Mastering VMware vSphere 6.5: Leverage the power of vSphere for effective virtualization, administration, management and monitoring of data centers

Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Evolution of VMware vSphere Suite
	VMware and vSphere background
	VMware vSphere as a Cloud Foundation
		Virtual Machine (VM) versus containers
	VMware vSphere as an infrastructure foundation
		Storage platform
		Network and security platform
		Cloud platform
		End-user computing platform
		Container platform
		Other VMware products complementary to vSphere
	What\'s new on vSphere 6.5 and vSphere limits?
		What\'s new in 6.5?
			What\'s new with vSphere 6.5 Update 1?
		Configuration maximums
			VM
			Host ESXi 6.5
			vCenter Server 6.5
		Why you should upgrade to vSphere 6.5 and why not?
			Why upgrade?
			Why shouldn\'t you upgrade?
		Features and editions of vSphere 6.5
	Summary
Chapter 2: Design and Plan a Virtualization Infrastructure
	Plan a virtual infrastructure project
	Assess
		Requirements, constraints, and assumptions
	Design
		Conceptual design
		Logical design
			Service dependencies
		Physical design
			ESXi host
			vCenter Services
			Building blocks
		How to provide good documentation
			Design areas and technologies
			Best practices
			Reference architecture
			VVD
			VMware Solution Enablement Toolkits (SETs)
	Different scenarios
		Enterprise
			Business requirements
			Possible constraints
			Main risks
			Some design decisions
		Small or Mid-Sized Business (SMB)
			Business requirements
			Possible constraints
			Main risks
			Some design decisions
		Remote offices and branch offices (ROBO)
			Business requirements
			Possible constraints
			Main risks
			Some design decisions
	Summary
Chapter 3: Analysis and Assessment of an Existing Environment
	Analyzing a physical environment before virtualizing
		Useful metrics from a physical environment
			Processor metrics
			Memory metrics
			Disk metrics
			Network metrics
		Are all workloads good candidates to be virtualized?
		Existing tools to analyze a physical environment
			Capacity Planner
			DPACK
	Assessment of an existing virtual environment
		Discovery and inventory
		Health check
			Existing tools for analyzing a virtual environment
				RVTools
				VOA
				VMware vSphere Health Check
	Summary
Chapter 4: Deployment Workflow and Component Installation
	vSphere components and workflow
	ESXi deployment plan
		Choosing the hardware platform
		Identification of the storage architecture
		Defining the network configuration
	ESXi installation
		Where to install ESXi?
		Preparing for deployment
			Interactive installation
			Unattended installation
			Auto Deploy installation
		How Auto Deploy works
			Configuring DHCP
			Configuring TFTP
		Creating an image profile
		Creating deployment rules
		Auto Deploy modes
			Stateless installation
			Stateless caching installation
			Stateful installation
	vCenter Server components
		PSC
		Where to install – physical or virtual?
	vCenter Server deployment
		Choosing the database
			Configuring a Microsoft SQL Server database
			Configuring ODBC DSN
				Installing vCenter Server for Windows
	vCSA deployment
		Why deploy vCSA instead of the Windows version?
		Installing the vCSA PSC
		Installing the vCSA vCenter
	Summary
Chapter 5: Configuring and Managing vSphere 6.5
	VMware vSphere HTML5 client
	ESXi configuration
		Management console configuration
			Enabling SSH access
			Configuring NTP
		ESXi 6.5 partition layout
			Boot banks
			Scratch partition
	vCSA configuration
		Basic setup using vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface (VAMI)
			Modifying the IP address and DNS
			Exporting a support bundle
			Configuring time synchronization
			Changing the vCSA password
		Licensing
		Roles and permissions
		AD integration
			Configuring a host with AD authentication
			Installing the VMware Enhanced Authentication plugin
		vCSA and PSC
			Repointing the vCSA to another external PSC
			Pointing the vCSA with an embedded PSC to an external PSC
			Resetting the SSO password
	Managing data centers, clusters, and hosts
		Creating a data center
		Adding a host to vCenter Server
			Disconnecting a host from vCenter Server
			Removing a host from vCenter Server
		Creating a cluster
			Removing a host from a cluster
		Managing hosts
			Using tags
			Tasks
				Scheduling tasks
			Managing host profiles
			vCenter Server in Enhanced Linked mode (ELM)
	Automating tasks with scripts
		Automating with PowerCLI
			PowerCLI script examples
		Using vCLI
			Installing vCLI on Windows
		vCenter REST API
	Summary
Chapter 6: Advanced Network Management
	Basic overview
		OSI model
		Encapsulation and de-encapsulation
		Broadcasting, unicasting, and multicasting
		MAC tables and MAC learning process
		Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)
		Virtual LAN (VLAN)
		Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) versus User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
		IPv6
	Virtual networking
		vSS
		vDS
		Managing vSS
			VMkernel adapters
			Physical adapters
			TCP/IP stacks
		Managing vDS
			Properties
			Topology
			Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
			Private VLAN
			NetFlow
			Port mirroring
			Health check 
			Network I/O Control (NIOC)
			Network protocol profiles
			Ports, hosts, VMs, and networks
	Introduction to NSX
		NSX components
			Management plane
			Control plane
			Data plane
		NSX installation
			Network Functions Virtualization (NVF)
	Summary
Chapter 7: Advanced Storage Management
	Storage basics
	The evolution of the storage world
		Spinning disks
		Flash devices
