VMware vsphere 4 Architecture 2010 VMware Inc. All rights reserved
VMware vsphere Architecture vsphere Client vcenter Converter plug-in Update Manager plug-in vcenter Database vcenter Server vcenter Linked Mode Cluster Datastores ESX/ESXi Hosts vsphere Web Access (Browser)* vsphere Management Assistant (vma) *ESX only (not ESXi) vsphere CLI vcenter Server Database vsphere PowerCLI Update Manager Database vcenter Server vcenter Orchestrator vcenter Converter Guided Consolidation Update Manager Datacenter Datastores S-2
VMware vsphere Components vsphere Client Primary interface for administration Runs locally on a Windows machine Connects to VMware vcenter Server or directly to an VMware ESX /ESXi host vsphere Client S-3
VMware vsphere Components vsphere Web Access Optional web browser interface to manage VMs Subset of vsphere Client capabilities Accessible from vcenter or per ESX host (not ESXi) vsphere Web Access (Browser) S-4
VMware vsphere Components vcenter Server Centralized manager of ESX/ESXi hosts Runs as Windows services on physical or virtual server Connects with vcenter Server database (SQL Server or Oracle) Optional - Windows Active Directory (required for Linked Mode) Integrates with optional server/client plug-ins vcenter Database vcenter Server vcenter Orchestrator vcenter Converter Guided Consolidation Update Manager S-5
VMware vsphere Components ESX/ESXi Host Hypervisor running VMs Organized into clusters Accesses shared storage datastores Datastores ESX/ESXi Host Cluster S-6
VMware vsphere Components Optional CLI and Scripting vsphere CLI Command line interface with scriptable shell commands Installs and runs on Windows or Linux vsphere PowerCLI Cmdlet scripting based on Windows PowerShell vsphere Management Assistant (vma) Virtual appliance Centralized host management Includes vsphere CLI vcenter Server (can also connect directly to a licensed ESX/ESXi host) vsphere Management Assistant (vma) vsphere CLI vsphere PowerCLI S-7
ESXi versus ESX Console Host Boot Host Management Remote CLI Management Agents ESXi Based on BusyBox 1.9.1 Direct Console Embedded USB Flash Installable Local Disk vsphere Client vsphere CLI vma CIM vsphere API ESX Based on RHEL 5.1 Service Console Local Disk or SAN vsphere Client vsphere Web Access vsphere CLI vma Service Console vsphere API Security High (Small Footprint) Medium Patching Fast Medium vsphere Compatibility Full Full S-8
Virtual Networking vnetwork Standard Switch (vss) Defined within host Connects to physical adapter(s) 0, 1, 2 or more uplinks (up to 32) Active or standby Port groups Virtual machine VMkernel - Management (ESXi only) - vmotion, iscsi, NFS Service console (ESX only) Supports VLAN tagging Port Groups Virtual Machine Port Group VMkernel Port View within single host Virtual Switch Physical Adapters vmnic0 vmnic1 S-9
Virtual Networking vnetwork Distributed Switch (vds) Defined across hosts Port groups span multiple hosts Network state stays with VMs across hosts Supports Private VLANs PVLANs Network I/O Control (NIOC) vsphere 4.1 only Virtual Machines View across multiple hosts dvport Groups Distributed Virtual Switch Physical Adapters dvuplink 1 dvuplink 2 Host 1 Host 2 VMkernel Ports dvuplink 1 dvuplink 2 S-10
Switch Limits Maximum Standard vswitch Distributed Switch Switches per vcenter Server 16 Switches per Host 248 Port Groups 512 (per switch) 512 (per switch) Ports per Host 4096 4096 Uplinks per Host 32* 32* Ports 4088 (per switch) 6000 (per vcenter Server) Hosts per Switch 64 vsphere 4.0 350 - vsphere 4.1 VLANS/PVLANs Limited by maximum number of port groups *Limit depends on adapter S-11
