In the world of hybrid clouds, AI-ready infrastructure, and edge computing, VMware is still a non-negotiable skill. From running scalable data centers to deploying lightning-fast VMs, VMware pros are in hot demand — and interviews are tougher than ever.
Answer: VMware is a pioneer in virtualization. It lets you run multiple operating systems on a single physical server. In 2025, it’s essential for hybrid cloud, AI infrastructure, and secure workload mobility.
vSphere: The whole virtualization suite
ESXi: The hypervisor layer
vCenter: The control tower for all things VMware
Think of it as: vSphere = The car, ESXi = The engine, vCenter = The driver
A virtual “hard disk shelf” — where VM files live. Can be local, shared, or cloud-based.
It’s the secret sauce of ESXi. Handles scheduling, I/O, VMotion, and more.
Move a live VM between hosts — with zero downtime. Seriously, it’s like teleportation for servers.
Kinda! It captures a VM’s entire state at a point in time. Roll back if things go wrong.
It auto-balances workloads across hosts so your VMs don’t fight over resources.
Thick: Reserves full disk space up front.
Thin: Only uses space it actually needs.
Thin saves space. Thick saves drama.
It creates a live twin VM. If one fails, the other takes over instantly. No downtime. Like a stunt double for your VM.
VMware Data Protection = Built-in backup for your VMs. Now mostly replaced by vSphere APIs + third-party tools in 2025 (Veeam, Rubrik, Cohesity).
It’s part of the older security suite for traffic control and firewall policies. Mostly replaced by NSX Advanced Threat Protection in 2025.
You get a tub of CPU and RAM. You split it into mini tubs for different teams. Each team gets what they need — no one’s stealing.
Your dashboard to run, pause, and control all VMs and ESXi hosts. Modern versions are browser-based.
A smarter way to manage storage at the VM-level, not the LUN-level. It’s 2025, we like granularity.
Type 1. Always.
Bare-metal = faster, more secure, and built for production.
Check ESXTOP
Analyze CPU, Memory, Disk I/O
Consider migrating it via VMotion
Check for zombie snapshots
Talk to storage/network teams
Use VMware NSX micro-segmentation
Isolate with VLANs and distributed firewalls
Zero Trust is the name of the game
SRM = Disaster Recovery on autopilot. It replicates VMs and lets you test failovers without breaking stuff.
Use tools like Veeam, Rubrik, or native vSphere APIs
Follow 3-2-1: 3 copies, 2 types of storage, 1 off-site
Bonus: Snapshots are NOT backups (don’t be that guy)
It moves VM disks between datastores for better performance & space efficiency. Think of it as Marie Kondo for storage.
HA restarts failed VMs
FT creates real-time VM twins
HA = recovery | FT = continuity
Great for testing
Bad if you forget them — leads to bloated storage and VM issues
Virtual networking, baby
Micro-segmentation
Load balancing
Multi-cloud security
In 2025, NSX is basically your networking Swiss army knife.
Monitor via vCenter alarms
Use thin provisioning smartly
Consolidate old snapshots
Use Storage DRS
Educate teams (no one needs 1TB for logs)
VLANs + port groups
NSX distributed firewall
Encrypt VMs at rest + in transit
Bonus: Use IPsec VPN or vSphere encryption for compliance (Hi PCI-DSS )
1. Know what’s new:
Learn about vSphere 9.x, NSX-T upgrades, and VMware’s AI-ready stack.
2. Real talk = real impact:
Use stories from your work — “One time I fixed an HA cluster with 45 VMs…” =
3. Be simple, not basic:
Can you explain VMKernel to your grandma? No? Try again.
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VMware vSphere 8: Install, Configure, Manage Training
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