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Bring yourself up to speed with our introductory content.
Get started
Bring yourself up to speed with our introductory content.
thick provision lazy zeroed
Thick provision lazy zeroed is a provisioning format for a virtual machine (VM) disk that creates a virtual disk in a default thick format. Continue Reading
Purple Screen of Death (PSOD)
A Purple Screen of Death (PSOD) is a diagnostic screen with white type on a purple background that is displayed when the VMkernel of an ESX/ESXi host experiences a critical error and becomes inoperative, terminating its running virtual machines. Continue Reading
The VMware infrastructure monitoring encyclopedia
This infrastructure monitoring guide can help administrators maintain the health of their vSphere and vCloud environments. Continue Reading
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esxtop
Esxtop is a command-line tool that gives you real-time information on resource usage in your vSphere environment. Continue Reading
VMware OVF Tool (VMware Open Virtualization Format Tool)
The VMware OVF Tool is a command-line utility that allows administrators to import and export OVF packages to and from VMware products. Continue Reading
VMware vCenter Mobile Access (VMware vCMA)
VMware vCenter Mobile Access (VMware vCMA) is a virtual appliance used by admins to manage a data center from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.Continue Reading
VCB proxy (VMware Consolidated Backup proxy)
VCB proxy (VMware Consolidated Backup proxy) is the server that collects virtual machine (VM) backup data from VMware Consolidated Backup.Continue Reading
VMware vCenter Server Linked Mode
VMware vCenter Server Linked Mode is a tool that allows administrators a consolidated view of management zones and allows servers to support an increased number of virtual machines.Continue Reading
VMware Horizon View
VMware Horizon View is the virtual desktop host platform for vSphere. Formerly VMware View, the platform runs end user desktops as virtual machines on top of ESX/ESXi hosts.Continue Reading
mirror driver
A mirror driver is a Windows device driver used in extended desktops, remote desktop software and assistive technology.Continue Reading
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VMware vSphere Web Client plug-in
VMware vSphere Web Client plug-ins are programs that either come from VMware itself or from third-party developers and partners to extend the vSphere Web Client with custom menu selections and toolbar icons that provide access to custom capabilities...Continue Reading
VMware DRS quiz: Rules, settings, requirements and best practices
Knowing how to use VMware DRS is key to getting the most out of vSphere, so quiz yourself on its features. A high score could mean high utilization.Continue Reading
VMworld
VMworld is a conference covering virtualization and cloud computing technologies from VMware Inc and its partners and third-party vendors.Continue Reading
VMware EVC (VMware Enhanced vMotion compatibility)
VMware EVC (VMware Enhanced vMotion Compatibility) is a feature in VMware vSphere virtualization that allows virtual machines (VMs) to move between ESX/ESXi hosts on different CPUs.Continue Reading
VMware NSX pop quiz: Do you know NSX's network virtualization features?
Test your knowledge of VMware NSX, which evolved rapidly out of VMware's homegrown and acquired network virtualization technologies.Continue Reading
Getting VMware terminology straight
VMware terminology can be confusing: Some terms are new, some VMware acronyms mean more than one thing and some product terms are unique to VMware.Continue Reading
VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat (vCSHB)
VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat (vCSHB) is VMware's OEM version of NeverFail, which is designed to ensure the high availability and disaster recovery of vCenter Server whether on a LAN or a Wireless Wide Area Network.Continue Reading
Free vSphere reporting tools
Inside VMware's free hypervisor
Free VM backup with Veeam Backup and Replication
Extra features lure allegiance away from free virtualization
Free ESXi monitoring tools
How to break down VMware cost barriers
Building an empire around the free VMware hypervisor
You can pull together a viable free virtual infrastructure, starting with a free VMware hypervisor and adding reporting, backup and other tools.Continue Reading
vNUMA (virtual NUMA)
vNUMA (virtual NUMA) is a memory-access optimization method for VMware virtual machines (VMs) that helps prevent memory-bandwidth bottlenecks.Continue Reading
affinity rules
Affinity rules are settings that establish a relationship between two or more VMware virtual machines (VMs) and hosts.Continue Reading
nested VM (nested virtual machine)
A nested VM (nested virtual machine) is a virtual machine contained within another VM.Continue Reading
bubble network
A bubble network is a series of interconnected virtual machines (VMs) that communicate through a virtual network switch (vSwitch) and remain isolated from the physical network.Continue Reading
VMware host profile
VMware Host Profiles is a vCenter Server tool to design and deploy ESX/ESXi hosts.Continue Reading
VMware ThinApp
VMware ThinApp is an application virtualization tool included in VMware Inc.'s Horizon Suite and available as a standalone product.Continue Reading
VMware fling
A VMware fling is an unsupported software tool created by a VMware engineer. Flings often address a specific problem or offer a utility not found in a VMware product.Continue Reading
VMware CTK file
A VMware CTK file contains a list of all the changes made to a VMware virtual machine (VM) since it was last backed up.Continue Reading
vSphere hot add
VMware vSphere hot add is a feature that allows an administrator to increase the random access memory (RAM) capacity of a running virtual machine (VM) without downtime.Continue Reading
