What is VMWare?
Overview of VMWare Virtual Machine
VM Ware is a virtual machine software launched by VMWare Inc in Palto Alto, California. Its first virtualization software, VMWare Workstation was launched in May 1999.
They launched the VMWare GSX Server and VMWare ESX server in the market in 2001. The majority of the VMWare virtualization software programs are for business use.
There are three main types of virtualization software including
- desktop virtualization software
- server virtualization software
- cloud management software
Some of the most important server virtualization software in its product line are VMWare vSphere, and VMWare Server.
How VMWare Virtual Machines Work
VM Ware is the leading virtualization software in the web hosting field. VM virtual machine makes it possible for more than one instances of the operating systems to run on the same server.
The memory usage can be configured manually or dynamically. You have the option of limiting the memory usage on certain servers to prevent consumption of too much memory.
VMWare also allows you to allocate hard disk space from the available hard disk storage pool. The drives you set up will appears as if it is a physical hard disk that is installed on the server.
VMWare supports all kinds of OS including Windows, Linux and Unix.There is a free version of the VMWare software called VMWare Server. VMWare Server is also known as GSX Server previously. VMWare Server can only run on Windows or Linux.
Every VM virtual machine already includes an operating system and application. Each virtual machine on the server will operate independently on its own without any connection to other virtual machines.
The individual servers are just the same as the physical dedicated servers. VM virtual machine is highly efficient as it only leaves 1% of the footprint on the hardware.
VMWare offers device drivers for most of the major brand name devices. It supports many client operating systems such as Microsoft Small Business Server.
If you install a new hardware on the server, you can easily reconfigure it without causing any visible changes on the virtual guest operating systems. As soon as the server is reconfigured, the server can boot and start to operate.
VMWare Virtual Machines Allows You to Maximixe Server Resources
With the virtual machine, you can divide the resources on the server between different partitions. This makes it suitable for use in the VPS web hosting plans.
VMWare offers efficient server consolidation solution that can help web hosting companies to cut down their costs. It is estimated that virtualization can help web hosting companies to save up to 50% of their costs compared to the traditional ways.
It maximizes the use of the server resources so that the web hosting company need a lower number of servers to host the clients’ websites. Virtual machine is different than cloud computing as cloud computing involved sharing resources on the internet.
You can virtualize your server regardless of whether you have access to cloud services.
Conclusion
In conclusion, VMWare allows web hosting companies to reduce cost through the integration of virtual hosts on the server. You can conveniently add the virtual servers without having to spend money to buy additional hardware.
In case you want to upgrade your hardware, you can easily do so by resetting the operating system’s requirement to the new hardware requirements.