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• vSphere HA (VMware High Availability)

  VMware vSphere HA (High Availability) is a utility included in VMware's vSphere software that can restart failed virtual machines (VMs) on alternative host servers to reduce application downtime. Continue Reading

• VMware vSAN (formerly Virtual SAN)

  VMware vSAN (formerly Virtual SAN) is a hyper-converged, software-defined storage (SDS) product developed by VMware that pools together direct-attached storage devices across a VMware vSphere cluster to create a distributed, shared data store. Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere

  VMware vSphere -- formerly known as VMware Infrastructure -- is the brand name for VMware's suite of server virtualization products that includes its ESXi hypervisor and vCenter management software. Continue Reading

• VMware AppDefense

  VMware AppDefense is a data center security service designed to protect virtualized applications running in an enterprise data center in order to improve the protection and threat response performance of an enterprise security operations center (SOC... Continue Reading

• Add a host to a VMware cluster by following these tips

  Grouping physical hosts together on a cluster improves resource distribution and increases availability. It's easy to add a host to a cluster, but be sure to follow these rules. Continue Reading

• Definitions to Get Started

  • Open Virtualization Format (OVF)
  • raw device mapping
  • VMkernel
  • VMware vSphere Client

  • VMware
  • VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler)
  • Storage vMotion
  • VMware ESXi

  View All Definitions

• Change VMkernel port MTU size to reduce packet fragmentation

  A high maximum transmission unit size creates fewer frames, which lowers the risk of collisions and reduces overhead. The key is figuring out how high an MTU size is too high.Continue Reading

• VMware Certified Professional (VCP)

  VMware Certified Professional (VCP) is a certification designed to demonstrate technical competency with VMware vSphere and related technologies.Continue Reading

• What are VM-VM and VM-host affinity and anti-affinity rules?

  It's important to create specific rules in VMware DRS to outline how different VMs and hosts behave. What kinds of affinity and anti-affinity rules are there, and how do they work?Continue Reading

• How do you manually download VMware Tools ISO images?

  VMware Tools optimizes VMs within a vSphere infrastructure. Although it's typically bundled with ESXi hosts, you can also manually install VMware Tools via an ISO image.Continue Reading

• What is Photon OS, and why would I use it in my data center?

  Due to its scalability, low cost and fast deployment, container technology is on the rise. How does VMware harness the power of containers in a vSphere environment?Continue Reading

• VMware Workstation Pro

  VMware Workstation Pro is a 64-bit hosted hypervisor intended to implement virtualization on Microsoft Windows and Linux endpoint computers, such as desktop systems.Continue Reading

• VMware vRealize Suite

  VMware vRealize Suite, formerly called vCenter Operations Management Suite, is a software platform designed to help IT administrators build and manage heterogeneous, hybrid clouds.Continue Reading

• VSAN Encryption: What it is, what it does and how to use it

  New to vSphere 6.6, vSAN Encryption uses an XTS AES-256 cipher to encrypt all objects in the vSAN data store across both all-flash and hybrid configurations.Continue Reading

• VMware Cloud Foundation

  VMware Cloud Foundation is an integrated software stack that uses SDDC Manager -- an automated lifecycle management tool -- to bundle compute (vSphere), storage (VMware vSAN) and network virtualization (NSX) into a single platform that can deployed ...Continue Reading

• VMware Identity Manager

  VMware Identity Manager is an Identity as a Service (IDaaS) offering that provides single sign-on (SSO) capabilities and user-based controls for web, cloud and mobile applications.Continue Reading

• How do you recreate a missing VMDK descriptor file?

  The descriptor file plays an essential role in a virtual machine disk file, pointing to the larger data file and other VMDK information. So, what do you do when it goes missing?Continue Reading

• Prevent software failures with vCenter Server High Availability

  New to vCenter Server 6.5, VCHA ensures high availability for a vSphere deployment with minimal impact on vCenter Server and vSphere host performance.Continue Reading

• Horizon View 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 add flexibility to features

  VMware Horizon View 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 brings flexibility to the features that were released in the original version earlier this season.Continue Reading

• SysTrack Desktop Assessment for VMware

  SysTrack Desktop Assessment for VMware is a free cloud-based assessment service, developed in conjunction with Lakeside Software, that provides metrics and information about an environment and as well as how to best deploy VMware Horizon.Continue Reading

• VMware Access Point

  VMware Access Point is a virtual appliance used as a secure gateway which authorized users can access VMware computing resources.Continue Reading

• Test your vSphere Distributed Switch knowledge with this quiz

  If you think you know which features only come with the vSphere Distributed Switch, challenge your knowledge with this quiz.Continue Reading

• What vSphere's latest features mean for VMware vDS

  VSphere 5 and 6 offer a number of features to boost networking performance. Let's take a look at how these features affect the functionality of vSphere Distributed Switches.Continue Reading

• What is the best way to log in to vCenter Server with vSphere 6 Web Client?

