

Architecture ĮSX runs on bare metal (without running an operating system) unlike other VMware products. In September 2004, the replacement for ESX was internally called VMvisor, but later changed to ESXi (as the "i" in ESXi stood for "integrated"). The name ESX originated as an abbreviation of Elastic Sky X.

ESX/ESXi is the primary component in the VMware Infrastructure software suite.

ESXi replaces Service Console (a rudimentary operating system) with a more closely integrated OS. Īfter version 4.1 (released in 2010), VMware renamed ESX to ESXi. As a type-1 hypervisor, ESXi is not a software application that is installed on an operating system (OS) instead, it includes and integrates vital OS components, such as a kernel. VMware ESXi (formerly ESX) is an enterprise-class, type-1 hypervisor developed by VMware for deploying and serving virtual computers.
