Are you looking for a robust ESXi VM backup solution? Try Vinchin Backup & Recovery!↘ Download Free Trial What is an ESXi cluster?
A VMware ESXi cluster is a cluster of multiple ESXi hosts that provides more advanced functionality and management capabilities by combining these hosts together to form a logical unit. In an ESXi cluster, multiple ESXi hosts can share storage, network, and compute resources, which provides VMs with the ability to migrate, load balance, and failover across hosts. By sharing resources, ESXi cluster enables centralized management and efficient utilization of resources in VMware virtualized environments to improve overall availability, flexibility and performance.
Advantages of creating an ESXi cluster
A collection of multiple computers is called a cluster, and the purpose of a cluster is to distribute the burden of computers across multiple hosts. Or when a physical server running a particular service pops up with problems, let another server take over those services. In VMware vSphere, multiple ESXi physical servers form a cluster. And when a server in the VMware Esxi cluster fails, the VMs running on this server can be automatically migrated to other available ESXi servers, thus ensuring uninterrupted business operation.
VMware Esxi cluster is to organize all the ESXi to form a large resource pool. All the VMs can move freely on any host in the pool, and the cluster can do rapid expansion and HA failure redundancy; So the cluster is a must-have feature of server virtualization leading to the data center.
ESXi clusters classification
VMware vSphere clusters are categorized into DRS clusters, HA clusters, and DPM clusters.
HA: High availability, used for unexpected failover, when monitoring the unexpected failure of a host in the cluster, it will automatically start the virtual machines previously hosted on the failed host on other hosts.
DRS: Distributed resource scheduling, used to dynamically adjust the load of ESXi hosts in the cluster, automatically migrate the virtual machines on the heavier-loaded hosts to the lighter-loaded hosts through vMotion, and ultimately achieve the balance of host resource consumption in the entire cluster.
DPM: Distributed power management is used to dynamically "centralize" VMs to a small number of hosts in the cluster when the load is light, and then put the other ESXi hosts on standby to save power consumption, and then wake up the hosts that were previously on standby when the load is heavy.
Creating VMware vSphere new cluster step-by-step
The steps of Creating VMware vSphere new cluster is very simple, just follow these steps:
1. Enter vSphere Client, right-click Data Center > select New Cluster > name the New Cluster> click Next
2. Choose VMware EVC > click EDIT > choose Enable EVC > Select Mode > click OK
3. Choose General > Select EDIT > hit Virtual machine directory > click OK
4. To add an ESXi host, select the host from the list or list view or drag the host to the target cluster object
5. Users can drag all hosts to the target cluster object
Secure VMware VMs with Vinchin Backup & Recovery
In a VMware ESXi cluster, virtual machine backups are a critical component of ensuring data integrity and business continuity. Whether due to hardware failure, human error, or other unpredictable factors, virtual machines may become corrupted or lost. Therefore, it is critical to establish an effective VM backup policy.
Vinchin Backup & Recovery is a backup solution designed for virtual machine environments. It provides comprehensive and powerful VM backup and recovery features designed to protect and manage critical data in the virtualization environment. And Vinchin supports multiple versions of VMware ESXi, including VMware ESXi v 8.0, 7.0, v6.x, v5.x, v4.x.
Vinchin Backup & Recovery's operation is very simple, just a few simple steps.
1. Just select VMs on the host
2. Select backup destination
3. Select strategies
4. Finally submit the job
Vinchin offers a free 60-day trial for users to experience the functionality in a real-world environment. For more information, please contact Vinchin directly or contact our local partners.
Conclusion
In summary, VMware ESXi clusters are critical for maximizing resource utilization and ensuring high availability in virtualized environments. These clusters increase data center efficiency and reliability by enabling flexibility, automatic failover and resource balancing through technologies such as DRS and HA. Creating a new cluster is a simple process, and a reliable VM backup solution like Vinchin Backup & Recovery is critical to maintaining data integrity and ensuring uninterrupted business operations in a VMware ESXi cluster.
