Term
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Definition
(Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol)
ESX Server supports one-way CHAP authentication for iSCSI. It does not support bi-directional CHAP. In one-way CHAP authentication, the target authenticates the initiator, but the initiator does not authenticate the target. The initiator has only one set of credentials, and these credentials are used by all the iSCSI targets. |
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Term
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Definition
| Amount of CPU specified as upper limit for this virtual machine. By default, no limit is specified and Unlimited is displayed. |
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Term
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Definition
| Total CPU resources available for this host. |
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Term
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Definition
| VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) is a utility that balances computing workloads with available resources in a virtualized environment. |
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Term
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Definition
No Access User: users cannot view or change the object. If you set a No Access role for a particular object, users can select the VI Client tabs associated with the no-access object, but the tab displays no content. The No Access role is the default.
Read Only User: Users can view the state of the object and details about the object. Users can view all the tab panels in the VI Client except the console tab. All actions through the menus and toolbars are disallowed.
Administrator: Users can change privileges for an object. They can add, remove, and set access rights and privileges for all the VirtualCenter users and all the virtual objects in the VMware Infrastructure environment. |
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Term
| ESX Recommended disk partitions |
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Definition
ESX requires drive partitioning into three local partitions:
- Boot Partition: 100MB
- OS Partition: 5 GB
- Swap Partition: 544 MB |
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Term
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Definition
ESX Server requires a computer with the following specifications:
• At least two processors of one of the following types: 1500MHz Intel Xeon and later, or AMD Opteron (32-bit mode)
• 1500MHz Intel Viiv or AMD A64 x2 dual-core processors
• 1GB RAM minimum
• One or more Ethernet controllers: A SCSI disk, Fibre Channel LUN, or RAID LUN with unpartitioned space |
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Term
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Definition
(Guest Operating System)
An operating system that runs inside a virtual machine. |
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Term
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Definition
(High Availability)
An optional feature that supports distributed availability services in an environment that includes ESX Server and VirtualCenter. If you have configured DRS and one of the hosts managed by VirtualCenter Server goes down, all virtual machines on that host are immediately restarted on another host. |
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Term
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Definition
If an ESX Server host sees a particular storage device but not the expected LUNs on that device, it might be that LUN masking has not been set up properly.
For boot from SAN, ensure that each ESX Server host sees only required LUNs. Do not allow any ESX Server host to see any boot LUN other than its own. Use disk array software to make sure the ESX Server host can see only the LUNs that it is supposed to see. |
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Term
| License Server Requirements |
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Definition
VMware recommends installing the license server software on the same computer as the VirtualCenter Server. The license server requires a computer with the following minimum specifications:
• Windows 2000 Server SP4, Windows 2003, or Windows XP Professional installed
• 266MHz or faster Intel or AMD x86 processor
• 256MB RAM minimum, 512MB recommended
• 25MB free disk space required for basic installation
• 10/100 Ethernet adapter (Gigabit recommended) |
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Term
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Definition
| The Load Balancing policy determines how outgoing traffic is distributed among the network adapters assigned to a vSwitch. |
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Term
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Definition
| Amount of memory specified as upper limit for this virtual machine. By default, no limit is specified and Unlimited is displayed. |
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Term
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Definition
Total memory resources available for this host.
