portgroupisauniqueconceptinthevirtualenvironment.Aportgroupisamechanism
forsettingpoliciesthatgovernthenetworkconnectedtoit.AvSwitchcanhave
multipleportgroups.InsteadofconnectingtoaparticularportonthevSwitch,avirtual
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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

machineconnectsitsvNICtoaportgroup.Allvirtualmachinesthatconnecttothe
sameportgroupbelongtothesamenetworkinsidethevirtualenvironmentevenif
theyareondifferentphysicalservers.
Portgroupscanbeconfiguredtoenforceanumberofpoliciesthatprovideenhanced
networkingsecurity,networksegmentation,betterperformance,higheravailability,
andtrafficmanagement:
Layer2securityoptionsEnforceswhatvNICsinavirtualmachinecandoby
controllingpromiscuousmode,MACaddresschange,forgedtransmits.

22

VLANsupportAllowsvirtualnetworkstojoinaphysicalVLANsorsupport
QOSpolicies.

TrafficshapingDefinesaveragebandwidth,peakbandwidth,andburstsize.
Thesearepoliciesthatcanbesettoimprovetrafficmanagement.

NICteamingSetstheNICteamingpoliciesforanindividualportgroupor
networktosharetrafficloadorprovidefailoverincaseofhardwarefailure.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Storage Architecture
TheVMwareInfrastructurestoragearchitecture,showninFigure 9,consistsoflayers
ofabstractionthathideandmanagethecomplexityanddifferencesamongphysical
storagesubsystems.
Figure 9. Storage Architecture
host1

host2

VM1

VM2

VM3

datastore1

VM4

datastore2

vm1.vmx

vm2.vmx

vm3.vmx

vm4.vmx

virtual

file1.vmdk

file2.vmdk

file3.vmdk

file4.vmdk

physical

VMFS volume

NFS

IP network

DAS SCSI

FC SAN

iSCSI

NAS

Totheapplicationsandguestoperatingsystemsinsideeachvirtualmachine,the
storagesubsystemisasimplevirtualBusLogicorLSISCSIhostbusadapterconnected
tooneormorevirtualSCSIdisksasshowninFigure 9.
ThevirtualSCSIdisksareprovisionedfromdatastoreelementsinthedatacenter.A
datastoreislikeastorageappliancethatservesupstoragespaceformanyvirtual
machinesacrossmultiplephysicalhosts.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Thedatastoreprovidesasimplemodeltoallocatestoragespacetotheindividual
virtualmachineswithoutexposingthemtothecomplexityofthevarietyofphysical
storagetechnologiesavailable,suchasFibreChannelSAN,iSCSISAN,directattached
storage,andNAS.
Avirtualmachineisstoredasasetoffilesinadirectoryinthedatastore.Avirtualdisk
insideeachvirtualmachineisoneormorefilesinthedirectory.Asaresult,youcan
operateonavirtualdisk(copy,move,backup,andsoon)justlikeafile.Newvirtual
diskscanbehotaddedtoavirtualmachinewithoutpoweringitdown.Inthatcase,
avirtualdiskfile(.vmdk)iscreatedinVMFStoprovidenewstorageforthehotadded
virtualdiskoranexistingvirtualdiskfileisassociatedwithavirtualmachine.
EachdatastoreisphysicallyaVMFSvolume(or,forNASdatastores,aNFSvolume
withVMFScharacteristics)onastoragedevice.Datastorescanspanmultiplephysical
storagesubsystems.AsshowninFigure 9,asingleVMFSvolumecancontainoneor
moreLUNsfromalocalSCSIdiskarrayonaphysicalhost,aFibreChannelSANdisk
farm,oriSCSISANdiskfarm.NewLUNsaddedtoanyofthephysicalstorage
subsystemsareautomaticallydiscoveredandmadeavailabletoallexistingornew
datastores.StoragecapacityonapreviouslycreatedVMFSvolume(datastore)canbe
hotextendedwithoutpoweringdownphysicalhostsorstoragesubsystemsbyadding
anewphysicalLUNfromanyofthestoragesubsystemsthatarevisibletoit.
Conversely,ifanyoftheLUNswithinaVMFSvolume(datastore)failsorbecomes
unavailable,onlythosevirtualmachinesthattouchthatLUNareaffected.Allother
virtualmachineswithvirtualdisksresidinginotherLUNscontinuetofunctionas
normal.
VMFSisaclusteredfilesystemthatleveragessharedstoragetoallowmultiplephysical
hoststoreadandwritetothesamestoragesimultaneously.VMFSprovidesondisk
lockingtoensurethatthesamevirtualmachineisnotpoweredonbymultipleservers
atthesametime.Ifaphysicalhostfails,theondisklockforeachvirtualmachineis
releasedsothatvirtualmachinescanberestartedonotherphysicalhosts.
VMFSalsofeaturesenterpriseclasscrashconsistencyandrecoverymechanisms,such
asdistributedjournaling,acrashconsistentvirtualmachineI/Opath,andmachine
statesnapshots.Thesemechanismscanaidquickrootcauseandrecoveryfromvirtual
machine,physicalhost,andstoragesubsystemfailures.

