If you are already familiar with virtualization, this chapter will provide a review of many of the benefits and technologies of virtualization.

Since the focus of this book is on design, we will not go into great detail discussing the specifics of how to configure resources in a virtual data center. Most of you probably already have a good understanding of VMware's virtualization architecture, so this chapter will just provide a basic overview of the key VMware components that are the building blocks to the virtual data center.

Virtualization creates a layer of abstraction between the physical hardware and the virtual machines that run on it. Virtual hardware is presented to the virtual machine granting access to the underlying physical hardware, which is scheduled by the hypervisor's kernel. The hypervisor separates the physical hardware from the virtual machine, as shown in the following diagram:

The hypervisor separates the physical hardware from the virtual machines. The new release of vSphere 6.7 does not change the design process or the design methodologies. The new functions and features of the release provide an architect with more tools to satisfy design requirements.