VMware desktop software and desktop virtualization
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VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion and VMware Player are desktop software products from VMware. Desktop software products such as these are also known as type-2 virtualization or hosted virtualization products. VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion allow you to create virtual machines; VMware Player only allows you to run them.
VMware Server is a desktop or hosted virtualization option for those that wish to take server virtualization for a test drive.
VMware View, formerly known as VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or VDI, is VMware's current desktop virtualization offering.
Here you'll find subtopics that cover all of the aforementioned products individually, each section offering overviews written by experts in the field, best practices, and getting started guides. More about VMware desktop software and desktop virtualization
- VMware View
- VMware Workstation, Fusion and Player
- VMware Server
VMware infrastructure management services
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VMware's infrastructure management services are what makes VMware ESX the enterprise virtualization hypervisor of choice. In this section, you'll find expert tips on popular VMware components such as VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB), VMware High Availability (HA), VMotion, Storage VMotion, Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and Data Protection Manager (DPM), organized by product.
For example, in the VMware Consolidated Backup subsection, you'll find an in-depth troubleshooting article as well as useful script additions that enhance the product's functionality.
And in the VMware High Availability section, we offer an introductory HA tip that goes over the various settings so you can optimize HA for your environment. As the author points out, most of the HA configurations are not driven by the usual check boxes and options screens. More about VMware infrastructure management services
- DRS and DPM
- VMware Consolidated Backup
- VMware High Availability and Fault Tolerance
- vMotion and Storage vMotion
VMware initiatives and new releases
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VMware is continually innovating. The last big release was vSphere, and the next big move on the horizon is the switch from ESX to VMware's console-less hypervisor, ESXi. Here you'll also find subtopics that house articles that cover VMware mobile virtualization; articles that cover what's new in various VMware point releases and more. More about VMware initiatives and new releases
- VMware mobile virtualization
- VMware new releases and updates
- VMworld conference coverage
vSphere and cloud computing
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For companies considering cloud computing, private clouds are a good starting point. Building and managing a private cloud enables you to pool hardware, storage, network, Web, and virtualization resources for more flexible, dynamic and on-demand requirements. Get news and research on the benefits of pooling resources into private clouds to address a business's changing computing needs as well as the potential drawbacks of managing private clouds. This topic covers VMware, Virtual Datacenter OS, vSphere, Egenera, Citrix Cloud Center, 3Tera, rPath and Hyperic. More about vSphere and cloud computing
- Using vSphere to create a private cloud
- Creating and managing a cloud architecture
VMware ESX and ESXi administrative tips
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As a VMware ESX and/or ESXi administrator, you need to know everything about running a VMware environment, from the basics such as system requirements, installing VMware and how to perform physical-to-virtual migrations, to more advanced issues such as how to get the best performance from your virtualized architecture and how to best monitor your environment. You'll also need to determine whether or not to use performance tools, how to protect your virtual servers from security concerns and how to troubleshoot virtual machines when something goes awry. This section offers tips on all of the mentioned areas, broken down into more specific categories so that you can more easily find what you're looking for. More about VMware ESX and ESXi administrative tips
- Creating and upgrading VMware servers and VMs
- VMware performance enhancements
- Using monitoring and performance tools with VMware
- Scripting administrative tasks
- Troubleshooting VMware products
- Remote administrative options
- Backing up VMware host servers and guest OSes
- Securing a VMware environment
- VMware basics
Data center architecture for VMware ESX and ESXi
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A data center's hardware and networking components can greatly improve your VMware environment's return on investment, or ROI, as resulting performance greatly depends on the underlying architecture.
From this page, you can navigate to subsections that provide collections of expert tips and step-by-step how-to's that help you leverage your existing storage and networking architecture with configuration, purchasing and general management tips. Alternatively, if you're in the market for new hardware, our articles can help you decide what to purchase to support a virtualized infrastructure. More about Data center architecture for VMware ESX and ESXi
- Selecting storage and hardware
- VMware and networking
VMware certifications and training
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VMware certifications are becoming requirements for certain system administrator jobs, but in some cases just knowing how to use the products and having experience is enough to ensure job safety. Either way, IT jobs require continuous learning, and this section aims to assist you with that by providing articles and expert commentary on the VMware Certified Professional, or VCP, exam, as well as the newer VMware Certified Design Expert, or VCDX.
We'll also post our educational screencasts and introductory tips to help bring you up to speed on what VMware has to offer, and keep you updated on new certifications as VMware continues to develop its certification pathway. More about VMware certifications and training
- VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX)
- VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
- VMware how-tos
- VMware training videos and mediacasts