ZSphere in ZVF

As the virtualization foundation of ZVF, ZSphere provides core server virtualization capabilities for building and managing virtualization resource pools. ZSphere organizes server, storage, and network resources into virtualization resource pools where virtual machines can run, and provides the runtime environment and platform management capabilities required by business systems.

In ZVF, ZSphere is used to build the target virtualization environment and perform platform tasks such as virtual machine lifecycle management, compute resource management, storage resource management, network resource management, security control, monitoring and operations, and data protection. In VMware replacement projects, ZSphere provides the target resource pool and business runtime foundation for migration, unified management, and business continuity.

ZSphere works with other ZVF components to cover the deployment process from resource pool construction to migration, management, storage, and disaster recovery:

• ZMigrate migrates virtual machines from source platforms to the target ZSphere environment so that migrated workloads can run in the new virtualization resource pool.
• ZCenter provides unified management for multiple environments and builds a centralized management view based on ZSphere resources such as data centers, clusters, hosts, and virtual machines.
• ZStone provides distributed storage services for the ZSphere environment and supports virtual machine data placement and storage resource expansion.
• ZLR supports independent disaster recovery deployment and works with backup and recovery capabilities in ZSphere to protect business continuity.