VMware vSphere Design

✍ Scribed by Forbes Guthrie, Scott Lowe, Maish Saidel-Keesing

• Publisher: Sybex
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 385
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The only book focused on designing VMware vSphere implementations.

VMware vSphere is the most widely deployed virtualization platform today. Considered the most robust and sophisticated hypervisor product, vSphere is the de facto standard for businesses, both large and small. This book is the only one of its kind to concisely explain how to execute a successful vSphere architecture, tailored to meet your company’s needs. Expert authors share with you the factors that shape the design of a vSphere implementation. Learn how to make the right design decisions for your environment.

• Explores the latest release of VMware vSphere
• Details the overall design process, server hardware selection, network layout, security considerations, storage infrastructure, virtual machine design, and more
• Debates the merits of Scaling Up servers versus Scaling Out, ESX versus ESXi hypervisor, vSwitches versus dvSwitches, and what the different storage protocols have to offer
• Illustrates the tools to monitor, to plan, to manage, to deploy and to secure your vSphere landscape
• Steps through the design decisions that a typical company may encounter, and questions the choices made
• Packed with real-world proven strategies, VMware vSphere Design examines how the virtualization architecture for your company should ideally look—and how best to achieve it.

✦ Table of Contents

VMware vSphere Design
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 • An Introduction to Designing VMware Environments
What Is Design?
The Facets of vSphere Design
The Technical Facet
The Organizational Facet
The Operational Facet
The Process of Design
Gathering and Defining Functional Requirements
Assessing the Environment
Assembling the Design
Documenting the Design
Performing the Implementation
Summary
Chapter 2 • ESX vs. ESXi
Two vSphere Hypervisors
ESX Design
Installation Design Options
Post-Installation Design Options
ESXi Design
Similarities
When to Use ESX
When to Use ESXi
ESXi Components
ESXi Agents
ESXi System Image
ESXi Flavors: Installable and Embedded
ESXi Management
Migrating to ESXi
Testing
Deployment
Management
Summary
Chapter 3 • Designing the Management Layer
Components of the Management Layer
VMware vCenter Server
Choosing the Operating System for your vCenter
VMware Update Manager
Management Applications
Sizing Your vCenter Server
Operating System
Using a Remote or Local Server
Number of Objects Managed
Update Manager
Plug-ins
Guided Consolidation
Storage Vendor Plug-in
Linked Mode
Prerequisites
Considerations
Under the Covers
Roles
vCenter: Virtual or Physical
Physical Server
Virtual
Redundancy
vCenter
SQL/Oracle Database
Security
Isolation
Permissions
SSL Certificates
Summary
Chapter 4 • Server Hardware
Hardware Considerations
Factors in Selecting Hardware
Computing Needs
Server Constraints
Differentiating Among Vendors
Server Components
CPU
RAM
NUMA
Motherboard
Storage
Network
PCI
Preparing the Server
Configuring the BIOS
Other Hardware Settings
Burn-in
Preproduction Checks
Scale Up vs. Scale Out
Advantages of Scaling Up
Advantages of Scaling Out
Scaling Is a Matter of Perspective
Risk Assessment
Choosing the Right Size
Blade Servers vs. Rack Servers
Blade Servers
Rack Servers
Form-Factor Conclusions
Alternative Hardware Approaches
Cloud Computing
Converged Hardware
Summary
Chapter 5 • Designing your Network
Designing with Redundancy
Hosts
Network Switches (pSwitches)
Security
Management Network
Virtual Machine Traffic
IP Storage Network Traffic
vMotion and FT Traffic
Performance
Service Console
vMotion
IP Storage
Virtual Machine Network
Teaming Options
Guest OS Network Teaming and Virtual Machine Port Groups
IP Storage
Jumbo Frames
Fault Tolerance
10GbE
Physical Network Cable
Switches
Network Modules
vSwitches and vDSs
