Professional Documents
Culture Documents
3 Version history
4 Lawsuit
5 Related or additional products
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Architecture
ESX runs on bare metal (without running an operating system)[6] unlike other VMware products.[7] It includes
its own kernel: A Linux kernel is started first,[8] and is then used to load a variety of specialized virtualization
components, including ESX, which is otherwise known as the vmkernel component.[9] The Linux kernel is the
primary virtual machine; it is invoked by the service console. At normal run-time, the vmkernel is running on
the bare computer, and the Linux-based service console runs as the first virtual machine. VMWare dropped
development of ESX at version 4.1, and now uses ESXi, which does not include a Linux kernel.[10]
The vmkernel is a microkernel[11] with three interfaces: hardware, guest systems, and the service console
(Console OS).
Interface to hardware
The vmkernel handles CPU and memory directly, using scan-before-execution (SBE) to handle special or
privileged CPU instructions[12][13] and the SRAT (system resource allocation table) to track allocated
memory.[14]
Access to other hardware (such as network or storage devices) takes place using modules. At least some of the
modules derive from modules used in the Linux kernel. To access these modules, an additional module called
vmklinux implements the Linux module interface. According to the README file, "This module contains the
Linux emulation layer used by the vmkernel."[15]
1. net/e100
2. net/e1000
3. net/e1000e
4. net/bnx2
5. net/tg3
6. net/forcedeth
7. net/pcnet32
8. block/cciss
9. scsi/adp94xx
10. scsi/aic7xxx
11. scsi/aic79xx
12. scsi/ips
13. scsi/lpfcdd-v732
14. scsi/megaraid2
15. scsi/mptscsi_2xx
16. scsi/qla2200-v7.07
17. scsi/megaraid_sas
18. scsi/qla4010
19. scsi/qla4022
20. scsi/vmkiscsi
21. scsi/aacraid_esx30
22. scsi/lpfcdd-v7xx
23. scsi/qla2200-v7xx
These drivers mostly equate to those described in VMware's hardware compatibility list.[16] All these modules
fall under the GPL. Programmers have adapted them to run with the vmkernel: VMware Inc has changed the
module-loading and some other minor things.[15]
Service console
In ESX (and not ESXi), the Service Console is a vestigial general purpose operating system most significantly
used as bootstrap for the VMware kernel, vmkernel, and secondarily used as a management interface. Both of
these Console Operating System functions are being deprecated from version 5.0, as VMware migrates
exclusively to the ESXi model, current version being ESXi.[17] The Service Console, for all intents and
purposes, is the operating system used to interact with VMware ESX and the virtual machines that run on the
server.
Linux dependencies
ESX uses a Linux kernel to load additional code: often referred to by VMware, Inc. as the "vmkernel". The
dependencies between the "vmkernel" and the Linux part of the ESX server have changed drastically over
different major versions of the software. The VMware FAQ[18] states: "ESX Server also incorporates a service
console based on a Linux 2.4 kernel that is used to boot the ESX Server virtualization layer". The Linux kernel
runs before any other software on an ESX host.[8] On ESX versions 1 and 2, no VMkernel processes run on the
system during the boot process.[19] After the Linux kernel has loaded, the S90vmware script loads the
vmkernel.[19] VMware Inc states that vmkernel does not derive from Linux, but acknowledges that it has
adapted certain device-drivers from Linux device drivers. The Linux kernel continues running, under the control
of the vmkernel, providing functions including the proc file system used by the ESX and an environment to run
support applications.[19] ESX version 3 loads the VMkernel from the Linux initrd, thus much earlier in the boot-
sequence than in previous ESX versions.
In traditional systems, a given operating system runs a single kernel. The VMware FAQ mentions that ESX has
both a Linux 2.4 kernel and vmkernel hence confusion over whether ESX has a Linux base. An ESX system
starts a Linux kernel first, but it loads vmkernel (also described by VMware as a kernel), which according to
VMware 'wraps around' the linux kernel, and which (according to VMware Inc) does not derive from Linux.
The ESX userspace environment, known as the "Service Console" (or as "COS" or as "vmnix"), derives from a
modified version of Red Hat Linux, (Red Hat 7.2 for ESX 2.x and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for ESX 3.x). In
general, this Service Console provides management interfaces (CLI, webpage MUI, Remote Console).
As a further detail which differentiates the ESX from other VMware virtualization products: ESX supports the
VMware proprietary cluster file system VMFS. VMFS enables multiple hosts to access the same SAN LUNs
simultaneously, while file-level locking provides simple protection to file-system integrity.
