How does distributed storage function in a VMware environment?

Distributed storage in a VMware environment operates by aggregating storage resources across multiple hosts, creating a unified pool of storage that can be managed more efficiently. This architecture allows virtual machines (VMs) to utilize storage resources from various physical servers, improving redundancy, scalability, and performance.

By pooling storage from multiple hosts, distributed storage provides several benefits. For instance, it enhances availability; if one host fails, the VMs can access their storage from another host in the cluster. Additionally, this approach simplifies management and can optimize resource utilization because administrators can more easily allocate and balance workloads across the available storage.

The aggregation of storage enables advanced features such as distributed resource scheduling (DRS), fault tolerance, and efficient load balancing. This capability is essential for delivering high availability and performance in virtualized environments.

Other options would not accurately describe how distributed storage functions. Isolating storage resources per host limits the flexibility and efficiency that distributed storage aims to provide. Limiting access to a single host would negate the benefits of failover and load balancing. Although integrating with third-party cloud storage is a useful capability, it does not define the core function of distributed storage within a VMware environment itself.