What industry regulations are holding you back? I myself would classify vmware vsphere as an OS. It installs (or is embedded), it operates, it can be configured, etc. If you look at some of the definitions of what an operating system is - "software that controls the execution of computer programs and may provide vaiours services" for examply, tell me how that vshpere is not an OS?

If security is the issue, then obvious design and planning must be performed so that the OS is installed in accordance to regulations or company standards.

Regards...

Jamie
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I was just using vshpere as reference - ESX and vSphere to me would be classified as an OS as they are bare metal installations.

When you say 510K are you referring to the FDA 510K? I am not familiar with it but have heard of that. My background is on primarily Federal Banking regulations.

Regards...

Jamie
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Hello,

There are two components to vSphere/ESX 4/ESX 3....

There is the hypervisor component, which I would think is really an appliance... and ...

There is the management appliance often referred to as the Service Console for ESX or the Management Appliance for ESXi. This component could be considered an OS as you can run arbitrary code, etc.

Given that ESX 3/ESX 4 boots into the vmkernel, creates a VM, then boots the management appliance within this VM ...
Given that ESXi 3/ESXi 4 boots into the vmkernel then starts the BusyBox Posix Environment

I would not classify ESX 3/ESX 4 as an OS and I would not classify ESXi as an OS either as there are many appliances (switches, etc.) that also run BusyBox so there is a proven track record for use of BusyBox as an appliance.

ESX is often mistaken for Linux. It is NOT Linux it is a appliance that understands VM and vSwitch objects, etc. It however either has a GNU/Linux or Posix Management Appliance.


Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
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