Versions
VMware ESX is available in two main types: ESX and ESXi, although since version 5 only ESXi is continued.
VMware ESX
ESX and ESXi before version 5.0 do not support Windows 8/Windows 2012. These Microsoft operating
systems can only run on ESXi 5.x or later.[25]
18 July 2010 vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases are the last releases to include both ESX
and ESXi hypervisor architectures. Future major releases of VMware vSphere will include only the VMware
ESXi architecture. For this reason, VMware recommends that deployments of vSphere 4.x utilize the ESXi
hypervisor architecture.
VMware ESXi
VMware ESXi, a smaller-footprint version of ESX, does not include the ESX Service Console. It is available -
without the need to purchase a vCenter license - as a free download from VMware, with some features
disabled.[26][27][28]
VMware ESXi originated as a compact version of VMware ESX that allowed for a smaller 32 MB disk
footprint on the host. With a simple configuration console for mostly network configuration and remote based
VMware Infrastructure Client Interface, this allows for more resources to be dedicated to the guest
environments.
The same installation media will install to either one or the other of these installation modes depending on the
size of the target media.[30] One can upgrade ESXi to VMware Infrastructure 3[31] or to VMware vSphere 4.0
ESXi.
Originally named VMware ESX Server ESXi edition, through several revisions the ESXi product finally
became VMware ESXi 3. New editions then followed: ESXi 3.5, ESXi 4 ESXi 5 and (as of 2015) ESXi 6.
To virtualize Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 as a guest operating system, the ESXi version must be 5.0
update 1 or later.
Version history
Version release history:[28]
Lawsuit
VMware has been sued by Christoph Hellwig, a Linux kernel developer, for GPL license violations. It was
alleged that VMware had misappropriated portions of the Linux kernel,[32] and used them without permission.
The lawsuit was dismissed by the court in July 2016[33] based on a technicality and Hellwig announced he
would file an appeal.[34]
vCenter Server, enables monitoring and management of multiple ESX, ESXi and GSX servers. In
addition, users must install it to run infrastructure services such as:
vMotion (transferring virtual machines between servers on the fly whilst they are running, with
zero downtime)[22][23]
svMotion aka Storage vMotion (transferring virtual machines between Shared Storage LUNs on
the fly, with zero downtime)[35]
enhanced vMotion aka evMotion (a simultaneous vMotion and svMotion, supported on version
5.1 and above)
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) (automated vMotion based on host/VM load
requirements/demands)
High Availability (HA) (restarting of Virtual Machine Guest Operating Systems in the event of a
physical ESX Host failure)
Fault Tolerance (almost instant stateful fail-over of a VM in the event of a physical host
failure)[36]
Converter, enables users to create VMware ESX Server- or Workstation-compatible virtual machines
from either physical machines or from virtual machines made by other virtualization products. Converter
replaces the VMware "P2V Assistant" and "Importer" products P2V Assistant allowed users to convert
physical machines into virtual machines; and Importer allowed the import of virtual machines from other
products into VMware Workstation.
vSphere Client (formerly VMware Infrastructure Client), enables monitoring and management of a
single instance of ESX or ESXi server. After ESX 4.1, vSphere Client was no longer available from the
ESX/ESXi server, but must be downloaded from the VMware web site.
There are several differences between the standard dvS and the N1000v, one is that the Cisco switch generally
has full support for network technologies such as LACP link aggregation or that the VMware switch supports
new features such as routing based on physical NIC load. However the main difference lies in the architecture:
Nexus 1000v is working in the same way as a physical Ethernet switch does while dvS is relying on information
from ESX. This has consequences for example in scalability where the Kappa limit for a N1000v is 2048 virtual
ports against 60000 for a dvS. The Nexus1000v is developed in co-operation between Cisco and VMware and
uses the API of the dvS[37]
Because VMware ESX is a leader in the server-virtualisation market,[38] software and hardware vendors offer a
range of tools to integrate their products or services with ESX. Examples are the products from Veeam Software
with backup and management applications[39] and a plugin to monitor and manage ESX using HP
OpenView,[40] Quest Software with a range of management and backup-applications and most major backup-
solution providers have plugins or modules for ESX. Using Microsoft Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007/2012
with a Bridgeways ESX management pack gives you a realtime ESX datacenter health view.
