Master your virtual environment with the ultimate vSphere guide Mastering VMware vSphere 6 is the fully updated edition of the bestselling guide to VMware's virtualization solution. With comprehensive coverage of this industry-leading toolset, this book acts as an informative guide and valuable reference. Step-by-step instruction walks you through installation, configuration, operation, security processes, and much more as you conquer the management and automation of your virtual environment. Written by certified VMware vExperts, this indispensable guide provides hands-on instruction and detailed conceptual explanations, anchored by practical applications and real-world examples.
This book is the ultimate guide to vSphere, helping administrators master their virtual environment. Learn to:
- Install, configure, and manage the vCenter Server components
- Leverage the Support Tools to provide maintenance and updates
- Create and configure virtual networks, storage devices, and virtual machines
- Implement the latest features to ensure compatibility and flexibility
- Manage resource allocation and utilization to meet application needs
- Monitor infrastructure performance and availability
- Automate and orchestrate routine administrative tasks
Mastering VMware vSphere 6 is what you need to stay up-to-date on VMware's industry-leading software for the virtualized datacenter.
Table of Contents:
Foreword xxiii
Introduction xxv
Chapter 1 Introducing VMware vSphere 6.1
Exploring VMware vSphere 6.0 1
Examining the Products in the vSphere Suite 3
Examining the Features in VMware vSphere 8
Licensing VMware vSphere 17
Why Choose vSphere? 21
The Bottom Line 22
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 30
Performing an Unattended Installation of VMware ESXi 35
Deploying VMware ESXi with vSphere Auto Deploy 39
Performing Postinstallation Configuration 47
Installing the vSphere Desktop Client 47
Reconfiguring the Management Network 49
Configuring Time Synchronization 51
Configuring Name Resolution 53
The Bottom Line 53
Chapter 3 Installing and Configuring vCenter Server 55
Introducing vCenter Server 55
Centralizing User Authentication Using vCenter Single Sign-On 56
Understanding the Platform Services Controller 59
Using the vSphere Web Client for Administration 60
Providing an Extensible Framework 61
Choosing the Version of vCenter Server 63
Planning and Designing a vCenter Server Deployment 64
Sizing Hardware for vCenter Server 64
Choosing a Database Server for vCenter Server 66
Planning for vCenter Server Availability 68
Running vCenter Server and Its Components as VMs 70
Installing vCenter Server and Its Components 72
Configuring the vCenter Server Backend Database Server 73
Configuring the ODBC DSN 77
Installing the vCenter Server Components 79
Installing vCenter Server in a Linked Mode Group 85
Deploying the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance 88
Exploring vCenter Server 91
What’s in the vSphere Web Client Home Screen? 92
Using the Navigator 94
Creating and Managing a vCenter Server Inventory 94
Understanding Inventory Views and Objects 94
Creating and Adding Inventory Objects 97
Exploring vCenter Server’s Management Features 100
Understanding Basic Host Management 101
Examining Basic Host Configuration 103
Using Scheduled Tasks 106
Using the Events Console in vCenter Server 108
Working with Host Profiles 109
Tags 112
Managing vCenter Server Settings 115
General vCenter Server Settings 116
Licensing 118
Message of the Day 119
Advanced Settings 119
vSphere Web Client Administration 119
Roles 119
Licensing 120
vCenter Solutions Manager 120
Log Browser 120
The Bottom Line 122
Chapter 4 vSphere Update Manager and the vCenter Support Tools 125
vSphere Update Manager 125
Installing vSphere Update Manager 127
Defining the Requirements 128
Configuring VUM’s Database 129
Creating the Open Database Connectivity Data Source Name 131
Installing VUM 132
Installing the Update Manager Download Service (Optional) 135
Installing the vSphere Update Manager Client 136
Reconfiguring the VUM or UMDS Installation with the Update Manager Utility 137
Upgrading VUM from a Previous Version 138
Configuring vSphere Update Manager 138
Creating Baselines 144
Routine Updates 148
Attaching and Detaching Baselines or Baseline Groups 148
Performing a Scan 151
Staging Patches 154