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VMFSalsosupportsrawdevicemapping(RDM).RDMprovidesamechanismfora
virtualmachinetohavedirectaccesstoaLUNonthephysicalstoragesubsystem(Fibre
ChanneloriSCSIonly).RDMisusefulforsupportingtwotypicaltypesofapplications:

SANsnapshotorotherlayeredapplicationsthatruninthevirtualmachines.RDM
betterenablesscalablebackupoffloadingsystemsusingfeaturesinherenttothe
SAN.

AnyuseofMicrosoftClusteringServices(MSCS)thatspansphysicalhosts:
virtualtovirtualclustersaswellasphysicaltovirtualclusters.Clusterdataand
quorumdisksshouldbeconfiguredasRDMsratherthanasfilesonashared
VMFS.

Figure 10. Raw Device Mapping

host
VM

read/write

open

datastore

virtual
mapping file
physical
VMFS volume

LUN

FC SAN
or iSCSI SAN

AnRDMcanbethoughtofasasymboliclinkfromaVMFSvolumetoarawLUN(see
Figure 10).ThemappingmakesLUNsappearasfilesinaVMFSvolume.Themapping
file,nottherawLUN,isreferencedinthevirtualmachineconfiguration.
WhenaLUNisopenedforaccess,themappingfileisreadtoobtainthereferencetothe
rawLUN.Thereafter,readsandwritesgodirectlytotherawLUNratherthangoing
throughthemappingfile.

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

VMware Consolidated Backup

VMwareInfrastructuresstoragearchitectureenablesasimplevirtualmachinebackup
solution:VMwareConsolidatedBackup.ConsolidatedBackupprovidesacentralized
facilityforLANfreebackupofvirtualmachines.
AsshowninFigure 11,ConsolidatedBackupworksinconjunctionwithathirdparty
backupagentresidingonaseparatebackupproxyserver(notontheserverrunning
ESX Server)butdoesnotrequireanagentinsidethevirtualmachines.
Thethirdpartybackupagentmanagesthebackupschedule.ItstartsConsolidated
Backupwhenitistimetodoabackup.Whenstarted,ConsolidatedBackuprunsaset
ofprebackupscriptstoquiescethevirtualdiskstotaketheirsnapshots.Itthenrunsa
setofpostthawscriptstorestorethevirtualmachinebacktonormaloperation.Atthe
sametime,itmountsthedisksnapshottothebackupproxyserver.Finally,the
thirdpartybackupagentbacksupthefilesonthemountedsnapshottoitsbackup
targets.Bytakingsnapshotsofthevirtualdisksandbackingthemupthrougha
separatebackupproxyserver,ConsolidatedBackupprovidesasimple,lessintrusive,
andlowoverheadbackupsolutionforthevirtualenvironment.
Figure 11. VMware Consolidated Backup
virtual machines
apps

apps

apps

OS

OS

OS
snapshot

ESX Server

snapshot
snapshot
SAN storage
MOUNT

physical server

backup
disk
centralized
data mover

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backup
proxy
server

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

VirtualCenter Server
VirtualCenterServerprovidescentralizedmanagementfordatacenters.Itaggregates
physicalresourcesfrommultipleESXServersandpresentsacentralcollectionof
simpleandflexibleresourcesforthesystemadministratortoprovisiontovirtual
machinesinthevirtualenvironment.
TheVirtualCenterServercomponentsareuseraccesscontrol,coreservices,distributed
services,plugins,andvariousinterfaces.
Figure 12. VirtualCenter Server Components
active
directory
server

third-party
application

plug-in
VMotion

VirtualCenter
Server

HA
DRS
active
directory
interface

distributed
services

host and VM
configuration

core services
database interface

VM provisioning
alarms & events
management

user
access
control

statistics
logging

VI API

task
scheduler
resources &
virtual machine
inventory
management

ESX Server management

VirtualCenter
Agent

HA

VI API
Host Agent
VirtualCenter
database
VM

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Host

VM

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Figure 12showsthefollowingkeycomponentsoftheVirtualCenterServer.
TheUserAccessControlallowsthesystemadministratortocreateandmanage
differentlevelsofaccesstotheVirtualCenterfordifferentusers.
Forexample,theremightbeauserclassthatmanagesconfiguringthephysicalservers
inthedatacenterandtheremightbeadifferentuserclassthatmanagesonlyvirtual
resourceswithinaparticularresourcepool.
CoreServicesarebasicmanagementservicesforavirtualdatacenter.Theyinclude
servicessuchas:

VMProvisioningGuidesandautomatestheprovisioningofvirtualmachines

HostandVMConfigurationAllowstheconfigurationofhostsandvirtual
machines

ResourcesandVirtualMachineInventoryManagementOrganizesvirtualmachines
andresourcesinthevirtualenvironmentandfacilitiestheirmanagement.

