Networking All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 3

Working with VMware

In This Chapter

Installing VMware Player

Creating and using virtual machines

Installing VMware Tools

Virtualization is a complex subject, and mastering the ins and outs of working with a full-fledged virtualization system like VMware Infrastructure is a topic that’s beyond the scope of this book. You can dip your toes into the shallow end of the virtualization pond, however, by downloading and experimenting with VMware’s free virtualization product, called VMware Player. You can download it from www.vmware.com.

This chapter is a brief introduction to VMware’s virtualization platform and creating and using virtual machines with VMware Player.

Looking at vSphere

vSphere is an umbrella term for VMware’s virtualization platform. The term vSphere encompasses several distinct products and technologies that work together to provide a complete infrastructure for virtualization. These products and technologies include the following:

• ESXi: ESXi is the core of vSphere; it is a Type-1 hypervisor that runs on host computers to manage the execution of virtual machines, allocating resources to the virtual machines as needed. ESXi comes in two basic flavors: ...