VMware vSphere 5 Administration Instant Reference

Introduction xix
Part I: Building a VMware vSphere Environment 1


Chapter 1: Introduction to vSphere 3


Understand the Legacy Features of vSphere 5


VMotion 5


VMware Cluster 7


Distributed Resource Scheduler 7


High Availability 8


VMware vCenter Converter 9


VMware vSphere Update Manager 10


64–Bit 11


VMware Capacity Planner 11


Host Profiles 11


vCenter Linked Mode 12


Distributed Power Management 12


Enhanced VMotion Compatibility 12


VMware Data Recovery 13


vSphere Client 13


VMkernel Protection 14


Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning 14


VMware DCUI 15


vSphere Web Client 15


Understand the New Features of vSphere 16


Enhancements in Storage 16


Storage DRS 16


Enhancements in VMFS–5 16


Enhancements in Storage VMotion 17


Virtual Machine Scalability 17


vCenter Improvements 18


Fault Tolerance 18


Networking Enhancements 19


VMware vShield 5 Suite 19


Chapter 2: Installing and Configuring ESXi 21


Prepare for Installation 22


Install ESXi 24


Install ESXi Manually 26


Automate ESXi Installation 29


Configure Post–Install Options 34


Configure ESXi from the Console 35


Install the vSphere Client 38


Configure ESXi from within the vSphere Client 39


Chapter 3: Installing and Configuring vCenter Server 51


Prepare for Installation 52


Identify Hardware Requirements 53


Identify Operating System Requirements for


vCenter Server and vSphere Client 53


Identify Database Requirements 55


Identify Networking Requirements 56


Identify Authentication Requirements 58


Install a Database 58


Create a vCenter Database in Microsoft SQL


Server 2008 R2 58


Create a vCenter Database in Oracle 61


Prepare and Install vCenter Server 63


Prepare for Installation 64


Install vCenter Server 65


Deploy a vCenter Server Appliance 69


Configure a vCenter Server Appliance 73


Install Additional Components 78


Install vSphere Client 85


Configure vCenter Server 86


Connect to vCenter Server 86


Install Plug–Ins in vSphere Client 87


Configure Advanced vCenter Server Settings 89


Create a Datacenter 90


Add a Cluster 91


Add a Host 100


Chapter 4: Understanding Licensing 103


Become Familiar with VMware Licensing 104


Review the Versions of vSphere 106


Review the Licensing Method in vSphere 110


Manage Licenses 111


Install Licenses 111


Assign Licenses 114


Unassign and Remove Licenses 118


Change Licenses Assigned to Assets 120


Install Licenses for Legacy Hosts 121


Review Installed Licenses 124


View Licenses by Product 125


View Licenses by License Key 126


View Licenses by Asset 127


Chapter 5: Upgrading to vSphere 5 129


Prepare for the Upgrade 130


Upgrade vCenter Server 132


Upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0 on the Same System 133


Upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0 on a Different System 134


