VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise

Step 2: Read All Relevant Documentation 85 Step 3: Is Support Available for the Hardware Configuration? 85 Step 4: Verify the Hardware 85 Step 5: Are the Firmware Levels at Least Minimally Supported? 86 Step 6: Is the System and Peripheral BIOS Correctly Set? 87 Step 7: Where Do You Want the Boot Disk Located? 88 Step 8: VMware ESX Host License 89 Step 9: Guest OS License and Installation Materials 89 Step 10: Service Console Network Information 89 Step 11: Memory Allocated to the Service Console 89 Step 12: vmkernel Network Information 90 Step 13: Number of Virtual Network Switches 90 Step 14: Virtual Network Switch Label Name(s) 91 Step 15: File System Layouts 91 Step 16: Configure the Server and the FC HBA to Boot from SAN or Boot from iSCSI 93 Step 17: Start ESX/ESXi Host Installations 102 Step 18: Connecting to the Management User Interface for the First Time 112 Step 19: Third-Party Tools to Install 116 Step 20: Additional Software Packages to Install 117 Step 21: Patch ESX or ESXi 117 Step 22: Guest Operating System Software 117 Step 23: Guest Operating System Licenses 117 Step 24: Network Information for Each Guest Operating System 118 Step 25: Guest Upgrades 118 Automating Installation 118 EXi 4.1 118 ESX 4 118 Kickstart Directives 119 Conclusion 121 CHAPTER 4 AUDITING AND MONITORING 123 Auditing Recipe 124 ESX and ESXi 124 ESX 128 ESXi 134 Auditing Conclusion 134 Monitoring Recipe 135 Host Hardware Monitoring 135 Virtual Machine State Monitoring 136 Network Monitoring 136 Performance Monitoring 137 Application Monitoring 137 Security Monitoring 137 ESX-Specific Auditing and Monitoring Concerns 138 vmkernel Considerations 139 vMotion and Fault Tolerance Considerations 139 Other ESX Considerations 139 What to Do If There Is a Break-In 141 Conclusion 142 CHAPTER 5 STORAGE WITH ESX 143 Overview of Storage Technology with ESX 144 FC Versus SCSI Versus SAS Versus ATA Versus SATA, and So On 145 FCoE and Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) 147 iSCSI (SCSI over IP) 147 NAS (Network-Attached Storage) 149 SANs (Storage Area Networks) 149 Storage Best Practices for ESX 160 SAN/iSCSI Best Practices 160 iSCSI/NFS Best Practices 161 Virtual Machine File System 161 VMDK and VMFS Manipulation 163 VMFS Types 164 Structure of VMFS 164 Storage Checklist 169 Assessing Storage and Space Requirements 171 LUN Sizes 172 Example of LUN Sizing 175 Storage-Specific Issues 176 Increasing the Size of a VMDK 177 Increasing the Size of a VMFS 178 Searching for New LUNs 178 VMFS Created on One ESX Host Not Appearing on Another 179 How to Unlock a LUN 179 Boot from SAN or iSCSI 180 Conclusion 180 CHAPTER 6 EFFECTS ON OPERATIONS 181 SCSI-2 Reservation Issues 182 Performance-Gathering and Hardware Agents Within a VM 189 Network Utilization 191 Virtual Machine Mobility 192 Data Store Performance or Bandwidth Issues 193 Other Operational Issues 194 Life-Cycle Management 195 Conclusion 197 CHAPTER 7 NETWORKING 199 Basic Building Blocks 199 Details of the Building Blocks 202 vNetwork Functionality 215 Network Definitions 237 Virtual Environment Management Network 240 Out-of-Band Management Network 242 vMotion Network 242 Fault Tolerance Logging Network 243 NFS Network 243 iSCSI Network 244 VM Network 244 Checklist 246 pSwitch Settings Checklist 250 vNetworking 252 vNetworks: The Great VLAN Debate 252 vNetworks: Network Splits 253 vNetworks: Simple Network 256 vNetworks: Adding More to the Virtualization Network 257 vNetwork: DMZ 260 