ESX hypervisor

VMware ESX hypervisor is classical option of completely autonomous hypervisor which belongs to the category of a monolithic kernel architecture. It supports all VM, necessary for work, and in fact is the autonomous OS including including drivers for work with the equipment. For these moments as on architectural advantages places emphasis of VMware, emphasizing that such approach provides the most complete isolation of VM and consequently, and higher reliability of a system in general. Also independence of a hypervisor of some software of other developers is noted. In its whole ESX Server consists of actually hypervisor, the environment of execution (ESXi) and the service console based on Linux kernel, at this ESXi it can independently be used, but in this case it limits abilities to manage to a system.

Critics of this option point to complexity of the solution of a task "all in one" and, in particular, that VMware implemented own model of drivers which operational development to the necessary level is a long-term task. It is noted also that all architecture of ESX — closed, proprietary (on it even Microsoft places emphasis) though some experts consider that at the heart of a core of ESXi Linux practices are used.