Data Backup Digest

VMWare, Inc., founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1998, is a software development company that specializes in cloud computing services and virtualization software. Credited as the very first software developer to simulate the entire x86 architecture through their hardware virtualization protocol, VMware currently offers a host of applications, utilities and services that cater to the world of cloud computing.

What is vSphere?

Simply put, VMware's vSphere is a cloud-based operating system meant to facilitate shared and globalized access to data. Originally referred to as VMware Infrastructure, VMware finally implemented their vSphere framework in 2009. The software has seen numerous updates since then, all of which have added brand new functionality while repairing critical faults and coding errors. Some of the utilities that have been added to vSphere since its inception include vSphere Data Protection, vSphere Storage Appliance, vSphere Endpoint, VSphere Replication and more.

vSphere 5.5

At the time of this writing, VMware's most recent version of their cloud-based operating system is vSphere 5.5. Using a technical architecture that is based off VMware's ESXi hypervisor framework, vSphere 5.5 boasts numerous improvements over previous versions.

For starters, vSphere 5.5 is known as a "bare-metal" hypervisor, which means it can be installed and configured on the server itself. Moreover, it can run on individual partitions in order to operate on several different virtual machines at the same time. This takes advantage of all the available system resources will still maintaining accuracy, efficiency and reliability.

While it does use the same VMkernel used in earlier versions, vSphere 5.5 does not necessitate the use of a Linux operating system when trying to add external software or run scripts. This has been achieved by completely eliminated the console operating system environment in favor of remote administration procedures, utilities and tools. Apart from increasing overall system accessibility, the removal of the console operating system has reduced the installation size of vSphere from 2GB with previous versions to less than 150MB.

Why Upgrade?

Computer users should always maintain updated software, but this is especially true regarding tools like VMware's vSphere. The most recent version, 5.5, contains numerous upgrades when compared to previous releases of the software.

One of the most notable differences is the increased security and system reliability achieved through vSphere 5.5. The use of the ESXi framework reaps most of the credit for this, but developers have also reduced the amount of physical data within the software's code. The result is a greatly diminished chance of software bugs, errors or security flaws.

Another advantage of vSphere 5.5 comes in the simplified installation, deployment and configuration of the software itself. Because the software's installation footprint has been minimized, user input has also been minimized. This allows for quick and easy installation as well as a server that is much easier to maintain over the course of time.

Finally, users of vSphere 5.5 will enjoy far more functionality than users of older versions. Because it relies on integrated APIs for system management and administration, users no longer have the need to install and maintain external applications within the vSphere server. In fact, many tasks can be automated through the use of built-in remote scripting tools.