What centralizes management in VMware vSphere?

vCenter Server is the component in VMware vSphere that centralizes management. It enables administrators to manage multiple ESXi hosts from a single interface, allowing for streamlined operations across numerous virtual machines. With vCenter Server, you can monitor performance, automate tasks, and implement policies globally across all connected ESXi hosts. It facilitates advanced features such as VMotion, DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler), and HA (High Availability), which enhance resource management and availability. This centralized management capability is essential for large-scale virtual environments, as it simplifies administrative tasks and improves operational efficiency.

In contrast, while ESXi hosts are the hypervisors that run virtual machines, they do not provide centralized management themselves. Cloud infrastructure typically refers to broader concepts of computing resources distributed over the internet, rather than specific management tasks associated with VMware environments. Network storage pertains to where virtual machines are stored and accessed but does not play a role in the centralized management of those resources.