StatisticsandLoggingLogsandreportsontheperformanceandresource
utilizationstatisticsofdatacenterelements,suchasvirtualmachines,hosts,and
clusters

AlarmsandEventManagementTracksandwarnsusersonpotentialresource
overutilizationoreventconditions.

TaskSchedulerSchedulesactionssuchasVMotiontohappenatagiventime.

ConsolidationAnalyzesthecapacityandutilizationofadatacentersphysical
resources.Providesrecommendationsforimprovingutilizationbydiscovering
physicalsystemsthatcanbeconvertedtovirtualmachinesandconsolidatedonto
ESXServers.Automatestheconsolidationprocess,butalsoprovidestheuser
flexibilityinadjustingconsolidationparameters.

DistributedServicesaresolutionsthatextendVMwareInfrastructurescapabilitiesto
thenextlevelsuchasVMwareDRS,VMwareHA,andVMwareVMotion.Distributed
Servicesallowtheconfigurationandmanagementofthesesolutionscentrallyfrom
VirtualCenterServer.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

PluginsareapplicationsthatcanbeinstalledontopofVirtualCenterandthatadd
additionalfeaturesandfunctionality.Pluginsinclude:

VMwareConverterEnterpriseforVirtualCenterEnablesuserstoconvert
physicalmachines,andvirtualmachinesinavarietyofformats,toESX Server
virtualmachines.Convertedsystemscanbeimportedintoanylocationinthe
VirtualCenterinventory.

VMwareUpdateManagerEnablessecurityadministratorstoenforcesecurity
standardsacrossESX Serverhostsandmanagedvirtualmachines.Thisplugin
providestheabilitytocreateuserdefinedsecuritybaselineswhichrepresentaset
ofsecuritystandards.Securityadministratorscancomparehostsandvirtual
machinesagainstthesebaselinestoidentifyandremediatevirtualmachinesthat
arenotincompliance.

VirtualCenterServerhasfourkeyinterfaces:

ESXServermanagementInterfaceswiththeVirtualCenteragenttomanageeach
physicalserverinthedatacenter.

VMwareInfrastructureAPIInterfaceswithVMwaremanagementclientsand
thirdpartysolutions.

DatabaseinterfaceConnectstoOracleorMicrosoftSQLServertostore
information,suchasvirtualmachineconfigurations,hostconfigurations,
resourcesandvirtualmachineinventory,performancestatistics,events,alarms,
userpermissions,androles.

ActiveDirectoryinterfaceConnectstoActiveDirectorytoobtainuseraccess
controlinformation.

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Communication Between VirtualCenter and ESX Server

TheVirtualCentercommunicateswithESXServershostagentthroughtheVMware
InfrastructureAPI(VIAPI).WhenahostisfirstaddedtoVirtualCenter,VirtualCenter
sendsaVirtualCenteragenttorunonthehost.Thatagentcommunicateswiththehost
agent.SeeFigure 13.
Figure 13. Host Agent
VI Client
VI Web Access
remote CLI
third-party software
VirtualCenter Server

VirtualCenter
HA
Agent

VI API
Host Agent

VM

VM

Terminal
Services

Host

TheVirtualCenteragentactsasaminiVirtualCenterServertoperformthefollowing
functions:

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RelaysandenforcesresourceallocationdecisionsmadeinVirtualCenter,
includingthosesentbytheDRSengine

Passesvirtualmachineprovisioningandconfigurationchangecommandstothe
hostagent

Passeshostconfigurationchangecommandstothehostagent

Collectsperformancestatistics,alarms,anderrorconditionsfromthehostagent
andsendsthemtotheVirtualCenterServer

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Accessing the Virtual Datacenter

UserscanmanagetheVMwareInfrastructuredatacenteroraccessthevirtualmachine
consolethroughthreedifferentmeans:theVIClient,WebAccessthroughaWeb
browser,orterminalservices(suchasWindowsTerminalServices),asshownin
Figure 14.Accessinghostsshouldbedoneonlybyphysicalhostadministratorsin
specialcircumstances.Allrelevantfunctionalitythatcanbedoneonthehostcanalso
bedoneinVirtualCenterServer.
Figure 14. VMware Infrastructure Access and Control