Also hardware-vendors such as HP and Dell include tools to support the use of ESX(i) on their hardware
platforms. An example is the ESX module for Dell's OpenManage management platform.[41]
VMware has added a Web Client[42] since v5 but it will work on vCenter only and does not contain all
features.[43] vEMan[44] is a Linux application which is trying to fill that gap. These are just a few examples:
there are numerous 3rd party products to manage, monitor or backup ESX infrastructures and the VMs running
on them.[45]
Known limitations
Known limitations of VMware ESXi, as of April 2015, include the following:
Infrastructure limitations
Some maximums in ESXi Server 6.0 may influence the design of data centers:[46]
Performance limitations
In terms of performance, virtualization imposes a cost in the additional work the CPU has to perform to
virtualize the underlying hardware. Instructions that perform this extra work, and other activities that require
virtualization, tend to lie in operating system calls. In an unmodified operating system, OS calls introduce the
greatest portion of virtualization "overhead".
Paravirtualization or other virtualization techniques may help with these issues. VMware developed the Virtual
Machine Interface for this purpose, and selected operating systems currently support this. A comparison
between full virtualization and paravirtualization for the ESX Server[47] shows that in some cases
paravirtualization is much faster.
Network limitations
When using the advanced and extended network capabilities by using the Cisco Nexus 1000v distributed virtual
switch the following network-related limitations apply:[37]
2048 active VLAN's (one to be used for communication between VEM's and VSM)
2048 port-profiles
32 physical NIC's per ESX/ESXi (physical) host
256 port-channels per VMWare vDS (virtual distributed switch)
Regardless of the type of virtual SCSI adapter used, there are these limitations:[46]
Maximum of 4 Virtual SCSI adapters, one of which should be dedicated to virtual disk use
Maximum of 15 SCSI LUNs per adapter
See also
Comparison of platform virtualization software
KVM Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine an open source hypervisor platform
Hyper-V a competitor of VMware ESX from Microsoft
Xen an open source hypervisor platform
Virtual appliance
Virtual machine
Virtual disk image
VMware VMFS
x86 virtualization
References
1. "VMware ESX 4.0 only installs and runs on servers with 64bit x86 CPUs. 32bit systems are no longer supported." (http:/
/kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1009080). VMware,
Inc.
2. "ESX Server Architecture" (https://web.archive.org/web/20091107080723/http://www.vmware.com/support/esx21/doc/e
sx21_admin_system_architecture.html). Vmware.com. Archived from the original (http://www.vmware.com/support/esx
21/doc/esx21_admin_system_architecture.html) on 2009-11-07. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
3. VMWare:vSphere ESX and ESXi Info Center (http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi-and-esx/overview.html)
4. What does ESX stand for? (http://vmfaq.com/index.php?View=entry&EntryID=32)
5. "Glossary" (http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/studio/studio25/studio_developer.pdf) (PDF). Developers Guide
to Building vApps and Virtual Appliances: VMware Studio 2.5. Palo Alto: VMware. 2011. p. 153. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
6. "ESX Server Datasheet" (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx_datasheet.pdf)
7. "ESX Server Architecture" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070929084239/http://www.vmware.com/support/esx21/doc/e
sx21_admin_system_architecture.html). Vmware.com. Archived from the original (http://www.vmware.com/support/esx
21/doc/esx21_admin_system_architecture.html) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
21/doc/esx21_admin_system_architecture.html) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
8. "ESX machine boots" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ5yM_kdhUk). Video.google.com.au. 12 June 2006.
Retrieved 2009-07-01.
9. "VMKernel Scheduler" (https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5501). vmware.com. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
10. Mike, Foley. "It's a Unix system, I know this!" (https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2013/06/its-a-unix-system-i-know-thi
s.html). VMWare Blogs. VMware.
11. "Support for 64-bit Computing" (http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/64bit.html). Vmware.com. 19 April
2004. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
12. Gerstel, Markus: "Virtualisierungsanstze mit Schwerpunkt Xen" (http://markus-gerstel.de/files/2005-Xen.pdf) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20130815000000/http://markus-gerstel.de/files/2005-Xen.pdf) 15 August 2013 at the
Wayback Machine.
13. VMware ESX (http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/1009)
14. "VMware ESX Server 2: NUMA Support" (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx2_NUMA.pdf) (PDF). Palo Alto, California:
VMware Inc. 2005. p. 7. Retrieved 2011-03-29. "SRAT (system resource allocation table) table that keeps track of
memory allocated to a virtual machine."
15. "ESX Server Open Source" (http://www.vmware.com/download/open_source.html). Vmware.com. Retrieved
2009-07-01.
