Author: Michał Zbyl

vSphere, as a comprehensive virtualization product from VMware, is already in version 7. While carrying out the process of updating significant patches of a given version marked with the letter “u” it is a virtually fully automated process, intuitive, and relatively safe. On the other hand, carrying out an upgrade from a lower to a higher version, on the other hand, is already dependent on many factors.

VMware is currently leading the way on the market, and this is an unquestionable claim. Suffice it to say that, according to some statistics, VMware’s share in the hypervisor market exceeds 70%. But what really makes vSphere such a desirable product, and where does its strength come from? Are its technologies such as High Availability, or maybe we, the customers, decide about the power of this product?

We know already that VMware products are currently set as an example by IT specialists, and we have proved why this is the case in a series of entries on the Xopero blog. Since we have already established that we should and want to use the solutions proposed by VMware when virtualizing our environment, now is the time to present examples of such implementations.

VMware has many products in its portfolio that are aimed at various users, companies, and various projects. If our main goal is to build a virtual environment, the combination of ESXi, vCenter and vSphere products is what we are looking for. The very planning and implementation of the virtual environment are as important as taking care of its proper backup after startup – and that we should never forget.

Currently, we can risk a statement that not only global corporations but also medium and small companies decide to introduce the principle of dividing infrastructure into three parts. What does it really mean, and why do so many in the IT industry praise such a solution? 

VMware is a company that owes its success to its virtualization products. Currently, the company’s portfolio includes solutions aimed at infrastructure virtualization, clouding, cybersecurity, disaster recovery, and much much more. In addition, speaking only about the Hyper-Converged Infrastructure department, we must bear in mind that VMware provides several different solutions. The question is obvious, which is the product for me?

On the pages of our blog, we have already discussed virtualization tools from VMware, but it must be remembered that this is not the only solution of this type on the market. Microsoft has been heavily involved in virtualization since 2008 and is developing its project codenamed Viridian. Let’s check and compare how both companies approached converting virtual machines between competing virtualizers.

Currently, Microsoft has introduced a new service called Windows 365 Cloud PC according to the “as service” approach it promotes. It is, of course, nothing but virtual computers on Microsoft’s servers. Likewise, containers, of which Docker is perhaps the most famous representative, are virtualized elements or entire operating systems. We can also virtualize the entire physical infrastructure, and that’s what VMware ESXi is for.

In recent years, VMware has put great emphasis on its cloud technologies. Still, you have to remember that estimates show that the company’s solutions are present on about 75% (data for 2019-2020) of physical servers intended for virtualization on our globe. This means that VMware ESXi is still a leading virtualization solution, and one of the most appreciated features of this solution is undoubtedly the snapshot technology. Thanks to snapshots, for example, we can do some “kind of backup” at the moment without stopping the virtual machine, and this is something that everyone loves, but why shouldn’t I use the word “backup” in this sentence?