active
directory
interface

distributed services

user
access
control

core services

VirtualCenter
access

VI Web Access
VI
API

Web browser

database interface

VirtualCenter
Server

host &vm
config. &
control
access
vm console
access

ESX Server management

VirtualCenter
Agent

VI Client

VirtualCenter
access

HA

host &vm
config. &
control
access
vm console
access

VI API
Host Agent

VM

Host

VM

vm console
access

Windows
Terminal Services/
Xterm

TheVIClientaccessesVirtualCenterthroughtheVMwareAPI.Aftertheuseris
authenticated,asessionstartsinVirtualCenter,andtheuserseestheresourcesand
virtualmachinesthatareassignedtotheuser.Forvirtualmachineconsoleaccess,the
VIClientfirstgetsthevirtualmachinelocationfromVirtualCenterthroughthe
VMwareAPI.Itthenconnectstotheappropriatehostandprovidesaccesstothevirtual
machineconsole.
NOTEVIWebAccesscannotbeusedtoaccessahostrunningESX Server3i.

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First Time Use

TheVIClientincludesembeddedassistancethatenablesuserswhoarenewto
virtualizationconceptstosetuptheirvirtualinfrastructurestepbystep.This
embeddedassistancetakestheformofinlinecontentpresentedintheVIClientGUI
andanonlinetutorial.Theassistancecanbeturnedoffforexperiencedusers,orturned
backonwhennew,inexperiencedusersareintroducedtothesystem.

Web Access
UserscanalsoaccessVirtualCenterServerthroughtheWebbrowserbyfirstpointing
thebrowsertoanApacheTomcatServersetupbyVirtualCenterServer.TheApache
TomcatServermediatesthecommunicationbetweenthebrowserandVirtualCenter
throughtheVMwareAPI.
ToaccessthevirtualmachineconsolesthroughtheWebbrowser,userscanmakeuse
ofthebookmarkthatiscreatedbyVirtualCenterServer.Thebookmarkfirstpointsto
theVIWebAccess.
VIWebAccessresolvesthephysicallocationofthevirtualmachineandredirectsthe
WebbrowsertotheESX Serverwherethevirtualmachineresides.
IfthevirtualmachineisrunningandtheuserknowstheIPaddressofthevirtual
machine,theusercanalsoaccessthevirtualmachineconsoleusingstandardtools,such
asWindowsTerminalServices.

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VMware Infrastructure Introduction

Where to Go from Here

Table 1liststhetasksinvolvedinsettingupavirtualinfrastructureandprovides
referencestothedocumentationthatcontainsdetailsaboutthosetasks.Documentation
alsoexistsforthefollowingtopics:

Virtualmachinemobilityplanning

VMwareSDKandAPIdeveloperresources

Documentationroadmapandquickstart

Configurationmaximumsandreleasenotes

DocumentationforallVMwareproductsislocatedontheWebatthefollowingURL:
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs
Table 1. Documentation
Tasks
InstallVirtualCenterServerandVIClients

Documents
ESXServer3InstallationGuide
ESXServer3iSetupGuide

InstallESX Server 3

ESXServer3InstallationGuide

InstallandConfigureESX Server 3i Installable

ESXServer3iInstallableSetupGuide

UpgradeVirtualCenterServer,VIClients,
ESX Server 3,orESX Server 3i

UpgradeGuide

ApplypatchestoESX Server 3

PatchManagementforESXServer3whitepaper

ApplypatchestoESX Server3.5

ESXServer3PatchManagementGuide

ApplypatchestoESX Server 3i

ESXServer3iSetupGuide

Obtainandinstalllicenses

ESXServer3InstallationGuide
ESXServer3iSetupGuide

Configurestorage

iSCSISANConfigurationGuide
FibreChannelSANConfigurationGuide
ESXServer3ConfigurationGuide
ESXServer3iConfigurationGuide

Configurenetworks

ESXServer3ConfigurationGuide
ESXServer3iConfigurationGuide

Configuresecurity

ESXServersecurity

ESXServer3ConfigurationGuide

Usermanagement

ESXServer3iConfigurationGuide

Virtualmachinepatchmanagement

BasicSystemAdministration
VMwareUpdateManagerAdministrationGuide

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Introduction to VMware Infrastructure

Table 1. Documentation (Continued)

Tasks
Deployvirtualmachines

Documents
BasicSystemAdministration
GuestOperatingSystemInstallationGuide
BasicSystemAdministration

Importphysicalsystems,virtualmachines,
virtualappliances,orbackupimagesintothe
virtualinfrastructure

