Contents
Chapter 1 • Introducing VMware vSphere 5.5
Examining the Products in the vSphere Suite
Examining the Features in VMware vSphere
Chapter 2 • Planning and Installing VMware ESXi
Planning a VMware vSphere Deployment
Determining a Storage Architecture
Integrating with the Network Infrastructure
Installing VMware ESXi Interactively
Performing an Unattended Installation of VMware ESXi
Deploying VMware ESXi with vSphere Auto Deploy
Performing Post-installation Configuration
Installing the vSphere C# Client
Reconfiguring the Management Network
Configuring Time Synchronization
Chapter 3 • Installing and Configuring vCenter Server
Centralizing User Authentication Using vCenter Single Sign-On
Using the vSphere Web Client for Administration
Understanding the vCenter Inventory Service
Providing an Extensible Framework
Choosing the Version of vCenter Server
Planning and Designing a vCenter Server Deployment
Sizing Hardware for vCenter Server
Choosing a Database Server for vCenter Server
Planning for vCenter Server Availability
Running vCenter Server and Its Components as VMs
Installing vCenter Server and Its Components
Configuring the vCenter Server Backend Database Server
Installing the vCenter Server Components
Installing vCenter Server in a Linked Mode Group
Deploying the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance
Configuring an IP Address on the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance
Accepting the End-User License Agreement
Starting the vCenter Server Services
What's in the vSphere Web Client Home Screen?
Creating and Managing a vCenter Server Inventory
Understanding Inventory Views and Objects
Creating and Adding Inventory Objects
Exploring vCenter Server's Management Features
Understanding Basic Host Management
Examining Basic Host Configuration
Using Events Console in vCenter Server
Managing vCenter Server Settings
General vCenter Server Settings
vSphere Web Client Administration
Chapter 4 • vSphere Update Manager and the vCenter Support Tools
Installing vSphere Update Manager
Creating the Open Database Connectivity Data Source Name
Installing the Update Manager Download Service (Optional)
Installing the vSphere Update Manager Plug-in
Reconfiguring the VUM or UMDS Installation with the Update Manager Utility
Upgrading VUM from a Previous Version
Configuring vSphere Update Manager
Attaching and Detaching Baselines or Baseline Groups
Upgrading Virtual Appliances and Host Extensions
Upgrading Hosts with vSphere Update Manager
Importing an ESXi Image and Creating the Host Upgrade Baseline
Performing an Orchestrated Upgrade
Investigating Alternative Update Options
Using vSphere Update Manager PowerCLI
Upgrading and Patching without vSphere Update Manager
Chapter 5 • Creating and Configuring Virtual Networks
Putting Together a Virtual Network
Working with vSphere Standard Switches
Comparing Virtual Switches and Physical Switches
Understanding Ports and Port Groups
Configuring Management Networking
Configuring VMkernel Networking
Using and Configuring Traffic Shaping
Working with vSphere Distributed Switches
Creating a vSphere Distributed Switch
Removing an ESXi Host from a Distributed Switch
Working With Distributed Port Groups
Using NetFlow on vSphere Distributed Switches
Enabling Switch Discovery Protocols
Examining Third-Party Distributed Virtual Switches
IBM Distributed Virtual Switch 5000V
HP FlexFabric Virtual Switch 5900v
Configuring Virtual Switch Security
Understanding and Using Promiscuous Mode
Allowing MAC Address Changes and Forged Transmits
Chapter 6 • Creating and Configuring Storage Devices
Reviewing the Importance of Storage Design
Examining Shared Storage Fundamentals
Comparing Local Storage with Shared Storage
Defining Common Storage Array Architectures
Understanding Midrange and External Enterprise Storage Array Design
Implementing vSphere Storage Fundamentals
Reviewing Core vSphere Storage Concepts
Working with Raw Device Mappings
Working with VM-Level Storage Configuration
Leveraging SAN and NAS Best Practices
Chapter 7 • Ensuring High Availability and Business Continuity
Understanding the Layers of High Availability
Introducing Network Load Balancing Clustering
Introducing Windows Server Failover Clustering
Implementing vSphere High Availability
Understanding vSphere High Availability
