VMware VirtualCenter is a software suite designed to centralize the management of virtualized IT environments. VirtualCenter supports multiple virtualization-based services such as VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler), VMware HA (High Availability) and VMware VMotion.
VirtualCenter consists of several components, each of which can function with diverse operating systems, applications and hardware devices:
- VirtualCenter Server, which is the main control node for managing the IT environment
- VirtualCenter Database, which facilitates long-term data storage for physical and virtual resources
- VirtualCenter Infrastructure Client, which facilitates remote user connections to ESX Server or VirtualCenter Server
- VirtualCenter Agent, which facilitates communication between ESX Server and VirtualCenter Server
- VirtualCenter Web Access, which facilitates virtual machine management without installing a client
According to VMware, VirtualCenter can enhance the flexibility, efficiency, security and robustness of IT environments by:
- Centralizing the management of the IT environment
- Streamlining the deployment of virtual machines
- Allowing administrators to continuously monitor the performance of all essential system components
- Prioritizing actions to ensure that the most urgent matters are addressed first
- Preventing unauthorized persons or computers from accessing the system
- Minimizing the risk of malware intrusion
- Aligning available resources with defined business priorities
- Allowing live migration of virtual machines among physical servers and storage arrays
- Providing graceful degradation and fault tolerance to minimize the likelihood of catastrophic system failure
- Optimizing the energy efficiency of the hardware
- Simplifying integration with third-party hardware and software
- Providing a straightforward, user-friendly interface
VMware, a subsidiary of EMC Corporation, is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and provides virtualization software for x86-compatible computers.
This was last updated in March 2008