Mastering VMware vSphere 6

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