Chapter 1, Evolution of VMware vSphere Suite, provides a general overview of all the products, solutions, and features of the vSphere 6.5 suite, comparing the evolutions with the previous releases. Also, this chapter explains the reasons to choose (and why not to choose) vSphere 6.5 compared with previous versions or other products. Finally, it includes a general overview of all the products, solutions, and features in other VMware products and different suites that could be complementary or where vSphere represents an infrastructural foundation.

Chapter 2, Design and Plan a Virtualization Infrastructure, explains how to approach a virtualization project using reference architectures and best practices, from the analysis of requirements, constraints, and risks to the different types of design (conceptual, logical, and physical). Network and storage aspects are discussed, as well as different vCenter Server and ESXi design and planning aspects. Three different scenarios are used as examples—SMB, Enterprise, and ROBO.

Chapter 3, Analysis and Assessment of an Existing Environment, explains how to analyse and assess an existing physical or virtual environment in order to gain the data needed to plan a migration, upgrade, or improvement. Different tools and approaches will be described as ways to reach this goal.