  In order to successfully log in to vCenter Server with vSphere Web Client, start by figuring out which version of vCenter Server you're running.Continue Reading

• Distributed Execution Manager (DEM)

  The Distributed Execution Manager is a VMware vCloud Automation Center tool that executes the business logic of custom models. Each DEM instance performs one of two roles, Worker or Orchestrator, to create and monitor workflows.Continue Reading

• Horizon 7 Smart Policies helps increase security

  If you want to smarten up your security, using Policy-Managed Client Features in Horizon 7 can help.Continue Reading

• Using shared disks to set up virtual clusters in ESXi

  Thanks to some expert advice, we've come up with some best practices for building a Red Hat-based Linux cluster in an ESXi environment.Continue Reading

• Prepare yourself for these VMware administrator interview questions

  Before you get to your VMware interview, prepare yourself with these questions.Continue Reading

• Host OS (host operating system)

  A host OS is the software installed on a computer that interacts with the underlying hardware in a computer using virtualization technology.Continue Reading

• VMware long-distance vMotion

  Long-distance vMotion is a feature that allows virtual machines to be migrated over long distances with a maximum round-trip latency time of 150 milliseconds.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Content Library

  The vSphere Content Library is a centralized repository in vSphere 6 to help manage and distribute virtual machines, templates, ISO images, scripts, vApps and other files related to virtual machines.Continue Reading

• VMware Solution Exchange (VSX)

  The VMware Solution Exchange (VSX) is an online marketplace where potential customers can browse, download and rate the products uploaded by developers and VMware partners.Continue Reading

• VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA)

  The VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA) is the default root certificate authority introduced in vSphere 6.0 that supplies the certificates to ensure secure communication over SSL between vCenter Server components and ESXi nodes in the virtualized ...Continue Reading

• VMware Cross vCenter vMotion

  VMware Cross vCenter vMotion is a feature introduced in vSphere 6.0 that allows virtual machines (VMs) to switch from one vCenter Server instance to another to change the compute, network, storage and management of the VM concurrently.Continue Reading

• Avoiding downtime with VMware Fault Tolerance and High Availability

  This guide delves into two of vSphere's key uptime features, High Availability and Fault Tolerance, how they keep the business running and how they differ.Continue Reading

• VMware Platform Services Controller (PSC)

  VMware Platform Services Controller (PSC) is a new service in vSphere 6 that handles the infrastructure security functions such as vCenter Single Sign-On, licensing, certificate management and server reservation.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Security Hardening Guide

  The VMware vSphere Security Hardening Guide is an Excel document provided by VMware that lists more than 150 recommendations to systems administrators to further secure their vSphere environment.Continue Reading

• VMware Certified Implementation Expert (VCIX)

  The VMware Certified Implementation Expert (VCIX) is third-highest level in VMware's data center virtualization, cloud management and automation, desktop and mobility, and network virtualization certification tracks.Continue Reading

• How to build your own virtual test lab

  A virtual test lab can give you a place to test patches and configuration changes -- and avoid the potential for downtime in the production environment.Continue Reading

• Horizon View Direct-Connection Plugin streamlines configuration

  The Direct-Connection Plugin lets Horizon View users connect to a virtual desktop without connecting to a Connection Server first.Continue Reading

• Working with the vSphere 6.0 Web client

  Your stance on the vSphere Web Client may determine your level of happiness with VMware's latest server virtualization platform.Continue Reading

• How do I address capacity issues in VMware VDP?

  A certain amount of data will need to be backed up before the advantage of deduplication in vSphere Data Protection will become apparent.Continue Reading

• The top 10 PowerCLI scripts for vSphere administrators

  There are numerous PowerCLI scripts to help a busy administrator get through the day. Here's a few highly recommended by one of our experts.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Big Data Extensions (BDE)

  VMware vSphere Big Data Extensions (BDE) is a virtual appliance that enables administrators to deploy and manage the Hadoop clusters for big data analytics in the vSphere virtual infrastructure.Continue Reading

• Staying safe while manually modifying a VMX file

  What happens when you can't make changes to a VM in the vSphere client? There's more than one way to tweak the configuration file.Continue Reading

• How to troubleshoot VMware vSphere Replication issues

  When problems occur with the tool you use to protect your data, it's imperative to track down the logs that can help restore order.Continue Reading

• VMware App Volumes (formerly CloudVolumes)

  VMware App Volumes (formerly CloudVolumes) is layering software that puts applications into compartments for easier deployment in a virtual desktop infrastructure environment.Continue Reading

• VMware Integrated OpenStack (VMware VIO)

  VMware Integrated OpenStack (VMware VIO) is an OpenStack distribution tested and supported by VMware for companies that want to deploy and manage a private cloud on top of their vSphere infrastructure.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VMware vDS)

  A VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VMware vDS) allows a single virtual switch to connect multiple hosts in a cluster or multiple clusters for centralized management of network configurations in a vSphere environment.Continue Reading

• VMware Horizon View Composer

  VMware Horizon View Composer is a feature in Horizon View that gives administrators the ability to manage pools of desktops that share a common virtual disk.Continue Reading

• How are SSD garbage collection, wear leveling and TRIM different?