16. "ESX Hardware Compatibility List" (http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/cat/119). Vmware.com. 10
December 2008. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
17. "ESXi vs. ESX: A comparison of features" (http://blogs.vmware.com/esxi/2009/06/esxi-vs-esx-a-comparison-of-features
.html). Vmware, Inc. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
18. VMware FAQ (http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/faqs.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070211072
747/http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/faqs.html) 11 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
19. ESX Server Advanced Technical Design Guide (http://www.vi3book.com/esxatdg_ch2.pdf) Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20070225163020/http://www.vi3book.com/esxatdg_ch2.pdf) 25 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
20. "KB: Decoding Machine Check Exception (MCE) output after a purple diagnostic screen |publisher=VMware, Inc." (http
://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005184%7Ctitle=)
21. The Design and Evolution of Live Storage Migration in VMware ESX (http://www.usenix.org/events/atc11/tech/final_fil
es/Mashtizadeh.pdf)
22. VMWare Blog by Kyle Gleed: vMotion: what's going on under the covers (http://blogs.vmware.com/uptime/2011/02/vm
otion-whats-going-on-under-the-covers.html), 25 February 2011, visited: 2 February 2012
23. VMware website vMotion brochure (http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-VMotion-DS-EN.pdf). Retrieved 3
February 2012
24. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003661
25. VMWare KBArticle Windows 8/Windows 2012 doesn't boot on ESX (http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/micr
osite.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=2006859&sliceId=2&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1), visited 12
September 2012
26. "Download VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)" (https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/info/slug/datacenter_cloud_infr
astructure/vmware_vsphere_hypervisor_esxi/5_5#drivers_tools). www.vmware.com. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
27. "Getting Started with ESXi Installable" (https://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_esxi_i_get_start.pdf) (PDF).
VMware. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
28. "VMware ESX and ESXi 4.1 Comparison" (http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&c
md=displayKC&externalId=1023990). Vmware.com. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
29. "What do ESX and ESXi stand for?" (https://vmin.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/what-do-esx-and-esxi-stand-for/).
VM.Blog. 2011-08-31. Retrieved 2016-06-21. "Apparently, the 'i' in ESXi stands for Integrated, probably coming from
the fact that this version of ESX can be embedded in a small bit of flash memory on the server hardware."
30. Andreas Peetz. "ESXi embedded vs. ESXi installable FAQ" (http://www.v-front.de/2013/03/esxi-embedded-vs-esxi-insta
llable-faq.html). Retrieved 2014-08-11.
31. "Free VMware ESXi: Bare Metal Hypervisor with Live Migration" (http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/).
Vmware.com. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
32. "Conservancy Announces Funding for GPL Compliance Lawsuit" (https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/mar/05/vmware
-lawsuit/). sfconservancy.org. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
33. "German court ruling" (http://bombadil.infradead.org/~hch/vmware/Judgment_2016-07-08.pdf) (PDF). 8 July 2016.
34. "Hellwig To Appeal VMware Ruling After Evidentiary Set Back in Lower Court" (http://bombadil.infradead.org/~hch/v
mware/2016-08-09.html). 9 August 2016.
mware/2016-08-09.html). 9 August 2016.
35. http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-Storage-VMotion-DS-EN.pdf
36. http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-Fault-Tolerance-FT-DS-EN.pdf
37. Overview of the Nexus 1000v (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9902/data_sheet_c78-49
2971.html) virtual switch, visited 9 July 2012
38. VMware continues virtualization market romp (http://www.crn.com/news/virtualization/232900547/vmware-continues-v
irtualization-market-romp.htm), 18 April 2012. Visited: 9 July 2012
39. About Veeam (http://www.veeam.com/company/about.html?ad=menu), visited 9 July 2012
40. Veeam OpenView plugin for VMware (http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-monitoring-hp-operations.html), visited 9
July 2012
41. OpenManage (omsa) support for ESXi 5.0 (http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1977.
openmanage-support-for-vmware-esxi-5-0.aspx), visited 9 July 2012
42. VMware info about Web Client VMware ESXi/ESX 4.1 and ESXi 5.0 Comparison (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2005377
)
43. Availability of vSphere Client for Linux systems What the web client can do and what not (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1
006095)
44. vEMan website vEMan Linux vSphere client (http://vEMan.nethna.de)
45. Petri website 3rd party ESX tools (http://www.petri.co.il/3rd-party-tools-available-esx-server.htm), 23 December 2008.
Visited: 11 september 2001
46. "Configuration Maximums" (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere6/r60/vsphere-60-configuration-maximums.pdf) (PDF).
VMware, Inc. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
47. "Performance of VMware VMI" (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/VMware_VMI_performance.pdf) (PDF). VMware, Inc.
13 February 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
External links
VMware ESX product page (http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere-hypervisor.html)
ESXi Release and Build Number History (http://www.virten.net/vmware/esxi-release-build-number-histor
y/)
Categories: VMware