DELL Vmware Esxi 4.0 600-11317 User Manual

P R O D U C T   D ATA S H E E T   /   1

VMware ESX and VMware ESXi virtualize server, storage and networking, allowing 

multiple applications to run in virtual machines on the same physical server.

AT A GLANCE

BENEFITS

kEy FEATurES

VMware® ESX® and VMware ESXi™ provide the 

foundation for building and managing a virtualized 

IT infrastructure. These market leading, production-

proven hypervisors abstract processor, memory, 

storage and networking resources into multiple 

virtual machines that run unmodified operating 

systems and applications. VMware ESX and ESXi 

are the most widely deployed hypervisors, 

delivering the highest levels of reliability and 

performance to companies of all sizes.

• Decrease hardware, power and cooling costs by

running multiple operating systems on the same 

physical server.

• Lower management overhead costs by reducing

the hardware footprint in the datacenter.

• Guarantee high levels of performance for the

most resource-intensive applications.

• Consolidate hardware resources with the peace of

mind that comes with the industry’s most widely 

deployed, production-proven and secure server 

virtualization platform. 

• Record-setting performance with up to 8,900

database transactions per second, 200,000 I/O

operations per second, and up to 16,000

Exchange mailboxes on a single physical host

• Up to eight-way virtual SMP (symmetric

multiprocessing), enabling the virtualization of 

multiprocessor workloads 

• Memory overcommittment and deduplication,

allowing higher consolidation ratios

• Broadest OS support of any hypervisor, enabling

IT to virtualize numerous versions of Windows®, 

Linux®, Solaris®, NetWare®, and other operating

systems.

• Built-in high availability through NIC teaming and

HBA multipathing to protect against hardware

component failures

• Up to 64 logical processing cores, 256 virtual

CPUs, and 1TB RAM per host, enabling higher

consolidation ratios

VMware ESX and VMware ESXi

The Market Leading Production-Proven Hypervisors

What are VMware ESX and VMware ESXi?

VMware ESX and VMware ESXi provide the foundation for 
building a reliable and dynamic IT infrastructure. These market-
leading, production-proven hypervisors abstract processor, 
memory, storage and networking resources into multiple virtual 
machines that each can run an unmodified operating system 
and applications. VMware ESX and ESXi are the most widely 
deployed hypervisors, delivering the highest levels of reliability 
and performance to companies of all sizes.

VMware ESXi is the latest hypervisor architecture from VMware. 
It has an ultra-thin architecture with no reliance on a general-
purpose OS, yet still offers all the same functionality and 
performance of VMware ESX. VMware ESXi sets a new bar for 
security and reliability because its smaller code base represents 
a smaller “attack surface” with less code to patch. This small 
footprint and hardware-like reliability also enable VMware ESXi 
to be built directly into industry standard x86 servers from 
leading server manufacturers such as Dell, IBM, HP, and Fujitsu-
Siemens. VMware ESXi was designed with simplicity in mind. Its 
menu-driven startup and automatic configurations make it the 
easiest way to get started with VMware virtualization.

How are VMware ESX and VMware ESXi Used in 

the Enterprise?

VMware ESX and ESXi can be deployed as part of the VMware 
vSphere™ 4 platform or VMware View™ suite of products to 
enable centralized management and better quality of service to 
datacenter applications and enterprise desktops, enabling IT 
administrators to:

• Implement production server consolidation and containment.

Contain server sprawl by running software applications in 
virtual machines on fewer physical servers.