Central Management
Private VLANs
Port Groups, Management, and VMkernel
Naming and IP Conventions
Design Scenarios
Two NICs
Four NICs
Six NICs
Eight NICs
Two 10GbE NICS
Four 10GbE NICS
Summary
Chapter 6 • Storage
Dimensions of Storage Design
Storage Design Factors
Storage Efficiency
Designing for Capacity
RAID Options
Estimating Capacity Requirements
VMFS Capacity Limits
Large or Small Datastores?
VMFS Block Sizes
Thin Provisioning
Data Deduplication
Array Compression
Downside of Saving Space
Designing for Performance
Measuring Storage Performance
How to Calculate a Disk’s IOPS
What Can Affect a Storage Array’s IOPS?
Measuring Your Existing IOPS Usage
Local Storage vs. Shared Storage
Local Storage
What About Local Shared Storage?
Shared Storage
Choosing a Network Protocol
Fiber Channel
iSCSI
NFS
Protocol Choice at the End of the Day
Multipathing
SAN Multipathing
NAS Multipathing
Summary
Chapter 7 • Virtual Machines
Components of a Virtual Machine
Base Virtual Machine Hardware
Hardware Versions
Virtual Machine Maximums
Hardware Choices
Removing or Disabling Unused Hardware
Virtual Machine Options
Resources
Naming Virtual Machines
VMware Tools
Sizing Virtual Machines
Virtual Machine Network Design
vNIC Drivers
MAC Addresses
VLAN Tagging
Virtual Machine Storage Design
Disks
Disk Modes
SCSI Controllers
Disk Types
RDMs
Storage vMotion
Guest Software
Selecting an OS
Software Licensing
Disk Alignment
Defragmentation
Optimizing the Guest for the Hypervisor
Clones, Templates, and vApps
Clones
Templates
Preparing a Template
OVF Standard
vApps
Virtual Machine Availability
vSphere VM Availability
Third-Party VM Clustering
Summary
Chapter 8 • Datacenter Design
vSphere Inventory Structure
Inventory Root
Folders
Datacenters
Clusters
Resource Pools
Hosts
Virtual Machines
Templates
Datastores
Networks
Why and How to Structure
Clusters
EVC
Swapfile Policy
Cluster Sizing
Resource Pools
Resource Pool Settings
Admission Control
Distributed Resource Scheduling
Load Balancing
Affinity Rules
Distributed Power Management
High Availability and Clustering
High Availability
VM and Application Monitoring
Fault Tolerance
Summary
Chapter 9 • Designing with Security in Mind
Why Is Security Important?
Separation of Duties
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Shell Access to the ESX Host
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
vCenter Permissions
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Managing Network Access
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
The DMZ
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Protecting the VMs
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Change Management
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Protecting Your Data
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Cloud
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Security in vCenter Linked Mode
Risk Scenario
Risk Mitigation
Firewalls in Your Virtual Infrastructure
The Problem
The Solution
Auditing and Compliance
The Problem
The Solution
Summary
Chapter 10 • Monitoring and Capacity Planning
Nothing Is Static
Building Monitoring into the Design
Determining the Tools to Use
Selecting the Items to Monitor
Selecting Thresholds
Taking Action on Thresholds
Alerting the Operators
Incorporating Capacity Planning in the Design
Planning Before Virtualization
Planning During Virtualization
Summary
Chapter 11 • Bringing It All Together
Sample Design
Business Overview for XYZ Widgets
Hypervisor Selection (VMware ESX vs. VMware ESXi)
vSphere Management Layer
Server Hardware
Networking Configuration
Shared Storage Configuration
VM Design
VMware Datacenter Design
Security Architecture
Monitoring and Capacity Planning
Examining the Design
Hypervisor Selection (VMware ESX vs. VMware ESXi)
vSphere Management Layer
Server Hardware
Networking Configuration
Shared Storage Configuration
VM Design
VMware Datacenter Design
Security Architecture
Monitoring and Capacity Planning
Summary
Index