What is a template,folder,cluster, resource pool,datastore, datastore cluster, content library?

What is a template?

A template is a master image of a virtual machine that you can use to create and provision new virtual machines. This image typically includes an operating system, applications, and a virtual machine configuration that defines a full set of virtual hardware.

You can create a template by converting an existing virtual machine to a template, cloning a virtual machine to a template, or cloning an existing template. You can then create new virtual machines by deploying the template.

Using templates can save the time of configuring a new virtual machine and installing a guest operating system.

You can view templates by selecting the VM Templates category in the object navigator or by using the VMs and Templates inventory tree view.

What is a folder?

A folder is a container used to further refine object grouping within your inventory. Folders provide a natural structure on which to apply permissions.

For example, using folders, you can organize virtual machines and templates based on function. Similarly, you can use folders to group datacenters by geographic location.

You can group the following inventory objects in folders:

• Datacenters
• Virtual machines (which include templates)
• Computer resources (which include hosts and clusters)

The objects grouped within a folder must be of the same type.

What is a cluster?

A cluster is a group of hosts that share resources and a management interface. When you add a host to a cluster, the host’s resources become part of the cluster’s resources. The cluster manages the resources of all hosts within it.

Clusters enable the vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and vSphere High Availability (HA) solutions. vSphere DRS continuously balances virtual machine workloads across your ESX/ESXi hosts. vSphere HA allows the virtual machines running on ESX/ESXi hosts to automatically recover from host failures

What is a resource pool?

A resource pool provides a way to divide the resources of a stand-alone host or a cluster into smaller pools. A resource pool is configured with a set of CPU and memory resources that the virtual machines that run in the resource pool share. Resource pools are self-contained and isolated from other resource pools.

You can combine multiple physical servers into a single resource pool that aggregates CPU and memory capacity.

Virtual machines execute in, and draw their resources from, resource pools. This arrangement allows virtual machine workloads to continuously balance across resource pools. When the workload increases, the vCenter Server automatically allocates additional resources and transparently migrates virtual machines between hosts in the resource pool.

What is a datastore?

A datastore is a logical container that holds virtual machine files and other files necessary for virtual machine operations. Datastores can exist on different types of physical storage, including local storage, iSCSI, Fibre Channel SAN, or NFS. A datastore can be VMFS-based or NFS-based.

What is a datastore cluster?

A datastore cluster is a collection of datastores that share resources and a management interface. When you add a datastore to a datastore cluster, the cluster’s resources become part of the datastore cluster’s resources. You use datastore clusters to aggregate storage resources, which enables you to support resource allocation policies at the datastore cluster level.

When you create a datastore cluster, you can use Storage DRS to manage storage resources. The I/O load balancing functionality available with Storage DRS is available only when all hosts connected to the datastores in the datastore cluster are running vSphere version 5 or later.

What is a content library?

A content library is a container object in the vSphere Web Client that stores VM templates, vApp templates, and other types of files.

Depending on your company needs, you can create a content library that is locally used by a single vCenter Server instance, or you can publish the library to share the templates and files with other vCenter Server instances.

Sharing consistent templates and files across multiple vCenter Server systems brings out consistency, compliance, efficiency, and automation in deploying workloads at scale.