What does the term 'cluster' refer to in the context of VMware vSphere?

In VMware vSphere, the term 'cluster' specifically refers to a group of similarly configured servers that work together to provide high availability, load balancing, and resource management for virtual machines. Clustering allows multiple hosts to be managed as a single entity, which facilitates improved resource utilization and provides redundancy and failover capabilities.

When servers are organized into a cluster, they can share resources, such as CPU and memory allocation for virtual machines, making it possible to distribute workloads more effectively. This also means that if one host fails, the workloads running on it can be quickly moved to another host within the cluster, thus enhancing overall system availability and minimizing downtime.

Understanding the concept of a cluster is essential for anyone managing a VMware environment, as it is central to optimizing performance and ensuring reliability in virtualized infrastructures.