Introducing VMware vSphere 5.5 - Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 - page 24

h e Bottom Line

Identify the role of each product in the vSphere product suite. The VMware vSphere
product suite contains VMware ESXi and vCenter Server. ESXi provides the base virtualiza-
tion functionality and enables features like Virtual SMP. vCenter Server provides manage-
ment for ESXi and enables functionality like vMotion, Storage vMotion, vSphere Distributed
Resource Scheduler (DRS), vSphere High Availability (HA), and vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT).
Storage I/O Control and Network I/O Control provide granular resource controls for VMs.
The vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) provide a backup framework that allows for
the integration of third-party backup solutions into a vSphere implementation.
Master It Which products are licensed features within the VMware vSphere suite?
Master It Which two features of VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter Server together
aim to reduce or eliminate downtime due to unplanned hardware failures?
Master It Name two storage-related features that are new to vSphere 5.5.
Recognize the interaction and dependencies between the products in the vSphere
suite. VMware ESXi forms the foundation of the vSphere product suite, but some features
require the presence of vCenter Server. Features like vMotion, Storage vMotion, vSphere
DRS, vSphere HA, vSphere FT, SIOC, and NIOC require ESXi as well as vCenter Server.
Master It Name three features that are supported only when using vCenter Server
along with ESXi.
Master It Name two features that are supported without vCenter Server but with a li-
censed installation of ESXi.
Understand how vSphere differs from other virtualization products. VMware vSphere's
hypervisor, ESXi, uses a Type 1 bare-metal hypervisor that handles I/O directly within the
hypervisor. This means that a host operating system, like Windows or Linux, is not required
in order for ESXi to function. Although other virtualization solutions are listed as “Type 1
bare-metal hypervisors,” most other Type 1 hypervisors on the market today require the
presence of a “parent partition” or “dom0” through which all VM I/O must travel.
Master It One of the administrators on your team asked whether he should install
Windows Server on the new servers you purchased for ESXi. What should you tell him,
and why?