VMwareConverterEnterpriseAdministrationGuide

Exportvirtualmachines

VMwareConverterEnterpriseAdministrationGuide

Configuredistributedservices

VMwareHA

ResourceManagementGuide

VMwareDRS

ResourceManagementGuide

VMwareConsolidatedBackup

VirtualMachineBackupGuide

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Glossary

administrativelockout
AglobalsettingprovidingpasswordprotectionforWindowshosts.
Administrativelockoutrestrictsusersfromcreatingnewvirtualmachines,editing
virtualmachineconfigurations,andchangingnetworksettings.
alarm
Anentitythatmonitorsoneormorepropertiesofavirtualmachine,suchasCPU
load.Alarmsusegreen,red,andyellowcolorcodingtoissuenotificationsas
directedbytheconfigurablealarmdefinition.
allocateddisk
Atypeofvirtualdiskinwhichalldiskspaceforthevirtualmachineisallocatedat
thetimethediskiscreated.Thisisthedefaulttypeofvirtualdiskcreatedby
VirtualCenter.
appendmode
Whensoftwarerunninginthevirtualmachinewritestoadiskusedinappend
mode,thechangesappeartobewrittentothedisk.Infact,however,theyare
storedinatemporaryfile(.REDO).Ifasystemadministratordeletesthisredolog
file,thevirtualmachinereturnstothestateitwasinthelasttimeitwasusedin
persistentmode.Seealsodiskmode.
authorizationrole
Asetofprivilegesgroupedforconvenientidentificationundernamessuchas
Administrator.

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child
Amanagedentitygroupedbyafolderobjectorothermanagedentity.Seealso
folder.
clone
(n.)Aduplicateofavirtualmachine.
(v.)Tomakeacopyofavirtualmachine.Thisprocessincludestheoptionto
customizetheguestoperatingsystemofthenewvirtualmachine.Whenacloneis
created,VirtualCenterprovidesanoptiontocustomizetheguestoperatingsystem
ofthatvirtualmachine.Clonescanbestoredonanyhostwithinthesamefarmas
theoriginalvirtualmachine.
CloneVirtualMachineWizard
Apointandclickinterfaceforconvenient,easyduplicationofavirtualmachine.
cluster
Servergroupinthevirtualenvironment.
clustercomputeresource
Anextendedcomputeresourcethatrepresentsaclusterofhostsavailablefor
backingvirtualmachines.
computeresource
Amanagedobjectthatrepresentseitherasinglehostoraclusterofhostsavailable
forbackingvirtualmachines.
customization
Theprocessofcustomizingaguestoperatingsysteminavirtualmachineasitis
beingdeployedfromatemplateorclonedfromanotherexistingvirtualmachine.
Customizationoptionsincludechangingthenewvirtualmachineidentification
andnetworkinformation.
customnetworking
Anytypeofnetworkconnectionbetweenvirtualmachinesandthehostthatdoes
notusethedefaultbridged,hostonly,ornetworkaddresstranslation(NAT)
configurations.Forinstance,differentvirtualmachinescanbeconnectedtothe
hostbyseparatenetworksorconnectedtoeachotherandnottothehost.Any
networktopologyispossible.Seealsohostonlynetworking.

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Glossary

dataobject
AcompositeobjectthatispassedbyvaluebetweentheclientandtheWebservice.
Adataobjecthaspropertiesassociatedwithitbutdoesnothaveanyoperationsof
itsown.Seealsomanagedobject.
datasourcename
AnODBCobjectthatyoumustconfiguretoenableVirtualCenterServertoaccess
adatabase.
datastore
Virtualrepresentationsofcombinationsofunderlyingphysicalstorageresources
inthedatacenter.Thedatastoreisafilesystemvolumethatisbackedbyaphysical
diskonaRAID,SAN,ornetworkfilesystem.Thedatastoreisthestoragelocation
forthevirtualmachinefiles.
diskmode
Apropertyofavirtualdiskthatdefinesitsexternalbehaviorbutiscompletely
invisibletotheguestoperatingsystem.Therearefourmodes:persistent(changes
tothediskarealwayspreservedacrosssessions),nonpersistent(changesarenever
preserved),undoable(changesarepreservedattheusersdiscretion),andappend
(similartoundoable,butthechangesarepreserveduntilasystemadministrator
deletestheredologfile).
draganddrop
AfeatureofVMwareVirtualCenterthatallowsyoutomovevirtualmachines
easilybetweengroups.

event
AnactionthatisofinteresttoVirtualCenter.Eacheventtriggersaneventmessage.
EventmessagesarearchivedintheVirtualCenterdatabaseandappearintwo
locations:theEventsoptioninthenavigationbarandtheEventstabforanobject
undertheInventorybutton.

fault
Adataobjectcontaininginformationaboutanexceptionalconditionencountered
byanoperation.
folder
Amanagedentityusedtogroupothermanagedentities.Thecontentsofagroup
arechildentitieswithrespecttotheFolderobject.Foldersaretypedbythekinds
ofchildentitiestheycancontain.Seealsochild.

