Foreword xxiii
Introduction xxv
Chapter 1 Introducing VMware vSphere 5.5 1
Exploring VMware vSphere 5.5 1
Examining the Products in the vSphere Suite 3
Examining the Features in VMware vSphere 8
Licensing VMware vSphere 18
Why Choose vSphere? 22
The Bottom Line 24
Chapter 2 Planning and Installing VMware ESXi 25
Planning a VMware vSphere Deployment 25
Choosing a Server Platform 26
Determining a Storage Architecture 28
Integrating with the Network Infrastructure 29
Deploying VMware ESXi 30
Installing VMware ESXi Interactively 31
Performing an Unattended Installation of VMware ESXi 35
Deploying VMware ESXi with vSphere Auto Deploy 39
Performing Post-installation Configuration 47
Installing the vSphere C# Client 47
Reconfiguring the Management Network 50
Configuring Time Synchronization 52
Configuring Name Resolution 53
The Bottom Line 54
Chapter 3 Installing and Configuring vCenter Server 57
Introducing vCenter Server 57
Centralizing User Authentication Using vCenter Single Sign-On 59
Using the vSphere Web Client for Administration 62
Understanding the vCenter Inventory Service 62
Providing an Extensible Framework 63
Choosing the Version of vCenter Server 64
Planning and Designing a vCenter Server Deployment 65
Sizing Hardware for vCenter Server 66
Choosing a Database Server for vCenter Server 68
Planning for vCenter Server Availability 70
Running vCenter Server and Its Components as VMs 72
Installing vCenter Server and Its Components 74
Configuring the vCenter Server Backend Database Server 75
Installing the vCenter Server Components 80
Installing vCenter Server in a Linked Mode Group 88
Deploying the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance 91
Configuring an IP Address on the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance 94
Accepting the End-User License Agreement 95
Configuring the Database 96
Setting Up Single Sign-On 96
Active Directory Settings 97
Starting the vCenter Server Services 97
Exploring vCenter Server 97
Whats in the vSphere Web Client Home Screen? 98
Using the Navigator 100
Creating and Managing a vCenter Server Inventory 100
Understanding Inventory Views and Objects 100
Creating and Adding Inventory Objects 103
Exploring vCenter Servers Management Features 106
Understanding Basic Host Management 106
Examining Basic Host Configuration 108
Using Scheduled Tasks 111
Using Events Console in vCenter Server 113
Working with Host Profiles 114
Tags 116
Managing vCenter Server Settings 120
General vCenter Server Settings 120
Licensing 123
Message of the Day 123
Advanced Settings 123
vSphere Web Client Administration 123
Roles 124
Licensing 124
vCenter Solutions Manager 124
Log Browser 124
The Bottom Line 126
Chapter 4 vSphere Update Manager and the vCenter Support Tools 129
vSphere Update Manager 129
Installing vSphere Update Manager 131
Defining the Requirements 132
Configuring VUMs Database 133
Creating the Open Database Connectivity Data Source Name 136
Installing VUM 137
Installing the Update Manager Download Service (Optional) 140
Installing the vSphere Update Manager Plug-in 141
Reconfiguring the VUM or UMDS Installation with the Update Manager Utility 142
Upgrading VUM from a Previous Version 143
Configuring vSphere Update Manager 143
Creating Baselines 149
Routine Updates 153
Attaching and Detaching Baselines or Baseline Groups 153
Performing a Scan 156
Staging Patches 159
Remediating Hosts 160
Upgrading VMware Tools 164
Upgrading Virtual Appliances and Host Extensions 166
Upgrading Hosts with vSphere Update Manager 166
Importing an ESXi Image and Creating the Host Upgrade Baseline 167
Upgrading a Host 168
Upgrading VM Hardware 171
Performing an Orchestrated Upgrade 173
Investigating Alternative Update Options 173
Using vSphere Update Manager PowerCLI 173
Upgrading and Patching without vSphere Update Manager 174
vCenter Support Tools 175
ESXi Dump Collector 175
Syslog Collector 181
Other vCenter Support Tools 185
The Bottom Line 185
Chapter 5 Creating and Configuring Virtual Networks 189
Putting Together a Virtual Network 189
Working with vSphere Standard Switches 192
Comparing Virtual Switches and Physical Switches 193
Understanding Ports and Port Groups 194
Understanding Uplinks 196
Configuring Management Networking 198
