VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere (formerly VMware Infrastructure 4) is VMware's cloud computing virtualization operating system.

History

While VMware Infrastructure 3.5 was in development, vSphere was conceived as an enhanced suite of tools for cloud computing utilizing VMware ESX/ESXi 4.

The cloud computing-enabled tool suite was spun off as VMware Infrastructure 4 (for short, VI 4) to be distinct from VMware Infrastructure 3.5 (VI 3.5) that was then ready for release (March 30, 2009).

On April 21, 2009, VMware eventually announced vSphere 4, instead of VI 4, releasing it on May 21, 2009.

On November 19, 2009, VMware released Update 1 for vSphere 4, to add support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

VMware's vSphere 4.1 began shipping in August 2010. This update included an updated vCenter Configuration Manager, as well as vCenter Application Discovery Manager, and the ability of vMotion to move more than one virtual machine at a time from one server host to another.

On 10 February 2011, VMware released Update 1 for vSphere 4.1 to add support for RHEL 6, RHEL 5.6, SLES 11 SP1 for VMware, Ubuntu 10.10, and Solaris 10 Update 9.