What is the primary purpose of VMFS?

The primary purpose of VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) is to serve as a clustered file system that allows multiple ESXi hosts to access and share storage concurrently. This capability is crucial for environments that utilize VMware vSphere since it enables features such as Virtual Machine mobility (through vMotion), high availability, and DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler). VMFS maintains the integrity and performance of the virtual machine files stored on the shared storage, allowing multiple ESXi hosts to run virtual machines efficiently while ensuring that data is coordinated and synchronized among the hosts.

The ability of VMFS to manage concurrent access and support advanced features underscores its role as a critical component in the design of virtualized infrastructures within vSphere environments. This makes it distinctly different from functions such as providing a virtual switch or managing user permissions, as these tasks relate to networking and access controls rather than file system management. Similarly, while network routing is important, it does not pertain to storage management, which is the core function of VMFS.