Remediating Hosts 155
Upgrading VMware Tools 159
Upgrading Virtual Appliances and Host Extensions 161
Upgrading Hosts with vSphere Update Manager 161
Importing an ESXi Image and Creating the Host Upgrade Baseline 162
Upgrading a Host 164
Upgrading VM Hardware 166
Performing an Orchestrated Upgrade 167
Investigating Alternative Update Options 168
Using vSphere Update Manager PowerCLI 168
Upgrading and Patching without vSphere Update Manager 168
vCenter Support Tools 170
ESXi Dump Collector 170
Syslog Collector 174
Other vCenter Support Tools 177
The Bottom Line 177
Chapter 5 Creating and Configuring Virtual Networks 179
Putting Together a Virtual Network 179
Working with vSphere Standard Switches 182
Comparing Virtual Switches and Physical Switches 183
Understanding Ports and Port Groups 184
Understanding Uplinks 184
Configuring Management Networking 188
Configuring VMkernel Networking 191
Enabling Enhanced Multicast Functions 197
Configuring TCP/IP Stacks 197
Configuring VM Networking 200
Configuring VLANs 202
Configuring NIC Teaming 207
Using and Configuring Traffic Shaping 219
Bringing It All Together 220
Working with vSphere Distributed Switches 224
Creating a vSphere Distributed Switch 225
Removing an ESXi Host from a Distributed Switch 229
Removing a Distributed Switch 230
Managing Distributed Switches 231
Working with Distributed Port Groups 234
Managing VMkernel Adapters 241
Using NetFlow on vSphere Distributed Switches 247
Enabling Switch Discovery Protocols 249
Enabling Enhanced Multicast Functions 250
Setting Up Private VLANs 251
Configuring LACP 254
Examining Third-Party Distributed Virtual Switches 258
Cisco Nexus 1000V 259
IBM Distributed Virtual Switch 5000V 259
HP FlexFabric Virtual Switch 5900v 260
Configuring Virtual Switch Security 260
Understanding and Using Promiscuous Mode 260
Allowing MAC Address Changes and Forged Transmits 261
Looking Ahead 266
The Bottom Line 266
Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring Storage Devices 269
Reviewing the Importance of Storage Design 269
Examining Shared Storage Fundamentals 271
Comparing Local Storage with Shared Storage 273
Defining Common Storage Array Architectures 275
Explaining RAID 277
Understanding Virtual SAN 281
Understanding Midrange and External Enterprise Storage Array Design 284
Choosing a Storage Protocol 286
Making Basic Storage Choices 301
Implementing vSphere Storage Fundamentals 303
Reviewing Core vSphere Storage Concepts 304
Understanding Virtual Volumes 322
SCs vsLUNs 324
Storage Policies 324
Virtual Volumes 325
Working with VMFS Datastores 325
Working with Raw Device Mappings 345
Working with NFS Datastores 347
Working with VM-Level Storage Configuration 358
Leveraging SAN and NAS Best Practices 370
The Bottom Line 375
Chapter 7 Ensuring High Availability and Business Continuity 377
Understanding the Layers of High Availability 377
Clustering VMs 378
Introducing Network Load Balancing Clustering 379
Introducing Windows Server Failover Clustering 380
Implementing vSphere High Availability 392
Understanding vSphere High Availability 392
Understanding vSphere HA’s Underpinnings 394
Introducing Virtual Machine Component Protection 396
Enabling vSphere High Availability 398
Configuring vSphere High Availability 400
Managing vSphere High Availability 411
Introducing vSphere SMP Fault Tolerance 413
Using vSphere SMP Fault Tolerance with vSphere High Availability 418
Examining vSphere Fault Tolerance Use Cases 419
Planning for Business Continuity 419
Providing Data Protection 420
Recovering from Disasters 423
Using vSphere Replication 425
The Bottom Line 429
Chapter 8 Securing VMware vSphere 431
Overview of vSphere Security 431
Securing ESXi Hosts 432
Working with ESXi Authentication 432
Controlling Access to ESXi Hosts 438
Keeping ESXi Hosts Patched 446
Managing ESXi Host Permissions 446
Configuring ESXi Host Logging 455
Reviewing Other ESXi Security Recommendations 456
Securing vCenter Server 456
Managing vSphere Certificates 457
Getting Started with Certificate Manager 459
Authenticating Users with Single Sign-On 461
Understanding the vpxuser Account 465
Managing vCenter Server Permissions 467
Examining vCenter Server Logging 478
Securing Virtual Machines 478
Configuring Network Security Policies 478
Keeping VMs Patched 479
The Bottom Line 479
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 498
