How do virtual appliances leverage the capabilities of VMware Infrastructure (VI)?
The Virtual Appliances that follow the VMware Ready Virtual Appliance Program and/or are built using VMware’s authoring tool, VMware Studio, are created in such a way that they are able to seamlessly integrate with the industry’s leading Virtualization Platform. In addition, all the management services that VMware provides like vCenter Lab Manager, vCenter Stage Manager, Life Cycle Manager, et al., are applicable to virtual appliances because they are after all virtual machines. In addition, Virtual Appliances built using VMware’s authoring tool, VMware Studio, have in-built agents that enable them to integrate closely with VMware vCenter’s Update Manager functionality.