ESX/ESXi Boot Boot Device USB flash (ESXi Embedded only) Local disk SCSI RAID IDE ATA ATA RAID SATA SAS Fibre Channel or iscsi* SAN vsphere 4.0 ESX only vsphere 4.1 ESX and ESXi *hardware initiator only S-12
Virtual Storage VMFS Datastore Shared VM file system Block-level access by ESX/ESXi Supported devices Local disk (not shared storage) Fibre Channel SAN iscsi SAN - HBA - ESX/ESXi software initiator via VMkernel network port Formats.vmdk RDM (raw device mapping) to underlying LUN S-13
Virtual Storage NFS Datastore Shared directory on NFS server File-level access by ESX/ESXi Limitations No RDM No Storage I/O Control S-14
vsphere Network Ports Inventory From or To ESX/ESXi Network Path Port Protocol vsphere Client to ESX/ESXi Host 443,902,903 TCP VM Console Client to ESX/ESXi Host 903 TCP ESX/ESXi Host to/from vcenter Heartbeat 902 UDP ESX/ESXi Host to DNS Server 53 UDP ESX/ESXi Host to NFS Server 111,2049 TCP, UDP ESX/ESXi Host to iscsi SAN 3260 TCP vmotion between ESX/ESXi Hosts 8000 TCP HA Between ESX/ESXi Hosts 8100, 8200 TCP, UDP ESX/ESXi Host to Host for VM Provisioning Migration 443 TCP S-15
vsphere Network Ports Inventory From or To ESX/ESXi Network Path Port Protocol ESX/ESXi Host to Update Manager 80,443 TCP Update Manager to ESX/ESXi Host 902, 9000-9100 TCP CIM Client to ESX/ESXi Host CIM Secure Server ESX/ESXi Host CIM Service Location Protocol between Hosts ESX Host SNMP Client Trap Send to SNMP Collector SNMP Server to ESX/ESXi Host for SNM Polling 5988, 5989 TCP 427 TCP, UDP 162 UDP 161 UDP ESX/ESXi Host to Syslog Server 514 UDP Consolidated Backup/Data Recovery to ESX/ESXi Host 443 UDP S-16
vsphere Network Ports Inventory From or To ESX Only (Not ESXi) Network Path Port Protocol vsphere Web Access to ESX Host 443 TCP FTP Client to ESX Host FTP Server 21 TCP ESX Host FTP Client to FTP Server 21 TCP SSH Client to ESX Host SSH Server 22 TCP ESX Host SSH Client to SSH Server 22 TCO ESX Host SMB Client to SMB Server 137-139, 445 TCP PAM AD Authentication Directory Services to MS Directory Services PAM AD Authentication Kerberos Client to Active Directory Server PAM AD Authentication Kerberos Password to Active Directory Server PAM AD Authentication LDAP to LDAP Server 445 UDP, TCP 88 TCP 464 TCP 389 TCP S-17
vsphere Network Ports Inventory From or To vcenter Server Network Path Port Protocol vsphere Client to vcenter Server 443 TCP vsphere Web Access to vcenter Server 443 TCP VM Console Client to vcenter Server 903 TCP vcenter Server to ESX/ESXi Host for VM Console 903 TCP vcenter Server to LDAP Server 389 TCP Linked Mode SSL between vcenter Servers 636 TCP ESX/ESXi 2.x/3.x Host to Legacy License Server 27000, 27010 TCP vcenter Management Web Services HTTP to vcenter Server vcenter Management Web Services HTTPS to vcenter Server 8080 TCP 8443 TCP SNMP Server Polling to vcenter Server 161 UDP vcenter Server SNMP Client Trap Send to SNMP Server 162 UDP vcenter Server SMTP Client to SMTP Server Email 25 TCP S-18
vsphere Network Ports Inventory From or To vcenter Server Network Path Port Protocol vcenter Server DNS Client to DNS Server 53 UDP vcenter Server to Active Directory Server 88,445 UDP, TCP ODBC to MS SQL Server Database 1433 TCP Oracle Listener Port to Oracle Database 1521 TCP ESX/ESXi Host to/from vcenter Server for Heartbeat 902 UDP vcenter Server internal Communication Port 8005, 8006, 8086 TCP vcenter Server Internal service Diagnostics 8083, 8085, 8087 TCP Consolidated Backup/Data Recovery to vcenter Server Data Recovery vsphere Client Plug-in to Data Recovery Appliance 443 TCP 443 TCP S-19