		Storage array
		Converged networks
	VMware vSphere storage types
		Storage types at the VM logical level
		Storage types at the VM physical level
		Storage types at the ESXi logical level
		Storage types at the ESXi physical level
	VMware vSphere storage configuration
		Storage FC
			FCoE
		Storage iSCSI
		Storage NFS
	Storage features
		VM snapshots
		Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) 6
		Hot-extend for jumbo VMDK
		Automatic space reclaim
		Instant clones versus linked clones
		Storage DRS versus storage tiering
		Storage I/O Control (SIOC)
	Storage integration
		VMware vSphere Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM)
		Pluggable Storage Architecture (PSA)
			Multipathing
			Storage masking and filtering
		VMware VAAI
		VMware vSphere APIs for IO Filtering (VAIO)
		VMware vCenter plugins
		VASA
		VVols
	Storage design
		VM storage layout
		VM snapshot limits
		Datastore layout
		Permanent Device Loss (PDL) and All-Paths-Down (APD)
		VVols dependencies
	Introduction to HCI and vSAN
		VMware vSAN
	Caching with vSphere Flash Read Cache
		Other solutions
	Summary
Chapter 8: Advanced VM and Resource Management
	VM components
		Virtual hardware
			vCPUs
			Memory
			Network adapter
			Virtual disks
			Storage controller
		File structure
			Changing the default file position
		VMware Tools
			Open VM Tools (OVT)
	Deploying VMs
		Creating a new VM
			Hardware version
				Setting the default hardware version
			Installing the OS
			Installing VMware Tools
		Deploying a VM from a template
		Cloning a VM
		Deploying Open Virtual Format (OVF) and Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) templates
		Creating a Content Library
	Managing VMs
		Adding or registering an existing VM
		Removing or deleting a VM
		Managing the power state of a VM
		Managing VM snapshots
			Creating a snapshot
			Committing changes
			Snapshot consolidation
	Resource management
		Memory resources
		CPU resources
		Resource pools
			Managing resource pools
		Creating a DRS cluster
			Virtual network-aware DRS
			Managing DRS rules
				VM-VM affinity rule
				VM-Host affinity rule
		Managing power resources
		Managing storage and network resources
	VM migration
		vMotion without shared storage
	Converting VMs
		P2V
		V2V
	Summary
Chapter 9: Monitoring, Optimizing, and Troubleshooting
	What is troubleshooting?
	Monitoring a virtual environment
		CLI usage
			ESXCLI commands
			ESXCFG-
			vSphere Management Assistant
			Ruby vSphere console
			VIM-CMD
			VCSA – CLI 
			PowerCLI
	Logs
		ESXi host logs
		GUI Tools
		vRealize Operations Manager
	Troubleshooting
		Troubleshooting the vCenter Server
		TRBL with ESXi host
		Troubleshooting cluster HA or DRS
		Troubleshooting virtual network
		Troubleshooting storage
		Troubleshooting VMs
	Summary
Chapter 10: Securing and Protecting Your Environment
	Regulations and compliance
	Security and hardening concepts in vSphere
		Hardening vSphere
			Host hardening
				Lockdown Mode
				Networking
				Transparent Page Sharing (TPS)
				VIB acceptance levels
			VM hardening
			VMware vCenter hardening
		Authentication and identity
			Password management
			AD authentication
			Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
			Smart cards
			RSA SecurID
		Other security aspects
			Log management
			Monitoring protocols
			Certification management
	New security options in vSphere 6.5
		VMware vCenter federations
		Protecting the data at rest
			VM encryption
		Protecting data in motion
			Encrypted vMotion
		Secure boot
			ESXi secure boot
			VM secure boot
		Enhanced logging
	Summary
Chapter 11: Lifecycle Management, Patching, and Upgrading
	Updating or patching ESXi hosts and vCSAs
		Updating or patching ESXi hosts through the command line
		Updating hosts using vSphere Client
		Updating the vCSA through the command line
			Staging and remediating patches
		Updating the vCSA with VAMI
	VUM
		Configuring VUM
		Working with baselines
			Baseline groups
			Attaching or detaching baselines
		Scanning VMs and hosts
			Staging and remediating patches
		Upgrading hosts with VUM
		Upgrading VM hardware
		Upgrading VMware Tools
	Upgrading and migrating to vSphere 6.5
		Why migrate to version 6.5?
		Upgrading the workflow and procedure
			Step 1 – Pre-migration
			Step 2 – Migration
			Step 3 – Validation
		Migrating from previous releases
			Troubleshooting
	Summary
Chapter 12: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
	BC concepts
		BC metrics
		Business impact analysis (BIA)
		Business continuity standard
		Common mistakes
	Disaster recovery (DR)
		DR of a virtual data center
		DR versus disaster avoidance
		DR versus stretched cluster
	VMware solutions
		VM Replication
		Stretched cluster
		Site Recovery Manager (SRM)
	Summary
Chapter 13: Advanced Availability in vSphere 6.5
	VMware vSphere HA
		Virtual Machine Component Protection (VMCP)
		Proactive HA
		Admission control
		VM restart and monitoring
	VMware vSphere FT
	VMware vCenter High Availability (VCHA)
	VMware vSphere Replication and Site Recovery Manager (SRM)
	Summary
Chapter 14: Data and Workloads Protection
	Backup technologies
		Backup host configuration
		Restoring the host configuration
	File-based backup of the vCSA
		Restoring the vCSA from a file-based backup
	Protecting the workloads
		Transport modes
		VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP)
		Backup solutions for VMware vSphere
			Veeam Backup & Replication
			NAKIVO Backup & Replication
			Altaro VM Backup
			Vembu VMBackup
			Micro Focus VM Explorer
		Deduplication appliances
		Hyper-scale solutions
			Cohesity
			Rubrik
	Summary
Index