Understanding vSphere HA's Underpinnings
Enabling vSphere High Availability
Configuring vSphere High Availability
Managing vSphere High Availability
Implementing vSphere Fault Tolerance
Using vSphere Fault Tolerance with vSphere High Availability
Using vSphere Fault Tolerance with vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
Examining vSphere Fault Tolerance Use Cases
Planning for Business Continuity
Chapter 8 • Securing VMware vSphere
Working with ESXi Authentication
Controlling Access to ESXi Hosts
Managing ESXi Host Permissions
Reviewing Other ESXi Security Recommendations
Authenticating Users with Single Sign-On
Understanding the vpxuser Account
Managing vCenter Server Permissions
Examining vCenter Server Logging
Configuring Network Security Policies
Chapter 9 • Creating and Managing Virtual Machines
Understanding Virtual Machines
Examining Virtual Machines from the Inside
Examining Virtual Machines from the Outside
Choosing Values for Your New Virtual Machine
Installing a Guest Operating System
Working with Installation Media
Working in the Virtual Machine Console
Installing VMware Tools in Windows
Installing VMware Tools in Linux
Adding or Registering Existing VMs
Changing Virtual Machine Hardware
Using Virtual Machine Snapshots
Chapter 10 • Using Templates and vApps
Installing Sysprep on the vCenter Server
Creating a Customization Specification
Creating Templates and Deploying Virtual Machines
Cloning a Virtual Machine to a Template
Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template
Deploying a VM from an OVF Template
Exporting a VM as an OVF Template
Importing Machines from Other Environments
Chapter 11 • Managing Resource Allocation
Reviewing Virtual Machine Resource Allocation
Working with Virtual Machine Memory
Understanding ESXi Advanced Memory Technologies
Managing Virtual Machine CPU Utilization
Summarizing How Reservations, Limits, and Shares Work with CPUs
Understanding Resource Allocation with Resource Pools
Regulating Network I/O Utilization
Controlling Storage I/O Utilization
Configuring Storage Resource Settings for a Virtual Machine
Chapter 12 • Balancing Resource Utilization
Comparing Utilization with Allocation
Examining vMotion Requirements
Performing a vMotion Migration
Ensuring vMotion Compatibility
Using Per-Virtual-Machine CPU Masking
Using VMware Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Combining vMotion with Storage vMotion
Exploring vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
Understanding Manual Automation Behavior
Reviewing Partially Automated Behavior
Examining Fully Automated Behavior
Working with Distributed Resource Scheduler Rules
Introducing and Working with Storage DRS
Creating and Working with Datastore Clusters
Chapter 13 • Monitoring VMware vSphere Performance
Overview of Performance Monitoring
Working with Performance Charts
Understanding vCenter Operations Manager
Capturing and Playing Back Performance Data with resxtop
Chapter 14 • Automating VMware vSphere
Installing and Configuring PowerCLI
PowerCLI Advanced Capabilities
Using vCLI from vSphere Management Assistant
What's New in vCLI and vMA for vSphere 5.5
Using vSphere Management Assistant for Automation with vCenter
Leveraging the Perl Toolkit with vSphere Management Assistant
Automating with vCenter Orchestrator
New Features in vCenter Orchestrator 5.5
Understanding vCenter Orchestrator Prerequisites
Configuring vCenter Orchestrator
vCenter Orchestrator Appliance
Implementing the vCenter Orchestrator Appliance
Accessing vCenter Orchestrator
vCenter Orchestrator and vCenter Server
Using an Orchestrator Workflow
Chapter 1: Introducing VMware vSphere 5.5
Chapter 2: Planning and Installing VMware ESXi
Chapter 3: Installing and Configuring vCenter Server
Chapter 4: vSphere Update Manager and the vCenter Support Tools
Chapter 5: Creating and Configuring Virtual Networks
Chapter 6: Creating and Configuring Storage Devices
Chapter 7: Ensuring High Availability and Business Continuity
Chapter 8: Securing VMware vSphere
Chapter 9: Creating and Managing Virtual Machines
Chapter 10: Using Templates and vApps
Chapter 11: Managing Resource Allocation
Chapter 12: Balancing Resource Utilization
Chapter 13: Monitoring VMware vSphere Performance
Chapter 14: Automating VMware vSphere