VMware vSphere is an umbrella term for VMware’s server virtualisation platform product. It utilises various products and technologies such as ESXi, a Type 1 hypervisor, vCenter Server and a few other important features to provide a complete infrastructure for virtualization.

VMware vSphere works through two core components: ESXi and vCenter Server.
The virtualization platform, ESXi, is where virtual machines and virtual appliances are created and can be run.
vCenter Server is the service which allows for management of multiple hosts connected within a network and pool host resources.
This creates a solution that powers a computing environment for modern application through the use of any combination of VMs, containers and Kubernetes.

The VMware vSphere Hypervisor is a free, bare-metal solution for users, which allows for virtualizing servers and consolidating applications.
The hypervisor lacks some enterprise features of the full VMware ESXi such as vMotion, Storage vMotion, Distributed Resource Scheduler, vSphere Data protection and High Availability.

VMware vSphere transforms data centres into aggregated computing infrastructures with the use of CPU, storage and networking resources. The infrastructure is managed by vSphere as a unified operating environment, and provides tools that help administer the data centres used within the environment.

VMware vSphere provides unified management for containers and VMs by delivering developer-ready infrastructure, scalability without compromise, simplicity in operations and the ability to boost infrastructure and data security.

The VMware vSphere client is a web-based application connected to the vCenter Server for the purpose of managing installations and handling inventory objects in a vSphere deployment for IT administrators.