ZSphere Architecture and Resource Model
The architecture and resource model of ZSphere explain how platform objects are organized, how they are associated with each other, and which resource boundaries administrators need to consider when planning and managing resources.
The architecture topic explains how ZSphere organizes management nodes, data centers, clusters, hosts, virtual machines, storage, and networks into a virtualization platform. The resource model topic explains object hierarchy, attached resources, service dependencies, and scale relationships between these objects.
ZSphere Architecture
ZSphere provides the web console, resource orchestration, and platform management capabilities through management nodes. It organizes underlying compute resources through data centers, clusters, and hosts, and provides storage and network services required by virtual machines through data storage, image storage, and distributed networks.
Core Objects
- Management nodes run platform management services and provide a unified management entry and control plane.
- Data centers are the largest resource management domains in ZSphere. They isolate and organize basic resources such as clusters, hosts, data storage, and distributed switches.
- Clusters are located under data centers and consist of hosts. Clusters run virtual machines and attach data storage and distributed switches.
- Hosts are physical servers that provide CPU, memory, local storage, and physical network resources. They provide the runtime environment for virtual machines.
- Virtual machines run on hosts and run business workloads through virtual CPUs, memory, disks, NICs, and peripheral devices.
- Data storage provides storage space for virtual machine disks, snapshots, and related data. It can come from local storage, NFS, SAN storage, or distributed storage.
- Distributed switches and distributed port groups provide unified virtual network configuration for virtual machine traffic and host-related traffic.
- Image storage and images provide the base image sources for virtual machine creation, template-based deployment, and batch delivery.
Runtime Relationship
A typical ZSphere environment is organized around data centers, clusters, and hosts. Data storage and distributed switches are attached to clusters to provide storage and network services for virtual machines. A virtual machine is created from an image, stores disk data on data storage, and connects to virtual networks through distributed port groups.
ZSphere Resource Model
The ZSphere resource model describes object hierarchy, attached resources, service dependencies, and scale relationships. These relationships help administrators identify resource boundaries, understand dependency order, and prepare the required storage and network resources before virtual machines are deployed.
| Resource Object | Associated Object | Relationship Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Center | Cluster, Data Storage, Distributed Switch | Hierarchy | A data center defines a resource management domain. Basic resources in different data centers are isolated from each other. |
| Cluster | Host | Hierarchy | A cluster consists of hosts and is used to run and schedule virtual machine workloads. |
| Host | Virtual Machine | Runtime placement | Virtual machines run on hosts and consume CPU, memory, network, and other resources provided by hosts. |
| Cluster | Data Storage | Attachment | After data storage is attached to a cluster, it can provide disk data storage for virtual machines in the cluster. |
| Cluster | Distributed Switch | Attachment | After a distributed switch is attached to a cluster, it can provide unified virtual network configuration for virtual machines in the cluster. |
| Distributed Switch | Distributed Port Group | Hierarchy | A distributed port group is a logical group of distributed switch ports and carries network configurations such as VLAN, network segment, and DHCP. |
| Image Storage | Data Center, Data Storage | Service dependency | Image storage provides image services for data centers and works with data storage to support virtual machine creation and image usage. |
| VM Group | Virtual Machine | Grouping | VM groups are used to organize and manage virtual machines in a hierarchical structure within a data center. |
A data center can usually contain multiple clusters, data storage resources, and distributed switches. A cluster can contain multiple hosts and attach multiple related resources. A host can run multiple virtual machines. Different storage types, network plans, and business scenarios affect how resources are combined and how many workloads they can support.