Changed Block Tracking (CBT)
VMware Changed Block Tracking is an incremental backup technology for virtual machines (VMs), comparable to snapshot differential or backup delta block.Continue Reading
VMware vShield
VMware vShield is a group of networking and security products for virtualized IT infrastructures, comprising vShield Manager, vShield Edge, vShield Zones, vShield App, vShield Data Security and vShield Endpoint.Continue Reading
VMware Capacity Planner (VCP)
VMware Capacity Planner is a tool that collects information on an IT infrastructure's resource usage and compares it to industry-average data.Continue Reading
VMware template
A VMware template is a perfect, model copy of a virtual machine from which you can clone, convert or deploy more virtual machines.Continue Reading
VMware vApp
A VMware vApp is a collection of virtual machines (VMs) and sometimes other vApps that host a multi-tier application, its policies and service levels.Continue Reading
VMware VMCI (VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface)
VMware VMCI (Virtual Machine Communication Interface) is a high-speed interface that virtual machines (VMs) on the same host use to communicate with each other and the host kernel modules.Continue Reading
vSphere CLI (vCLI)
VMware's vSphere CLI (vCLI) commands are used in a command line interface (CLI) when managing VMware ESX/ESXi infrastructures.Continue Reading
VMware snapshot
A VMware snapshot is a copy of the virtual machine's disk file (VMDK) at a given point in time.Continue Reading
VMware vSphere PowerCLI
VMware vSphere PowerCLI is a command-line interface (CLI) tool for automating vSphere and vCloud management.Continue Reading
VMware terminology quiz: Do you speak virtualization?
Thought you left vocab quizzes back in the classroom? See if you've grasped the VMware and virtualization lingo by taking our definitions quiz.Continue Reading
VMware vLockstep
VMware vLockstep is the technology supporting VMware's Fault Tolerance (FT) high-availability software feature.Continue Reading
VMware resource pool
A VMware resource pool is the aggregated physical compute hardware -- CPU and memory, as well as other components -- allocated to virtual machines (VMs) in a VMware virtual infrastructure.Continue Reading
VMware Orchestrator
VMware Orchestrator is a free vCenter feature that helps automate VMware vCloud Suite, vSphere and other virtualization management system processes.Continue Reading
Pop quiz: VMware snapshots 101
VMware snapshots play an important part in backing up many virtual infrastructures, but how well do you understand how they work? Take this quiz to find out.Continue Reading
VMware Server
VMware Server is a virtualization solution that makes it possible to partition a single physical server into multiple virtual machines... (Continued)Continue Reading
VMware Lab Manager
VMware Lab Manager is a software development and testing tool that enables designers and engineers to pool network and storage resources ... (Continued)Continue Reading
vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA)
vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) is a set of application program interfaces (APIs), released with VMware’s vSphere 5, that enables vSphere vCenter to recognize the capabilities of storage arrays that support the API.Continue Reading
Profile-Driven Storage
Profile-Driven Storage is a feature in vSphere 5 that lets users to intelligently provision applications, mapping VMs to storage levels according to service levels, availability, performance needs or cost.Continue Reading
corporate VM (corporate virtual machine)
A corporate VM (corporate virtual machine) is a virtual computing environment (VM) that is allocated to an end user for business use.Continue Reading
vSphere Replication
VSphere Replication is a feature of vSphere 5.0 and Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 5.0 that automates the failover of virtual servers to a recovery site.Continue Reading
Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) is a load balancing utility that assigns and moves computing workloads to available hardware resources in a virtualized environment. Continue Reading
vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI)
vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) is an application program interface (API) framework from VMware that enables certain storage tasks, such as thin provisioning, to be offloaded from the VMware server virtualization hardware to the storage ...Continue Reading
personal VM (personal virtual machine or PVM)
A personal VM (personal virtual machine) is a virtual computing environment that is allocated to an end user for personal use.Continue Reading
vStorage API
A vStorage API is an application program interface (API) from VMware that enables third-party storage and backup vendors to integrate their products with VMware’s vSphere server virtualization platform.Continue Reading
VMware storage options and Storage vMotion: A guide
VMware storage options include VMFS, thin provisioning, NFS and block-level storage. Virtualization storage features such as VMware Storage vMotion also help protect VM data.Continue Reading
VMware Workstation FAQ
Run multiple OSes and create test labs right on your desktop with VMware Workstation. If you want a VMware Workstation upgrade, VMware Workstation 9 is the latest version.Continue Reading
VMware management and performance monitoring guide
There are lots of VMware management tools out there. This guide highlights the most important ones for VMware monitoring and offers best practices for improving VMware performance.Continue Reading
VMware resource pool management guide
Poor virtualization performance affects all business operations. Therefore, strict VMware resource pool management is essential for efficient, well-run companies.Continue Reading
What is VMware vSphere 4?
