Title Details

Nick Marshall is an Integration Architect at VMware, where he helps build products including vSphere, vRealize Operations Manager, and vRealize Automation Center. He has over 14 years of IT experience and holds multiple advanced IT certifications. Nick helps run the vBrownBag podcast, blogs at nickmarshall.com.au, and runs a site dedicated to home labs at www.labguides.com. He can be found on Twitter @nickmarshall9.

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 vs. LUNs 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 Availability400

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 Confi guring 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