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Apr 28
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VMware ESX Server CreationComputers Comments Off
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VMware ESX is a version of this popular server emulation software that requires no operating system between it and the hardware that supports it. This, of course, allows virtual machines to be created very easily, with no operating system license being required for the system itself. This software runs on X86 processors and can create an almost infinite amount of servers on a single machine. It also allows for the safety of these servers through some innovative resource management capabilities that are built into the software itself. Its design alone can avert many common IT disasters.
VMware ESX allows IT professionals to create servers on the fly. That sounds not at all as impressive as it actually is without clarification. In the past, a company that needed a new web server would have been required to buy the hardware, to install an operating system and then to install a web server technology. The machine would likely find itself running that web server and little else, due to the need for resources to be available for visitors. VMware changed how this model works. It also made it incredibly easy to create new servers without employees even noticing.
A web server can be created in VMware ESX in a matter of minutes. Templates can be developed that make the process even faster. This web server appears as a standard server machine to the network users, and access can be very strictly controlled, just as it can on a standard server. The user of this web server can even be given administrative privileges over it without being granted access to any other servers operating on the same machine. This entire operation, from the IT department’s standpoint, can be completed in the space of a phone call, saving huge amounts of time.
One of the most impressive capabilities of VMware ESX is its ability to migrate servers. If that web server needed to be moved to a different piece of hardware, it could be done with no interruption in services. In fact, an individual viewing the web page wouldn’t even notice that anything happened. Even more impressive, the server can be moved while the administrator is performing complex tasks. That administrator would suffer no downtime and, from their perspective they wouldn’t even know the server is on an entirely new machine. For IT departments, this is something they’ve wanted for a very long time.