VMware vSphere 4 is the backbone of VMware's server infrastructure suite. Read about vSphere's technologies, pricing and roadmap.Continue Reading
Virtual appliances and the OVF format: The new software packaging
Thanks to the Open Virtualization Format, virtual appliances are the new way to deliver software -- say goodbye to boxes and CDs.Continue Reading
What is VMware Consolidated Backup?
What is VMware Consolidated Backup? Simply put, VCB is a backup framework that offloads virtual machine backup off the ESX Server.Continue Reading
What is VMware View?
VMware View is VMware's virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI, software that runs a desktop on a user's thin client, or PC, from the servers in a data center. Learn more about what VMware View is and how it works with this Super Definition.Continue Reading
virtual machine configuration
Virtual machine configuration is the arrangement of resources assigned to a virtual machine. The resources allocated to a virtual machine (VM) typically include allocated processors, memory, disks, network adapters and the user interface.Continue Reading
Back ends for desktop virtualization: A guide
This guide on desktop virtualization and back-end virtualization engines covers how hypervisors from VMware, Microsoft and Citrix Systems enable desktop virtualization.Continue Reading
What is the free VMware OVFTOOL and how can it help you?
VMware's OVFTOOL is a conversion program that eases distribution of virtual machines, converting them from the OVF format to .VMX, .OVA, .VMX files and others.Continue Reading
Why you should delete outdated vCenter Server data
With SQL commands, you can delete superfluous vCenter Server database information and save disk space and boost system performance. But you need to monitor database table size.Continue Reading
Understanding VMware ESX virtual machine physical and virtual hardware
You can better manage virtual machines by understanding the virtual hardware that makes up a VM. This tip explores VM physical and virtual hardware issues, including configuring virtual hardware and assigning virtual memory.Continue Reading
embedded hypervisor
An embedded hypervisor is a hypervisor that is programmed (embedded) directly into a processor, personal computer (PC) or server. This architecture offers convenience at the cost of some flexibility compared with conventional hypervisors ... (...Continue Reading
VMware Converter
VMware Converter is a utility that facilitates the creation of VMware virtual machines from physical systems or virtual machines associated with third-party vendors. The utility also enables migration of virtual machines between VMware platforms ...Continue Reading
VMware VMFS (Virtual Machine File System)
VMware VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) is a cluster file system that facilitates storage virtualization for multiple installations of VMware ESX Server, a hypervisor that partitions physical servers into multiple virtual machines... (Continued)Continue Reading
VMware Update Manager
VMware Update Manager is a utility that oversees the installation of updates for existing installations of VMware ESX Server and guest operating systems. Update Manager tracks vulnerabilities within the virtual infrastructure and automatically ...Continue Reading
VMware Virtual SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing)
VMware Virtual SMP is a utility that allows a single virtual machine to use two or more processors simultaneously. The utility is part of a virtualization suite called VMware Infrastructure 3... (Continued)Continue Reading
VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3)
VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) is a software suite designed to centralize and optimize desktop management and data center resources through virtualization... (Continued)Continue Reading