Installing a Guest Operating System 503
Working with Installation Media 504
Using the Installation Media 506
Working in the Virtual Machine Console 507
Installing VMware Tools 509
Installing VMware Tools in Windows 510
Installing VMware Tools in Linux 513
Managing Virtual Machines 515
Adding or Registering Existing VMs 516
Changing VM Power States 517
Removing VMs 518
Deleting VMs 518
Modifying Virtual Machines 518
Changing Virtual Machine Hardware 519
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 534
Cloning a Virtual Machine 538
Creating Templates and Deploying Virtual Machines 541
Cloning a Virtual Machine to a Template 543
Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template 544
Using OVF Templates 546
Deploying a VM from an OVF Template 546
Exporting a VM as an OVF Template 550
Examining OVF Templates 551
Using Content Libraries 553
Content Library Data and Storage 554
Content Library Synchronization 554
Creating and Publishing a Content Library 555
Subscribing to a Content Library 555
Working with vApps 556
Creating a vApp 557
Editing a vApp 558
Changing a vApp’s Power State 562
Cloning a vApp 563
Importing Machines from Other Environments 564
The Bottom Line 564
Chapter 11 Managing Resource Allocation 567
Reviewing Virtual Machine Resource Allocation 567
Working with Virtual Machine Memory 570
Understanding ESXi Advanced Memory Technologies 571
Controlling Memory Allocation 574
Managing Virtual Machine CPU Utilization 583
Default CPU Allocation 584
Setting CPU Affinity 585
Using CPU Reservations 585
Using CPU Limits 586
Using CPU Shares 587
Summarizing How Reservations, Limits, and Shares Work with CPUs 589
Using Resource Pools 589
Configuring Resource Pools 591
Understanding Resource Allocation with Resource Pools 593
Regulating Network I/O Utilization 598
Controlling Storage I/O Utilization 604
Enabling Storage I/O Control 605
Configuring Storage Resource Settings for a Virtual Machine 608
Using Flash Storage 612
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 Within a Cluster 626
Ensuring vMotion Compatibility 629
Using Per-Virtual-Machine CPU Masking 629
Using VMware Enhanced vMotion Compatibility 631
Using Storage vMotion 634
Combining vMotion with Storage vMotion 637
Introducing Cross vCenter vMotion 640
Examining Cross vCenter vMotion Requirements 641
Performing a Cross vCenter Motion 642
Exploring vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler 643
Understanding Manual Automation Behavior 643
Reviewing Partially Automated Behavior 644
Examining Fully Automated Behavior 645
Working with Distributed Resource Scheduler Rules 646
Working with Storage DRS 653
Creating and Working with Datastore Clusters 654
Configuring Storage DRS 658
The Bottom Line 666
Chapter 13 Monitoring VMware vSphere Performance 669
Overview of Performance Monitoring 669
Using Alarms 670
Understanding Alarm Scopes 672
Creating Alarms 672
Managing Alarms 679
Working with Performance Charts 680
Overview Layout 681
Advanced Layout 683
Working with resxtop 692
Using resxtop 692
Capturing and Playing Back Performance Data with resxtop 694
Monitoring CPU Usage 695
Monitoring Memory Usage 698
Monitoring Network Usage 700
Monitoring Disk Usage 702
The Bottom Line 705
Chapter 14 Automating VMware vSphere 707
Why Use Automation? 707
vSphere Automation Options 708
Automating with PowerCLI 709
PowerShell and PowerCLI 709
What’s New in PowerCLI 6 713
Installing and Configuring PowerCLI 713
Getting Started with PowerCLI 716
Building PowerCLI Scripts 720
PowerCLI Advanced Capabilities 722
Using vCLI from vSphere Management Assistant 726
What’s New in vCLI and vMA for vSphere 6 727
vCLI Requirements 727
Getting Started with vCLI 727
Using vSphere Management Assistant for Automation with vCenter 729
ESXCLI and PowerCLI 731
Leveraging the Perl Toolkit with vSphere Management Assistant 731
Automating with vRealize Orchestrator 734
New Features in vRealize Orchestrator 5.5 735
Understanding vRealize Orchestrator Prerequisites 735
Configuring vRealize Orchestrator 736
vRealize Orchestrator Appliance 743
Implementing the vRealize Orchestrator Appliance 744
Accessing vRealize Orchestrator 745
vRealize Orchestrator and vCenter Server 745
Assigning a Workflow to vCenter Inventory Object 747
Using an Orchestrator Workflow 747
The Bottom Line 749
Appendix The Bottom Line 751
Index 779