Configuring VMkernel Networking 202
Configuring TCP/IP Stacks 207
Configuring VM Networking 209
Configuring VLANs 212
Configuring NIC Teaming 216
Using and Configuring Traffic Shaping 229
Bringing It All Together 230
Working with vSphere Distributed Switches 234
Creating a vSphere Distributed Switch 234
Removing an ESXi Host from a Distributed Switch 239
Removing a Distributed Switch 240
Managing Distributed Switches 240
Working With Distributed Port Groups 244
Managing Adapters 252
Using NetFlow on vSphere Distributed Switches 257
Enabling Switch Discovery Protocols 259
Setting Up Private VLANs 260
Configuring LACP 263
Examining Third-Party Distributed Virtual Switches 268
Cisco Nexus 1000V 269
IBM Distributed Virtual Switch 5000V 269
HP FlexFabric Virtual Switch 5900v 270
Configuring Virtual Switch Security 270
Understanding and Using Promiscuous Mode 271
Allowing MAC Address Changes and Forged Transmits 272
Looking Ahead 276
The Bottom Line 277
Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring Storage Devices 279
Reviewing the Importance of Storage Design 279
Examining Shared Storage Fundamentals 280
Comparing Local Storage with Shared Storage 283
Defining Common Storage Array Architectures 284
Explaining RAID 286
Understanding VSAN 290
Understanding Midrange and External Enterprise Storage Array Design 292
Choosing a Storage Protocol 294
Making Basic Storage Choices 307
Implementing vSphere Storage Fundamentals 309
Reviewing Core vSphere Storage Concepts 309
Working with VMFS Datastores 327
Working with Raw Device Mappings 347
Working with NFS Datastores 349
Working with VM-Level Storage Configuration 359
Leveraging SAN and NAS Best Practices 372
The Bottom Line 377
Chapter 7 Ensuring High Availability and Business Continuity 379
Understanding the Layers of High Availability 379
Clustering VMs 381
Introducing Network Load Balancing Clustering 382
Introducing Windows Server Failover Clustering 383
Implementing vSphere High Availability 395
Understanding vSphere High Availability 395
Understanding vSphere HAs Underpinnings 396
Enabling vSphere High Availability 399
Configuring vSphere High Availability 401
Managing vSphere High Availability 413
Implementing vSphere Fault Tolerance 415
Using vSphere Fault Tolerance with vSphere High Availability 420
Using vSphere Fault Tolerance with vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler 420
Examining vSphere Fault Tolerance Use Cases 421
Planning for Business Continuity 421
Providing Data Protection 421
Recovering from Disasters 425
Using vSphere Replication 427
The Bottom Line 431
Chapter 8 Securing VMware vSphere 433
Overview of vSphere Security 433
Securing ESXi Hosts 434
Working with ESXi Authentication 434
Controlling Access to ESXi Hosts 441
Keeping ESXi Hosts Patched 449
Managing ESXi Host Permissions 449
Configuring ESXi Host Logging 458
Reviewing Other ESXi Security Recommendations 458
Securing vCenter Server 459
Authenticating Users with Single Sign-On 460
Understanding the vpxuser Account 464
Managing vCenter Server Permissions 466
Examining vCenter Server Logging 476
Securing Virtual Machines 477
Configuring Network Security Policies 477
Keeping VMs Patched 478
The Bottom Line 478
Chapter 9 Creating and Managing Virtual Machines 481
Understanding Virtual Machines 481
Examining Virtual Machines from the Inside 481
Examining Virtual Machines from the Outside 484
Creating a Virtual Machine 488
Choosing Values for Your New Virtual Machine 499
Installing a Guest Operating System 504
Working with Installation Media 505
Using the Installation Media 507
Working in the Virtual Machine Console 508
Installing VMware Tools 509
Installing VMware Tools in Windows 510
Installing VMware Tools in Linux 514
Managing Virtual Machines 516
Adding or Registering Existing VMs 516
Changing VM Power States 518
Removing VMs 519
Deleting VMs 519
Modifying Virtual Machines 519
Changing Virtual Machine Hardware 520
Using Virtual Machine Snapshots 524
The Bottom Line 529
Chapter 10 Using Templates and vApps 531
Cloning VMs 531
Installing Sysprep on the vCenter Server 532
Creating a Customization Specification 533
Cloning a Virtual Machine 538
Creating Templates and Deploying Virtual Machines 541
Cloning a Virtual Machine to a Template 542
Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template 544
Using OVF Templates 545
Deploying a VM from an OVF Template 546
Exporting a VM as an OVF Template 549
Examining OVF Templates 550
Working with vApps 553
Creating a vApp 553
Editing a vApp 555
Changing a vApps Power State 559
Cloning a vApp 561
Importing Machines from Other Environments 562
The Bottom Line 562
Chapter 11 Managing Resource Allocation 565
Reviewing Virtual Machine Resource Allocation 565
Working with Virtual Machine Memory 568
Understanding ESXi Advanced Memory Technologies 569
Controlling Memory Allocation 572
Managing Virtual Machine CPU Utilization 581
Default CPU Allocation 582
Setting CPU Affinity 583
Using CPU Reservations 584
Using CPU Limits 584
Using CPU Shares 585
Summarizing How Reservations, Limits, and Shares Work with CPUs 587
Using Resource Pools 588
Configuring Resource Pools 590
Understanding Resource Allocation with Resource Pools 591
Regulating Network I/O Utilization 597
Controlling Storage I/O Utilization 602
Enabling Storage I/O Control 604
Configuring Storage Resource Settings for a Virtual Machine 606
Utilizing Flash Storage 611
The Bottom Line 615
Chapter 12 Balancing Resource Utilization 617
Comparing Utilization with Allocation 617
Exploring vMotion 618
Examining vMotion Requirements 622
Performing a vMotion Migration 626
Ensuring vMotion Compatibility 629
Using Per-Virtual-Machine CPU Masking 629
Using VMware Enhanced vMotion Compatibility 630
Using Storage vMotion 634
Combining vMotion with Storage vMotion 637
Exploring vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler 640
Understanding Manual Automation Behavior 641
Reviewing Partially Automated Behavior 642
Examining Fully Automated Behavior 642
Working with Distributed Resource Scheduler Rules 644
Introducing and Working with Storage DRS 651
Creating and Working with Datastore Clusters 652
Configuring Storage DRS 656
The Bottom Line 664
Chapter 13 Monitoring VMware vSphere Performance 667
Overview of Performance Monitoring 667
Using Alarms 669
Understanding Alarm Scopes 670
Creating Alarms 671
Managing Alarms 677
Working with Performance Charts 679
Overview Layout 679
Advanced Layout 681
Understanding vCenter Operations Manager 692
Installing vC Ops 692
vC Ops Foundation Features 694
Working withresxtop695
Usingresxtop696
Capturing and Playing Back Performance Data withresxtop698
Monitoring CPU Usage 698
Monitoring Memory Usage 701
Monitoring Network Usage 703
Monitoring Disk Usage 705
The Bottom Line 707
Chapter 14 Automating VMware vSphere 709
Why Use Automation? 709
vSphere Automation Options 710
Automating with PowerCLI 711
PowerShell and PowerCLI 711
Whats New in PowerCLI 5.5 715
Installing and Configuring PowerCLI 715
Getting Started with PowerCLI 718
Building PowerCLI Scripts 722
PowerCLI Advanced Capabilities 725
Using vCLI from vSphere Management Assistant 729
Whats New in vCLI and vMA for vSphere 5.5 729
Getting Started with vCLI 729
Using vSphere Management Assistant for Automation with vCenter 732
Leveraging the Perl Toolkit with vSphere Management Assistant 733
Automating with vCenter Orchestrator 736
New Features in vCenter Orchestrator 5.5 736
Understanding vCenter Orchestrator Prerequisites 737
Configuring vCenter Orchestrator 737
vCenter Orchestrator Appliance 744
Implementing the vCenter Orchestrator Appliance 745
Accessing vCenter Orchestrator 746
vCenter Orchestrator and vCenter Server 746
Using an Orchestrator Workflow 747
The Bottom Line 748
Appendix The Bottom Line 751
Chapter 1: Introducing VMware vSphere 5.5 751
Chapter 2: Planning and Installing VMware ESXi 752
Chapter 3: Installing and Configuring vCenter Server 753
Chapter 4: vSphere Update Manager and the vCenter Support Tools 756
Chapter 5: Creating and Configuring Virtual Networks 758
Chapter 6: Creating and Configuring Storage Devices 761
Chapter 7: Ensuring High Availability and Business Continuity 764
Chapter 8: Securing VMware vSphere 766
Chapter 9: Creating and Managing Virtual Machines 767
Chapter 10: Using Templates and vApps 769
Chapter 11: Managing Resource Allocation 771
Chapter 12: Balancing Resource Utilization 773
Chapter 13: Monitoring VMware vSphere Performance 775
Chapter 14: Automating VMware vSphere 777
Index 779
