Essay Example on VMware FT: High Availability for VMs in All Situations

VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) is a modern, and high availability feature of VMware's vSphere 4. The efficacy of FT technology is based on the idea that it enables the virtual guest machine to run on a primary ESXi host server. With this aspect, it means that FT can operate while keeping the memory of the running Virtual Machine (VM) mirrored to the ESX host server. In this regard, the virtual machine in use is highly capable of resuming its operations on a secondary ESX server in instances where the primary server fails. However, the main purpose that underpins FT technology is to enhance the availability of data through better protection techniques. Accordingly, FT can potentially warrant the continuity of business through better data protection techniques than those of vSphere HA.

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It is worth noting in this perspective that FT is built on the ESXi host platforms. In this perspective, it has multiple and identical virtual machines running on separate hosts to enhance continuous availability. The vSphere Fault tolerance, in most instances, is used in virtual machines that run where there are critical needs. Tolerance is a crucial feature in that it provides availability for the underlying virtual machines. FT not only create other virtual machines but also maintain and replace them in case of failover. Notably, all the underlying executions of the secondary virtual machines are identical to that of the primary virtual machines. As such, FT provides fault tolerance protection through its duplicate virtual machines that can run without interruption whenever its primary mechanism fails. This situation exists since both secondary and primary virtual machines are capable of monitoring one another's status when FT is running.

The operating mechanism of the VMware Fault Tolerance enables it to overcome probable transparent failovers. While the primary mechanism may fail to work, Ft's system provides fault tolerance by activating secondary machines to replace its primary virtual machines. It also automatically re-establishes the underlying fault tolerance redundancy when starting duplicate virtual machines. However, it is possible in this context that the hosts running secondary machines may fail, but the VMware Fault Tolerance system is capable of immediately replacing it. This aspect is essential since it prevents interruptions and data loss attributed to failover. Therefore, it suggests that FT technology is useful in the present-day world where the users and organizations are handling large and delicate data.

Nonetheless, VMware Fault Tolerance requires vSpheres DRS and vSphere HA to work effectively. The latter is needed to restart failed virtual machines, for vSphere Fault Tolerance and make FT aware of any failover in its virtual machines. The vSphere DRS, on the other hand, is required to select the hosts that will run both secondary and primary virtual machines when the system is powered. It is worth noting that vSphere Fault Tolerance has a mechanism that creates two full virtual machine copies whenever there is failover. This aspect, therefore, provides some failover redundancy to the system.

Conclusion

With VMware Fault Tolerance, the users can access data from one central location. In this regard, the same data store can handle all the virtual machine files placed on it. However, VMware recommends that the users put the underlying virtual machine files on separate data stores. This aspect is necessary to facilitate data recovery whenever there are critical data stores failures. The strength attributed to FT is its capacity to configure up to four vCPUs, update its secondary memory and maximize the underlying workload performance. Also, it enhances the sharing of data files, which is essential in preventing UUID changes and virtual machine split-brain condition.