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Gotosnapshot
Torestoreasnapshotoftheactivevirtualmachine.SeealsoReverttosnapshot.
guestoperatingsystem
Anoperatingsystemthatrunsinsideavirtualmachine.

headless
Describesaprogramorapplicationthatrunsinthebackgroundwithoutany
interfaceconnectedtoit.Arunningvirtualmachinethathasnoconsolesconnected
toitisrunningheadless.
host
ThephysicalcomputeronwhichthevirtualmachinesmanagedbyVirtualCenter
areinstalled.
hostagent
Softwarethat,wheninstalledonavirtualmachinehost,performsactionsonbehalf
ofaremoteclient.
hostcomputer
ThephysicalcomputeronwhichtheVirtualCentersoftwareisinstalled.Ithosts
theVirtualCentervirtualmachines.
hostonlynetworking
Atypeofnetworkconnectionbetweenavirtualmachineandthehost.Under
hostonlynetworking,avirtualmachineisconnectedtothehostonaprivate
network,whichnormallyisnotvisibleoutsidethehost.Multiplevirtualmachines
configuredwithhostonlynetworkingonthesamehostareonthesamenetwork.
Seealsocustomnetworking.

inventory
AhierarchicalstructureusedbytheVirtualCenterServerorthehostagentto
organizemanagedentities.Thishierarchyispresentedasalistintheleftpanelof
theVirtualCenterclientwindowthatprovidesaviewofallthemonitoredobjects
inVirtualCenter.

licenseserver
Aserverthatstoresandallocateslicenses.

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Glossary

managedentity
Amanagedobjectthatispresentintheinventory.Seealsoinventory.
managedobject
Acompositeobjectthatresidesonaserverandispassedbetweentheclientand
theWebserviceonlybyreference.Amanagedobjecthasoperationsassociated
withitbutmightnothaveproperties.Seealsodataobject.
migration
Movingavirtualmachinebetweenhosts.UnlessVMotionisused,thevirtual
machinemustbepoweredoffwhenyoumigrateit.Seealsomigrationwith
VMotion.
migrationwithVMotion
Movingavirtualmachinethatispoweredonandhasmetselectedrequirements,
includingtheactivationofVMotiononboththesourceandtargethosts.Whenyou
migrateavirtualmachineusingVMotion,theoperationsofthevirtualmachine
cancontinuewithoutinterruption.

NewVirtualMachineWizard
Apointandclickinterfaceforconvenientcreationofavirtualmachine
configuration.Itcreatesfilesthatdefinethevirtualmachine,includingavirtual
machineconfigurationfileandoptionallyavirtualdiskorphysicaldiskfile.
nonpersistentmode
Ifyouconfigureavirtualdiskasanindependentdiskinnonpersistentmode,all
diskwritesissuedbysoftwarerunninginsideavirtualmachinewithadiskin
nonpersistentmodeappeartobewrittentodiskbutareinfactdiscardedafterthe
virtualmachineispoweredoff.Asaresult,avirtualdiskorphysicaldiskin
independentnonpersistentmodeisnotmodifiedbyactivityinthevirtual
machine.Seealsopersistentmode.

operation
AfunctionperformedforaclientbytheWebservice.

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parent
Thesourcevirtualmachinefromwhichyoutakeasnapshotormakeaclone.A
clonehasnocontinuedlinktoitsparent,butasnapshotmusthaveaccesstothe
parentsvirtualdiskfiles.Ifyoudeletetheparentvirtualmachine,anysnapshot
becomespermanentlydisabled.Topreventdeletion,youcanmaketheparenta
templatevirtualmachine.Seealsosnapshot,template.
permission
Adataobjectconsistingofanauthorizationrole,auserorgroupname,anda
managedentityreference.Allowsaspecifiedusertoaccesstheentitywithanyof
theprivilegespertainingtotherole.
persistentmode
Ifyouconfigureavirtualdiskasanindependentdiskinpersistentmode,alldisk
writesissuedbysoftwarerunninginsideavirtualmachineareimmediatelyand
permanentlywrittentothevirtualdiskinpersistentmode.Asaresult,avirtual
diskorphysicaldiskinindependentpersistentmodebehaveslikeaconventional
diskdriveonaphysicalcomputer.Seealsononpersistentmode.
physicaldisk
Aharddiskinavirtualmachinethatismappedtoaphysicaldiskdriveorpartition
onthehostmachine.Avirtualmachinesdiskcanbestoredasafileonthehostfile
systemoronalocalharddisk.Whenavirtualmachineisconfiguredtousea
physicaldisk,VirtualCenterdirectlyaccessesthelocaldiskorpartitionasaraw
device(notasafileonafilesystem).Seealsovirtualdisk.
physicalnetwork
Anetworkofphysicalmachinesthatareconnectedsothattheycansenddatato
andreceivedatafromeachother.Seealsovirtualnetwork.
portgroup
Amechanismforsettingpoliciesthatgovernthenetworkconnectedtoit.
privilege
Authorizationtoperformaspecificactionorsetofactionsonamanagedobjector
groupofmanagedobjects.
property
Anattributeofamanagedobjectordataobject.Apropertycanbeanesteddata
objectoramanagedobjectreference.