If a virtual machine has a memory reservation but has not yet accessed its full reservation, the unused memory can be reallocated to other virtual machines. |
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Term
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Definition
| Sets the NIC teaming policies for an individual port group or network to share traffic load or provide failover in case of hardware failure. |
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Term
| New Virtual Machine Wizard |
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Definition
| A point-and-click interface for convenient creation of a virtual machine configuration. It creates files that define the virtual machine, including a virtual machine configuration file and optionally a virtual disk or physical disk file. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Open Virtual Machine Format is a virtual machine distribution format that supports sharing virtual machines between products and organizations. The format facilitates the use of virtual appliances, which are preconfigured virtual machines that package applications with the operating system they require. Because OVF runs on multiple platforms, a virtual appliance is ready to run without significant additional configuration. |
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Term
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Definition
| (Raw Device Mapping) A Raw Device Mapping (RDM) is a special file in a VMFS volume that acts as a proxy for a raw device. The RDM provides some of the advantages of a virtual disk in the VMFS file system while keeping some advantages of direct access to physical devices. RDM might be required if you use Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) or if you run SAN snapshot or other layered applications in the virtual machine. RDMs better enable systems to use the hardware features inherent to SAN arrays. |
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Term
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Definition
(Site Recovery Manager)
* Accelerate recovery for the virtual environment through automation
* Ensure reliable recovery by enabling non-disruptive testing
* Simplify recovery by eliminating complex manual recovery steps and centralizing management of recovery plans |
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Term
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Definition
| This option lets you reserve a SCSI LUN for exclusive use by an ESX Server host, release a reservation so that other hosts can access the LUN, and reset a reservation, forcing all reservations from the target to be released. |
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Term
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Definition
| A control that allows you to take actions on any of the snapshots associated with the selected virtual machine. |
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Term
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Definition
| If a disk array has more than one storage processor, make sure that the SAN switch has a connection to the SP that owns the LUNs you want to access. On some disk arrays, only one SP is active and the other SP is passive until there is a failure. If you are connected to the wrong SP (the one with the passive path) you might not see the expected LUNs, or you might see the LUNs but get errors when trying to access them. |
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Term
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Definition
| Defines average bandwidth, peak bandwidth, and burst size. These are policies that can be set to improve traffic management. |
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Term
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Definition
(VMware Consolidated Backup)
You can use Consolidated Backup with a single ESX Server host or with a VirtualCenter Management Server.
Consolidated Backup offers the following features:
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Offloads backup processes to a dedicated physical host (VCB proxy).
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Eliminates the need for a backup window by using VMware virtual machine snapshot technology.
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Doesn’t require backup agents in virtual machines.
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Works with industry-leading backup applications allowing you to take advantage of their advanced scheduling and backup management features.
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Doesn’t restrict the use of Fibre Channel tapes.
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Supports file-level backups for virtual machines running Microsoft Windows guest operating system.
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Supports image-level backups for virtual machines running any guest operating system. |
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Term
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Definition
| A dedicated physical host that assists in performing using the VMware snapshot technique and an industry-standard backup software. Consolidated Backup integrates with most major backup applications providing you with a fast and efficient way of backing up data in virtual machines. |
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Term
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Definition
(Virtual Infrastructure Client)
A user interface that runs locally in a Windows machine and provides access to the virtual machine’s display. The Virtual Infrastructure Client runs on a networked machine. This can be on the same machine as the VirtualCenter Server or another networked machine. The Virtual Infrastructure Client requires a monitor for access to the virtual machine’s display. |
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Term
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Definition
(VMware File System)
A file system that is optimized for storing virtual machines. One VMFS partition is supported per SCSI storage device or SAN. Each version of ESX Server uses a corresponding version of VMFS. For example, VMFS3 was introduced with ESX Server 3. |
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Term
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Definition
(Virtual Machine Monitor)
Software that is responsible for virtualizing the CPUs. |
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Term
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Definition
VMs are comprised of several files including:
VMX
NVRAM
LOG
#.LOG
VMDK
FLAT.VMDK
VSWP
VMSD |
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Term
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Definition
| A high-performance operating system that occupies the virtualization layer and manages most of the physical resources on the hardware, including memory, physical processors, storage, and networking controllers. |
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Term
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Definition
| A suite of utilities and drivers that enhances the performance and functionality of your guest operating system. Key features of VMware Tools include some or all of the following, depending on your guest operating system: an SVGA driver, a mouse driver, the VMware Tools control panel, and support for such features as shared folders, drag-and-drop in Windows guests, shrinking virtual disks, time synchronization with the host, VMware Tools scripts, and connecting and disconnecting devices while the virtual machine is running. |
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Term
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Definition
22. ssh access to service console.
80. HTTP access to web servers.
443. HTTPS SSL access to web servers for VI Web Access.
902. VI Client access to ESX Server or VirtualCenter, and communication between VirtualCenter and ESX Server hosts or between hosts.