pNIC Determination 262 Conclusion 263 CHAPTER 8 CONFIGURING ESX FROM A HOST CONNECTION 265 Configuration Tasks 266 Server-Specific Tasks 266 ESXi Root Password 268 ESXi Management Network 269 Create Administrative Users 270 Security Configuration 278 Network Time Protocol (NTP) 280 Service Console Memory 284 Command Line (ESX v3) 286 vSC (ESX v3) 287 Patching ESX and ESXi 287 Patching VIA vSphere Host Update Utility 287 Patching VIA VMware Update Manager 289 Conclusion 292 CHAPTER 9 CONFIGURING ESX FROM A VIRTUAL CENTER OR HOST 295 Configuration Tasks 296 Join Host to vCenter 296 Licensing 297 ESX v4 298 Virtual Swap 305 VMFS Manipulation 306 Rename Local VMFS via Command Line 307 Connect to Storage Device 307 VMFS Manipulation with the vSphere Client 319 Growing a VMFS 333 Upgrading from VMFS v3.xx to v3.33 or v3.34 334 Masking and Max LUN Manipulations 335 Virtual Networking 337 Configuring the Service Console or ESXi Management Appliance 337 Creating a VM Network vSwitch 340 Creating a vNetwork Distributed Virtual Switch 344 vSC 344 Setting Up PVLANs Within a Distributed Virtual Switch 347 Creating a vMotion vSwitch 348 Creating a FT Network 352 Command Line 353 Adding an iSCSI Network 356 Adding a NAS vSwitch for Use by NFS 357 Adding a Private vSwitch 358 Adding Additional pNICs to a vSwitch 359 Adding vSwitch Portgroups 360 Removing vSwitch Portgroups 360 Distributed vSwitch Portgroup 361 vSwitch Removal 361 Distributed vSwitch Removal 362 vSwitch Security 362 vSwitch Properties 364 Changing vmkernel Gateways 367 Changing pNIC Settings 369 Changing Traffic-Shaping Settings 370 iSCSI VMFS 372 Command Line 372 vSC 373 Network-Attached Storage 375 Command Line 375 vSC 376 Mapping Information 378 Secure Access to Management Interfaces 379 Advanced Settings 380 Conclusion 380 CHAPTER 10 VIRTUAL MACHINES 383 Overview of Virtual Hardware 383 Creating VMs 389 VM Creation from vSC 393 VM Creation from Command Line 435 Installing Guest Operating Systems 442 Using Local to the ESX Host CD-ROMs 443 Using a Local or Shared ESX Host ISO Image 444 Using Client Device or ISO 445 Importance of DVD/CD-ROM Devices 447 Other Installation Options 447 Special Situations 447 Using CD/RW and DVD/RW/R+/R- Devices 447 Virtual Guest Tagging Driver 448 Virtual Hardware for Non-Disk SCSI Devices 448 Virtual Hardware for Raw Disk Map Access to Remote SCSI 450 Virtual Hardware for RDM-Like Access to Local SCSI 450 VM Disk Modes and Snapshots 452 OS Installation Peculiarities 456 Cloning, Templates, and Deploying VMs 457 VM Solutions 458 Private Lab 458 Firewalled Private Lab 458 Firewalled Lab Bench 460 Cluster in a Box 462 Cluster Between ESX Hosts 462 Cluster Between Virtual and Physical Servers 463 vCenter as a VM 463 Virtual Appliances 464 VMware Tools 465 VMX Changes 466 Conclusion 467 CHAPTER 11 DYNAMIC RESOURCE LOAD BALANCING 469 Defining DRLB 469 The Basics 470 The Advanced Features 473 Shares 486 Resource Pool Addendum 488 Network Resources 489 Disk Resources 490 CPU Resources 491 Memory Resources 491 vApps 492 Monitoring 494 Alarms 495 Performance Analysis 504 Putting It All Together 511 Conclusion 512 CHAPTER 12 DISASTER RECOVERY, BUSINESS CONTINUITY, AND BACKUP 513 Disaster Types 514 Recovery Methods 517 Best Practices 521 Backup and Business Continuity 522 Backup 523 Business Continuity 529 The Tools 531 Local Tape Devices 534 VMware Data Recovery 534 Third-Party Tools 538 Conclusion 538 EPILOGUE: THE FUTURE OF THE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT 539 REFERENCES 543 INDEX 545