  While using solid-state drives in a vSphere environment can give a boost to VMs that require high performance, it's important to know how certain longevity features function in the storage hardware.Continue Reading

• How much longer will that SSD last in a vSphere server?

  Even modestly sized SSDs can be more expensive than traditional hard drives, but do the benefits outweigh any concerns about longevity?Continue Reading

• What are some key VMware Workstation features?

  While VMware Workstation offers flexibility for a busy test/dev shop, it won't help if the hardware underneath can't meet end-user demands.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Hypervisor

  The VMware vSphere Hypervisor is a free, bare-metal hypervisor from VMware that allows users to virtualize their servers and consolidate applications.Continue Reading

• VMware vCloud Connector

  VMware vCloud Connector is a free product that allows an administrator on the vSphere platform to move virtual machines between servers, VMware public cloud providers and the vCloud Air service, through a single interface for private and public ...Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA)

  VMware vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) is software developed by VMware that pools disk space from ESXi hosts to provide high availability features without requiring additional storage hardware.Continue Reading

• VMware vStorage Thin Provisioning

  VMware vStorage Thin Provisioning increases virtual machine (VM) storage use through dynamic allocation and intelligent provisioning of physical storage capacity.Continue Reading

• monster VM (monster virtual machine)

  A monster virtual machine is a virtual machine (VM) that typically has more than eight virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and more than 255 GB of virtual RAM.Continue Reading

• VM hardware version (virtual machine hardware version)

  The VM hardware version (virtual machine hardware version) designates the virtual hardware functions supported by a virtual machine (VM), which relates to the hardware on the host server.Continue Reading

• VVOLS (Virtual Volumes)

  VVOLs is a provisioning feature for vSphere 6 that changes how virtual machines (VMs) are stored and managed.Continue Reading

• Answering common VMware NSX platform questions

  VMware's network virtualization product promises both flexibility and security in one of the few areas where innovation has lagged in the data center.Continue Reading

• VMware IT Business Management Suite (ITBM)

  VMware IT Business Management Suite (ITBM) is a cost analysis and benchmarking product designed to detail the cost of IT services on a private cloud.Continue Reading

• VMware vCenter Simulator

  VMware vCenter Simulator (VCSIM) is an unsupported tool from VMware that is included with the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) and is used to simulate changes in a vSphere environment for testing and development purposes.Continue Reading

• VMware Unity mode

  VMware Unity mode is a feature in VMware desktop virtualization products that allows a user to display applications from virtual machines (VMs) on the host system desktop.Continue Reading

• Is VMware Integrated OpenStack just a development tool?

  VMware is touting its OpenStack offering as a way to ease the deployment and operations in the open-source cloud environment.Continue Reading

• VMware VADP (VMware vStorage API for Data Protection)

  VMware VADP is a VMware vStorage API that backs up and restores vSphere virtual machines (VMs).Continue Reading

• VMware DirectPath I/O

  VMware DirectPath I/O is the technology that gives a virtual machine (VM) direct access to a physical PCI and PCIe hardware devices on the host by circumventing the hypervisor.Continue Reading

• VCAP (VMware Certified Advanced Professional)

  VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) is VMware's third highest certification level out of four levels.Continue Reading

• Top 10 things to know about vCenter Server Appliance

  Here's how VMware's vCSA differs from its Windows-based counterpart -- and why it's the wave of the future.Continue Reading

• VMware Virtual SAN Ready Node (vSAN Ready Node)

  A VMware Virtual SAN Ready Node (vSAN Ready Node) is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) network appliance that is certified to run VMware vSAN. Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Network I/O Control (NIOC)

  VMware vSphere Network I/O Control (NIOC) allows administrator to set up rules and policies to prioritize bandwidth for different network resource pools on a vSphere distributed switch.Continue Reading

• VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS)

  VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS) is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering based on the VMware vSphere hypervisor featuring three services -- dedicated cloud, virtual private cloud and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) -- that can be...Continue Reading

• VMware vCloud Suite

  VMware vCloud Suite is a collection of applications built on VMware's vSphere platform for building a private cloud infrastructure.Continue Reading

• lldpnetmap

  Lldpnetmap is a troubleshooting command that displays to which physical switch an ESXi host is connected.Continue Reading