903. VM Console access via VI Client or VI Web Access.
2049. Connection to NFS storage devices.
2050-5000, and 8042-8045. Traffic between ESX Server hosts for VMware HA (also utilizes EMC Automated Availability Manager).
3260. Connection to iSCSI storage devices.
8000. Incoming requests from VMotion.
8083. VirtualCenter diagnostics port.
8086. Apache Tomcat web server admin on VirtualCenter Server
27000. License transactions from ESX Server to the License Server.
27010. License transactions from the License Server. |
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Term
| Virtual Infrastructure Client Requirements |
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Definition
The VI Client requires a computer with the following specifications:
• Windows 2000 Pro SP4, Windows 2000 Server SP4, Windows XP Professional, or Windows 2003 (except 64-bit) installed.
• .NET framework 1.1 installed (included with VI Client installer).
• 266MHz or faster Intel or AMD x86 processor.
• 256MB RAM minimum, 512MB recommended.
• 150MB free disk space required for basic installation. Additional storage is required if virtual machine templates are to be saved locally.
• 10/100 Ethernet adapter (Gigabit recommended). |
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Term
| VirtualCenter Database Requirements |
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Definition
VirtualCenter supports the following databases:
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (SP 4 only)
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005
• Oracle 9iR2, 10gR1 (versions 10.1.0.3 and higher only), and 10gR2
• Microsoft MSDE (not supported for production environments) Each database requires some configuration adjustments in addition to the basic installation. |
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Term
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Definition
Number of virtual machines (for management server scalability) 2000
Number of hosts per DRS cluster 32
Number of hosts per HA cluster 32
Number of hosts per VirtualCenter server 200 |
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Term
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Definition
| A service that acts as a central administrator for VMware servers connected on a network. This service directs actions on the virtual machines and the virtual machine hosts. VirtualCenter Server is the working core of VirtualCenter. |
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Term
| VirtualCenter Server Requirements |
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Definition
The VirtualCenter server must have:
* Administrator privileges on the installing system to install the VirtualCenter server. The VirtualCenter server installation adds VirtualCenter as a Windows service.
* Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003 (Web, Standard, and Enterprise).
* Minimum 2GB RAM for VirtualCenter configurations managing 50 hosts or less. Greater than 50 hosts configurations, use 3GB RAM. Configurations with 100 hosts running 2000 virtual machines, use 4GB RAM.
* Minimum Pentium IV 2.0Ghz processor. Dual processors recommended for deployments with greater than 25 hosts.
* Minimum 1 10/100Mbps NIC (1Gbps NIC recommended).
* Windows Script version 5.6 or later. If you do not have this version, VirtualCenter installer automatically updates to Windows Script version 5.6.
* Disk space sufficient on the machine to support the VirtualCenter database and the template upload directory. |
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Term
| VirtualCenter administrator |
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Definition
| A role in which the user is allowed to set the user+role permissions and control the VirtualCenter licensing. |
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Term
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Definition
| Installed on each virtual machine host, this software coordinates the actions received from the VirtualCenter Server. |
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Term
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Definition
| A persistent storage area for maintaining the status of each virtual machine and user managed in the VirtualCenter environment. Located on the same machine as the VirtualCenter Server. |
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Term
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Definition
| provides access control in the SAN topology. Zoning defines which HBAs can connect to which Storage Processors. |
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Term
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Definition
| Limits access to specific storage devices, increases security, and decreases traffic over the network. Some storage vendors allow only single-initiator zones. In that case, an HBA can be in multiple zones to only one target. Other vendors allow multiple-initiator zones. See your storage vendor’s documentation for zoning requirements. Use the SAN switch software to configure and manage zoning. |
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Term
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Definition
| An entity that monitors one or more properties of a virtual machine, such as CPU load. Alarms use green, red, and yellow color coding to issue notifications as directed by the configurable alarm definition. |
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Term
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Definition
| A type of virtual disk in which all disk space for the virtual machine is allocated at the time the disk is created. This is the default type of virtual disk created by VirtualCenter. |
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Term
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Definition
| When software running in the virtual machine writes to a disk used in append mode, the changes appear to be written to the disk. In fact, however, they are stored in a temporary file (.REDO). If a system administrator deletes this redo-log file, the virtual machine returns to the state it was in the last time it was used in persistent mode. |
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Term
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Definition
(n.) A duplicate of a virtual machine.