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Glossary

propertycollector
Amanagedobjectusedtocontrolthereportingofmanagedobjectproperties.The
primarymeansofmonitoringstatusonhostmachines.

rawdevicemapping(RDM)
AmechanismthatenablesavirtualmachinetohavedirectaccesstoaLUNonthe
physicalstoragesubsystem(FibreChanneloriSCSIonly).
readonlyuser
Aroleinwhichtheuserisallowedtoviewtheinventorybutnotallowedto
performanytasks.
redolog
Thefilethatstoresthechangesmadetoadiskinundoableornonpersistentmode.
Youcanpermanentlyapplythechangessavedintheredologtoadiskinundoable
modesotheybecomepartofthemaindiskfiles.Foradiskinnonpersistentmode,
however,theredologfileisdeletedwhenyoupowerofforresetthevirtual
machinewithoutwritinganychangestothedisk.Seealsodiskmode.
resourcepool
Adivisionofcomputingresourcesusedtomanageallocationsbetweenvirtual
machines.
resume
Toreturnavirtualmachinetooperationfromitssuspendedstate.Whenyou
resumeasuspendedvirtualmachine,allapplicationsareinthesamestatethey
werewhenthevirtualmachinewassuspended.Seealsosuspend.
Reverttosnapshot
Torestorethestatusoftheactivevirtualmachinetoitsimmediateparentsnapshot.
Thisparentisrepresentedinthesnapshotmanagerbythesnapshotappearingto
theimmediateleftoftheYouAreHereicon.SeealsoGotosnapshot,Snapshot
manager,YouAreHereicon.
role
AdefinedsetofaccessrightsandprivilegesinVirtualCenter.

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scheduledtask
AVirtualCenteractivitythatisconfiguredtooccuratdesignatedtimes.TheTasks
panedisplaysalistofselectedactivitiesandameanstoschedulethem.
serviceconsole
ThecommandlineinterfaceforanESXServersystem.Itallowsadministratorsto
configuretheESXServersystem.Youcanopentheserviceconsoledirectlyonan
ESXServersystem.IftheESXServersystemsconfigurationallowsTelnetorSSH
connections,youcanalsoconnectremotelytotheserviceconsole.
serviceinstance
Themanagedentityattherootoftheinventory.Clientsmustaccesstheservice
instancetobeginasession.
snapshot
Areproductionofthevirtualmachinejustasitwaswhenyoutookthesnapshot,
includingthestateofthedataonallthevirtualmachinesdisksandwhetherthe
virtualmachinewaspoweredon,poweredoff,orsuspended.Youcantake
snapshotsofavirtualmachineatanytimeandgotoanysnapshotatanytime.You
cantakeasnapshotwhenavirtualmachineispoweredon,poweredoff,or
suspended.Youcanconfigureavirtualmachinetoexcludespecifieddisksfrom
snapshots.
Snapshotmanager
Acontrolthatallowsyoutotakeactionsonanyofthesnapshotsassociatedwith
theselectedvirtualmachine.Seealsosnapshot.
suspend
Tosavethecurrentstateofarunningvirtualmachine.Toreturnasuspended
virtualmachinetooperation,usetheresumefeature.Seealsoresume.

template
Amasterimageofavirtualmachine.Thistypicallyincludesaspecifiedoperating
systemandaconfigurationthatprovidesvirtualcounterpartstohardware
components.Optionally,atemplatecanincludeaninstalledguestoperating
systemandasetofapplications.TemplatesareusedbyVirtualCentertocreate
newvirtualmachines.

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Glossary

VirtualCenteradministrator
Aroleinwhichtheuserisallowedtosettheuser+rolepermissionsandcontrolthe
VirtualCenterlicensing.
VirtualCenteragent
Installedoneachvirtualmachinehost,thissoftwarecoordinatestheactions
receivedfromtheVirtualCenterServer.
VirtualCenterdatabase
Apersistentstorageareaformaintainingthestatusofeachvirtualmachineand
usermanagedintheVirtualCenterenvironment.Locatedonthesamemachineas
theVirtualCenterServer.
VirtualCenterServer
AservicethatactsasacentraladministratorforVMwareserversconnectedona
network.Thisservicedirectsactionsonthevirtualmachinesandthevirtual
machinehosts.VirtualCenterServeristheworkingcoreofVirtualCenter.
virtualdisk
Afileorsetoffilesthatappearsasaphysicaldiskdrivetoaguestoperating
system.Thesefilescanbeonthehostmachineoronaremotefilesystem.Seealso
physicaldisk.
VirtualInfrastructure
Asystemofhosts,agents,andclientsthatcommunicatetodeployandoperate
virtualmachines.ThetotalVMwaresolutiontomanagingadatacenter.Seealso
host,hostagent,VirtualCenterServer.
VMwareInfrastructureClient(VIClient)
AuserinterfacethatrunslocallyinaWindowsmachineandprovidesaccesstothe
virtualmachinesdisplay.TheVMwareInfrastructureClientrunsonanetworked
machine.ThiscanbeonthesamemachineastheVirtualCenterServeroranother
networkedmachine.TheVMwareInfrastructureClientrequiresamonitorfor
accesstothevirtualmachinesdisplay.
VMwareInfrastructureWebAccessClient
AuserinterfacethatrunsinaWebbrowserandprovidesaccesstothevirtual
machinesdisplay.