Install vCenter Server Appliance 135


Perform Postupgrade Tasks 136


Upgrade ESX/ESXi Hosts 139


Upgrade ESX/ESXi Using vCenter Update Manager 140


Perform a Manual In–Place Upgrade 144


Upgrade with a Fresh ESX/ESXi Installation 144


Perform Postupgrade Tasks 145


Upgrade VMware Tools 145


Upgrade Virtual Machine Hardware 146


Part II: Configuring Your vSphere Environment 149


Chapter 6: Creating and Managing Virtual Networking 151


Understand the Basics 153


Work with Virtual Switches 153


Understand Network Services 154


Use NIC Teaming 154


Configure VLANs 155


Use VLAN Tagging 155


View Networking Configuration and Network Adapter Information 156


Network with vSwitches 157


Set Up NIC Teaming on the Management Network 157


Assign Static IP Addresses for the Management Network 159


Create a vSwitch for Virtual Machine Networking 159


Network with vSphere Distributed Switches 163


Configure a vSphere Distributed Switch 164


Add Hosts and Adapters to a vDS 167


Edit General and Advanced vDS Settings 168


Manage Physical and Virtual Network Adapters 168


Migrate Existing Virtual Adapters into vDS 171


Add a dvPort Group 173


Edit a dvPort Group 174


Create a Private VLAN 175


Migrate VMs to a vDS 176


Understand Advanced Networking 178


Customize MAC Addresses 178


Create VMkernel Ports for Software iSCSI 179


Troubleshoot Using the Command Line 182


Enable Cisco Discovery Protocol 184


Enable IPv6 185


Chapter 7: Configuring and Managing Storage 187


Become Familiar with Storage Concepts 188


Learn the Basics of Storage in vSphere 188


Learn the Types of Supported Storage 191


Learn the Benefits of Remote Storage 192


Guidelines for Implementing Storage 195


Configure Fibre Channel SAN Storage 196


Connect Fibre Channel Storage to an ESXi Host 197


Manage Fibre Channel Storage on an ESXi Host 198


Configure NPIV for Virtual Machines 202


Configure iSCSI SAN Storage 205


Become Familiar with ESXi iSCSI SAN Requirements 205


Configure Hardware iSCSI Initiators if Present 206


Configure Software iSCSI Initiators 206


Configure NFS Storage 223


Configure NFS Storage with ESXI 223


Chapter 8: High Availability and Business Continuity 229


Minimize Planned Downtime 230


Configure and Use vMotion 230


Migrate Virtual Disks with Storage vMotion 236


Protect Against Host Failure 237


Set Up vSphere High Availability 237


Set Up vSphere Fault Tolerance 243


Guard Against VM Failure 249


Chapter 9: Managing Virtual Machines 253


Create Virtual Machines 254


Create a New Virtual Machine 255


Clone an Existing Virtual Machine 259


Deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template 262


Create a Template 263


Modify Virtual Machines 266


Reconfigure the Hardware of a Virtual Machine 267


Add Hardware to a Virtual Machine 271


Remove Hardware from a Virtual Machine 276


Manage Virtual Machine Hardware Versions 276


Determine the Virtual Machine Hardware Version 277


Upgrade Virtual Machine Hardware 279


Perform Other Virtual Machine Management Tasks 279


Change the Virtual Machine Power State 280


Work with Virtual Machine Snapshots 281


Install or Upgrade the VMware Tools 284


Chapter 10: Importing and Exporting Virtual Machines 287


Understand the Migration Process 288


Understand the Types of Migrations 288


Review the Components in a Migration 289


Perform a Physical–to–Virtual Migration 290


Perform a Hot Migration 291


Perform a Cold Migration 293


Clean Up After a Migration 295


Troubleshoot Physical–to–Virtual Migrations 296


Perform a Virtual–to–Virtual Migration 297


Migrate to or from a Different VMware Platform 298


Migrate from a Competing Product 302


Use a Virtual–to–Virtual Migration for Reconfiguration 302


Troubleshoot Virtual–to–Virtual Migrations 305


Import an Open Virtualization Format Template 306


Understand OVF Templates 306


Deploy an OVF Template 307


Chapter 11: Configuring Security 311


Configure vCenter Server Access Control 312


Understand vCenter Server’s Predefined Roles 312


Customize Roles 314


Manage Permissions 317


Secure vCenter Server 319


Harden the vCenter Server Computer 319


Remove Default Administrative Access to vCenter Server 320


Secure Your ESXi and ESXi Hosts 321


Control Network Access to the Management Network 321


Isolate the Management Network 323


Delete Unnecessary Local Accounts 324


Understand Lockdown Mode 325


Secure Your Virtual Machines 325


Configure Virtual Machine Isolation 326


Harden the Guest Operating System 328


Chapter 12: Managing Resources and Performance 329


Understand Resource Allocation 330


Allocate Resources to Virtual Machines 331


Allocate Resources in the VM Configuration 331


Guarantee Resources with Reservations 333


Constrain Resource Usage with Limits 335


Control Resource Allocation Using Shares 338


Use Resource Pools 341


Create a Resource Pool 342


Control CPU Allocation with a Resource Pool 343


Control Memory Allocation with a Resource Pool 348


Monitor Performance 348


Identify a Resource–Constrained ESXi Host 348


Identify a Resource–Constrained Virtual Machine 350


Appendix A: Fundamentals of the Command–Line Interface 355


Index