(v.) To make a copy of a virtual machine. This process includes the option to customize the guest operating system of the new virtual machine. When a clone is created, VirtualCenter provides an option to customize the guest operating system of that virtual machine. Clones can be stored on any host within the same farm as the original virtual machine. |
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Term
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Definition
| An extended compute resource that represents a cluster of hosts available for backing virtual machines. |
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Term
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Definition
| A managed object that represents either a single host or a cluster of hosts available for backing virtual machines. |
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Term
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Definition
| Any type of network connection between virtual machines and the host that does not use the default bridged, host-only, or network address translation (NAT) configurations. For instance, different virtual machines can be connected to the host by separate networks or connected to each other and not to the host. Any network topology is possible |
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Term
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Definition
| An ODBC object that you must configure to enable VirtualCenter Server to access a database. |
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Term
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Definition
| Virtual representations of combinations of underlying physical storage resources in the datacenter. The datastore is the storage location for the virtual machine files. This can be a physical disk, a RAID, a SAN, or a partition on any of these. |
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Term
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Definition
| A property of a virtual disk that defines its external behavior but is completely invisible to the guest operating system. There are four modes: persistent (changes to the disk are always preserved across sessions), nonpersistent (changes are never preserved), undoable (changes are preserved at the user's discretion), and append (similar to undoable, but the changes are preserved until a system administrator deletes the redo-log file). |
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Term
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Definition
| A data object containing information about an exceptional condition encountered by an operation. |
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Term
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Definition
| Describes a program or application that runs in the background without any interface connected to it. A running virtual machine that has no consoles connected to it is running headless. |
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Term
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Definition
| The physical computer on which the virtual machines managed by VirtualCenter are installed. |
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Term
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Definition
| Software that, when installed on a virtual machine host, performs actions on behalf of a remote client. |
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Term
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Definition
| The physical computer on which the VirtualCenter software is installed. It hosts the VirtualCenter virtual machines. |
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Term
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Definition
| A type of network connection between a virtual machine and the host. Under host-only networking, a virtual machine is connected to the host on a private network, which normally is not visible outside the host. Multiple virtual machines configured with host-only networking on the same host are on the same network |
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Term
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Definition
| Host daemon – Performs actions in the service console on behalf of the service console and the VI Client. |
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Term
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Definition
| A hierarchical structure used by the VirtualCenter Server or the host agent to organize managed entities. This hierarchy is presented as a list in the left panel of the VirtualCenter client window that provides a view of all the monitored objects in VirtualCenter. |
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Term
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Definition
A server that stores and allocates licenses. Receives requests through port 27000 from hosts. Sends license info through port 27010 to hosts.
Server-based licensing: server-based licensing, you maintain all your VirtualCenter Management Servers and all ESX Server hosts from one console.