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virtualmachine
Avirtualizedx86PCenvironmentinwhichaguestoperatingsystemand
associatedapplicationsoftwarecanrun.Multiplevirtualmachinescanoperateon
thesamehostsystemconcurrently.
virtualmachineconfiguration
Thespecificationofwhichvirtualdevices,suchasdisksandmemory,arepresent
inavirtualmachineandhowtheyaremappedtohostfilesanddevices.
virtualmachineconfigurationfile
Afilecontainingavirtualmachineconfiguration.Itiscreatedwhenyoucreatethe
virtualmachine.ItisusedbyVirtualCentertoidentifyandrunaspecificvirtual
machine.
virtualmachinemonitor(VMM)
SoftwarethatisresponsibleforvirtualizingtheCPUs.
VirtualMachineProperties
Apointandclickcontrolpanelusedtoviewandmodifytheresourcesettingsof
allthevirtualmachinesonahost.
VirtualMachineSettingsEditor
Apointandclickcontrolpanelusedtoviewandmodifyavirtualmachines
settings.SeealsoNewVirtualMachineWizard.
virtualnetwork
Anetworkconnectingvirtualmachinesthatdoesnotdependonphysical
hardwareconnections.Forexample,youcancreateavirtualnetworkbetweena
virtualmachineandahostthathasnoexternalnetworkconnections.Youcanalso
createaLANsegmentforcommunicationbetweenvirtualmachinesonateam.
VMkernel
Ahighperformancehypervisorthatoccupiesthevirtualizationlayerand
managesmostofthephysicalresourcesonthehardware,includingmemory,
physicalprocessors,storage,andnetworkingcontrollers.
VMODL
TheinterfacedefinitionlanguageusedintheVirtualInfrastructureSDK.

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Glossary

VMotion
AfeaturethatenablesyoutomoverunningvirtualmachinesfromoneESXServer
systemtoanotherwithoutinterruptingservice.Itrequireslicensingonboththe
sourceandtargethosts.VMotionisactivatedbytheVirtualCenteragent.The
VirtualCenterServercentrallycoordinatesallVMotionactivities.Seealso
migrationwithVMotion.
VMwareFileSystem(VMFS)
Afilesystemthatisoptimizedforstoringvirtualmachines.OneVMFSpartitionis
supportedperSCSIstoragedeviceorSAN.EachversionofESXServerusesa
correspondingversionofVMFS.Forexample,VMFS3wasintroducedwithESX
Server3.
VMwareHA
Anoptionalfeaturethatsupportsdistributedavailabilityservicesinan
environmentthatincludesESXServerandVirtualCenter.Ifyouhaveconfigured
DRSandoneofthehostsmanagedbyVirtualCenterServergoesdown,allvirtual
machinesonthathostareimmediatelyrestartedonanotherhost.
VMwareTools
Asuiteofutilitiesanddriversthatenhancestheperformanceandfunctionalityof
yourguestoperatingsystem.KeyfeaturesofVMwareToolsincludesomeorallof
thefollowing,dependingonyourguestoperatingsystem:anSVGAdriver,a
mousedriver,theVMwareToolscontrolpanel,andsupportforsuchfeaturesas
sharedfolders,draganddropinWindowsguests,shrinkingvirtualdisks,time
synchronizationwiththehost,VMwareToolsscripts,andconnectingand
disconnectingdeviceswhilethevirtualmachineisrunning.
VMwarevirtualmachineconsole
Aninterfacetoavirtualmachinethatprovidesaccesstooneormorevirtual
machinesonthelocalhostoraremotehostrunningVirtualCenter.Youcanview
thevirtualmachinesdisplaytorunprogramswithinitormodifyguestoperating
systemsettings.Inaddition,youcanchangethevirtualmachinesconfiguration,
installtheguestoperatingsystem,orrunthevirtualmachineinfullscreenmode.

Webservice
AprogramminginterfacebasedonSOAPandWSDL.

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YouAreHereicon
AniconintheSnapshotmanagerthatindicatesthecurrentstatusoftheactive
virtualmachine.Checkingthepositionofthisiconcanhelpyoudecidewhetherto
reverttoasnapshotorgotoasnapshot.SeealsoGotosnapshot,Revertto
snapshot,Snapshotmanager.

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