vSphere

vSphere is VMware's enterprise virtualization platform that enables building and managing virtualized IT infrastructure. Core to vSphere is the ESXi bare-metal hypervisor, which runs on x86 servers, and the vCenter Server, a centralized management plane that coordinates multiple ESXi hosts and their virtual machines. The primary client for administering vSphere is the vSphere Client, which connects to vCenter Server.

vSphere provides features for resource management, high availability, live migration, and storage mobility. Virtual machines can run on pooled compute resources and be moved between hosts without downtime using vMotion, while Storage vMotion allows live migration of VM disk files between datastores. DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) automatically balances CPU and memory across a cluster, and HA (High Availability) restarts VMs on healthy hosts after a failure. Fault Tolerance offers an alternative where a second VM runs in lockstep to provide continuous availability for selected workloads.

vSphere supports software-defined storage with vSAN in some deployments, and storage policies with VVOLs to control provisioning. Lifecycle management tools (previously Update Manager, now Lifecycle Manager) automate patching and upgrades of hosts. The platform is commonly used to consolidate servers, build private clouds, and provide disaster recovery and scalable infrastructure for virtualized workloads.

Typical deployments include data centers and private clouds, where administrators manage resources through clusters, datastores, and resource pools. Additional VMware and third-party products extend vSphere with networking (NSX), automation, and backup solutions.