Host-based licensing: your total entitlement for purchased features is divided on a per-machine basis, split among separate license files residing on ESX Server hosts and the VirtualCenter Server. |
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Term
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Definition
| Moving a virtual machine between hosts. Unless VMotion is used, the virtual machine must be powered off when you migrate it. |
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Term
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Definition
| Moving a virtual machine that is powered on and has met selected requirements, including the activation of VMotion on both the source and target hosts. When you migrate a virtual machine using VMotion, the operations of the virtual machine can continue without interruption. |
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Term
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Definition
| SNMP server – Implements the SNMP traps and data structures that an administrator can use to integrate an ESX Server system into an SNMP-based system-management tool. |
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Term
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Definition
| If you configure a virtual disk as an independent disk in nonpersistent mode, all disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine with a disk in nonpersistent mode appear to be written to disk but are in fact discarded after the virtual machine is powered off. As a result, a virtual disk or physical disk in independent-nonpersistent mode is not modified by activity in the virtual machine. |
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Term
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Definition
| The source virtual machine from which you take a snapshot or make a clone. A clone has no continued link to its parent, but a snapshot must have access to the parent’s virtual disk files. If you delete the parent virtual machine, any snapshot becomes permanently disabled. To prevent deletion, you can make the parent a template virtual machine. |
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Term
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Definition
| If you configure a virtual disk as an independent disk in persistent mode, all disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine are immediately and permanently written to the virtual disk in persistent mode. As a result, a virtual disk or physical disk in independent-persistent mode behaves like a conventional disk drive on a physical computer. |
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Term
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Definition
| A mechanism for setting policies that govern the network connected to it. |
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Term
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Definition
| A managed object used to control the reporting of managed object properties. The primary means of monitoring status on host machines. |
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Term
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Definition
| The file that stores the changes made to a disk in undoable or nonpersistent mode. You can permanently apply the changes saved in the redo log to a disk in undoable mode so they become part of the main disk files. For a disk in nonpersistent mode, however, the redo-log file is deleted when you power off or reset the virtual machine without writing any changes to the disk |
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Term
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Definition
| A division of computing resources used to manage allocations between virtual machines. |
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Term
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Definition
| A defined set of access rights and privileges in VirtualCenter. |
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Term
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Definition
| The command-line interface for an ESX Server system. It allows administrators to configure the ESX Server system. You can open the service console directly on an ESX Server system. If the ESX Server system’s configuration allows Telnet or SSH connections, you can also connect remotely to the service console. |
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Term
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Definition
| The managed entity at the root of the inventory. Clients must access the service instance to begin a session. |
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Term
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Definition
| A reproduction of the virtual machine just as it was when you took the snapshot, including the state of the data on all the virtual machine’s disks and whether the virtual machine was powered on, powered off, or suspended. You can take snapshots of a virtual machine at any time and go to any snapshot at any time. You can take a snapshot when a virtual machine is powered on, powered off, or suspended. You can configure a virtual machine to exclude specified disks from snapshots. |
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Term
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Definition
| A file or set of files that appears as a physical disk drive to a guest operating system. These files can be on the host machine or on a remote file system |
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Term
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Definition
| A virtualized x86 PC environment in which a guest operating system and associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can operate on the same host system concurrently. |
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Term
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Definition
| A network connecting virtual machines that does not depend on physical hardware connections. For example, you can create a virtual network between a virtual machine and a host that has no external network connections. You can also create a LAN segment for communication between virtual machines on a team. |
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Term
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Definition
| A virtual switch works like a layer 2 physical switch. Each server has its own virtual switches. On one side of the virtual switch are port groups that connect to virtual machines. On the other side are uplink connections to physical Ethernet adapters on the server where the virtual switch resides. Virtual machines connect to the outside world through the physical Ethernet adapters that are connected to the virtual switch uplinks. |
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Term
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Definition
| Authentication daemon – Authenticates remote users of the VI Client and remote consoles using the user name and password database. Any other authentication store that can be accessed using the service console’s Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) capabilities can also be used. Having multiple password storage mechanisms permits the use of passwords from a Windows domain controller, LDAP or RADIUS server, or similar central authentication store in conjunction with VMware ESX Server for remote access. |
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Term
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Definition
(Memory Balloon Driver)
The driver collaborates with the server to reclaim pages that are considered least valuable by the guest operating system. |
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Term
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Definition
| A feature that enables you to move running virtual machines from one ESX Server system to another without interrupting service. It requires licensing on both the source and target hosts. VMotion is activated by the VirtualCenter agent. The VirtualCenter Server centrally coordinates all VMotion activities. See also migration with VMotion. |
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Term
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Definition
(VMware Authentication Daemon)
Every time a VI Client or VirtualCenter user connects to an ESX Server host, the sinnet process starts an instance of the VMware Authentication Daemon, which is used as a proxy to pass the information to and from the VMware Host Agent (vmware-host) process |
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