• VMware Horizon Cloud Pod Architecture

  VMware Horizon Cloud Pod Architecture is a feature in VMware Horizon 6 that consolidates multiple Horizon View pods to centralize management for administrators and enable entitlement access for remote users.Continue Reading

• vmkping

  Vmkping is a command used to verify and troubleshoot VMkernel network connectivity.Continue Reading

• VMware Fusion

  VMware Fusion is virtualization software from VMware that can run more than 150 multiple guest operating systems (OS), such as Windows or Linux, as virtual machines (VMs) inside a Macintosh OS.Continue Reading

• VMXNET Generation 3 (VMXNET3)

  VMXNET Generation 3 (VMXNET3) is a virtual network adapter designed to deliver high performance in virtual machines (VMs) running on the VMware vSphere platform.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Update Manager (VUM)

  VMware vSphere Update Manager (VUM) is software that manages vSphere versions, installs and updates third-party ESX/ESXi host extensions, automates the patch and upgrade process on ESX/ESXi hosts, and performs upgrades to virtual appliances, VMware ...Continue Reading

• vSphere hot plug

  vSphere hot plug is a function lets administrators add additional virtual hardware to running virtual machines (VMs).Continue Reading

• The right way to rename VMs with vSphere Storage vMotion

  A quirk in older ESX/ESXi versions will not result in a prompt rename of a VM until it has moved to another data store.Continue Reading

• vTax

  VTax is the derogatory nickname the general public gave to a licensing change for VMware vSphere 5.0.Continue Reading

• vmkfstools

  Vmkfstools is an ESXi Shell command line interface (CLI) for building and managing volumes and virtual disks on an ESX/ESXi host.Continue Reading

• How to clear a clogged core dump in VMware ESXi

  With a little manipulation via SSH or ESXi Shell, a locked core dump file can soon be just a distant memory for your ESXi environment.Continue Reading

• VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP)

  The VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP) is part of the VMware Partner Network Program ,which allows service provider partners to host VMware software on a monthly subscription basis to offer cloud services such as Infrastructure as a Service (...Continue Reading

• Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration (vDGA)

  Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration (vDGA) is a graphics-acceleration function that bypasses the ESXi hypervisor to tie a dedicated GPU in the ESXi host directly to a Horizon View virtual desktop to provide near-native performance.Continue Reading

• VMware vExpert

  VMware vExpert is an honorary title VMware grants to outstanding advocates of the company's products.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced (VMware VDPA)

  VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced (VMware VDPA) is a backup management, recovery and replication utility for virtual machines and applications that is based on EMC Avamar deduplication technology.Continue Reading

• How to stop worrying and learn to love the new vSphere Web Client

  Resistance is futile: If you want access to some of the new vSphere 5.5 features, then you need to get familiar with the vSphere Web Client.Continue Reading

• VCDX (VMware certified design expert)

  VCDX (VMware certified design expert) is VMware's highest certification level.Continue Reading

• Tips and tools for virtual recovery and backup

  Guard the perimeter of your VMware virtual infrastructure with this comprehensive guide.Continue Reading

• VMware Compatibility Guide

  The VMware Compatibility Guide is an online reference site hosted by VMware that shows what various hardware, converged systems, operating systems, third-party applications and VMware products are compatible with a specific version of a VMware ...Continue Reading

• VMware vFabric Hyperic

  VMware vFabric Hyperic is an agent-based monitoring system that automatically collects metrics on the performance and availability of hardware resources, operating systems, middleware and applications in physical, virtualized and cloud environments.Continue Reading

• Copy VMDK files if you need to hand over a virtual machine

  Copy VMDK files and then import them into the host if you need to hand over a VM to a client.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere App HA

  VMware vSphere App HA is virtual appliance introduced with vSphere 5.5. It works with vSphere HA (high availability) host monitoring and virtual machine monitoring to improve application uptime.Continue Reading

• thick provision eager zeroed

  Thick provision eager zeroed is a provisioning format for a virtual machine (VM) disk that creates a virtual disk in a default thick format.Continue Reading

• linked clones

  Linked clones are copies of virtual machines that share virtual disks with the parent VM, which conserves space and allows multiple VMs to use the same software.Continue Reading

• What's the best number of virtual machines for a data store?

  The best number of virtual machines on each data store depends on, among other things, the performance needs of each virtual machine.Continue Reading

• VMUG (VMware User Group)

  A VMUG (VMware User Group) is an international community of VMware users whose goal is to share knowledge.Continue Reading

• The vdmadmin utility puts the VMware View administrator in command

  Using the vdmadmin tool, a VMware View administrator can make virtual desktops dance through command-line wizardry.Continue Reading

• VMware vCenter Chargeback Manager

  VMware vCenter Chargeback Manager is a tool that calculates the costs of virtual resources and provides chargeback accountability.Continue Reading