Concept

VMware ESXi

Résumé
VMware ESXi (formerly ESX) is an enterprise-class, type-1 hypervisor developed by VMware for deploying and serving virtual computers. As a type-1 hypervisor, ESXi is not a software application that is installed on an operating system (OS); instead, it includes and integrates vital OS components, such as a kernel. After version 4.1 (released in 2010), VMware renamed ESX to ESXi. ESXi replaces Service Console (a rudimentary operating system) with a more closely integrated OS. ESX/ESXi is the primary component in the VMware Infrastructure software suite. The name ESX originated as an abbreviation of Elastic Sky X. In September 2004, the replacement for ESX was internally called VMvisor, but later changed to ESXi (as the "i" in ESXi stood for "integrated"). ESX runs on bare metal (without running an operating system) unlike other VMware products. It includes its own kernel. In the historic VMware ESX, a Linux kernel was started first and then used to load a variety of specialized virtualization components, including ESX, which is otherwise known as the vmkernel component. The Linux kernel was the primary virtual machine; it was invoked by the service console. At normal run-time, the vmkernel was running on the bare computer, and the Linux-based service console ran as the first virtual machine. VMware dropped development of ESX at version 4.1, and now uses ESXi, which does not include a Linux kernel at all. The vmkernel is a microkernel with three interfaces: hardware, guest systems, and the service console (Console OS). The vmkernel handles CPU and memory directly, using scan-before-execution (SBE) to handle special or privileged CPU instructions and the SRAT (system resource allocation table) to track allocated memory. Access to other hardware (such as network or storage devices) takes place using modules. At least some of the modules derive from modules used in the Linux kernel. To access these modules, an additional module called vmklinux implements the Linux module interface.
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