What Does VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMware VMFS) Mean?

VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMware VMFS) is a virtual machine file system used in VMware ESX Server software to store files in a virtualized environment. VMware VMFS was designed to store files, images and screen shots within a virtual machine. Multiple virtual machines can share a single virtual machine file system. Its storage capacity can be increased by spanning multiple VMFS. This file system is not mandatory and is therefore not installed with every virtual machine.

Techopedia Explains VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMware VMFS)

VMware introduced virtual infrastructure (VI) to serve a need for a change in the traditional IT infrastructure that would provide cheaper, more reliable solutions for network and system administrators. With VI, everything is virtualized and administrators can get maximum output with minimum resources. In traditional IT infrastructure, hard drives, optical discs and tapes were being used as a storage media but in VI, VMFS provides a reliable and secure file system.

VMFS also has some limitations, including: