VMware ESX Server Virtual Infrastructure Node Evaluator’s ... · the VMware Technology Network...

20030127

E V A L U A T O R ' S G U I D E

VMware ESX Server Virtual Infrastructure Node Evaluator’s GuideData Center-Class Virtual Infrastructure for Mission-Critical Environments

Installing, Configuring and Evaluating ESX Server 2.5 and VirtualCenter 1.3 November 2005

2

E valuator’s guidEVMware eSX Virtual infraStruc ture node

Contents1 GettingStarted..................................................................3

2 TheITChallengeToday................................................5

3 VMwareVirtualInfrastructureIntroduction.....6

4 VMwareVirtualInfrastructureProducts.............8

5 VMwareVirtualInfrastructureBusinessSolutions........................................................10

6 ESXServerOverview...................................................11

7 VirtualCenterOverview.............................................15

8 ExampleCustomerImplementations..............18

9 EvaluationPlanningandEnvironmentSetup......................................................20

9.1PlanningWorksheet...........................................20

9.2OverviewoftheEvaluationDeployment............................................................24

9.3TypicalEvaluationTimeline...........................25

9.4HardwareRequirementsforESXServer...............................................................26

9.5HardwareRequirementsforVirtualCenterManagementServer...........27

9.6HardwareRequirementsforRemoteManagementWorkstation.............................27

9.7GuestOperatingSystemsSupported.....28

9.8DownloadProductBinariesandBurntoCD-ROM..............................................................28

9.9HelpfulTechnicalTips........................................28

10 InstallingESXServer....................................................30

11 InstallingVirtualCenterManagementServer&Client.................................................................44

12 UnderstandingtheVirtualInfrastructure.......50

12.1VirtualCenterManagesVirtualMachinesRunningonPhysicalHosts..50

12.2CPU,MemoryandHardwareVirtualization........................................................50

12.3StorageVirtualization.....................................54

12.4NetworkVirtualization....................................55

12.5VirtualCenterSoftwareComponents...56

12.6VirtualCenterOrganizesServersintoFarmsandGroups............................................57

12.7VirtualCenterManagesTasks,Templates,AlarmsandEvents..................58

12.8VirtualCenterManagesAccessPrivilegeswithUsersandGroups...........59

12.9WorkingwiththeVirtualCenterClient.........................................60

12.10CommonActionsPerformedThroughVirtualCenter.................................62

13 CreatingNewVirtualMachines............................63

13.1CreatingNewVirtualMachinesfromScratch.........................................................63

13.2CreatingNewVirtualMachinesfromExistingServers..................................................68

13.3Creating,StoringandDeployingVirtualMachineTemplates..........................69

13.4CloningVirtualMachines.............................83

14 ManagingVirtualMachines....................................87

14.1Starting,Stopping,SuspendingandResettingVirtualMachines.........................87

14.2EditingVirtualMachineConfigurations....................................................87

14.3SchedulingTasks...............................................92

14.4UsingEventsandAlarms.............................94

15 ConfiguringanESXVINtouseaStorageAreaNetwork...................................................................96

16 MigratingVirtualMachinesacrossESXServers..................................................................... 102

16.1MigrateaPowered-OffVirtualMachinetoanotherHostusingtheSAN................................................................ 103

16.2MigrateaPowered-OnVirtualMachinetoanotherHostusingtheSAN(VMotion)................................................. 104

17 ApplicationFunctionalTestingandLoadTesting................................................................... 109

18 Summary......................................................................... 109

19 Glossary............................................................................ 110

20 VMwareProfessionalServices............................ 113

21 VMwareSupportServices..................................... 114

22 VMwarePartnerAlliance....................................... 114

23 AboutVMware............................................................. 115

3


1. getting startedabout this guideThepurposeofthisdocumentistosupportaself-guidedevaluationofaVMwareVirtualInfrastructureNode(VIN)runningVMware®ESXServer2.5andmanagedbyVMwareVirtualCenter1.3.Thisdocumentisintendedtoprovideatechnicalproductreviewerwiththenecessaryinformationtoinstall,manageandevaluateVMwarevirtualinfrastructure.

Thecontentincludesaproductoverview,descriptionofhowothercustomersareusingtheproduct,andproductinstallationandusagewalkthroughstodemonstratehoweasyitistogetstartedusingVMwarevirtualinfrastructure.Tosimplifyandminimizeinitialhardwarerequirements,thisguideshowshowtoinstallasingleESXServerlicensetolocalSCSIdisks.TheguidethencontinueswithademonstrationofhowtousemultipleESXServerlicenseswithastorageareanetwork(SAN)tosupportadvancedfeaturessuchasVMotionforthemigrationofrunningvirtualmachinesbetweenESXServerhosts.

Inchapters2-8,thisguideprovidescontextualbackgroundthatwillassistanevaluatorinunderstandingservervirtualizationandhowthetechnologycanbestbeappliedtodrivevalueinyourorganization.ThoseseekingtogetstartedquicklymayskiptoChapter9tobegintheserverpreparationandinstallation.

Conventions used in this guideThefollowingconventionsareusedinthisguide.

Blue Crossreferences,links

Courier Commands,filenames,directories,paths,userinput

Semi-Bold Interactiveinterfaceobjects,keys,buttons

Bold Itemsofhighlightedinterest,terms

Italic Variables,parameters

Italic Webaddresses

additional documentation resourcesAlthoughthematerialpresentedinthisdocumentcanallbefoundontheVMwareWebsite,thisevaluationguideattemptstobringalltheinformationintoasingledocumenttofacilitatetheevaluationprocess.Fullproductdocumentationoninstallationandadministrationisavailablefordownloadathttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/.

Evaluation Hardware requirementsBeforestartinganevaluationofVMwarevirtualizationsoftware,checktheonlinehardwarecompatibilityguidesthatarepublishedontheVMwareWebsiteathttp://www.vmware.com/support/resources/esx_resources.html.ThecompatibilityguideswillensurethatthehardwarethatisbeingconsideredfortheESXServerevaluationhasgonethroughcompatibilitytestingbyVMware.

4


Whilethehardwarerequirementsarecoveredinmoredetailinsection9.4,ahighlevelsummaryisprovidedbelow:

• Anx86multi-processorserver(2-CPUminimumperserver)withaSCSIdiskforESXServerinstallation.TwoESXserverlicensesareneededalongwithaSANtoevaluateVMotion™migrationofvirtualmachinesfromoneESXServertoanotherESXServer.

• Anx86PCorserverwithWindows2000(orhigher)forVirtualCenterManagementServerandClientinstall

• Guestoperatingsystemsandapplicationsfortesting

• NotethatESXServerrequireseitheraSANorlocalSCSIdisksforvirtualmachinestorage

Help and support during the EvaluationBeyondtheproductdocumentationavailableathttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/,thebestsourceforsupportduringanESXServerevaluationistorefertotheVMwareonlineKnowledgeBaseavailableathttp://www.vmware.com/support/kb.TheKnowledgeBasecontainshundredsofdocumentedissuesandtypicallyoffersworkaroundsorfixesthatcanhelpyouresolveyourissuequickly.ThisonlineKnowledgeBaseissearchableandcoversalltheproductsthatVMwareoffers.OthergoodsourcesforsupportincludetheVMwareTechnologyNetworkdiscussionforumsandthepublicVMwarenewsgroups.

TheVMwareTechnologyNetworkhostsasetofmoderateddiscussionforumsontheVMwareWebsitethatareopentoallVMwareusers.Intheforums,VMwareTechnologyNetworkmemberscometogethertoexchangeinformation,asktechnicalquestionsandsharecomments.VMwarerepresentativesmonitortheforumandrespondtoquestionsasappropriate.Youcanjointhecommunitydiscussionforumathttp://www.vmware.com/community.

TheVMwareNewsgroupsareprimarilyforumsforuserstohelpeachother.Youareencouragedtoreadandpostissues,workaroundsandfixes.WhileVMwarepersonnelmayreadandposttothenewsgroups,thisisnotachannelforofficialsupport.TheVMwareNNTPnewsserverisatnews.vmware.comwithadditionalusageinformationat http://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/newsgroups.html.

PleasenotethatVMwaredoesnotoffertechnicalsupportonanevaluationbasis.Whenyoupurchaseyourproductlicense,youcanselecttheleveloftechnicalsupportthatmeetsyourneeds.MoreinformationaboutVMwaresupportofferingsisavailableathttp://www.vmware.com/support/programs.html.

Providing FeedbackWeappreciateyourfeedbackonthematerialincludedinthisguide.Inparticular,wewouldbegratefulforanyguidanceonthefollowingtopics:

• Howusefulwastheinformationinthisguide?

• Whatotherspecifictopicswouldyouliketoseecovered?

• Overall,howwouldyouratethisguide?

Pleasesendyourfeedbacktothefollowinge-mailaddress:[email protected],with“VMwareVirtualInfrastructureNodeEvaluator’sGuide”inthesubjectline.Thankyouforyourhelpinmakingthisguideavaluableresource.

5


2. the it Challenge today Today,ITorganizationsareworkingdiligentlytosolvetheproblemscreatedbytheexplosioninthescopeandcomplexityofITplatformsadoptedinthe1990’s.Themigrationofapplicationarchitecturestothin-clientmulti-tierarchitectures,theintroductionofmultiplegenerationsandeditionsofWindowsserversandtherapidgrowthofLinuxhavesweptacrossITorganizationsinsuccessivewavesoverthelasttenyears.Thesewavescausedrecordgrowthinservercounts,networkcomplexityandstoragevolumesthroughoutgeographicallydistributedITorganizations.Thepoliciesandproceduresadoptedtogainbackcontroloftheinfrastructurehaveoftenintroducedtheirownchallenges.

SomeoftheresultingsymptomsreportedbyITorganizationsinclude:

• Largenumbersofunderutilized“one-application/onebox”x86-basedservers

• Pervasiveover-provisioningcausedbypoliciesthatsizeallserversfor“worst-case”workloadscenarios

• Longprovisioningcycletimesfornewservers,storageandnetworking

• Longdelaysinprovisioningnewservices

• Narrowscheduleddowntimewindowsthatareover-subscribedwithmaintenanceactivities

• Inconsistent,non-reproducibleserverbuildsduetoalackofbuildpoliciesoranabilitytoenforcethem

• Rushedpatchroll-outsthatbreakapplicationfunctionalityorperformancebecausethepatch-testingsystemsdonotmatchproductionsystems

• MultiplemanagementsystemsfordistributedLinux,WindowsandNetWareservers

• Incompleteinformationforequipmentcounts,statusandownership

Thislistofchallengesisdaunting,butIThasstartedtoregaintheupperhandinthebattleagainstcostly,inflexibleanddisorderlyinfrastructure.Asafirststep,ITorganizationshavegenerallycentralizedtheirITinfrastructureintofewerlocationsforbettervisibility.Asasecondstep,theyareadoptinganewgenerationofinfrastructuretechnologiesandmethodologies.

ThecommonvisionofITorganizationstodayistoprovidetheirbusinessunitswithlowercost,higherservice-levelinfrastructurethatenablesthemtorespondfastertobusinessunitdemands.Forexample,mostenterprisesarealreadymigratingtostorageareanetworking(SAN)foraflexible,lowercost,higherservicelevelstorageinfrastructure.Currently,thousandsofenterprisesareadoptingservervirtualizationtechnologiesthatprovidethesamebenefitsfortherestoftheITinfrastructure.Thissynergisticcombinationofstorage,networkingandcomputingvirtualizationhascreatedanewcategoryofinfrastructuresoftwarecalledvirtualinfrastructure.

6


3. vMware virtual infrastructure introductionVirtualinfrastructureprovidesalayerofabstractionbetweenthecomputing,storageandnetworkinghardware,andthesoftwarethatrunsonit.Virtualinfrastructureintroducesanewcategoryofinfrastructurecapabilitiestothedatacenter.Withvirtualinfrastructure,ITorganizationscanprovisionnewservicesandchangetheamountofresourcesdedicatedtoasoftwareservicesimplybyinteractingwithamanagementconsole.Hardwaremanagementiscompletelyseparatedfromsoftwaremanagement,andhardwarecanbetreatedasasinglepoolofprocessing,storageandnetworkingpower—whichcanbeallocatedorreallocatedtovarioussoftwareservicesonthefly.

VMwareisapioneerofvirtualinfrastructurebasedonvirtualmachinetechnology.Thistechnologywasoriginallydevelopedformainframestoallowmultipleoperatingsystemstoshareasinglepieceofhardware.VMwarepioneeredvirtualmachinesonthex86platform,andhasspentmorethansevenyearsenhancingtheircapabilitiesforgeneralenterpriseuse.TheVMwarevirtualhardwareplatformimplementedbyVMwarevirtualmachinesmakesvirtualinfrastructurepossible.Itprovidesastandardizedhardwareimage—implementedentirelyinsoftware—onwhichoperatingsystemsandapplicationscanrun.WhethertheunderlyinghardwareisaSAN-attached8-waysystemwithgigabitEthernetcardsorabladeserverwithlocaldiskssharinganetworkswitch,theexactsamevirtualhardwareplatformispresentedtotheoperatingsystemanditsapplications.

7


the vMware virtual Hardware Platform Bycreatingauniformvirtualhardwareplatformacrosstheentiredatacenter,virtualinfrastructureallowssoftwaretobeinstalledonormovedfromonephysicalsystemtoanotherwithoutrequiringreconfigurationoftheoperatingsystemorapplications.WithgroundbreakingVMwareVMotiontechnology,thismoveistransparenttotheuseranddoesnotcauseaninterruptioninuserservice.Adoptingvirtualinfrastructureresultsin:

• 60-80%utilizationratesforx86-basedservers—upfromtoday’stypical5–15%

• Just-in-timeprovisioningofadditionalresourcestoapplications

• Provisioningtimesfornewapplicationsmeasuredinseconds,notdays

• Responsetimesforchangerequestsmeasuredinminutes

• Zero-downtimehardwaremaintenancewithoutwaitingformaintenancewindows

• Unifiedserverprovisioning,monitoringandresourceallocationacrossmultiplegenerationsofWindows,LinuxandNetWareservers

• Guaranteedbuildconsistencyacrosssystems

• Highersuccessratesforpatchroll-outs

• Completeinformationforequipmentcounts,statusandownership

getting ready for Next-generation Computing Fororganizationsthatwanttoevolvetheirinfrastructuretowardnext-generationcomputing,thefirststepistheimplementationofavirtualinfrastructure.Fortheseorganizations,VMwareoffersacomprehensiveopenWebservicesAPIforitsimplementationofvirtualinfrastructurethateasilyplugsintoothervendor’sautomationandpolicymanagementframeworks.Asenterprisesselectvendorsforhigher-levelcapabilitiessuchasservicelevelmanagementorchargeback,VMwarevirtualinfrastructurecanbeeasilyintegrated.

8


4. vMware virtual infrastructure ProductsESXServerandVirtualCenterarepartofafamilyofVMwarevirtualinfrastructureproducts.TheVMwareplatformincludes:

• VMwareACE—AnenterprisesolutionforITdesktopmanagerswhowanttoprovisionandmanagesecure,standardizedPCenvironmentsthroughouttheextendedenterprise.

• VMwareWorkstation—Powerfuldesktopvirtualizationsoftwareforsoftwaredevelopers/testersandITprofessionalswhowanttostreamlinesoftwaredevelopment,testinganddeploymentintheirenterprise.VMwareWorkstationallowsuserstorunmultiplex86-basedoperatingsystems,includingWindows,Linux,andNetWare,andtheirapplicationssimultaneouslyonasinglePCinfullynetworked,portablevirtualmachines—noharddrivepartitioningorrebootingrequired.

• VMwareGSXServer—Enterprise-classvirtualinfrastructuresoftwareforx86-basedserversthatrunshostedonWindowsandLinuxx86servers.GSXServerutilizeshostoperatingsystemnativedriversupporttomakeVMwareGSXServerthemostflexibleservervirtualizationproductavailable.

• VMwareESXServer—Datacenter-classvirtualinfrastructuresoftwarethatrunsnativelyonthehardwaretopartition,consolidateandmanagesystemsinmission-criticalenvironments.ESXServerprovidesitsowndriversupportandadvancedresourcemanagementforthehighestpossibleperformanceoncertifiedhardware.

o VMwareVirtualSMP™—Anadd-onmoduletoVMwareESXServerthatmakesitpossibleforasinglevirtualmachinetospanmultiplephysicalprocessors.VMwareVirtualSMPisidealforscalingyourvirtualinfrastructuretohandlethemostresource-intensiveapplications.OnlyVMwarepro-videssymmetricmultiprocessingfunctionalityforx86-basedvirtualmachines.

• VMwareVirtualCenter—VirtualinfrastructuremanagementsoftwarethatprovidesacentralandsecurepointofcontrolforyourGSXServerandESXServervirtualcomputingresources.VirtualCentercreatesamoreresponsivedatacenter,whichenablesfasterreconfigurationandreallocationofapplicationsandservices.Itallowsinstantprovisioningofservers.User-downtimeisdecreased.Thedatacenterbecomesoptimized.

o VMwareVMotion™—Anadd-onmoduletoVMwareVirtualCenterthatmakesitpossibletomigratearunningESXServervirtualmachinetoadifferentphysicalserverconnectedtothesamestorageareanetwork(SAN)withoutserviceinterruption.VMotionenablescontinuousworkloadbalancingandzerodowntimemaintenance.

• VMwareP2VAssistant—Anenterprise-classmigrationtoolthattransformsanimageofanexistingWindowsphysicalsystemintoaVMwarevirtualmachinetoenablefastandreliablephysicaltovirtualmachinemigration.

• VMTNSubscription—VMwareTechnologyNetwork(VMTN)SubscriptionisaservicefordevelopersandtestersthatprovidesapowerfulsuiteofVMwareproducts,supportandupgradesaswellaspre-builtvirtualmachinesfordevelopmentandtestinginaconvenient,low-costannualsubscription.

9


“Once we introduced VMware ESX Server, it caught on faster than I could have imagined. Even more amazing than the product’s efficiency was the way it reduced our costs. VMware probably saved us several hundred thousand dollars this year on hard-ware purchases alone. As QUALCOMM grows, we antici-pate even greater savings.”

—Paul Poppleton, IT Manager, QUALCOMM

virtual infrastructure NodesTheprimarybuildingblocksrequiredtobuildavirtualinfrastructuresolutionincludeoneormoreVirtualInfrastructureNodes(VINs)andVMwareVirtualCenter.VirtualInfrastructureNodesbundlethemostpopularVMwareplatformcomponentstosimplifyorderingandprovideadiscountovertheindividuallypricedcomponents.TheavailableVINoptionsincludetheGSXServerVIN(whichincludesVMwareGSXServerandVirtualCenterAgent)andtheESXServerVIN(whichincludesESXServer,VirtualCenterAgent,VMotionandVirtualSMP).ITmanagerscanselecteitherGSXServerorESXServerVINs,oruseacombinationofboth,basedontheiruniquevirtualinfrastructurerequirements.

10


5. vMware virtual infrastructure Business solutionsBusiness Use Benefits

Implement Server Consolidation Consolidatebranchofficeanddatacentermission-criticalapplicationsandinfrastructureservicesontofewerhighlyscalable,highlyreliableenterprise-classservers.

ReducedTCOacrossthecomputinginfrastructure

Built-inheadroomforexpansionandscaling

Maximumhardwareutilization

Simplifiedsystemmanagement

Lower IT Costs and Improve Flexibility and Responsiveness UseVirtualCentertodeployandmanageESXServerVirtualInfrastructureNodesandmanageyourhardwareresourcesasasinglepoolofcomputer,storageandnetworkingpower.

Improveutilizationratesupto60-80%forx86servers

Provisioningtimesfornewapplicationsmeasuredintensofseconds,notdays

Responsetimesforchangerequestsmeasuredinminutes

Zero-downtimehardwaremaintenancewithoutwaitingformaintenancewindows

Deliver High Availability and Guarantee Service Levels

Protectcriticaldatainsecurevirtualmachinesandisolatemultipleserversthatruntogetheratnear-nativeperformancelevelsonstandardx86-basedhardware.

Protectionagainstnon-hardwareerrorsandsinglepointoffailureforhigheravailability

Runresource-intensiveSMPapplicationssuchasOracle,SQLServer,MicrosoftExchangeserver,SAP,Siebel,LotusNotes,BEAWebLogicandApache

MorecontroloverITperformancemetrics

RunITasanenterpriseserviceprovider,deliveringbetterservicelevelstocustomers

Dramatically Improve and Lower the Cost of Disaster Recovery Capability

Createaunifieddisasterrecoveryplatformthatincreasesavailability,reducesrecoverytimeandlowershardwareandoperationalcosts.

StreamlineDisasterRecoverymanagement

Eliminatetheneedforcostly1-to-1mappingofproductionandDisasterRecoveryservers

Recovervirtualmachineimagesonanyx86hardwareplatform

11


6. EsX server overviewVMwareESXServerisvirtualinfrastructuresoftwareforpartitioning,consolidatingandmanagingsystemsasvirtualmachinesinmission-criticalenvironments.ESXServerVirtualInfrastructureNodestransformphysicalsystemsintoapooloflogicalcomputingresources,whereoperatingsystemsandapplicationsarefullyisolatedwithinthemultiplevirtualmachinesthatresideonphysicalservers.Systemresourcesaredynamicallyallocatedtovirtualmachinesbasedonneedandservicelevelguarantees,providingmainframe-classcapacityutilizationandcontrolofserverresources.

ESXServerrunsdirectlyonthesystemhardwaretoprovideasecure,uniformplatformfordeploying,managing,andremotelycontrollingmultiplevirtualmachines.ESXServervirtualizationhasthreekeyfeaturestoenableadynamicandflexibledatacenter:partitioning,isolationandencapsulation.

PartitioningESXServerusesauniquebare-metal(orhypervisor)architecturethatinsertsasmallandhighlyrobustvirtualizationlayerbetweenthex86serverhardwareandthevirtualmachines.ThisapproachgivesESXServercompletecontrolovertheserverresourcesallocatedtoeachvirtualmachineanditavoidstheperformanceoverhead,availabilityconcernsandcostsofservervirtualizationarchitecturesbuiltonahostoperatingsystem.

Thisvirtualizationlayerperformsallthenecessarytranslationstomaskthephysicalhardwareresourcesfromtheguestoperatingsystem.Theguestoperatingsystemseesaconsistentsetofvirtualhardware,regardlessofwhattypeofphysicalhardwaretheservercontains.Thismeans,forexample,thatregardlessofthespecificnetworkcontrollerthephysicalserverisusing,theguestoperatingsystemwillseeonlythenetworkcontrollerdefinedbythestandardizedvirtualhardwaresetinESXServer.

Becauseapplicationsinteractonlywiththeassociatedguestoperatingsystemandnotwiththeunderlyingvirtualhardware,onceoperatingsystemcompatibilitywiththevirtualhardwareisestablished,applicationcompatibilityisnotanissue.Thishardwareindependenceenhancesreliabilityduetothesmallnumberofdevicedriversrequiredforthevirtualhardwareand,thus,foreachvirtualmachineoperatingsystem.Multipleoperatingsystemscanberuninvirtualmachinesononephysicalmachinetofullyutilizeserverresources,andtheycanallshareanyhighavailabilityfeaturesoftheserver.

12


isolationThevirtualizationlayeralsoprovidestheabilitytocompletelyisolateonevirtualmachinefromanotheratthehardwarelevel.Eachvirtualmachineincludesacompletelyseparateoperatingsystem,registry,applicationsanddatafiles.Becauseeachoperatingsystemisisolated,oneoperatingsystemcannotcommunicatewithorleakdatatoanyotheroperatingsystem,otherthanthroughnetworkingmechanismssimilartothoseusedtoconnectseparatephysicalmachines.Errorsoruseractionsthatinterferewiththeoperationoftheoperatingsystemandapplicationsrunninginonevirtualmachinehavenoeffectonthecontinuingoperationofothervirtualmachinesonthesameserver.

Thisisolationexistsatthehardwarelayeraseachvirtualmachineandtheconsolearegiventime-slicesoftheprocessorandthusneverconcurrentlyshareakerneloranyprocesses.Inarealenvironment,whatthismeansisthatapplicationsinonevirtualmachinecanencountervirusesorbluescreentheiroperatingsystem,andthereisnoeffectonanyothervirtualmachine.Multipleoff-the-shelfoperatingsystemscanberunsidebysidewhilestillprovidingapplicationownerswithfullprotectionfromthestabilityandperformanceproblemsofotherapplicationsduringserverconsolidation.

EncapsulationVMwareencapsulatestheentirestateofavirtualmachineincludingthememory,diskimages,andI/Odevicestateintoasfewastwofiles.Thetwofilesincludeashorttextfiledefiningtheconfigurationofthevirtualmachineandavirtualdiskfilethatcontainsitsdata.Thus,thevirtualmachinecanbecopied,saved,andmovedlikeafile.

Youcanmoveentirevirtualmachinesamongdevelopment,testing,andproductionenvironmentssimplybymovingthevirtualmachinestatefilefromonephysicalsystemtoanother.Thisallowsyoutodeployandredeployvirtualmachineseasilyandflexiblyevenacrossserversthatvarysignificantlyintheirhardwareconfiguration

.

13


OthernotablefeaturesofESXServerinclude:

Bare-Metal Hypervisor architectureAsVMware’sflagshipvirtualinfrastructureplatformfordatacenterenvironments,ESXServeremploysauniquebare-metalhypervisorarchitecturetoprovidethebestpossibleperformanceandscalabilityforserverapplicationsrunninginvirtualmachines.TheESXServervirtualizationlayer,orVMkernel,isathinsoftwarelayerofonlyabout200,000linesofcodeentirelydedicatedtomanagingtheexecutionofvirtualmachines.Unlikevirtualizationproductsthatrequireahostoperatingsystemcomprisingtensofmillionsoflinesofcode,ESXServerprovidesmuchlessexposuretosecurityvulnerabilitiesandmuchhigherreliability.Thebare-metalarchitecturegivesESXServercompletecontrolofthehosthardware,makingitpossibletoprovidefine-grainedresourceallocationstoeachvirtualmachine.ESXServeremploysaLinux-basedServiceConsoleformanagementaccess,butallvirtualmachineexecutionishandledbythecustom-writtenVMkernel.

runs unmodified, off-the-shelf softwareBecauseESXServervirtualmachinesimplementacompletex86platform,theysupportstandardguestoperatingsystemsandapplications.Nosoftwaremodificationsorspecialprocessorhardwaresupportisrequiredasisthecasewith“paravirtualization”products.Thisisespeciallyimportantwhenusingvirtualmachinesinsoftwaredevelopmentandtesting,wherethevirtualplatformmustexactlyreplicateaphysicalplatform.

Broad server supportESXServerhasbeentestedandfullysupportsmostcommonx86serverandbladesystemsfromtheleadinghardwarevendorssuchasDell,HP,IBM,FujitsuSiemens,NEC,Sun,Bull,UnisysandIntel.ESXServercansupportlargehostsystems(upto64GBofhostmemory,256TBofstorage,16hostprocessors,and80powered-onvirtualmachines)forscalability,extensibility,androbustness.Additionally,ESXServerisqualifiedwithsystemsmanagementapplicationsincludingHPInsightManager,DellOpenManageandIBMDirector.

virtual sMPESXServersupportsSymmetricMultiprocessing(SMP)virtualmachines,withsingleordualvirtualCPUs.VMwareVirtualSMPisanadd-onmoduleincludedintheVINbundlethatmakesitpossibleforasinglevirtualmachinetospanmultiplephysicalprocessors.VMwareVirtualSMPallowsmultipleprocessorstoworkinparallelwhileusingonlyasingleguestoperatingsystemimage,makingitsuitableforeventhemostresource-intensiveapplications.

14


EsX server Multiplies the Benefits of saNs & High availability HardwareByvirtualizingaccesstohardware,ESXServermultipliesthebenefitsofusinghighavailabilityhardwareasallvirtualmachinescantakeadvantageofhighavailabilityfeatures:

• CPU—A4-wayservercanhost20-30virtualmachineswithanysubsetofthembeingabletodynamicallyscaleupasneededwithintheirallocationsandusealargershareoftheprocessingpool.

• Memory—Usingmemoryover-commitment,aserverwith6GBofphysicalmemorycanactlikeaserverwith12GBofvirtualmemory.ESXServerwilldynamicallymanagethememoryandforcevirtualmachinestopagememorybasedontheirownprioritiesonceallthephysicalmemoryisinuse.ESXServeralsoemploysafeaturecalledtransparentpagesharingtoconservememorybyidentifyingmemorypagesthatareidenticalacrossmultipleVMs(suchasmultipleVMswiththesameoperatingsystemrunning)andstoringthemonlyonce.

• Storage—TwopairedHostBusAdapters(HBAs)cansupport,forexample,32virtualdisksonaSANinafaulttolerantmanner.ESXServermaximizesstorageareanetwork(SAN)availabilitybyprovidingmulti-pathingorautomaticpathfailoverincaseofHBA,switch,orstoragecontrollerfailure.ItincreasesscalabilityandeasesmanagementbyallowingsystemadministratorstodirecttrafficfromspecificHBAstoindividuallogicalunits(LUNs)anddiscovernewLUNsanddeviceswhilevirtualmachinesarerunning.

• Network—ESXServersupportsNICteamingtoincreasenetworkreliabilityandperformancewhilesimplifyingnetworktopologies.NICteamingenablesadministratorstogrouptwothroughtenphysicalnetworkinterfacecontrollers(NICs)intoonesinglevirtualnetworkdevicethatcanappearasadedicatedvirtualNICtoeachof32separatevirtualmachines.BybindingallthesephysicalNICstogether,customerscanimprovenetworkavailabilitybycreatingredundancyinthecaseofNICfailureandincreaseperformancebydynamicallyload-balancingtrafficbetweenallavailablephysicalNICs.ESXServeralsosupportsVirtualLANtaggingtoenablethecreationofmultiplelogicalLANswithinoracrossphysicalnetworksegments.

vMFs File systemESXServerincludesaVMFSfilesystemthatprovidesoptimizedI/Operformanceforvirtualdiskfiles,highavailabilityfeaturesandsupportforlargestorageconfigurations.WiththeVMFSfilesystem,userscandynamicallygrowthesizeofafilesystemwhileESXServerisrunning,accessthesamefilesystemfrommultipleESXServerhostssimultaneously,reconfigurestoragewithoutpoweringoffmachines,andsupportfilesizesupto64TB.

Fine grained resource Controls and Workload ManagementESXServerallowsuserstograntspecificallocationsforCPU,disk,memory,andnetworkbandwidthforeachvirtualmachineanddynamicallychangetheseresourceallocationsonthefly.Forexample,anadministratorcancreateavirtualmachinewithaminimumCPUpercentageof30%andamaximumCPUpercentageof80%,andthisvirtualmachinewillalwayshaveatleast30%,andnevermorethan80%,ofaphysicalCPU’sresources.

AdditionalwhitepapersandinformationontheseESXfeaturesandtheirusageareavailableontheVMwareWebsiteathttp://www.vmware.com/support/resources/esx_resources.html.

15


7. virtualCenter overviewEnterprisesthatdeployhundredsofvirtualmachinesshouldtakeadvantageofVirtualCenter,thesecureandcentralizedmanagementproductthathelpsadministratorsmanageESXServerandGSXServerdeployments.VirtualCenteristhecenterpieceofthevirtualinfrastructure,enablingITstafftoeasilymanageworkloadsacrossmultiplesystemswithoutrequiringamajorinvestmentinadditionalresourcesortraining.WithVirtualCenter,anadministratorcanmanagehundredsofMicrosoftWindowsNT®,Windows2000,WindowsServer2003,WindowsXP,LinuxandNetWareserversfromasinglepointofcontrol,givingITmanagerscompletecontrolovertheirlarge-scalevirtualinfrastructure.Serverscanbeinstantlyprovisionedandquicklyconfiguredtosupportapplicationsandservices,souser-downtimeisdecreased.VirtualCenteruniquelyleveragesvirtualcomputing,storage,andnetworkingtoimproveenterpriseresourcemanagementandreducecosts.

VirtualCenterprovides:

Centralized ManagementVirtualCenterprovidesaWindows-basedmanagementclientthatisdesignedtofacilitatethemanagementofthousandsofvirtualmachinesfromasinglelocation.TheVirtualCentermanagementsystemincludesallthefeaturesexpectedfromamodernmanagementenvironment:performancemonitoring,alerts,remoteaccess,taskscheduling,reporting,androbustaccesscontrol.

MonitoringAdministratorscanmonitorsystemavailabilityandperformanceinrealtime:viewinghostserverandvirtualmachinepowerstate,systemstatusandcurrentCPU,andmemoryutilization.VirtualCenterallowsyoutotrackperformanceutilizationforhostserversorbreakitdownbyindividualvirtualmachine.Pre-configuredgraphsdisplaythecurrentCPUusage,memoryusage,diskI/O,andnetworkI/O.Viewsofhistoricalperformancedatacanbecustomizedbytheadministratortoquicklyidentifypossibleperformanceissuesandidentifythebesthostsfornewvirtualmachines.

16


alert NotificationVirtualCenterincludesanalertnotificationsystemthatallowsadministratorstocreatecustomalarmsbasedontriggersthatarerelevanttotheirbusinessandITneeds.Thresholdandeventalertscanbeconfiguredforalargenumberofeventswithinthevirtualinfrastructure,includingserverfailuresandover-andunder-utilizationevents.Bydefault,VirtualCenterhaspredefinedalarmsforCPUusage,memoryusage,andheartbeatofallhostserversandvirtualmachines.UserscansetspecificthresholdstotriggeralarmsandinformVirtualCentertotakeaction.Atriggeredalarmcanresultinanalertnotificationsenttosystemadministratorsviaemailand/orpageroranactionbeingperformedsuchasrunningascripttoshutdown,suspend,ormigrateavirtualmachine.

remote accessVirtualCenterincludesafullyintegratedRemoteConsole,providingkeyboardvideomouse(KVM)accesstorunningsystems.Thisfeatureallowsadministratorstoaccessthedesktopoftheirvirtualmachinesandadministertheirapplicationsremotelyoveranetwork.Withouteversteppingfootintothedatacenter,anadministratorcanmanageanentirevirtualinfrastructureusingtheVirtualCenterclient,deployingnewsystemsandmigratingrunningsystemsbetweenphysicalservers.

automationUsingthetaskschedulingmechanismofVirtualCenter,severaladministrativetasks,includingtheprovisioningofnewsystems,canbefullyautomated.Thewizard-basedtaskschedulerallowsyoutoscheduledeploymentsofnewvirtualmachines,changethepowerstateofvirtualmachines,andschedulemigrationofvirtualmachines.

Administratorscanusethetaskschedulertopowerdownavirtualmachineorsetofvirtualmachinestoperformnightlyorweeklybackups.Forexample,anadministratorcreatesanewtasktosuspendaparticularvirtualmachine,onaweeklybasis,inordertoperformafullsystembackup.Theadministratorcanthencreateanothertasktoresumethatvirtualmachineafterthebackupiscomplete.Automatingthesetasksallowsthebackuporcopyofthevirtualmachinetorununattended.

securityVirtualCenterincorporatesarobustaccesscontrolframeworksoITstaffcanbegrantedappropriateaccessrightstomanagetheinfrastructure.Thisallowsadministratorstocontrolwhichapplicationsanddatauserscanaccess.VirtualCenterintegrateswithWindowsActiveDirectoryauthenticationenablingITorganizationstouseexistingloginsandusergroupswithnoneedtocreateanadditionalauthenticationstructure.

software developer’s KitTheVMwareVirtualInfrastructureSDKprovidesarichWebservicesAPIintegrationcapabilityenablingroutineeventstobeautomatedortriggeredbyexternalsystems.TheVMwareSDKenablesintegrationwithexistingmanagementandmonitoringsolutions.SeveralserverandsoftwarevendorshavealreadyintegratedtheirproductswithVMwarevirtualinfrastructureusingtheVMwareSDK.

17


vMotion technologyVMotiontechnologyletsyoumovelive,runningvirtualmachinesfromonehosttoanotherwhilemaintainingcontinuousserviceavailability.VMotiontransferstheentiresystemandmemorystateofarunningvirtualmachinefromoneESXServertoanother.VMotionallowsfastreconfigurationandoptimizationofresourcesacrossthevirtualinfrastructurebecauseyoucanmakechangeson-the-flywithoutimpactingusers.VMotionenableszero-downtimemaintenanceandcontinuousworkloadconsolidationforESXServerhosts.

instant Provisioning of New serversInstantprovisioningenablesadministratorstocreateanddeployanewserverinminutes,completewithanoperatingsystemandapplications.It’sdifferentthanmostprovisioningsolutionsbecauseit’smuchfasterandtakesadvantageoftheuniformityofvirtualhardware.VirtualCentercanalsohelpstreamlineserverprovisioningbymaintainingarepositoryofhardwareindependentvirtualmachinetemplates,anditincludesawizard-basedsystemtodeploytheseasnewservers.Virtualmachinetemplatesareaquickandconsistentmethodforaddingnewapplicationstoyourvirtualcomputinginfrastructure.

BenefitsofInstantProvisioning:

• Respondfastertochangingbusinessneeds

• Reduceserver-provisioningtimefromweekstominutes,allowingadministratorstorespondimmediatelytorequestsforITservices

• Automateandstandardizeserverdeploymentsandprovisioningfordisasterrecovery

• Usetemplatestoensureconsistencywithcurrentbuildandsecuritypolicies

• Rapidlydeploynewserverstomeetdemand,quicklyrecoverfromasystemcrashornaturaldisaster

• FullyleverageSANstorage,move/copysystemsbetweenLUNsand/orstorageservers

• Reduceoperationcostsassociatedwithserverprovisioning

AdditionalwhitepapersandinformationontheseVirtualCenterfeaturesandtheirusageareavailableontheVMwareWebsiteathttp://www.vmware.com/support/resources/vc_resources.html.

18


8. Example Customer implementationsProduction server ConsolidationContainserversprawlbyconsolidatingserversintovirtualmachineshostedonfewerbutmorepowerfulphysicalsystems.

Summary MoreInformation

ESXServerhelpsAIGTechnologiesreduceserverprovisioningtimeby50%anddelivers20:1reductioninthenumberofservers

www.vmware.com/cus-tomers/stories/aig.html

7-Eleven’sCPUutilizationaverages50-70%onitsVMwareservers,comparedto6-8%onmostotherservers

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/ 7-Eleven.html

LeadingcellularcompanyinIsrael,Cellcom,embracesvirtualizationtechnol-ogytomeetgoalsforbusinessgrowthandprovidesuperiorcustomerservice

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/cellcom.html

Byenablinga30:1reductioninthenumberofservers,VMwareESXServerhelpsQUALCOMMsavesixfiguresonhardware-whilefreeingdatacenterspacetosupportthecompany’srapidexpansion

www.vmware.com/ customers/stories/ qualcomm.html

software development optimizationVirtualizecompletetestanddevelopmentenvironmentsandsavethemasfiles.


AbacusInternational

VMwareESXServer,GSXServer,VirtualCenterandWorkstationachievea19:1serverconsolidation,acceleratelegacyapplicationmigrationsandenhanceproductivitywithautomatedtestinganddevelopmentprocesses

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/abacus.html

BaptistHealthcareSystemusesthefulllineofVMwareproductsforcostsavings,easeofmanagementandhighperformance

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/bhs.html

VMwarehelpsGoogledevelopinnova-tivesearchWebsitetechnologies

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/google.html

19


Business ContinuityImprovebusinesscontinuitybytakingadvantageofvirtualinfrastructurehardwareindepen-denceandapplicationportability


BB&KusesESXServertoautomateprocessesandsimplifycorebusinessobjectives

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/bbk.html

Award-winninghospitalusesVMwareESXServertooptimizecomputingforhospitalstaffsotheycandeliverthebesthealthcareandservices

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/clark_memorial.html

SubaruofIndianaAutomotivecutsdowntime40%withVMwareVirtualInfrastructure

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/subaru.html

VMwareESXServerprotectsagainstvulnerabilitiesofphysicalserverswhilereducingcostsandenhancingcompetitiveadvantage

http://www.vmware.com/customers/stories/neverfail.html

20


9. Evaluation Planning and Environment setup9.1 Planning Worksheet

Technical Configuration ChecklistBelowaretasksandremindersthatshouldbecompletedbeforesoftwareinstallation.

ServersystemissupportedbyESXServer?-SeeESXServerSystemCompatibilityGuide

ServersystemcontainsVMwareHardwareCompliantI/OAdapters?-SeetheI/OAdapterCompatibilityGuide

Serverhasatleasttwo(preferably3forVMotion)LAN-connectedapprovedNICs?-SeetheI/OAdapterCompatibilityGuide

ServerhasasupportedSANandHBAconfigurationifevaluatingusewithaSANandVMotion?SeetheSANCompatibilityGuide

ServersystemandI/OcomponentsareatlatestBIOS/Firmware?

Serverhasamplememoryfortestingrequirements?-(2GBminimum,preferably3GB+)

ServercontainsamplelocalstoragespaceforServiceConsoleandrecommendedpartitions?(9GBminimum,36GB+recommended)

ALANconnectedworkstation/serverfortheVirtualCenterManagementServerisavailablethatcangettoESXServersubnetforconfiguration?

UserhasamplefixedIPaddressesforconsole,VMNIC(s),andguestVMs?(VMwaredoessupportDHCP,butstaticaddressesaregenerallysimplertomanage)

UseralreadyhasVMwareinstallmedia?(MediaKitCDordownloadfromevaluationsite)

UseralreadyhasVMwarelicenseinformation?(Sentviaemailfollowingevaluationrequest)

Userhasallnecessaryoperatingsysteminstallationmedia,licensekeysandservicepackstosupportoperatingsysteminstallationsonvirtualmachines?(Forexample,Windows2003ServerwithServicePacks)

System Configuration InformationPleaseenterintheinformationfortheESXServersystemsthatwillbeused.

Manufacturer:CircleDell,HP,IBM,FujitsuSiemens,NEC,Sun,Bull,UnisysorIntel

Product________________________Model__________________________

NumberofProcessors_______Speed______GHz

DualCoreand/orHTenabled?________________

AmountofMemory_______GB

21


Local Disk StorageDiskVendor__________________

Make______________________Model____________________

LocalStorage_______GB,RAIDType_______

SAN FC HBAs (if used)QLogicModel______________________________

EmulexModel______________________________

OtherHBA_________________________________

SAN Disk Storage (if used)SANStorage_______GB,RAIDType_______

AnticipatedVMFSLUN_____________________

SANSwitchVendor___________________________

Make______________________Model____________________

Network InterfacesVMwareofficiallysupportsIntelandBroadcomnetworkcards

NIC#1—Vendor____________Model___________Speed_______________



ESXServerHostname_____________________IPAddress______________________

VirtualCenterManagementServerHostname_____________________IPAddress__________________

Netmask________________________

Gateway________________________

DNSServer(Primary)__________________

DNSServer(Secondary)__________________

User AccountsESXServerUserID_root____________Password___________________FullName_________________

ESXServerUserID_esxuser_________Password___________________FullName_________________

VirtualCenterUserID_vcuser________Password___________________FullName_________________

VMware Evaluation Serial NumbersESXServer1 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

ESXServer2 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

VirtualSMP1 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

VirtualSMP2 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

VMotion1 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

VMotion2 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

VirtualCenterAgent1 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

VirtualCenterAgent2 SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

VirtualCenterMgmtServer SerialNumber_______-_______-_______-_______

22


Operating Systems and ApplicationsPleasemarkalloperatingsystemsandservicepacksthatwillbetested:

Microsoft___WindowsServer2003EnterpriseEdition(baseorServicePack1)

___WindowsServer2003StandardEdition(baseorServicePack1)

___WindowsServer2003WebEdition(baseorServicePack1)

___WindowsServer2003SmallBusinessServerEdition(baseorServicePack1)

___WindowsXPProfessional(ServicePack1or2)

___Windows2000Server(ServicePack3or4)

___Windows2000AdvancedServer(ServicePack3or4)

___WindowsNT4.0Server(ServicePack6a)

Linux___RedHatLinux7.2,7.3,8.0and9.0

___RedHatEnterpriseLinux(AS)2.1(Update5)

___RedHatEnterpriseLinux(AS)3.0(Update3)

___SUSELinux8.2,9.0,9.1,9.2and9.3

___SUSELinuxEnterpriseServer(SLES)8and9

Novell___NovellOpenEnterpriseServer(ServicePack2)

___NovellNetWare6.5(ServicePack2)

___NovellNetWare6.0(SupportPack5)

___NovellNetWare5.1(SupportPack7)

FreeBSD___FreeBSD4.10

Other_________________________________

23


Applications to be TestedBelowisalistofapplicationsthatVMwarecustomerscommonlydeploywithinvirtualmachines.Markallapplicationstobetestedandaddanyadditionalapplicationsthatyourorganizationmayconsiderevaluat-ingforconsolidationontovirtualinfrastructure.

Software Categories Software Products

Web Services MicrosoftIIS,Netscape,Apache,AllaireColdfusion

Application Servers BEAWebLogic,IBMWebSphere,.ASP

Enterprise Messaging MicrosoftExchange,LotusNotes,Groupwise,Sendmail,OtherPOP&IMAPservices

Database Oracle,MicrosoftSQLServer,IBMDB2

File and Print Services Microsoft,Novell,Samba/CIFS,NFS

Remote Session Access CitrixMetaFrame,WindowsTerminalServices

Enterprise Applications SAP,Siebel,Peoplesoft,J.D.Edwards,MicrosoftGreatPlains,OracleApplications

Business Integration MicrosoftBizTalk,IBMMQSeries

Helpdesk Applications Remedy

System Management HPOpenview,Tivoli,MSSystemsManagementServer,VMwareVirtualCenter

Backup Services VeritasBackupExec,VeritasNetBackup,TivoliStorageManager,CAArcServe,CommVaultGalaxy,LegatoNetworker,HPDataProtector

Network Services WindowsNT/2000DomainControllers,MSActiveDirectory,SunOneDirectoryServer,LDAP,WINS,DHCP,DNS

Firewall / Proxy Services Squid,NetscapeProxyServer,MicrosoftISA

Custom Developed & Legacy Applications

CustomNTandLinuxapplications

Development and Quality Assurance

RationalTestSuite,MicrosoftVisualStudio,IBMVisualAge,MercuryInteractive

24


9.2 overview of the Evaluation deployment ThediagrambelowshowsanoverviewofastandardVirtualCenterinfrastructuredeploymentwithaVirtualCenterServerconnectingtomultipleVirtualCenterClientsandmultipleVirtualInfrastructureNodes(VINs).TheVINscanuselocalSCSIstorageforvirtualmachinesorpreferablyastorageareanetworktobeabletoutilizeVMotiontechnologyandincreaseflexibilityandbusinesscontinuity

ThenextdiagramshowsasimplifiedviewofavirtualinfrastructuredeploymentforthisevaluationwheretheVirtualCenterClientandManagementServerandDatabaseareallinstalledonthesamecomputertominimizehardwarerequirementsandtheESXVirtualInfrastructureNode(VIN)isusinglocalSCSIstorageforboththeESXServerinstallationandforvirtualmachinestorage.Optionalactivitiesinchapters15and16ofthisevaluationguideincludeusingasharedSANtostorevirtualmachinesformultipleESXServerlicenses.ThisconfigurationenablesVMotionmigrationsofrunningvirtualmachinesacrossESXServerhosts.

Note: IfanextrasystemforVirtualCenterisnotavailable,itispossibletoinstalltheVirtualCenterServerintoavirtualmachineononeoftheinstancesofESXServeritwillmanage.Inproductiondeployments,VMwarerecommendsthattheVirtualCenterManagementServeranddatabasecomponentsbeinstalledonmultipleserversand/orinseparatevirtualmachines.

25


9.3 typical Evaluation timelineThissectionoutlinesatestplanforevaluatinganESXServerVirtualInfrastructureNodemanagedbyVirtualCenter.ThistimelinehighlightsthecommontaskswhensettingupanESXServerandVirtualCenter,creatingvirtualmachinesandmanagingtheESXServerandthevirtualmachinesfromVirtualCenter.Youmaychoosetomodifythissectionwhereappropriatetofitwithintheirenvironment.Thislististoserveasaguidelineonly.Thetimelineassociatedwiththechecklistrepresentssuggestionsforatypical30-dayVMwareevaluationperiod.

Evaluation Planning & Environment SetupTimeline:Completepriortosoftwareinstallation

VerifythatyourhardwaremeetstherequirementsintheVMwarecompatibilityguides

ConfirmthattargetESXServerandVirtualCenterServerandclientsystemshavenetworkconnectivity

Confirmaccesstoinstallationmedia,documentation,websupportforums,etc

ESX Server & VirtualCenter Installation & OverviewTimeline:Week1:Day1

InstallESXServeronthedesignatedserver

InstallRemoteConsoleonmanagementworkstation

InstallVirtualCenterManagementServeronthedesignatedserverusingthedefaultAccessdatabase

InstallVirtualCenterManagementClientonthemanagementworkstation

Virtual Machine Functional TestingTimeline:Week1:Day2-5

Createavirtualmachine

InstallthevirtualmachineoperatingsystemusinglocalmediaoroperatingsystemISOimage

PoweronthevirtualmachineandinstallVMwareToolsinthevirtualmachine

Configureandtestbasicnetworkconnectivityofavirtualmachine

Createatemplatefromavirtualmachine

Deployandcustomizethetemplateasanewvirtualmachine

Cloneavirtualmachinetocreateanewone

Createascheduledtask

Createanalert

OptionallyconfiguretheESXServertostorevirtualmachinesonaSAN

OptionallyinstallasecondESXServer,configureandrunaVMotionMigration

Application Functional & Load TestingTimeline:Week1-4

Installtargettestapplicationsinvirtualmachine

Configureapplicationsettingsinvirtualmachinesperyourstandardprocess

Applicationfunctionaltest—Applicationstartswithouterrorsandfunctionsasitdoesonaphysicalserver

Simulateactual“realworld”loadonapplicationinthevirtualmachine

MonitorvirtualmachineperformancewithexistingperformancetoolssuchasPerfMon

Haveanendusertestcorefunctionalityofapplicationsinavirtualmachine

26


9.4 Hardware requirements for EsX serverMakesuretheserveryouintendtoinstallESXServeronmeetsthefollowingminimumrequirements:

Minimum Server Requirements VMware ESX Server

Processors 2-16Processors

CPUSpeed 1GHzPentiumIIIXeonorabove

1GHzAMDOpteronorabove

RAM 512MBminimum;2+GBrecommended(sufficientRAMforeachvirtualmachineandtheserviceconsole)

EthernetControllers 1-3EthernetAdapters

• 1EthernetAdapterisrequiredfortheServiceConsole(thisadaptercanbesharedwithvirtualmachinesbutthisisnotrecommendedforperformanceandsecurityreasons),

• 1ormoreEthernetAdaptersarerequiredforVirtualMachinestoaccessthenetworkthroughvirtualswitches,and

• 1additionaldedicatedEthernetAdapterisrequiredtosupportVMotionMigrations.VMwarerecommendsusingadedicatedGigabitconnectionforVMotionmigrationsforhighperformance.

Supportedcontrollersinclude:

• Broadcom®NetXtreme570xGigabitcontrollers

• IntelPRO/100adapters

• IntelPRO/1000adapters

ThenormalpreferredminimumnumberofEthernetAdaptersisthree—onededicatedtotheserviceconsole,one(ormore)dedicatedtothevirtualmachines,andonededicatedtoVMotion.

DiskControllers 1InternalSCSIcontrollerwithlocallyattachedSCSIHardDrive

1HostBusAdapterconnectedtoaSAN(Optional)

ThesupportedSCSIcontrollersareAdaptec®Ultra-160andUltra-320,LSILogicFusion-MPTandmostNCR/Symbios™SCSIcontrollers.Thesup-portedRAIDcontrollersareHP®SmartArray,Dell®PercRAID(AdaptecRAIDandLSIMegaRAID),IBM®(Adaptec)ServeRAID,IntelRAIDandMylexRAIDcontrollers.ThesupportedFibreChanneladaptersareEmulex™andQLogic™host-busadapters(HBAs).

ASCSIdisk,FibreChannelLUNorRAIDLUNwithunpartitionedspace.Inaminimumconfiguration,thisdiskorRAIDissharedbetweentheserviceconsoleandthevirtualmachines.

DiskSpace SufficientdiskspaceonlocalSCSIdisksorontheSANforthevirtual

machinestobedeployedonVMFSformattedpartitions.

9GBinternalminimum;36GB+recommended(4GBisrequiredforESX

Serverandserviceconsoleinstallation.Theadditionalspacecanbeused

forvirtualmachinesandtostoreguestoperatingsystemISOimages.

VirtualmachinesrunningWindows2003Servertypicallyneed4GBof

spacefortheoperatingsystemandapplications.)Notethatwhilealocal

SCSIdiskoraSANisrequiredforVMFS,additionalnon-VMFSpartitionsand

eventhemainESXServerinstallationaresupportedonIDEdisks.

27


9.5 Hardware requirements for virtualCenter Management serverMakesuretheserver,workstationorlaptopyouintendtoinstallVirtualCenterManagementServeronmeetsthefollowingminimumrequirements:

Minimum Server Requirements VMware VirtualCenter Management Server

Processors 1Processor

CPUSpeed 1GHzorfasterx86Processor

RAM 512MB,2GBpreferred

OperatingSystem WindowsXPProfessionalWindows2000ServerorAdvancedServerWindows2003Enterprise,Standard,WebEditions

EthernetControllers 110/100MbpsNIC

DiskSpace 30MBVirtualCenterinstallation(MorediskspaceisneededifthetemplateuploaddirectoryismaintainedontheVirtualCenterManagementServer)

10MBVirtualCenterdatabase

Notethatifasystemisn’tavailabletohosttheVirtualCenterServerandDatabase,theycanbeinstalledandhostedwithinavirtualmachineontheESXServer.

Requirements for Optional VMotion EvaluationFurtherdetailonVMotionRequirementsisavailableinsection16.2ofthisdocument,butyouwillessentiallyneedthefollowinghardwaretoevaluatetheVMotionmigrationofrunningvirtualmachinesbetweenESXServers:

• 2ormoreESXServerswithcompatibleprocessorstosupportvirtualmachinetransferfromonetoanother

• SharedSANforvirtualmachinestoragesothatvirtualmachinefilesdonothavetobemoved

• DedicatedGigabitEthernetNetworkbetweentheESXServerstosupporttherapidtransferofdata

9.6 Hardware requirements for remote Management WorkstationMakesuretheworkstationorlaptopyouintendtoinstallVirtualCenterManagementClientandtheRemoteConsoleonmeetsthefollowingminimumrequirements:

Minimum Server Requirements VMware VirtualCenter Management Client & Remote Console Client

CPUSpeed Standardx86-basedcomputer266MHzorfasterprocessor

RAM 64MBRAMminimum

OperatingSystem WindowsXPorXPProfessionalWindows2000Professional,ServerorAdvancedServerWindows2003Enterprise,Standard,WebEditions,andSmallBusinessWindowsNT4.0WorkstationorServer,ServicePack6aLinux(RemoteConsoleClientonly)

WebBrowser InternetExplorer6.0orhigherNetscapeNavigator®7.0Mozilla1.x

EthernetControllers 110/100MbpsNIC

DiskSpace 10MBfreediskspacerequiredforbasicinstallation

28


9.7 guest operating systems supportedThefollowingtableliststhesupportedguestoperatingsystemsinESXServer2.5.VMwareVirtualSMPcanbeusedtoconfigureguestoperatingsystemsmarkedasSMP-CapablefordualvirtualCPUconfigurations.

Guest Operating System SMP Capable?

WindowsServer2003(Enterprise,Standard,WebEditions,andSmallBusiness) Yes

WindowsXPProfessional(ServicePack1or2) No

Windows2000Server&AdvancedServer(ServicePack3or4) Yes

WindowsNT4.0Server(ServicePack6a) No

RedHatLinux7.3and8.0 No

RedHatLinux7.2and9.0 Yes

RedHatEnterpriseLinux(AS)2.1(Update5)and3.0(Update3) Yes

SUSELinux8.2,9.1and9.3 No

SUSELinux9.0and9.2 Yes

SUSELinuxEnterpriseServer(SLES)8and9.0 Yes

NovellNetWare6.5(SupportPack2)5,6.0(SupportPack5)and5.1(SupportPack7) No

FreeBSD4.10 No

9.8 download Product Binaries and Burn to Cd-roMAfteryousuccessfullysignupfortheVINevaluation,youwillreceiveanemailcontainingyourevaluationlicensekeysandinstructionsfordownloadingESXServerandVirtualCenter.Onceyouhaveaccessedanddownloadedthesoftware,burntheISOimagefilestoanESXServerCD-ROMandaVirtualCenterCD-ROMtosupporttheinstallation.

9.9 Helpful technical tips

How to Access the ESX Server Service Console RemotelyYoucanuseafreeSSHclienttoaccesstheserviceconsoleremotely.Puttyisavailablefordownloadathttp://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html.Noinstallationisrequired.Simplyruntheclient,selecttheSSHradiobutton(ratherthanthedefaulttelnet),entertheIPaddressofyourESXServeranclicktheOpenbuttontoconnect.Youcansavethisprofileforfutureaccess.

How to Transfer Files to the ESX Server using FTP UtilitiesOnceyouhaveenabledFTPAccessontheESXServer(seestep36onpage40),youcanuseafreeFTPClientsuchasWinSCP (http://winscp.net/eng/download.php)toaccessthedirectorystructureontheESXServerandcopyoverfilesasneeded.AcommonexamplewouldbetoplaceISOimagesofoperatingsysteminstallationdisksinthe/vmimagespartition.

29


How to Transfer Files to the ESX Server using a Mounted SMB ShareThesmbmountcommandcanbeusedmountaremoteSMBsharefromtheESXServerServiceConsole.FirstlogintotheServiceConsoleasrooteitherdirectlyfromtheserverorremotely.Runsmbmountusingthefollowingsyntax:

smbmount //<Target_server_name>/<share_name> /<mount_path> -o

ip=<Target_server_ip>,username=<username>,password=<password>

Youcanrunsmbclient–L<IP_address>toidentifytheserverandsharenamesavailableonatargetserver.

Shutdown the ESX Server CleanlyToshutESXServerfromtheServiceConsolecommandline,usethefollowingcommand:

shutdown –h now

Additional Troubleshooting & Performance Tuning ToolsBoththeESXServerManagementUserInterface(MUI)andVirtualCenterprovidesignificantdetailonserveractivityandresourceutilization,butseveralmoregranulartoolsarealsoavailabletosupporttroubleshootingandperformancetuning.

• esxtop—esxtopisapowerfultoolthatlistsCPUutilizationforeachphysicalprocessor,memoryutilization,anddiskandnetworkbandwidthforeachforeachdeviceavailabletotheESXServer.DocumentationonesxtopisavailableinaVMwaredocument“UsingesxtoptoTroubleshootPerformanceProblems”availableathttp://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx2_using_esxtop.pdf.

• vmkusage—Theweb-basedvmkusageutilitydisplayshistoricalgraphsthatshowphysicalserver,ESXServersystemandvirtualmachinestatistics.Bydefault,thesegraphsshowthemostrecent,dailyandweeklydata.ThevmkusageutilitygathersthestatisticsitusestogeneratedthegraphsfromtheESXServermachine’s/procnodes.DocumentationonthevmkusageutilityisavailableinaVMwaredocument“UsingvmkusagetoIsolatePerformanceProblems”availableathttp://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx2_using_vmkusage.pdf.

30


10. installing EsX serverThissectiondescribeshowtoinstallESXServeronyourserver:

1. EnsuretheservermeetstheminimumhardwarerequirementsandiscompatiblewithESXServer.

2. VerifythatanetworkcableispluggedintotheEthernetadapterthatyouareusingfortheserviceconsoleandanyEthernetadaptersthatyouwillbeusingforvirtualmachines.TheESXServerinstallerneedsthistoproperlydetectthatthemachinehasanetworkcard.AlsoverifythattheserverisconfiguredintheBIOStobootfromtheCD-ROM.

3. IfyouaregoingtobeevaluatingESXServerwiththeuseofaSAN,removeanyHBAfibercablesduringtheESXinstallandplugthembackinonceESXhasbeeninstalled.Thiswillensureyoudon’taccidentallyinstalltheESXServerServiceConsoleontheSAN.

4. PoweronthemachinewiththeVMwareESXServerCDintheCD-ROMdrive.TheESXServerbeginsitsbootprocess.TheInstallationBootScreenOptionswindowwillappearandofferalternativestothestandardgraphicalinstallation.YoucanusetheseoptionsinthefuturetosupportmoreadvancedinstallationssuchasinstallingESXServeronanIBMBladeconfigurationortobootfromaSAN.NotethatyoualsomayneedtousetheText-modeinstallerifyoursystemusesagraphicschipnotsupportedbyESXServer,orifyourkeyboardandmousedonotfunctionproperlyusingthegraphicalinstaller.

5. PressEntertobeginastandardESXServerinstallationorletthetimerautomaticallycountdowntobeginthestandardinstallation.

31


6.Pressenter.TheWelcomescreenappears.SelectNexttobegintheinstallation.

7. TheInstallationTypescreenappears.SelectInstall DefaulttoinstallESXServeronanewsystem.Notethatthisoptionperformsafullinstallationanddestroysanypreviouslysavedinformationontheselectedpartitions.SelectNexttocontinue.ACustominstallallowsyoutoselectadditionalconfigura-tionoptionsforyourkeyboardandmouse.

8.TheEndUserLicenseAgreementscreenappears.ReadthroughtheenduserlicenseagreementandcheckI accept the terms in the license agreement.SelectNexttocontinue.

32


9. TheVMwareESXServerSerialNumbersscreenappears.EntertheESXServerserialnumbersenttoyoubyemailintheVMwareESXServerfield.Notethatenteringtheserialnumberisnotarequiredstepforcompletingtheinstallation.Youmayenteritatalatertime.Ifyouskipthisstep,however,youwillnotbeabletostartvirtualmachinesinyourESXServer.IfyouhavealicenseforVMwareVirtualSMPforESXServer,enterthatserialnumberintheVMwareVirtualSMPforESXServerfieldtoconfigureyourvirtualmachineswithmorethanonevirtualprocessor.EnteringtheserialnumberinstallsVMwareVirtualSMPforESXServer.SelectNexttocontinue.

10. TheDeviceAllocationscreenappearstodefinehowtosetupyoursystemdevices.Configuretheserviceconsoleincludingreservedmemory,SCSIstoragecontroller,Ethernetcontrollers,andfibrechanneldevices.

11. SelectReservedMemory—Thedefaultamountofmemoryreservedfortheserviceconsole,192MB,issufficientformanaginguptoeightvirtualmachinesconcurrently.Changethisto272MBforupto16virtualmachines,384MBforupto32virtualmachinesor512MBformorethan32virtualmachines.Choose800MBforthemaximumnumberofvirtualmachines.

33


12. ConfigureSCSIStorageControllers—Allocatestorageadapterstobeusedbytheserviceconsoleandvirtualmachinesontheserver.Ensurethatboththeserviceconsoleandthevirtualmachineshaveaccesstoatleastonestoragedevice.ASCSIorRAIDadaptershouldbesharedifyouwanttousethatadapterorarrayforboththeserviceconsoleandtohostvirtualmachines.WhenyouareallocatingSCSIorRAIDdevices,theunitofdeviceallocationisaPCIcarddevice.YoumayconnectmultipleSCSIorRAIDdisks,CD-ROMdrives,tapedrivesandotherdevicestotheSCSIorRAIDadapter.YoushouldgiveasmanySCSIorRAIDdevicestothevirtualmachinesaspossibletoensurethatthemajorityofyourmassstorageresourcesareavailabletoyourvirtualmachines.Beforecontinuing,ensurethatalocalSCSIdiskisallocatedtovirtualmachinesandsharedwiththeserviceconsole.Thisshouldbethedefaultsettingandnotrequireanychanges.

13. ConfigureEthernetControllers—Allocatenetworkadapterstobeusedbytheserviceconsoleandvirtualmachinesontheserver.Notethatthefirstnetworkadapterdiscoveredwillautomaticallybeallocatedtotheserviceconsole(thisallocationcanlaterbechangedintheVMwareManagementInterface)andisrequiredinordertomanagetheESXServerremotely.Allothernetworkadaptersshouldbeallocatedtovirtualmachines.

14. TheDiskPartitioningSetupscreenappearsandliststwochoicesforthetypeofdiskpartition:

a. ManualPartitioning—youmanuallycreateeachpartition.Besuretodeleteanyexistingpartitions.Thisistherecommendedoptionforthisevaluationinstallation.

b. AutomaticPartitioning—theinstallerestimatesandcreatesdefaultpartitionsonyourdisk.Youcanedittheseautomaticselectionsaftertheyaresuggestedandbeforetheyarecreated.Automaticpartitioningallowsyoutohavesomecontrolconcerningwhatdata(ifany)isremovedfromyoursystem.

WhenusingAutomaticPartitioning,youcanselecttoeitherremoveallpartitionsorpreserveanexistingVMFSpartition:

a. Removeallpartitions—removesallpartitionsonthesystem.Thisistherecommendedoptionfornewinstallations.Notethatyouwilllaterseeawarningscreenconfirmingthatyouwanttoremoveallpartitions.

b. RemoveallpartitionsexceptVMFS—removesallpartitionsonthesystembutkeepstheVMFSpar-titionwhereyourvirtualmachinesarestored.Thisistherecommendedoptionifyouarere-install-ingandwanttopreserveyourexistingvirtualmachinesontheVMFSpartition.

c. InstallationDrives—liststheharddriveselectionsavailable.ThesearebasedontheharddrivesdetectedbytheESXServerinstaller.Theserviceconsoleisinstalledontheharddriveselected.

IntheInstallationDrivesdialog,ensurethecorrectSCSIdiskisselectedforthesuccessfulinstallationoftheServiceConsole.TheSCSIdiskwilllikelybeidentifiedwithadevicenameofsdaorccissratherthananIDEharddrivenameofhda.SelectNexttocontinue.

34


15. ThePartitioningscreendisplaysthepartitionsthatESXServerwillcreateontheavailabledisks.ESXServerrequiresaminimumofthreeprimarypartitions(/boot,/andswap),andtheremainingrecommendedpartitionsareconfiguredaslogicalpartitionsonthefourthextendedpartition.

16. SelectNewtocreatepartitionsdescribedbelow.Thereisalsoasummaryviewofrecommendedpartitionsonthenextpage.Foreachnewpartition,becertainthatthecorrecttargetdriveisselected.

a. ClickNewtocreateabootprimarypartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthemountpointto/bootandthesizeto50MB.ChecktheboxtoForcetobeprimarypartition.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.

b. ClickNewtocreateaswapprimarypartitionontheinstallationdisk.SetthefilesystemtypetoswapandthesizetotwicetheamountofmemoryyoureservedfortheServiceConsoleinthedeviceallocationconfiguration.Ifyouacceptedthedefaultof192MBofServiceConsolememory(suitabletosupport8VMs),thenyouwouldenter384MBhere.ChecktheboxtoForce to be primary partition.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.

c. ClickNewtocreatearootprimarypartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthemountpointto/andthesizeto1800MB.ChecktheboxtoForcetobeprimarypartition.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.

d. ClickNewtocreateavmkcorelogicalpartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthefilesystemtypetovmkcoreandthesizeto100MB.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.ThecoredumppartitionstoresinformationgeneratediftheVMkernelcrashes.ThecoredumpinformationisimportantindiagnosinganyproblemswiththeVMkernel.

e. Optionally,clickNewtocreateavmimageslogicalpartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthemountpointto/vmimagesandthesizeto10000MB.ClickOK tocloseandsavethechanges.Thisparti-tioncanholdtemplatesandISOimagestosupportrapidprovisioningsosizeitaccordingtothequantityoffilesthatmightbestoredthereversusdiskspaceavailable.ThisdatapartitioncanalsobeplacedonanotherSCSIdriveoranIDEdriveontheESXServerifdesired.Thealternativetocreatingavmimagespartitionistocreatealargerhomedirectoryandstoreimagesthere.

f. ClickNewtocreateahomelogicalpartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthemountpointto/homeandthesizeto1800MB.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.ThispartitionwillcontainhomedirectoriesforusersoftheServiceConsole.Separatinghomedirectoriesfromtherootfilesystembyplacingthemintheirownpartitionprotectstherootfilesystemfromfilling.Notethatthispartitionshouldbelargerifyouwillbestoringimageshere.

g. ClickNewtocreateavarlogicalpartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthemountpointto/varandthesizeto2000MBorasdesired.ThisdatavolumecanbeplacedonanotherSCSIoranIDEdriveontheserverifdesired.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.

h. ClickNewtocreateatemplogicalpartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthemountpointto/tmpandthesizeto2000MBorasdesired.ThisdatavolumecanbeplacedonanotherSCSIoranIDEdriveontheserverifdesired.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.

i. ClickNewtocreatetheVMFS(VirtualMachineFileSystem)logicalpartitionontheinstallationdisk.Setthefilesystemtypetovmfs2andchecktheboxtoFill to maximum allowable size.ClickOKtocloseandsavethechanges.

35


j. Whenfinishedcreatingpartitions,thepartitiondefinitionshouldbesimilartothisscreenshot.SelectNextonthepartitioningscreentocontinue.

Belowisasummaryoftherecommendedpartitions:

MountPoint FileSystemType

Size(MB) AdditionalSizeOptions

ForcetobeaPrimaryPartition

UsedBy

/boot ext3 50MB FixedSize Select ServiceConsole

NotApplicable swap 2xServiceConsoleMemory(e.g.384MB)

FixedSize Select ServiceConsole

/ (root) ext3 1,800MB FixedSize Select ServiceConsole

NotApplicable vmkcore 100MB FixedSize DonotSelect*

VMkernel

/vmimages** ext3 10,000MBorasdesired

FixedSize DonotSelect

Exportedvirtualdisks,virtualmachinetemplates,ISOimagesandotherlargefiles

/home ext3 1,800MBorasdesired


Personalfilesforserviceconsoleusers;VMconfigfilesandlogs

/var ext3 2,000MBorasdesired


Usedforfileswhichcanvaryinsizesuchaslogfiles

/tmp ext3 2,000MBorasdesired


Usedfortemporaryfiles

NotApplicable(automaticallycreatedas/vmfs/<volume_name>)

vmfs2 Restofdisk Filltomaximumallowablesize(orfixedsizeifnotusingrestofdisk)

DonotSelect

VMwareFileSystem(VMFS)—ThisisthelocationforlocaldiskvirtualmachinesnotstoredonaLUN

*Bynotforcingthefourthpartitiontobeprimary,anextendedpartitionoccupyingtheremainderofthediskwillbecreated,andthevmkcoreandanysubsequentpartitionswillbecreatedaslogicalpartitionswithintheextendedpartition.

**The /vmimagespartitionisoptionalandsizedat10,000MB(10GB)asanexample.Imagesandotherworkingfilescanalternatelybestoredinalarger/homepartition.Inpractice,thesepartitionsshouldbesizedaccordingtothespecificneedsofyourenvironment.

36


17. TheNetworkConfigurationscreenappears.Enterthenetworkparameters.UsingastaticIPaddressishighlyrecommendedfortheevaluation.

Theoptionsare:

a. DHCP—allowsthisprocesstodeterminenetworksettingseachtimetheESXServersystemboots.Caution:SelectingthisoptionrequiresthatyourDNSserveriscapableofmappingtheserviceconsole’shostnametothedynamicallygeneratedIPaddress.SeetheVMwareESXServerAdministrationGuideforinstructionsandcautionsonsettingupaDHCP-basedserviceconsole.

b. StaticIP—enterthehostnameintheHostnamefield,IPaddressintheIPAddressfield,thenetmaskintheNetmaskfield,thenetworkgatewayintheGatewayfieldandtheprimaryandsecondarynameserversinthePrimaryDNSandSecondaryDNSfields.

Note: Besuretoincludethefulldomainnameifyouarerunningwithdomains.

Note: Setupdoesnotaskfornetworkparametersifyoudonothaveanetworkcard.Initially,onlythefirstEthernetcardisenabled.Allothernetworkadaptersaredisabled.

Note: IfyouneedtolaterchangethehostnameoftheESXServer,refertoKnowledgeBasearticle#861ontheVMwareWebsiteforinstructions.

18. SelectNexttocontinue.TheTimeZoneSelectionscreenappears.Selectyourtimezone.

37


19. SelectNexttocontinue.TheAccountConfigurationscreenappears.Specifyyourdesiredrootpassword.RootistheusernamefortheadministratorontheESXServer.UserswithadministratorprivilegesloginwiththisnamewhenusingtheVMwareManagementInterfaceortheservicecon-sole.

20. Toaddauseraccount,selectAdd.TheAddUserscreenappears.Addatleastoneusersuchasesxuser.YouneedaccountsforalluserswhoneedtologintotheVMwareManagementinterfacetocreateormanagevirtualmachines.Ifyouwish,youmayaddthoseusersatthistime.SelectOKtocontinueaddingusersasdesired.SelectNexttocontinue.

21. TheAbouttoInstallscreenappearsanddisplaysthelocationoftheinstallationlogfile.SelectNexttocontinue.Theinstallerformatsthediskandstartsinstallingthepackages.

38


22. Oncethepackagesareinstalled,theCongratulations,ESXServerInstallationisCompletescreenappears.RebootthesystembyclickingNext.RemovetheCD-ROMfromthedrivewhenitisejectedduringtherebootpro-cess.

23. Afterthefullreboot,checktheServiceConsolemonitor.YoushouldseeascreenadvisingyoutouseawebbrowsertocontinuethesetupprocessusingtheURLfortheESXServerManagementUserInterface(MUI).TheURLwillbethehostnameorIPaddressoftheESXServer.

24. Fromyourdesktopsystem,openawebbrowsertotheIPaddressofyourESXServertoaccesstheMUI.ThefirsttimeyouuseaWebbrowsertomakeasecureconnectiontoanESXServer,adialogboxaskswhetheryouwanttoacceptthesecuritycertificatepresentedbytheserver.AcceptingthecertificateallowsyoutoaccesstheserverthroughtheVMwareManagementInterface.WhenyouconnecttothemanagementinterfacewithanInternetExplorerbrowser,aSecurityAlertdialogboxappears.Toseedetailsofandoptionallyinstallthecertificate,clickView Certificate.Acceptthecertificateandproceedtocontinue.

39


25. LogintotheVMwareManagementUserInterfaceasuserroot.NotethatifthelocalDNSserverdidnotknowtheIPaddressoftheESXServerorthehostnameyouassignedtoyourESXServer,youcanputanentryinthehostsfileofyourdesktopsystem.

26. ThisisthenativeManagementUserInterface(MUI)usedforaccessingindividualESXServersindependentlyoftheVirtualCenterManagementClient.WeareusingitheretoperformsomeinitialconfigurationsandtoprovideabriefintroductiontotheMUI,buttherestofthisevaluationwilldemonstratemanagingESXServersfromwithinVirtualCenter.

Notethewarningaboutthenon-existenceofswapspaceandvirtualEthernetswitches.Thesewarningswilldisappearonceyoucompletetheremainingconfigurationsteps.

27.ClicktheOptionstabtoreachtheOptionspageoftheMUItoprovideavolumelabelforyourlocalVMFS.NotethatifyouarenotloggedinasrootthentheOptionstabwillnotbeavailable.

40


28. OntheOptionstab,clickonStorage Management toaccessasummaryofallthestoragedevicesthatareavailabletoyourESXServer.

29. FindtheVMFSyoucreatedandclicktheEditlinknexttoittochangethevolumelabeltoanamethatreflectsitspurposeorlocationsuchasLocalVMFS.Youshouldleavetheothersettingsattheirdefaultvalues.ClosethesewindowstoreturntotheOptionstab.

41


30. FromtheStatusMonitorpageoftheMUI,clicktheReconfigurelinknexttothewarningaboutswapspacetocreateaVMkernelswapfile.ThiswilltakeyoutotheOptionstabwhereyouwillseethattherearenoswapfilesconfiguredoractive.ClicktheCreatelinktoconfigureaswapfile.

31. Attheswapconfigurationscreen,clickOKtoacceptthedefaultsandcreateaVMkernelswapfile.MakesuretheswapfileisalwaysplacedonlocalVMFS-2storageandnotonexternalstorage.ClickOKtocontinue.

42


32. Theswapconfigurationpagenowshowsyournewlydefinedswapspace,andshowsthatitwillbeactivatedateachreboot,butitisnotcurrentlyactive.ClickActivatetobeginusingthenewswapwithoutneedingtoreboot.YouarereturnedtotheStatusMonitorpage.

33. NextfollowtheReconfigurelinknexttothewarningaboutvirtualEthernetswitchestocreatetheswitchestobeusedbyyourvirtualmachines.Youwillnowseeapagedescribingvirtualswitches,portgroupsandtheirconnections.ClicktheCreatelinkatthebottomofthepagetobegincreatingyourswitches.

34. CreatetwoorthreevirtualswitcheschangingthelabelfromthedefaultNetwork0toamoredescriptivelabel.

a. CreateavirtualswitchwithnetworklabelInternal0withnoboundnetworkadapter

b. CreateavirtualswitchwithnetworklabelExternal0withanoutboundadapter

c. IfyouareevaluatingVMotion,createathirdvirtualswitchVMotionforthededicatedVMotionnetworkpath.

43


35. Notethatyouwillreturnherelatertocreateadditionalswitchesbasedonthenetworkingneedsoffuturevirtualmachines.Reviewyourvirtualswitchestoensurethateachoutboundadapterisboundtoitsownvirtualswitch,andthatthereisatleastoneinternalvirtualswitchthatisnotboundtoanyphysicalNIC.Theresultingconfigurationwillshowthetwoorthreebasicvirtualswitches.ClosethiswindowtoreturntotheStatusMonitor.Noticethatbothwarningsarenowcleared.

36. OntheOptionstab,clickonSecurity Settingstab.SecurityissettoHighbydefaultforallESXServerinstallations,disablingunnecessaryserveraccessprotocolsandencryptingallcommunication.IfyouneedtoaccessortransferfilestoorfromtheESXServer,youwillneedtoselectivelyreducethedefaultHighSecuritySettingstoMedium, Low oraCustomleveltoenableservicessuchasFTP,Telnet,SSHsecureremoteloginsandNFSfilesharing.ClickOKtocontinue.

37. ThiscompletestheESXServerconfigurationusingtheMUIclient.Youmightspendafewminutesbrowsingtheuserinterfacetofamiliarizeyourselfwiththeoptionsavailable.

Forexample,noticethatthereisaManage FileslinkintheupperrightcorneroftheMUIthatletsyoubrowsethefilesontheESXServer.YoucanalsoelecttodownloadandinstalltheVMwareRemoteConsoleforWindowsorLinuxfromthebottomoftheStatusMonitorwindow.ThisisastandaloneversionoftheconsolebrowseravailableintheVirtualCenterclientthatallowsyoutoviewandmanagevirtualmachineswithkeyboardandmouseinput.

Closethewindowtologoutwhenfinished.

44


11. installing virtualCenter Management server and ClientThefollowingstepsshouldbeastraightforwardinstallationoftheVirtualCentersoftwareintoaWindowsenvironment.AsingleinstallerpackagecontainstheVirtualCenterclient,VirtualCenterserver,andtheVMwareSDKWebservice.YoucaninstalltheVirtualCenterclientandVirtualCenterservercomponentsseparatelyoronthesameWindowssystem.YoucanalsorepeatthisinstallationtoinstalljusttheVirtualCenterclientonothercomputersforeaseofaccessduringtheevaluation.

Notethatifasystemisn’tavailabletohosttheVirtualCenterServerandDatabase,thesecomponentscanbeinstalledandhostedwithinavirtualmachineontheESXServer.RefertoChapter2,“CreatingandConfiguringVirtualMachines”,intheESXServer2AdministrationGuideforinstructionsoncreatingavirtualmachineusingtheESXServerManagementUserInterface.YoucantheninstalltheVirtualCenterServerontoavirtualmachinerunningontheESXServer.

VirtualCentersupportsthreetypesofdatabaseformats:

• MicrosoftAccess(default)

• MicrosoftSQLServer2000,MicrosoftSQLServer7

• Oracle8i,9i,10g

ThisevaluationwillusethedefaultMicrosoftAccessdatabasefordemonstrationandtrialpurposes.UsingtheMicrosoftAccessdatabaseforproductionenvironmentsisnotrecommendedforperformancereasons.

installing the virtualCenter Management server and ClientThissectiondescribeshowtoinstallVirtualCenteronyoursystemwhenthereisnootherVirtualCenterinstallationpresent.ToinstalltheVirtualCenterclientandserveronyoursystem:

1. EitherloadtheinstallationdiskimagecreatedearlierordownloadtheVirtualCenterinstallerfilefromtheVMwaresecureWebsitetoalocaldrive.

2. Runtheinstaller.Double-clicktheVMwareinstallationiconorselectStart > RunandenterthelocationoftheinstallerintheRunwindow.TheVirtualCenterinstallerpreparestoinstallthecomponents.IfyoudonothaveMicrosoft.NETFrameworkversion1.1onyourmachine,apromptappearstoaskifyouwishtoinstallit.IfyouclickYes,thentheinstallerautomaticallyinstallsthispackage.Ifyouhaveinstalledanolderversion,thentheinstallerautomaticallyupgradesyourversiontoversion1.1.

3. VerifyyouareinstallingtheVirtualCenterproduct.ClickNext.

4. AccepttheVMwarelicenseterms.ClicktheAcceptbutton,thenclickNext.

5. EnteryourcustomerinformationUser NameandOrganizationname.ThenclickNexttocontinuetheinstallation.

45


6.SelecttoperformaCustomsetuptoinstallboththeServerandClientandclickNext.

7. SelecttoinstallboththeClientandtheServercomponents.Clickthedownarrownexttotheappropriatecomponentandselectfromthedrop-downmenutocompletetheCustomSetupscreen.ClickNexttocontinuewiththeinstalla-tion.

8.ClicktheUse Access Database buttonandclickNexttohavetheinstallercreatethenecessaryAccessdatabase.

46


9. OnthenextVirtualCenterWebServiceconfigura-tionwindow,enterauser nameandpasswordofauserintheadministratorsgrouponthelocalmachinetoenableWebServicesaccesstotheVirtualCenterManagementServer.

10.Verifythatyouarereadytoproceedwithinstallation.ClickInstalltocontinuetheinstallation.

11.Progressmessagesappearwhiletheinstallationproceeds.TheVirtualCenterinstaller,asspecified,installstheVirtualCenterserver,startstheVirtualCenterdatabase,performsadefaultAccessdatabasesetupoftheopendatabaseconnectivity(ODBC),registersandactivatestheVirtualCenterserver,andinstallstheVirtualCenterclient.

12.ClickFinishtoclosetheinstallationwizard.TheselectedVirtualCentercomponentsareinstalledonyourWindowscomputer.

Note: TheVirtualCenterservermustbeabletosenddatatoeveryVirtualCentermanagedhostandreceivedatafromeachVirtualCenterclient.ToenableanymigrationorprovisioningactivitiesbetweenVirtualCentermanagedhosts,thesourceandtargethostsmustbeabletoreceivedatafromeachother.Duringnormaloperations,VirtualCenterislisteningfordatafromitsmanagedhostsandclientsondesignatedports.Additionally,VirtualCenterassumesthatitsmanagedhostsarelisteningfordatafromVirtualCenterondesignatedports.Ifthereisafirewallbetweenanyoftheseelements,aholemustbecreatedtoallowdatatransfertothesedesignatedports.RefertotheVirtualCenterUsersGuideforinstructionsifyouneedtoconnectyourVirtualCenterservertoclientsandhoststhroughafirewall.

Also,anoptionalsteptothatcanbeemployedtoimprovetheperformanceoftheMicrosoftAccessdatabase:

1. OpentheWindowsODBCDataSourceAdministrator.SelectSettings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC).

2. SelecttheSystem DSNtab.

3. SelectODBC Microsoft Access Setup.ClickOptions.

4. IncreasethebuffersizeandclickOK.Thedefaultvalueis2048.Changeitto8192.

RestarttheVirtualCenterserver,ifitisrunning.

47


starting the virtualCenter Client and logging on WhenVirtualCenterisinstalled,allusersintheAdministratorsgroupareassignedVirtualCenterAdministratorprivilegesbydefaultfortheVirtualCenterenvironment.PermissionsforallotherVirtualCenterusersneedtobeexplicitlysetbyaVirtualCenterAdministrator.VirtualCentersupportsusergroupsformanagingaccessrights.Usersmaybelongtooneormoregroupstoallowaggregatesecurityassignments.Usersassumetherolesassignedtoanygroupofwhichtheyaremembers.

TostartaVirtualCenterclientsession:

1. LogontoyourWindowssystem.ThefirsttimeyoustarttheVirtualCenterclient,logonasanadministratorofthelocalsystem.Bydefault,administratorsareallowedtologontoVirtualCenter.Administratorsherearedefinedtobeeither:

• MembersofthelocalAdministratorsgroupiftheVirtualCenterserverisnotadomaincontroller.Logonaseither<local host name>\<user>or<user>,where<user>isamemberofthelocalAdministratorsgroup.

• MembersofthedomainAdministratorsgroupiftheVirtualCenterServerisadomaincontroller.Logonas <domain>\<user>,where<domain>isthedomainnameforwhichthemanagedhostisacontrollerand<user>isamemberofthatdomain’sDomainAdministratorsgroup.Thispracticeisnotrecommended.

2. LaunchtheVirtualCenterclient.Double-clickashortcutorselecttheapplicationthroughStart > Programs > VMware > VMware VirtualCenter.

3. WhenyoustarttheVirtualCenterclient,logontotheVirtualCenterserver.EnterorselecttheVirtualCenterservername,yourusernameandyourpasswordforthatVirtualCenterserver.ClickLogIntocontinue.ThedefaultlocalhostlocationisthelocalWindowsserverormachinewhereyoustartedtheVirtualCenterclient.UsinglocalhostintheLogInscreen,theVirtualCenterclientassumestheVirtualCenterserverislocatedonthesamehostastheVirtualCenterclient.Alternatively,clicktheServerlistarrowandselectfromthelistofavailableVirtualCenterserversortypethenameoftheVirtualCenterserveronyournetwork.AnIPaddressoranameisacceptable.IfyoucreatedtheexamplevcuserastheVirtualCenteruserforthisserver,youwillneedtocreateauseraccountwithapasswordontheWindowssystemwhereVirtualCenterisrunningtobeabletologin.

4. CreatealicensefilebyplacingallyourVirtualCenterlicensesyoureceivedviaemailintoaplaintextfile.ThislicensefileshouldincludethelicensesforVirtualCenterManagementServer,VirtualCenterAgentandVMotion.Ensurethatthelicensekeystringstartsincolumn1ofthelicensetextfile.Thatisflushleft.Donothaveanyleadingspacesatthebeginningofthelicensefile.Inaddition,besuretokeeptheintegrityofthelicensesyouaregiven;thatis,keepthehyphenationformatasitisprovided.Forexample,xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx.

48


5. IfyourVirtualCenterserverdoesnothaveitslicensesinstalledyet,thelicensingscreenappears.TomakelicensesavailabletotheVirtualCenterserver:

a. ClicktheAddLicensesbuttonandselectthelicensefilecreatedinthepreviousstep.

b. ClickOpenandyouwillseethelicensesaddedtothelist.

c. ClickDoneontheLicensingscreen.Youarenowreadytoaddhosts.

6.Next,intheinventorypaneoftheVirtualCentermanager,selecttheServer FarmsnodeandselecttheFile > New FarmmenutocreateanewFarm.NameitsomethingdescriptivelikeEvaluation Farm.YoucanoptionallyselecttocreateasecondserverfarmcalledProduction Farm.

7. NowselecttheEvaluation FarmyoujustcreatedandselectFile > New > Hostfromthemenu.EntertheIPaddressoftheESXServerandtherootuser’susernameandpassword.NotethatthispasswordisnotgoingtobestoredontheVirtualCenterServer.Inproductionenvironments,abestpracticeistocreateanewuseraccountontheESXServerhosttosupportthisconnection.TheconnectionprocessmaytakeseveralminutesasVirtualCenterinstallstheVirtualCenterAgentontheESXServertoenableongoingmanagementoftheESXServer.Onthenextscreen,selecttoNot enable VMotiononthishost.VMotionwillbeaddressedlaterinthisguideasanoptionalevaluationactivity,asitcanbecon-figuredatanytimeforthishostviathehostproperties.ClickFinishonthenextscreentocompletetheAddHostwizard.

49


8.NotethatyoucannowclickonanyoftheinventoryassetsintheleftInventoryPanefromtheFarmstoHoststovirtualmachinestoviewthestatusandpropertiesandselectfromtheavailablemanagementactions.Wearenowreadytoaddandmanagenewvirtualmachinesandwillcontinuewiththatfollowingthenextchapterthatintroducessomenewconceptsusefulforunderstandingvirtualinfrastructure.

50


12. understanding the virtual infrastructure12.1 virtualCenter Manages virtual Machines running on Physical HostsVirtualCentermonitorsandmanagesvariouscomponentsofyourvirtualandphysicalinfrastructure:

• Virtual machines—Virtualizedx86computerenvironmentsinwhichaguestoperatingsystemandassociatedapplicationsoftwarecanrun.Multiplevirtualmachinescanoperateonthesamemanagedhostmachineconcurrently.VirtualizationplatformsareVMwareproducts,suchasESXServer,GSXServer,orWorkstation.Theseareusedtocreatethevirtualmachinesintheformofasetofconfigurationanddiskfilesthattogetherperformallthefunctionsofaphysicalmachine.Throughthevirtualizationplatform,yourunthevirtualmachines,installoperatingsystemsandrunapplications,andconfigurethevirtualmachines.

• Hosts—Thephysicalcomputersonwhichthevirtualizationplatformsoftware,suchasESXServerorGSXServer,isinstalled.ThesecomputersareaddedtotheVirtualCenterenvironmenttohostvirtualmachinesthroughtheAddHostwizard.WhenVirtualCenteraddsahost,itautomaticallydiscoversandregistersallthevirtualmachinesonthathost.Eachmanagedhostisthenassociatedwithaspecificfarm.

• Datastores—Virtualmachinedisksareencapsulatedintofiles,whichinturnarestoredondatastores.Virtualinfrastructure’sabilitytoencapsulatedisksintofilessimplifiesstoragemanagementbyhidingthedifferencesbetweenvariousstorageoptionssuchaslocalstorage,SANandNAS.

12.2 CPu, Memory and Hardware virtualizationTheheartofvirtualizationisbasedonmanagingtheexecutionofmanyvirtualmachinesonafewprocessors.CPUsarevirtualizedwhentheESXServerVMkernelhypervisordisplacestheoperatingsystemkernelfromRing0intheCPUtoRing1.TheVMkernelthendynamicallyschedulesprocessingtimeforvirtualmachinesandtheServiceConsole.Thisvirtualizationofprocessorscantakeadvantageofhyperthreading,multi-coreandsymmetricmulti-processingCPUs.

Thisabilitytoshareapoolofprocessorsacrossmultipleworkloadsallowsapplicationsfromunder-utilizedserverstobesafelyconsoli-datedontoasingleservertosafelyachievehigherutilization.

51


MemoryisvirtualizednexttodynamicallyprovideeachvirtualmachinewithsufficientRAMtorunefficiently.AswiththeCPUs,theadvantageofvirtualizationisthatallserverscanbesizedcollectivelyforpeakloadsratherthanindividually,greatlyincreasingtheresourceutilization.

Twoadditionalvirtualizationfeatureshelpimprovememoryutilizationforvirtualmachines:RAMover-commitmentandtransparentpagesharing.

RAMover-commitmentsafelyincreasesRAMutilizationbyallowingthesumofconfiguredmemoryforallvirtualmachinestoexceedthehost’sphysicalmemory.ESXServerhandlesthisbyusingapre-configuredswapfilefortemporarystorageifthememorydemandsfromvirtualmachinesexceedtheavailabilityofphysicalRAMonthehostserver.ESXServerletsvirtualmachinesmanagetheirownmemoryswapprioritizationbyusingmemoryballooningtodynamicallyshiftmemoryfromidleVMstoactiveVMs.MemoryballooningartificiallyinducesmemorypressurewithinidleVMsasneeded,forcingthemtousetheirownpagingareasandreleasememoryformoreactiveorhigherpriorityVMs.RAMover-commitmentenablesgreatflexibilityinsharingphysicalmemoryacrossmanyvirtualmachinessothatasubsetcanbenefitfromincreasedallocationsofmemorywhenneeded.

Transparentpagesharingconservesmemoryacrossvirtualmachineswithsimilarguestoperatingsystemsbyseekingoutmemorypagesthatareidenticalacrossmultiplevirtualmachinesandconsolidatingthemsotheyarestoredonlyonceandshared.

Thefinalcomponentsvirtualizedforsharingwithinhostserversaretherestofthehardwaredevices.TheVMkernelvirtualizesthephysicalhardwareandpresentseachvirtualmachinewithastandardizedvirtualdevice.Itisexactlythisstandardizationthatenablestheencapsu-lationandportabilitybenefitsofvirtualization.

Thediagramontherightdepictsthecommonstandardcomponentsthatarevirtuallyavailabletoeveryvirtualmachinebasedondynamicmappingstophysicalhardware.

52


Virtual Machine Specifications Asaframeofreferenceforvirtualmachinecapabilityandscalability,eachESXServermachinecanhostvirtualmachinesconcurrentlyusingupto80virtualCPUs(andupto200registeredvirtualmachines)onasingleESXServer,withthefollowingcapabilitiesandspecifications:

ESX Server Component Virtual Capacity & Specification

VirtualStorage Upto4hostbusadapterspervirtualmachine

Upto15targetsperhostbusadapter

Upto60targetspervirtualmachine;256targetsconcurrentlyinallvirtualmachinesperESXServer

VirtualProcessor Sameashostsystemprocessor

Oneortwoprocessorspervirtualmachine

VirtualChipSet Intel440BX-basedmotherboardwithNS338SIOchip

VirtualBIOS PhoenixBIOS™4.0Release6

VirtualMemory Upto3.6GBpervirtualmachine

VirtualSCSIDevices Upto4virtualSCSIadapterspervirtualmachinewithupto15devicesperadapter

9TBpervirtualdisk

VirtualEthernetCards Upto4virtualEthernetadapterspervirtualmachine

Note:Eachvirtualmachinehasatotalof7virtualPCIslots,sothetotalnumberofvirtualadapters,SCSIplusEthernet,cannotbegreaterthan7.

VirtualFloppyDrives Uptotwo1.44MBfloppydrivespervirtualmachine

VirtualCD-ROM Uptotwodrivespervirtualmachine

LegacyDevices Virtualmachinesmayalsomakeuseofthefollowinglegacydevices.However,forperformancereasons,useofthesedevicesisnotrecommended.

VirtualSerial(COM)Ports

-UptotwoserialportspervirtualmachineVirtualParallel(LPT)Ports

-OneLPTportpervirtualmachine

53


ESX Server Maximum Physical Machine SpecificationsBelowarethemaximumphysicalmachinespecificationsforanESXServertoclarifyhowasinglephysicalservercanscaletoupto200virtualservers:

Maximum Server Specification VMware ESX Server

Processors 16physicalprocessorspersystemwith8virtualCPUsperprocessor,dual-coreprocessorssupported

80virtualCPUsinallvirtualmachinesperESXServersystem

CPUSpeed Standardx86-basedcomputer

Notconstrained

RAM 64GBofRAMperESXServersystem

Upto8swapfileswithamaximumfilesizeof64GBperswapfile

Storage 16hostbusadaptersperESXServersystem

128logicalunits(LUNs)perstoragearray

128LUNsperESXServersystem

128VMFS(VMwareFileSystem)volumesperESXServersystem

Maximum32physicalextentsperVMFS-2volumewith2TBperphysicalextent

Maximum27TBsizeperVMFS-2volumewithamaximumof2TBpereachphysicalextent

Adapters 64adaptersofalltypes,includingstorageandnetworkadapters,persystem

Upto8GigabitEthernetor1610/100Ethernetportspersystem

Upto32virtualmachinespervirtualnetworkdevice(vmnicorvmnetadapter)

54


12.3 storage virtualizationStoragevirtualizationisanotherkeyelementtounderstandtosupportthearchitectureanddeploymentofvirtualinfrastructure.AttheheartofvirtualizedstoragemanagementistheVMwareVirtualMachineFileSystem(VMFS).VMFSutilizesverysimpleandfastdatastructuresoptimizedtosupporthighperformancediskaccessandlargepartitionsizesupto2TB.VMFSvolumesareusedbyESXServertostorevirtualdisks,VMkernelswapfiles,suspendedstatefiles,REDOlogsandVirtualCentertemplates.

TwospecialattributesofVMFSmakeitanidealstorageformatforSANs:

• VMFSisamultipleaccessfilesystemthatimplementsfilelevellockingtoallowmul-tipleESXServerstoaccessthesamevolumesimultaneouslyoveraSAN

• VMFSimposesminimalperformanceover-headasnativeSCSIcommandsarepasseddirectlytothephysicalstoragewithouttheneedfortranslation

InadditiontobeingstoredonlocalSCSIdisks,virtualmachinesforESXServerscanbelocatedwithinVMFSpartitionswithinLUNsaSAN.VirtualdiskscanalsobemappedtoarawLUNonaSANortoarawSCSIdevice,andESXServeriscapableofbootingdirectlyfromaSAN.

AllstorageispresentedtovirtualmachinesasSCSIdisks,withthevirtualmachineseeingeitheranLSILogicoraBusLogicSCSIController.

Virtualizedstoragealsoenablesveryflexiblediskaccessmodes.MostvirtualmachineswillruninPersistentmodefornormalread/writeoperations,buttheycanalsouseUndoablemodethatsetsthediskstoread-onlyandcreatesaredologthatcanlaterbecommittedordiscarded.Theseflexiblediskaccessmodesareespeciallyusefulindevelopment,testingandtrainingenvironments.

StoragemanagementwithESXServerismostpowerfulwhenusedwithSANs.SANsallowmultiplephysicalmachinestoaccessthesamestorageLUNs,somultipleESXServerscanseethesameVMFSvolumesfor:

• WorkloadbalancingviaVMotionVMrelocation

• Disasterrecoveryusingcommonaccess

• Highavailabilityusingclusteredapplications

• Rapidprovisioningusingatemplaterepository

SANscanalsoprovideallvirtualmachineswithhighavailabilitystorage.ESXServerprovidesmulti-pathinginthevirtualizationlayertoautomaticallyallowtheuseofadifferentpathtostorageintheeventthataHostBusAdapter(HBA)orstorageswitchfails.

55


12.4 Network virtualizationNetworkvirtualizationisthefinalareatoclarifyinthetopicofvirtualizingphysicalservers.Virtualnetworkingisverysimilartophysicalnetworkingconceptuallyandinpractice,butwithmanyaddedbenefits.

Asdepictedinthediagramtotheright,operatingsystemsrunninginvirtualmachinesareassignedvirtualNICswiththeirownMACaddressesthatareboundtophysicalNICsforexternaltrafficusingvirtualswitches.AstrongadvantageofvirtualnetworkingisthatthesevirtualmachinescanalsobenetworkeddirectlytoothervirtualmachinesrunningonthesameESXServer,andtrafficontheseinternalvirtualnetworkscanbeisolatedsonotrafficreachesthephysicalnetwork.Thisopenstheopportunitytocreateveryhighperformingmulti-tierapplicationandfirewallconfigurationsofvirtualmachinesrunningonasinglephysicalserver.

Fromafaulttoleranceperspective,thevirtualizationlayersupportsNICTeamingwhichenablesthegroupingof2-10physicalNICstocreateahighlyredundantnetworkdevicethatcanbeusedtosupportloadbalancedtraffictransparentlytoallvirtualmachinesonthesystem.

VirtualNICsalsoprovidegreaternetworksecurityasvirtualmachinesonthesamevirtualswitchcanbepreventedfromseeingeachother’straffic.YoucanalsoselecttodisallowMACaddresschangesandforgedMACtransmitsbytheguestoperatingsystems.

VirtualLANsalsosupportVLANtaggingtoallowthecreationofmultiplelogicalLANswithinoracrossphysicalnetworksegments.VLANsfreenetworkadministratorsfromthelimitationsofaphysicalnetworkconfigurationtoimprovesecurity,improveperformanceandreducecost.

Thediagrambelowpresentsanexamplevirtualnetworkingscenariowheredatabaseandapplicationserversaresecurelyprotectedbehindavirtualfirewall.

56


12.5 virtualCenter software Components VMwareVirtualCenterisdesignedtocentrallymonitorandmanagealltheVMwarevirtualmachinesandhostsinyourenterprisevirtualinfrastructure.Toperformthesefunctions,VirtualCenterprovides:

• VirtualCenter Client—AuserinterfacethatrunslocallyonaWindowsmachine.TheVirtualCenterclientrunsonamachinewithnetworkaccesstotheVirtualCenterserver.ThiscanbeonthesamemachineastheVirtualCenterserveroronanothermachinewithnetworkaccess.

• VirtualCenter Server—AservicethatactsasacentraladministratorforVMwareESXServerandGSXServerhostsconnectedonanetworktodirectactionsuponthevirtualmachinesandthevirtualmachinehosts.VirtualCenterserverprovidesthecentralworkingcoreofVirtualCenter.VirtualCenterserverisdeployedasaWindowsserviceandrunsfull-time.ItmusthavenetworkaccesstoallthehostsitmanagesandbeavailablefornetworkaccessfromanymachinewheretheVirtualCenterclientisrun.

• VirtualCenter Agent—Installedoneachmanagedhost,itcollects,communicates,andexecutestheactionsreceivedfromtheVirtualCenterserver.ItisinstalledautomaticallythefirsttimeanygivenhostisaddedtotheVirtualCenterinventory.

• VMotion—AfeaturethatenablesmovingrunningvirtualmachinesfromoneESXServertoanotherwithoutserviceinterruption.TheVirtualCenterservercentrallycoordinatesallVMotionactivities.

• VirtualCenter Database—Apersistentstoragearea,formaintainingstatusofeachvirtualmachine,host,andusermanagedintheVirtualCenterenvironment.ThiscanbelocalorremotetotheVirtualCenterservermachine.

• Virtual Infrastructure Software Developer’s Kit—ArichWebServicesAPIthatcanbeusedtoper-formanyfunctionprovidedbyVirtualCenter.TheSDKcanbeusedtointegratevirtualinfrastructurewiththird-partymanagementtoolsoryourownprograms.

ThefigurebelowillustratestherelationshipsbetweentheVirtualCenterinstalledcomponents.

57


12.6 virtualCenter organizes servers into Farms and groupsAfarmistheprimaryorganizationalstructureusedinVirtualCenter.Afarmcontainsmanagedhostsandvirtualmachines.Allactionstakenuponmanagedhostsandvirtualmachinesareappliedwithintheirfarm.Withinafarm,youcanmonitorandmanagevirtualmachinesseparatelyfromtheirhostsanduseVMotion;youcannotperformmigrationbetweenfarms.

ServerFarmsandGroupsassistinmanagingthecomplexityofthehandlingofpotentiallyhundredsofvirtualmachines.Theycanbeadded,deleted,reorganizedandrenamedtorepresenttheirorganizationpurposes;forexample,theycanbenamedaftercompanydepartmentsorlocationsorfunctions.Theorganizationalcomponentsare:

• Server Farms—Thetop-levelstructurefortheVirtualCenterserver.OnlyoneServerFarmsobjectexistsforeachVirtualCenterserver.ServerFarmscancontainmultiplefarmgroupsandfarms.ThetermServerFarmsisthedefaultvalue;theactualnameusedcanbechanged.

• Farm Groups—AnoptionalgroupingstructurethatishierarchicallycontainedwithintheServerFarmsstructure.TheVirtualCenterserversupportsmultiplefarmgroups.Farmgroupscancontainotherfarmgroupsandfarms.

• Farm—ThemainstructureunderwhichhostsandtheirassociatedvirtualmachinesareaddedtotheVirtualCenterserver.VirtualCenterserversupportsmultiplefarms.Note:Ahostcanbemanagedbyonlyonefarmatatime.Note:Alloperationsbetweenhostsandvirtualmachinesoccurwithinasinglefarm.Forexample,hostsandvirtualmachinesarenotmigratedbetweenfarms.

• Virtual Machine Groups—Anoptionalgroupingstructurethatiscontainedwithinafarm.VirtualCenterserversupportsmultiplevirtualmachinegroups.Virtualmachinegroupscontainvirtualmachinesandothervirtualmachinegroups.

AlltheVirtualCentercomponents—thehosts,thevirtualmachines,andtheorganizationalgroupingsofserverfarms,farms,andfarmgroups—arecontainedwithintheVirtualCenterenvironment.ThefigurebelowillustratesthehierarchyoftheVirtualCenterorganizationalcomponents.

WhenanESXServerhostisaddedtotheinventoryhierarchy,VirtualCenterautomaticallyqueriesthehostforanyregisteredvirtualmachinesandaddsthevirtualmachinestotheVirtualCenterinventorybyincludingthemina

“DiscoveredVMs”folder.Thisfolderissimplyanewlycreatedvirtualmachinegroupthatcanberenamed.VirtualMachinescanbeaddedtoandremovedfromthisdefaultvirtualmachinegroup.

58


12.7 virtualCenter Manages tasks, templates, alarms and Events ThefunctionalcomponentsinVirtualCenteraregroupscomprisedofthemonitoringandmanagingtasks.Thefunctionalcomponentsare:

• Inventory—AviewofallthemonitoredobjectsinVirtualCenter.MonitoredobjectsincludeServerFarms,farms,farmgroups,hosts,virtualmachines,andvirtualmachinegroups.

• Scheduled Tasks—Alistofactivitiesandameanstoschedulethoseactivities.

• Templates—Ameanstoimportvirtualmachinesandstorethemastemplatesfordeployingatalatertimetocreatenewvirtualmachines.

• Alarms—Acomponentthatallowsyoutocreateandmodifyasetofalarmsthatyoudefine.Alarmsareappliedtoanobjectandcontainatriggeringeventandanotificationmethod.Alarmsdonothaveanavigationtoolbaroption.AlarmsareviewedthroughtheAlarmstabforeachobject.

• Events—AlistofalltheeventsthatoccurintheVirtualCenterenvironment.UsetheNavigationoptiontodisplayalltheevents.Useanobjectspecificpaneltodisplayonlytheeventsrelativetothatobject.

ThefigurebelowillustratestherelationshipoftheVirtualCenterfunctionalcomponents.

59


12.8 virtualCenter Manages access Privileges with users and groupsEachVirtualCenteruserlogsontotheVirtualCenterservicethroughtheVirtualCenterclient.EachVirtualCenteruserisidentifiedtotheVirtualCenterassomeonewhohasassignedrightsandprivilegestoselectedobjects,suchasfarmsandvirtualmachines,withintheVirtualCenterenvironment.VirtualCenteritselfhasfullrightsandprivilegesonallhostsandvirtualmachineswithintheVirtualCenterenvironment.VirtualCenterpassesononlythoseactionsandrequestsfromaVirtualCenteruserthattheuserhaspermis-siontoperform.VirtualCentergrantsaccesstoeachVirtualCenterobject,farm,farmgroup,virtualmachine,andvirtualmachinegroup.Todothis,VirtualCenterassignsaroleandauser(orgroup)toeachobject.IndividualpermissionsareassignedthroughVirtualCenterbypairingauserandaroleandassigningthispairtoaVirtualCenterobject.

• Users and Groups—CreatedthroughtheWindowsdomainorActiveDirectorydatabase.VirtualCenterregistersusersandgroupsaspartoftheassigningprivilegesprocess.

• Roles—AsetofaccessrightsandprivilegespredefinedbyVirtualCenter.

Therearefourroles.Eachroleincludestheprivilegesoflowerlevelroles.Thetypesofrolesthatcanbepairedwithauserandassignedtoanobjectare:

• VirtualCenter Administrator—Usersinthisroleareallowedtochangeprivilegesforanobject.Withthisrole,youcanadd,remove,andsetaccessrightsandprivilegesforalltheVirtualCenterusersandallthevirtualobjectsintheVirtualCenterenvironment.

• Virtual Machine Administrator—Usersassignedthisroleforanobjectareallowedtoadd,remove,ormodifyobjects.Withthisrole,youcan:

o Connect/disconnectmanagedhosts,migrateandmigratewithVMotion,clone,removeandconfigurevirtualmachines.

o Create,import,anddeploytemplates.

o Addandremovehostsfromfarms.

o Create,remove,ormodifyfarms,farmgroups,andvirtualmachinegroupsandtheircontent.

• Virtual Machine User—Usersassignedthisroleforanobjectareallowedtoperformpoweroperationsonvirtualmachines.Withthisrole,youcanconnectwitharemoteconsoleandviewthestatesofvirtualmachines.Youcannotmodifytheconfigurationofhostsorvirtualmachines.

• Read Only User—Usersassignedthisroleforanobjectareallowedtoviewthestateofvirtualmachines,hosts,farms,andgroups.Withthisrole,youcanviewvirtualmachines,hosts,farms,farmgroups,andvirtualmachinegroupattributes,thatis,allthetabpanelsinVirtualCenterexcepttheConsoletab.Youcannotviewtheremoteconsoleforamanagedhost.Allactionsthroughthemenusandtoolbarsaredisallowed.AuserwithRead-OnlyUserroleaccesscanviewthetemplatesandscheduledtasksbutnotperformanyactionswiththem.

60


12.9 Working with the virtualCenter ClientTheVirtualCenterclientdisplayisatypicalWindowsscreen.Itcontainsamenubar,ashortcutnavigationbar,anavigationspecifictoolbar,andadisplayarea.TheVirtualCenterclientisbasicallydividedintotwoareas:

• Aheading area withamainmenu,navigationbar,andtoolbar.

• Adata area thatchangesdependingupontheselectioninthenavigationbar.

ThenavigationbaroptionsdividetheprimarytasksofVirtualCenterinto:

• Inventory—Dividedintotwosubpanels,theinventorypanelandtheinformationpanel.ThisnavigationbaroptiondisplaysalltheobjectscontainedwithinVirtualCenter.

• Scheduled Tasks—Displaysaninformationpanelthatlistsallthetasksscheduledtooccur.

• Templates—Displaysaninformationpanelthatlistsallthetemplatesavailablefordeploying.Thislistincludestemplatesthatarestoredinthetemplateuploaddirectory,storedonalocaldisk,orstoredonthesamedatastoreastheirsourcevirtualmachine.

• Events—DisplaysaninformationpanelthatlistsalltheeventsthathaveoccurredinVirtualCenter.

Clickonthenavigationbarbuttonstofamiliarizeyourselfwiththeircontents.BackintheInventorypane,goaheadandselectVirtualCenterobjectssuchasfarms,groups,hosts,andvirtualmachinestomonitorthestatusoftheobjectandright-clickthemtoaccessactionmenus.Thiswillgiveyouanoverviewofthecontextsensitiveoptionsavailableforeach.

virtualmachine inventorypanel popupmenu informationpanel statusbar

61


Belowisasummaryviewanddescriptionofthemonitoringtabsavailableforfarm,farmgroup,hostserverandvirtualmachineinventoryobjects:

TabsAvailable ForVCFarm&FarmGroups

ForaFarm ForaHostServer ForaVirtualMachine

Farms Farms

Summary Summary Summary Summary

VirtualMachines VMs VMs VMs

Hosts Hosts Hosts

Performance Performance Performance Performance Performance

Tasks Tasks Tasks Tasks Tasks

Events Events Events Events Events

Alarms Alarms Alarms Alarms Alarms

Permissions Permissions Permissions Permissions

Console Console

VC Farm & Farm Groups• Farms—DisplaysallfarmgroupsavailableontheVirtualCenterServer• VirtualMachines—DisplaysallvirtualmachinesavailableontheVirtualCenterServer• Hosts—DisplaysallphysicalESXandGSXHostServersontheVirtualCenterServer• Performance—DisplaystheaverageCPU,memory,diskandnetworkperformanceforaFarmGroup• Tasks—DisplaysallcurrenttasksontheVirtualCenterServer• Events—DisplaysallcurrenteventsontheVirtualCenterServer• Alarms—DisplaysallcurrentalarmsontheVirtualCenterServer• Permissions—DisplaysallpermissionsattheVirtualCenterServerlevel

Farm• Summary—DisplaysasummaryviewoftheFarm’shosts,VMsandperformance• VirtualMachines—DisplaysalistofallvirtualmachinesintheFarm• Hosts—DisplaysalistofallphysicalESXandGSXHostServersontheFarm• Performance—DisplaystheaverageCPU,memory,diskandnetworkperformancefortheFarm• Tasks—DisplaysallcurrenttasksontheFarm• Events—DisplaysallcurrenteventsontheFarm• Alarms—DisplaysallcurrentalarmsontheFarm• Permissions—DisplaysallpermissionsattheFarmLevel

Host Server• Summary—DisplaysasummaryviewoftheHostServer’spropertiesandperformance• VirtualMachines—DisplaysalistofallvirtualmachinesontheHostServer• Performance—DisplaysthecurrentCPU,memory,diskandnetworkperformancefortheHostServer• Tasks—DisplaysallcurrenttasksontheHostServer• Events—DisplaysallcurrenteventsontheHostServer• Alarms—DisplaysallcurrentalarmsontheHostServer

Virtual Machines• Summary—Displaysasummaryviewofthevirtualmachine’spropertiesandperformance• Performance—DisplaysthecurrentCPU,memory,diskandnetworkperformanceforthevirtualmachine• Tasks—Displaysallcurrenttasksonthevirtualmachine• Events—Displaysallcurrenteventsonthevirtualmachine• Alarms—Displaysallcurrentalarmsonthevirtualmachine• Console—Displaysthecurrentscreenofthevirtualmachineandenablesallkeyboardandmouseinput• Permissions—Displaysallpermissionsatthevirtualmachinelevel

62


12.10 Common actions Performed through virtualCenterTypicalVirtualCenteroperationsarefocusedaroundmanagingvirtualmachinesonmultiplehosts.PerforminganactionthroughVirtualCenterinvolves:

StartingandloggingontotheVirtualCenterclient.

• Addingorselectingavirtualmachine,host,farm,orgroup.

• Selectingthedesiredactionfromthecorrespondingmenuforthevirtualmachine,host,farm,orgroup,andansweringthepromptsfromthetaskwizardscreens.

ThefigurebelowillustratestheprocessflowfortypicalVirtualCenteractivities.

63


13. Creating New virtual MachinesTherearetwomethodsforaddingvirtualmachinestoVirtualCenter;eitherregisterahostwithexistingvirtualmachinesonit,orcreatenewvirtualmachinesonexistinghosts.Thelistbelowdescribessomeofthekeyprocessoptionsforcreatingnewvirtualmachines.

• AvirtualmachinecanbecreatedfromscratchusingtheNewVirtualMachineWizard.Aftercreatingavirtualmachine,youmustinstallaguestoperatingsystem.

• AnexistingvirtualmachinecanbeclonedtocreatenewvirtualmachinesusingtheCloneWizard.

• AnexistingvirtualmachinecanbeusedasasourcefornewtemplatesusingtheNewTemplateWizard.

• AnexistingphysicalmachinecanbeclonedtocreateaduplicatevirtualmachineusingVMwareP2VAssistant.

13.1 Creating New virtual Machines from scratchThroughtheNewVirtualMachineWizardandtheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogbox,youcancreatenewvirtualmachinesfromscratchandmakeconfigurationmodificationstothemoncetheyarecreated.Newvirtualmachinesareaddedtomanagedhosts.YoumustselectamanagedhosttobeabletostarttheNewVirtualMachineWizard.

TocreateanewvirtualmachinethroughthetypicalpathintheNewVirtualMachineWizard:

1. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,displaytheinventorypanel.ClickInventoryinthenavigationbar.Expandtheinventoryasneeded.SelectamanagedhostandstarttheNewVirtualMachineWizardbyrightclickingonthehostandselectingNew Virtual Machine.

2. Intheinventorylist,selectthemanagedhosttowhichtoaddthenewvirtualmachine.ChooseFile > New > Virtual Machine,andthenclickNext.

3. SelectwhethertouseaTypicalconfigurationorCustomconfiguration.SelectTypicalandclickNext.Usingatypicalinstallation,youcanspecifyoracceptdefaultsonlyfor:

a. Thegroupforthevirtualmachine.

b. Theguestoperatingsystem.

c. Thevirtualmachinenameandthelocationofthevirtualmachine’sfiles.

d. Thenetworkconnectiontype.

e. Thesizeofthevirtualdisk.

Forfuturereference,aCustomInstallationadditionallyallowsyoutospecifythefollowing:

a. Specifythenumberofvirtualprocessorsforthevirtualmachine.

b. Allocateanamountofmemorydifferentfromthedefault.

c. ChoosebetweentheLSILogicandBusLogictypesofSCSIadapters.(AnATAPIIDEadapterisalwaysinstalled.)

d. Useanexistingvirtualdisk.

e. DirectlyaccessasystemLUNinsteadofusingavirtualdisk.

f. Specifyaparticularvirtualdevicenodeforthevirtualdisk.

g. Chooseamodeforthevirtualdisk.

64


4. Selectagrouplocationforthenewvirtualmachine.ClickNext.

5. UnderGuest operating system,selecttheoperatingsystemfamily(MicrosoftWindows,Linux,NovellNetWareorOther),thenselectthespecificoperatingsystemfromtheVersionlist.VirtualCenterdoesnotinstalltheGuestOperatingSystemforyou;yourselectionhereisusedonlytoselectappropriatedefaultconfigurationparametersforthevirtualmachine,suchastheamountofmemoryneeded.Thewizardalsousesthisinformationwhennamingassociatedvirtualmachinefiles.ClickNexttocontinue.

6.Specifyanameforthevirtualmachineanddatastorevolumeforthevirtualdisks.

a. EntertheVirtualmachinenametouse.ThenameyouenterintheVirtual Machine NamefieldisthenamethatislistedintheVirtualCenterclientinventory,andinotherareas,suchastheVMwareManagementInterface.Itisalsousedasthenameofthevirtualmachine’sfiles.Enterausefulname.Thenamecanbeupto80characterslongandcontainalpha-numericcharactersandtheunderscore(_)andhyphen(-)characters.Itshouldalsobeuniqueacrossallvirtualmachines.Besurethatthevirtualmachinenameisuniqueasduplicatenamescauseconfusionandarenotallowedwithinavirtualmachinegroup.Abestpracticeistocreatevirtualmachinesusingthesamenameforthevmxfile,thevmdkfile,thedisplaynameandeventheactualguestoperatingsystemhostnameforconsistency.

b. SelecttheDatastoreonthemanagedhosttouseforstoringthevirtualdiskfiles.ForESXServerhosts,thenameslistedunderdatastoresaretheconfiguredVMFSvolumesforthatmanagedhost.

c. ClickNexttocontinue.

65


7.Specifythenetworkingsettingsforthevirtualmachine.

a. SelectthevirtualnetworknametousefromtheNIClist.

b. Selectthenetworkadapter typeforthevirtualmachine.SelecteitherthedefaultvlanceadapterorthevmxnetadapteriftheguestoperatingsystemwillbeWindowsServer2003,WindowsXPorWindows2000.Thevmxnetdriverpro-videshigherperformance,especiallywithgigabitadapters.

c. Ifyoudonotwantthevirtualnetworkadaptertoconnectwhenthevirtualmachineispoweredon,cleartheConnect at power oncheckbox.

d. Ifyoudonotwantthevirtualmachinetohaveaconnectiontothenetwork,selecttheDo not use a network connection check box.

e. ClickNexttocontinue.

8.Specifythesizeofthevirtualdisk.EnterthedisksizeinGigabytes(GB).Thedefaultis4GB.Yourvirtualdiskcanbeassmallas0.1GB(100MB).ASCSIvirtualdiskcanbeaslargeas2TBonanESXServerhost.ForESXServerhosts,theavailablespaceontheselectedVMFSvolumeislisted.Thevirtualdiskshouldbelargeenoughtoholdtheguestoperatingsystemandallofthesoftwarethatyouintendtoinstall,withroomfordataandgrowth.Forexample,youneedabout3GBofactualfreespaceonthefilesystemcontainingthevirtualdisktoinstallWindowsServer2003andapplicationssuchasMicrosoftOfficeinsidethevirtualmachine.Itispossibletolaterenlargethesizeofexistingvirtualdisksusingvmkfstools,butitismucheasiertosizethemsufficientlyatcreation.YoucanalsoalwaysinstalladditionalvirtualdiskslaterbyusingtheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogbox.

9. ClickNextandthenclickFinish.Beforeyoucanuseyournewvirtualmachine,youneedtopartitionandformatthevirtualdisk,theninstallaguestoperatingsystemandVMwareTools.Theoperatingsystem’sinstallationprogrammayhandlethepartitioningandformattingstepsforyou.

66


Installing a Guest Operating System

Afteryoucreateavirtualmachine,youmustinstallanoperatingsystemonitsvirtualdiskjustasyoudoonanewphysicalmachine.YouuseastandardinstallationCD-ROMandformatthevirtualdiskattheappropriateplaceintheinstallationprocess.Asafasterandmoreconvenientalternative,youcaninstallanoperatingsystemfromISOimagefilesofinstallationCD-ROMsorusethepre-bootexecutionenvironment(PXE)featureofESXServertoloadasystemimageinavirtualmachinefromthenetwork.Onceyoustartthevirtualmachine,thenormaloperatingsysteminstallationtakesover.Answerthepromptsthatappearonthevirtualmachineconsoletoinstalltheguestoperatingsystem.

Toaccessthevirtualmachinetoinstallaguestoperatingsystem,usethevirtualmachineconsole,foundontheConsoletabfortheInventorybuttoninthenavigationbar.Chooseaninstallationmethod:

• Install from CD-ROM—ConfigurethevirtualmachinetoconnecttothephysicalESXServerCD-ROMandbootanoperatingsysteminstallationdiskfromit.

• Install from ISO Image—ConfigurethevirtualmachineCD-ROMasapathtoalocalornetworkedISOfileandbootfromthat.AvirtualCD-ROMdriveisautomaticallycreatedwhenyoucreateanewvirtualmachine.IfyouareplanningtoinstalltheguestoperatingsystemfromanISOimage,usetheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogboxtomapthevirtualCD-ROMdrivetotheISOimagebeforepow-eringonthevirtualmachine.

10.ToinstalltheguestoperatingsystemviaaCD-ROMdrive:

a. InserttheinstallationCD-ROMforyourguestoperatingsystemintheESXServerCD-ROMdrive.

b. ClickPower OnontheremoteconsoletoolbarandswitchtotheConsoletabtobeginsettingupyourguestoperatingsystem.

11.ToinstalltheguestoperatingsystemfromalocalornetworkISOimage:

a. PrepareISOimagefilesofinstallationCD-ROMsneededfortheinstallation.

b. Right-clickonthevirtualmachineandselectPropertiestoeditthevirtualmachinesproperties.SelecttheCD-ROMdeviceandclickBrowsetoconnectthevirtualmachine’sCD-ROMdrivetotheappropriateISOimagefile.YouwillneedtoaccesstheimagesfromthenetworkorcopytheISOimageontotheESXServerintothevmimagesdirectoryorauser’shomedirectorytobrowsetoit.ClickOKtosavethechanges.

c. Oncetheinstallationmediaissuccessfullymapped,clickPowerOnontheremoteconsoletoolbarandswitchtotheConsoletabtobeginsettingupyourguestoperatingsystem.

Notethatwhenyouareinstallingaguestoperatingsystemonanewvirtualdisk,youmayseeamessagewarningyouthatthediskiscorruptedandaskingifyouwanttoplaceapartitiontableonthedisk.Thismessagedoesnotmeanthereisanyproblemwithyourphysicalharddisk.Itsimplymeanssomedataneedstobewrittentothefilethatholdsyourvirtualharddisk.AllyouneedtodoisrespondYes.Youalsoneedtopartitionandformatthevirtualdiskasyouwouldwithanew,blankharddrive.

67


Installing VMware Tools VMwareToolsisasuiteofutilitiesthatenhancestheperformanceofthevirtualmachine’sguestoperatingsystemandimprovesmanagementofthevirtualmachine.ItisveryimportantthatyouinstallVMwareToolsintheguestoperatingsystem.AlthoughtheguestoperatingsystemcanrunwithoutVMwareTools,youloseimportantfunctionalityandconvenience.

WhenyouinstallVMwareTools,youinstallthefollowingcomponents:

• TheVMwareToolsservice(orvmware-guestdonLinuxguests).

• AsetofVMwaredevicedrivers,includinganSVGAdisplaydriver,thevmxnetnetworkingdriverforsomeguestoperatingsystems,theBusLogicSCSIdriverforsomeguestoperatingsystemsandtheVMwaremousedriver.

• TheVMwareToolscontrolpanelthatletsyoumodifysettings,shrinkvirtualdisks,andconnectanddisconnectvirtualdevices.

• Asetofscriptsthathelpautomateguestoper-atingsystemoperations;thescriptsrunwhenthevirtualmachine’spowerstatechanges.

• Acomponentthatsupportscopyingandpastingtextbetweentheguestandmanagedhostoperatingsystems.

ToinstallVMwareToolsinavirtualmachine,right-clickonthevirtualmachineintheinventorypanelandselectto Install VMware Tools.

Notethatwhenworkingwithvirtualmachines,ifthenetworkadaptersdon’tappeartobesettothecorrectspeed/duplexsettingorappeartoberunningslowly,refertothefollowingKnowledgeBasearticle813foraresolution:http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=9uhecMMh&p_lva=& p_faqid=813.

68


13.2 Creating New virtual Machines from Existing servers

VMware P2V AssistantOnealternativetorebuildingtestsystemsfromscratchtosupporttheevaluationistoregisterforanevaluationcopyoftheVMwareP2VAssistant,anenterprise-classmigrationtoolthattransformsanimageofanexistingphysicalsystemintoaVMwarevirtualmachine.Thiseasytouse,marketproventoolenablesfastandreliablephysicaltovirtualmachinemigrationforMicrosoftWindowsoperatingsystemsrangingfromWindowsNT4toWindowsServer2003.

VMwareP2VAssistanttakesasnapshotofanexistingphysicalsystemandtransformsitintoaVMwarevirtualmachine,eliminatingtheneedtoreinstallandreconfigurecomplexapplicationenvironments.P2VAssistantperformsallnecessarysubstitutionstotransformaphysicalsystemintoaproduction-readyvirtualmachine,byguidingtheadministratorthroughaneasytouseGUIwizard:

• Createsanimageofthesourcemachinewithbuilt-inimagingor3rdpartyimagingtool

• Performsallnecessarydiskcontrolleranddriversubstitutionssothevirtualmachinecanbebooted

• Recommendsadditionalconfigurationmodificationstomakethenewvirtualmachineproductionready

• VirtualmachinescreatedbytheP2VAssistantwillrunonVMwareESXServer,VMwareGSXServerandVMwareWorkstation.

VMwarecustomersaremostcommonlyusingP2VAssistanttosupportthefollowing:

• FastandcleanmigrationsofexistingapplicationstoVMwarevirtualmachineswithoutrequiringare-installorrebuildtoenablemigrationtovirtualinfrastructure

• EfficientQA&DebuggingbycloningproductionsystemsintoQAandtestingenvironments

• DisasterRecoveryandBackuptoperiodicallycaptureproductionsystemsintoalibrarythatcanbedeployedintheeventofadisaster.

69


VMware Technology Network (VMTN) Templates of Pre-Configured Virtual MachinesAnadditionalsourceofvirtualmachinesforevaluationpurposesistheVMwareTechnologyNetwork(VMTN)Subscription,aservicefordevelopersandtestersthatbundlesaccesstoVMwareproducts,supportandupgradesinaconvenient,low-costannualsubscription.Aspartofthedevelopersupportprogram,VMTNprovidesacollectionofpre-builtvirtualmachinesfromindustry-leadingISVandopensourcepartnersthatsimplifiessoftwarepackaging,distribution,anddeployment.Insteadofspendingtimeinstallingandconfiguringapplications,developersandQAteamscannowfocustheireffortsondevelop-mentandtesting.Torunanewapplication,simplydownloadavirtualmachinewiththeapplicationsoftwarepre-installedandconfigured,andrunitinVMwareWorkstation,GSXServerorESXServer.

Someofthesepre-configuredvirtualmachinesareavailablefromVMwareISVpartnerswithoutrequiringanannualsubscriptiontoVMTN.Forexample,youcanfindpointerstovariousLinuxvirtualmachinespre-loadedwithOracle,BEA,MySQL,etc.athttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/technology/vm/.Inmostcases,asimpleregistrationwiththeprovideroftheVMisallthatisnecessarytodownloadthesepre-configuredvirtualmachineimagesforevaluationandtestingpurposes.

13.3 Creating, storing and deploying virtual Machine templatesOncevirtualmachineshavebeencreatedandconfiguredasgoldenimages,theycanbepackagedastemplatesandstoredeitherlocallyonESXServersorcentrallywithinaVirtualCentertemplaterepositorytosupporttherapidprovisioningofnewvirtualmachines.

Templatesarecreatedfromexistingvirtualmachines.Thesevirtualmachinescanbeeither:

• VirtualmachineslocatedonaVirtualCentermanagedhost.

• UnmanagedvirtualmachinesstoredonadisklocaltotheVirtualCenterserver.

Whenyoucreateatemplate,VirtualCenterprovidesanoptiontostorethetemplateatoneoftwolocations:

• Datastore—Anydatastoreaccessibletothemanagedhost(localornetworked)wherethesourcevirtualmachineresides.Thisoptionworksbestwithashareddatastorebetweenhostsonafarm.Thisoptionistypicallyusedforcreatingtemplatesfromvirtualmachinesonregisteredhosts.

• Templateuploaddirectory—LocatedontheVirtualCenterservermachine,theuploaddirectorycontainscopiesoftheoriginalvirtualmachinevirtualdisks.SpecifyadirectorylocaltotheVirtualCenterserverasthetemplateuploaddirectory.Thisoptionisusedwhenatemplatemightneedtobedeployedtoanymanagedhost.

ThefigurebelowillustratesthetwomethodsforstoringtemplatesinVirtualCenter.

70


Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template Whenyoudeployatemplate,youcreateanewvirtualmachinefromthetemplate.Thevirtualmachinecanbeplacedonanyhostthathaslocalaccessornetworkvisibilityofthetemplate.Thefigurebelowillustratestheprocessfordeployingatemplatetocreateanewvirtualmachine.

71


13.3.1 Creating templates from Existing virtual MachinesBeforecreatingatemplatethatwillbeusedasthefoundationformanyothervirtualmachines,arecommendationistomodifythebaseimagetousevmxnet,thehighperformancevirtualnetworkadapter,iftheguestoperatingsystemisWindowsServer2003,WindowsXPorWindows2000.Todothis:

1. Shutdownyourbaseimagevirtualmachineifitisrunning.

2. WithintheVirtualCenterclient,openthevirtualmachine’spropertiesandselectNIC 1ontheHardwaretab.ChangetheAdaptertypefromvlancetovmxnet.ClickOKtoclosethepropertieswindow.

3. PoweronthevirtualmachineandloginasAdministratorfromtheconsoletabtocompletetheinstallationbywalkingthroughtheFindNewHardwareWizard.

4. Shutdownthevirtualmachine.

Tocreateatemplatefromavirtualmachine:

1. StartVirtualCenterclientandlogontotheVirtualCenterserver.

2. Fromtheinventorypanel,clicktheInventorybuttoninthenavigationbar.Theinventorypanelandtheinformationpaneldisplayinformationaboutmanagedfarms,hosts,andvirtualmachines.TheInventorytoolbarappears.

3. Expandtheinventoryasneededandright-clickonthedesiredvirtualmachineandselectNew Template from this Virtual MachinetostarttheNewTemplateWizard.Thevirtualmachinehastobepoweredoffforthisoptiontobeenabled.ClickNexttocontinue.

4. GivethenewtemplateaNameandDescription.Enterausefulnameandabriefdescriptionofthetemplate.Thisdescriptioncanincludetheoperatingsystem,applications,versions,andintendedusesforthetemplate.Thenamecanbeupto80characterslongandcontainalphanumericcharactersandtheunderscore(_)andhyphen(-)characters.Thenameshouldbeuniqueacrossalltemplatesandcannotstartwithaspaceorcontainabackslash(\)orforwardslash(/).ClickNext.

72


5. SpecifythetargetLocationoftheTemplateFiles.Thechoicesare:

a. On the VMware VirtualCenter server—ThisoptionmakescopiesofthevirtualmachinediskfilesandplacescopiesintotheVirtualCenteruploaddirectory.Copyingthefilescantakesometime.Aftertheimport-ingtemplateprocess,thesourcevirtualmachineisavailablefornormaloperations.UsethisoptionifthesourcediskisnotonaSAN.Thisoptionensuresthetemplatecanbedeployedtoanymanagedhost.

b. On a datastore—Thisoptionaddsareferencetothelocationofthefiles.ThevirtualmachinedisksarecopiedtotheVMFSvolumethatyouspecify.UsethisoptionwhenthevirtualdiskresidesinaVMFSvol-umeonaSAN.Thisensuresarapiddeploymentofanewvirtualmachinebecauseitisalocaldiskcopy.

c. Theevaluationrecommendationistoplacethetemplateinthevmimagesorhomevolumeofthelocaldatastore.

6.Selectthedatastorelocationinwhichtoplacethenewtemplate.ClickNext.

7. Completetheimportingtemplateprocess.ClickFinish.VirtualCenteraddsthecon-figurationfiledataintotheVirtualCenterdatabaseandaddsthetemplatetothelistofavailabletemplates.ClickontheTaskstabtomonitortheprogressasthetemplateiscreated.Toviewthelistofcreatedtemplates,clicktheTemplatesoptioninthenavigationbar.

NotethatatemplatecanbecreatedfromanyVMwarevirtualmachine,soallguestoperatingsystemssupportedbyVMwareincludingmanyversionsofWindows,Linux,NovellNetwareandFreeBSDcanbemanagedusingtemplates.

73


13.3.2 Preparing for guest operating system CustomizationWhenyoudeployatemplateorcloneanexistingvirtualmachine,youhavetheopportunitytocustomizethenewguestoperatingsystem.AGuestCustomizationwizardguidesyouthroughtheconfigurationoptionstoconfigurethemachineasauniquenewsystem.YouneedtouseaVirtualMachineAdministratorroleassignedtothetargethostwherethevirtualmachineislocatedtoperformtheseactivities.

CustomizingWindowsguestoperatingsystemoptionsinclude:

• Joinworkgroupsanddomains

• Networkinterfaceconfiguration

• Domainsuffix,securityID(SID)change

CustomizingLinuxguestoperatingsystemoptionsinclude:

• Hostname

• Domainsuffix

• Networkinterfaceconfiguration

Theseevaluationstepscoverthecustomizationrequirements,preparationandprocessforcustomizingWindowsguestoperatingsystems.PleaserefertotheVirtualCenterUser’sGuideonpages52,324and328forsimilarinstructionscoveringLinuxcustomization.

Virtual Hardware Requirements for Guest Customization IfyouintendtoperformaGuestCustomization,performthefollowingbeforeyouruntheGuestCustomizationwizard,thatis,beforeyoustarttheTemplateDeploymentWizardorCloneWizard:

• Verifythatyoursystemmeetstheguestcustomizationrequirementslistedbelow.

• InstalltherequiredcomponentsdescribedbelowontheWindowsmachinewheretheVirtualCenterserverisinstalled.Notethatafterdeployingandcustomizingnon-volume-licensedversionsofWindowsXPorWindows2003,itmaybenecessarytore-activateyourMicrosoftoperatingsystemonthenewvirtualmachine.

Guestcustomizationrequiresthatthesourcevirtualmachineusedtocreatethecloneortemplateshasthefollowing:

• VMwareToolsinstalled.

• AtleastoneNetworkInterfaceCard(NIC)configured.Whenavirtualmachineisclonedorusedforatemplate,thenewvirtualmachinehastheexactsamenumberandtypeofNICs,forexample,AMD/PCnetversushigh-performanceVMwarevmxnet.Thiscannotbechangedduringthedeploymentorguestcustomizationprocess.

• SCSIdisks.ThedefaultconfigurationforVMwareWorkstationandGSXServercreatingaWindowsXPorWindowsServer2003virtualmachineisIDEdisks.IfyouarecustomizingavirtualmachinewithIDEdisks,itcanonlybedeployedtoaGSXServerhost.VirtualCentercustomizationoperatesonthediskattachedtothevirtualSCSInodewiththelowestaddressontheSCSIcontrollerwiththelowestindex.Asaresult,youmustmakesurethattheguestoperatingsystembeingcustomizedresidesonadiskattachedasSCSI0:0nodeinthevirtualmachineconfiguration.NotethatifavirtualmachinehasmixedIDEandSCSIdisks,thefirstIDEdiskisconsideredthebootdisk,andVirtualCenterpassesittothecustomizer.“First”isincontroller:deviceorder,thatis,ide0:0,ide0:1,scsi0:0,scsi0:1,andsoon.

74


ForWindowsguestoperatingsystems:Boththeactivepartition(thepartitioncontainingboot.ini)andthesystempartition(thepartitioncontainingthesystemdirectory,forexample,\WINNTor\WINDOWS),areonthesamevirtualdiskandattachedtheSCSI0:0virtualSCSInode.Notethatitisnotarequirementthatactiveandsystempartitionsbethesamepartition.

Windows Requirements for Guest Customization GuestcustomizationofaWindowsguestoperatingsystemcanoccurif:

• Theguestoperatingsystemisnotaprimaryorbackupdomaincontroller.

• ThecloneortemplatehasoneofthefollowingWindowsversionsinstalled:

o Windows2000ServerorAdvancedServer

o WindowsXPProfessional

o WindowsServer2003,Web,Standard,orEnterpriseEditions.NotethatWindowsXPHomeorWindowsNT4operatingsystemguestcustomizationisnotsupported.

o TheMicrosoftSyspreptoolsareinstalledontheVirtualCenterserver.

Installing the Microsoft Sysprep Tools IfyouplantocustomizeaWindowsguestoperatingsystem,youmustfirstinstalltheMicrosoftSyspreptoolsonyourVirtualCenterservermachine.MicrosoftincludestheSyspreptoolsetontheinstallationCDsforWindows2000,WindowsXP,andWindows2003.ItalsodistributesSysprep1.1fromtheMicrosoftwebsite.InordertoperformaWindowscustomization,youmustinstalltheSyspreptoolseitherfromyourinstallationCD,orfromthe1.1downloadpackage.Duringacustomization,VirtualCentersearchesfortheSyspreppackagecorrespondingtoyourguestoperatingsystem.IftheSyspreptoolsarenotfoundunderthecorrespondingprovidedoperatingsystemdirectory,VirtualCentersearchesintheprovided\1.1directory.IfVirtualCenterdoesnotfindanySyspreptools,theWindowsvirtualmachinecustomizationdoesnotproceed.

1. ToinstalltheMicrosoftSyspreptoolsfromaMicrosoftWebsite,downloadtheSyspreppackagefromhttp://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/sysprep/default.asp

2. ThoughtheSysprepversionindicatesWindows2000,itworkswithbothWindowsXPProfessionalandWindowsServer2003.

3. ClickNexttocontinue.Click I agreetoacceptthetermsandconditions.ClickDownload.Savethefiletoyourlocaldisk.RuntheMicrosoftinstallerQ257813_w2k_spl_x86_en.exe.

4. Extractthefilestotheprovideddirectory.SysprepsupportdirectorieswerecreatedduringVirtualCenterinstallation:

C:\[VirtualCenter_installation_directory]\resources\windows\sys-prep\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\2k\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\xp\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\svr2003\

75


5. Selectthe1.1subdirectory.ClickOKtoexpandthefiles.AfteryouhaveextractedthefilesfromQ257813_w2k_spl_x86_en.exetothe\1.1directory,youshouldsee:

...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\docs\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\samples\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\tools\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\contents.txt

ToinstalltheMicrosoftSyspreptoolsfromtheWindowsoperatingsystemCD:

1. InserttheWindowsoperatingsystemCDintotheCD-ROM,forexample,D:drive.

2. LocatetheDEPLOY.CABfileintheCDdirectory,\Support\Tools.

3. OpenandexpandtheDEPLOY.CABfile,usingatoolsuchasWinzip.exeoranothertoolcapableofreadingMicrosoftCABfiles.

4. ExtractthefilestotheprovideddirectoryappropriatetoyourSysprepguestoperatingsystem.SysprepsupportdirectorieswerecreatedduringVirtualCenterinstallation:

C:\[VirtualCenter_installation_directory]\resources\windows\sysprep\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\2k\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\xp\

...\resources\windows\sysprep\svr2003\

Selectthesubdirectorythatcorrespondstoyouroperatingsystem.

5. ClickOKtoexpandthefiles.AfteryouhaveextractedthefilesfromDEPLOY.CAB,youshouldsee:

...\resources\windows\sysprep\<guest>\deptool.chm

...\resources\windows\sysprep\<guest>\readme.txt

...\resources\windows\sysprep\<guest>\setupcl.exe

...\resources\windows\sysprep\<guest>\setupmgr.exe

...\resources\windows\sysprep\<guest>\setupmgx.dll

...\resources\windows\sysprep\<guest>\sysprep.exe

...\resources\windows\sysprep\<guest>\unattend.doc

where<guest>iseither2k,xp,orsvr2003.

6.RepeatthisproceduretoextractSysprepfilesforeachoftheWindowsguestoperatingsystem(Windows2000,WindowsXP,orWindows2003)youplantocustomizeusingVirtualCenter.YouarenowreadytocustomizeanewvirtualmachinewithasupportedWindowsguestoperatingsystemwhenyoucloneanexistingvirtualmachineordeployatemplate.

76


13.3.3 deploying templates to Create New virtual MachinesTomanuallystarttheTemplateDeploymentWizard:

1. StartVirtualCenterandlogontotheVirtualCenterserver.Fromtheinventorypanel,right-clickonthehostwhereyouwanttodeploythetemplateandselecttoDeploy Virtual Machine from Templatetostartthewizard.ClickNexttoconfirmthestartofthedeploymentwizard.

2. SelectwhichtemplatetodeployforthisvirtualmachineandclickNext.

3. SpecifythenewVirtual Machine Name.ClickNext.Notethatthevirtualmachinenamecannotexceed80characters.

77


4. Selectthefarmorvirtualmachinegrouponwhichtodeploythenewvirtualmachine.ClickNext.

5. Selectthedatastoreonwhichtostorethenewvirtualmachineconfigurationfileandvirtualdisks.ClickNext.Thisspecifiesthelocationforthevirtualmachineconfigurationanddiskfiles.Thevirtualmachinemustbeplacedonadatastore.Selectfromthelist.

6.Selectthenetworkinterfacecard(NIC)touseforthevirtualmachine.ClickNext.

78


7. Specifyaresourceallocationlevel.ClickNext.

8.SelectStart the guest customiza-tion wizardtoopenthecustomizationwizard.Notethatyoucanalsopre-con-figureImportcustomizationsettingsfromanXMLfilewithcustomizationalreadydefined.RefertothesectiononCustomizingaWindowsGuestOperatingSystemonpage74forinstructionsperformingguestcustomization.

9. CompletetheTemplateDeploymentWizard.ClickFinish.VirtualCenterdisplaystheTasksinventorypanelforreference,makesacopyofthetemplate,applieschangesasspecified,andstoresthenewvirtualmachineonthedesignatedhostlocation.

79


13.3.4 Customizing a Windows guest operating system Thecustomizingprocessvaries,dependingupontheguestoperatingsystemtobeusedinthenewvirtualmachine.TocustomizeaWindows2000,WindowsXPProfessional,orWindowsServer2003guestoperatingsystemwhiledeployingatemplateorcloningavirtualmachine,performthefollowing.

TocustomizeaWindowsguestoperatingsystem:

1. StarttheGuestCustomizationwizard.YoucannotstarttheGuestCustomizationwizardfromamenuortoolbaroption.TheGuestCustomizationwizardstartsindirectlyfromtheVirtualCenterTemplateDeploymentorCloneWizard.

2. ConfirmcontinuingwiththeGuestCustomizationwizard.ClickNext.

3. Optionally,specifyregistrationinformation.Theowner’sNameandOrganizationareforyourreferencepurposesonly.Theydonotaffectthefunctioningofthevirtualmachine.Enterthenameofaperson,user,orgroup,andoftheorganizationintheappropriatefields.ClickNext.

4. SpecifyaComputer Nameforthevirtualmachine.Thehostorcomputernameisthenamegiventotheparticularinstanceofaguestoperatingsystem.Theoperat-ingsystemusesthisnametoidentifyitselfonthenetwork.OnWindowssystems,itiscalledthecomputername.Onmostotheroperatingsystems,itiscalledthehostname.ThisisnotthesameasthevirtualmachinenamethatwasdeclaredearlierintheCloneorTemplateDeploymentWizard.Ifanasterisk(*)isenteredintheComputerNamefield,arandomnameisassignedtothecomputername.Whenyouspecifyaname,useonlycharactersthatareallowedinaWindowscomputername.ClickNext.

80


5. Providethelicensinginformation.EntertheWindowslicensekeyforthenewguestoperatingsystem.ForWindowsServeroperatingsystems,clicktheappropriatelicensemodeandspecifythemaximumnumberofsimultaneousconnectionsallowed,ifappropriate.ClickNext.

6.SpecifythepasswordfortheAdministratoraccount.

a. EnterthePasswordfortheAdministrativeuser.EnteritagainintheConfirm passwordfield.

b. Optionally,clicktheboxtoautomati-callylogonasadministratorwhenthevirtualmachineboots.Ifthisoptionisselected,alsospecifyhowmanytimestheautomaticlogonistobeper-formed.Thisisusefulifyouknowyouwillhaveaseriesofrebootsbeforethevirtualmachineisreadyfornormallogvonusers.

c. ClickNext.NotethatifyouspecifyanewadministratorpasswordandthesourceWindowsvirtualmachineortemplatealreadyhasone,thenyoumustselecttheDelete all user accountsoptioninstep12.Otherwisetheoldadministratorpasswordisnotchanged.

7. Specifyatimezone.ClickNext.

81


8.Specifyanycommandstoberunthefirsttimethenewvirtualmachineisstarted.Toaddcommands,typethecommandstringinthefieldandclickAdd.UsetheDeleteandMoveoptionstopositionthecommandsintheappropriateorder.

9. Selectwhetherornottousetypicalorcustomizenetworksettings.ClickNext.Theoptionsare:

a. Typical settings—VirtualCenterautomaticallyconfiguresallnetworkinterfacesfromaDHCPserver.

b. Custom settings—Youspecifythenetworksettings.

10. Ifyouusecustomnetworksettings:

a. Selectthenetworkinterfacecard(NIC)tocustomize.ClickNext.

b. Optionally,selecttheNIC,thenclickCustomizetomakeadditionalspecifications.

c. IfyouarecustomizingtheNICnetworkproperties,selectthemethodandentertheIPandDNSserveraddresses.SpecifyanIPaddressandDNSserver.ClickOKtoclosethisdialogboxandreturntothepreviousdialogbox.ThenclickNextintheNetworkGuestCustomizationsdialogbox.

d. ClicktheDNStabtospecifytheDNSconnections.EnteranewDNSsuffix.ClickAdd.IfyouareaddingmultipleDNSaddresses,usetheMove UpandMove Downbuttonstosettheorderofuse.ClickOKtoclosethisdialogboxandreturntothepreviousdialogbox.ThenclickNextintheNetworkGuestCustomizationsdialogbox.

e. ClickontheWINStabtoSpecifytheWINSaddress.TypetheappropriateIPaddresses.ClickOKtoclosethisdialogboxandreturntothepreviousdialogbox.ThenclickNextontheNetworkGuestCustomizationsdialogbox.

82


11. Joinaworkgroupordomainasdesired.Entertheworkgroupanddomainidentificationinformation.ClickNext.

12. Selectadditionalguestoperatingsystemoptions.Theoptionsare:

a. Generate New Security ID (SID)—Thisoptionissettodefault.

b. Delete all user accounts—Ifyouspecifyanewadministratorpasswordinstep6andthesourceWindowsvirtualmachineortem-platealreadyhasone,thenyoumustselecttheDeletealluseraccountsoptionhere;otherwise,theoldadministratorpasswordisnotchanged.ThisoptionisonlyavailableinthecustomizationwizardforWindows2000guestoperatingsystems.

Clickthebuttonstoconfigureanydesiredoptions.ClickNext.

13.Optionally,savethecustomizedoptionsasan.xmlfile.Specifyafilenameandlocation.ClickNext.VirtualCentersavesthecustomizedconfigurationparametersinan.xmlfile.Later,importthesepredefinedcustomizedparameters,whendeployingatemplateorcloninganexistingvirtualmachine.Ifthecustomizationsettingsaresavedtoafilethentheadministratorpass-wordoftheWindowsvirtualmachineandthedomainadministrator’spassword,asapplicable,arestoredinencryptedformatinthe.xmlfile.NotethatsavedcustomizationfilesareuniquetoeachVirtualCenterserverandtoeachversionofVirtualCenterduetoencryption.Youhavetorecre-atethecustomizationfilesforeachVirtualCenterserver.EncryptionispreservedbetweenupgradeversionsonthesameVirtualCenterserver.ThismeansyoucanusethesamefilesbetweenupgradesofVirtualCenter.Howeverifyouperformanuninstallandalaterfreshinstall,theabilitytodecryptpasswordsfromtheearlierinstallationislost.Torecreatethecustomizedparameters.xmlfiles,usetheImportcustomizationsfromanXMLfileoptionintheDeployTemplatewizard.ClickStart the guest customization wizardandmodifytheentryforthepasswordsandtheadministratorpasswordsagain.

CompletetheGuestCustomizationwizard.ClickFinish.VirtualCenterclosestheGuestCustomizationwizardandreturnsyoutotheDeployaTemplateorCloneaVirtualMachinewizard,clickFinish.

83


13.4 Cloning virtual Machines Acloneisacopypluscustomizationofavirtualmachine.Whenyoucreateaclone,VirtualCenterprovidesanoptiontocustomizetheguestoperatingsystemofthatvirtualmachine.Storeclonesonanymanagedhostwithinthesamefarmastheoriginalvirtualmachine.

Thefigurebelowillustratestheprocessforcloninganexistingvirtualmachinetocreateanewvirtualmachine.

84


TomanuallystarttheVirtualMachineCloningwizard:

1. StartVirtualCenterandlogontotheVirtualCenterserver.

2. StarttheCloneaVirtualMachinewizard,fromtheinventorypanel:

a. ClicktheInventorybuttoninthenavigationbar.Theinventorypanelandtheinformationpaneldisplaythemanagedfarms,hosts,andvirtualmachineinformation.TheInventorytoolbarappears.

b. Expandtheinventoryasneeded,andclickthesourcevirtualmachine.

c. StarttheClone this Virtual Machine wizard.Fromthemainorright-clickpopupmenu,selectClone.

3. ConfirmcontinuingwiththeCloneWizard.ClickNext.

4. Selectatargethostfortheclone.ClickNext.

5. SelectaVirtualMachineGroupfortheclone.ClickNext.

85


6.Assignanametotheclone.Enteraname.ClickNext.

7. Selectthedatastorelocation.Selectalocationfromlist.ClickNext.

8.Assignthenetworkinterfacecards(NIC).Selectfromthelist,ifthereismorethanoneNIC.ClickNext.

86


9. Specifytheresourceallocationlevel.TheresourceallocatingleveltellsVirtualCenterwhatpercentageofthehostresourcestomakeavailabletothenewvirtualmachine.Clicktheappropriateradiobutton.ClickNext.

10.Selectwhetherornottocustomizethenewvirtualmachineasyoucreateit.Clicktheappropriateradiobutton.ClickNext.Ifyouselectthecustomizationoption,refertoCustomizingaWindowsGuestOperatingSystemonpage74foradescriptionofthecustomizationwizardandoptions.Ifyoudecidenottocustom-izethenewvirtualmachineaspartofthecloningprocess,proceedtothenextstep.

11.CompletetheCloningaVirtualMachinewizard.ClickFinish.VirtualCenterdisplaystheScheduledTaskspanelforreferenceandmakesacopyofthevirtualmachine,applieschangesasspecified,andstoresthevirtualmachineonthedesignatedhostlocation.

87


14. Managing virtual Machines14.1 starting, stopping, suspending and resetting virtual MachinesVirtualmachinescanbeconfiguredtostartautomaticallywhenthehostserverstartsuportheycanbemanuallystartedwhenneeded.Virtualmachinescanbestarted,stopped,suspendedandresetfromthetoolbarinVirtualCenterorfromthesummarytabforthevirtualmachine.

Suspendingavirtualmachinepausesitsoperationandsavesthecurrentstate.Resettingavirtualmachinecausesittoshutdownandrestart.

14.2 Editing virtual Machine ConfigurationsInadditiontocustomizingavirtualmachinewhileyoucreateit,youhavetheoptiontoeditthevirtualmachineconfigurationafteryoucreateit.RefertoyourVMwareESXServerVirtualCenterdocumentationforinformationaboutalltheramificationsofspecificcustomizations.

Toeditanexistingvirtualmachineconfiguration:

1. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,displaytheinven-torypanelandexpandtheappro-priatefarm.ClickInventoryinthenavigationbar.Expandtheinven-toryasneeded,andclickthevirtualmachinetocustomize.

2. Poweroffthevirtualmachine.Youcannoteditmostvirtualmachinepropertiesifthevirtualmachineispoweredon.

88


3. DisplaytheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogbox.ChooseEdit > PropertiesorclickEdit PropertiesfromtheSummarytab.

4. Makechangesandoradditionsasneeded.ClickOK.SelectitemsontheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogbox,andconfigurethem.RefertoyourVirtualCenterandESXServerdocumentationforcomprehensiveinformationaboutconfiguringvirtualmachines.

14.2.1 Changing the Hardware Configuration of a virtual Machine Youcanvirtuallymanageallthehardwareinthevirtualmachine,configuringadditionalvirtualhardwareasneeded.Belowisalistofthevirtualhardwaredevicesthatcanbeadded,disabledorreconfigured:

• DVD/CD-ROMDriveConfiguration

• FloppyDriveConfiguration

• GenericSCSIDeviceConfiguration

• VirtualDiskConfiguration

• MemoryConfiguration

• VirtualEthernetAdapter(NIC)

• ParallelPortConfiguration

• SCSIControllerConfiguration

• SerialPortConfiguration

• VideoConfiguration

• VirtualCPUConfiguration

• MouseConfiguration

14.2.2 adding Hardware to a virtual MachineYouaddvirtualhardwaretoavirtualmachineusingtheAddHardwareWizard.Tostartthewizard:

1. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,selectthevirtualmachine.

2. ClickInventoryinthenavigationbar.Expandtheinventoryasneeded,andclicktheappropriatevirtualmachine.

3. DisplaytheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogbox.IntheSummarytab,clickEdit Properties.Or,choose Edit > Properties.

4. ClicktheHardwaretab.

5. StarttheAdd HardwareWizard.ClickAdd.

Followthestepsinthewizard.Youcanselecttoaddthefollowingvirtualhardwaretoanexistingvirtualmachine:

• DVD/CD-ROMDrive

• FloppyDrive

• GenericSCSIDevice

• HardDisk

• EthernetAdapter(NIC)

• ParallelPort

• SerialPort

89


14.2.3 Changing virtual Machine options Thevirtualmachinesettingsallowyoudefineactionsthatoccurinvariousvirtualmachinepowerstates.

Changing General Settings 1. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,selectthe

virtualmachine.


3. ChooseEdit > Properties orclickEdit PropertiesfromtheSummarytabtodisplaytheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogbox.

4. ClicktheOptionstabtoviewthegeneraloptions.ClickGeneralintheSettingslist.

5. Ifyouwant,youcanchangethenameofthevirtualmachineintheVirtual machine namefield.Thisdoesnotchangethenameofanyvirtualmachinefilesortheassociateddirectory.

6. Ifyouareupgradingtheguestoperatingsysteminthevirtualmachine,selectthenewguestoperatingsystem.Thischangessomebasicconfigurationsettingstooptimizetheguestoperatingsystem’sperformance.

7. ClickOKtosaveyourchanges.TheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogboxcloses.

Changing Power State Options Tochangethesettingsforactionsthatoccurwhenthepowerstateofavirtualmachinechanges:

1. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,selectthevirtualmachine.


3. DisplaytheVirtualMachinePropertiesdia-logbox.ChooseEdit > PropertiesorclickEdit PropertiesfromtheSummarytab.

4. ClicktheOptionstab.

5. Viewthepoweroptions.ClickPowerintheSettingslist.

6.Thestopbuttononthetoolbarcanbeconfiguredtopoweroffthevirtualmachineorshutdowntheguestoperatingsystem.Theresetbuttononthe

toolbarcanbeconfiguredtoresetthevirtualmachineorrestarttheguestoperatingsystem.ChoosethedesiredactionsinthelistsunderPowerControls.

7. YoucanconfigureVMwareToolsscriptstorunautomaticallywhenyouchangethevirtualmachine’spowerstatebycheckingtheappropriateoptionsunderRun VMware Toolsscripts.

8.ClickOKtosaveyourchanges.TheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogboxcloses.

90


Changing Virtual Machine Resource Settings Youcanmanuallychangeindividualresourcesettingsoryoucanscheduletohavethepriorityforresourceschanged.TheVirtualMachinePropertiesdialogboxprovidesameanstoadjustthehostresourceallocationfortheselectedvirtualmachine.

Eachofthefollowingsectionsdescribesadjustingtheallocationsorprioritiesofthereferencedresource:

• Scheduling a Resource Settings Change—FromhereyoucanusetheschedulertoautomaticallychangetheCPUandmemoryresourceallocationforavirtualmachineduringcertaintimeswhengreaterresourcesareneeded.

• Changing CPU Settings—Thesesettingsallowyoutosetminimumandmaximumprocessorresourcesavailabletothevirtualmachine.Therangeallowsfor100pointsperprocessoravailable,so30wouldbe30%ofasingleprocessorand200wouldenablefulluseofdualprocessors.Sharesrepresentarelativemetricforallocatingprocessorcapacitybetweenvirtualmachines.Schedulingaffinityallowsyoutobindavirtualmachinetoaspecificprocessor.

• Changing Memory Settings—Thesesettingsallowyoutosetminimum,maximumandrelativememoryallocationforavirtualmachine.Minimumrepresentstheminimumamountofmemorythatmustbeavailableinordertopoweronthevirtualmachine.Maximumrepresentstheamountofmemoryallocatedtothevirtualmachinewhenitwasconfigured.Sharesrepresentarelativemetricforallocatingmemorytoallvirtualmachines.SymbolicvaluesLow,Normal,andHigharecomparedtothesumofallsharesofallvirtualmachinesontheserverandtheserviceconsole.Shareallocationsymbolicvaluescanbeusedtoconfiguretheirconversionintonumericvalues.

91


• Changing Disk Settings—Thesesettingallowyoutochangetheresourceallocationsforthediskofavirtualmachine.Selectthedatastore,thenallocateanumberofsharesofitsdiskbandwidthtothevirtualmachine.Ashareisavaluethatrepresentstherelativemetricforcontrollingdiskbandwidthtoallvirtualmachines.ThevaluesLow,Normal,andHigharecomparedtothesumofallsharesofallvirtualmachinesontheserverandtheserviceconsole.Shareallocationsymbolicvaluescanbeusedtoconfiguretheirconversionintonumericvalues.

• Changing Network Settings—Thesesettingallowyoutochangetheparametersofnetworktrafficshaping.Toenabletrafficshaping,checkEnableTrafficShapingandthendefinenetworktrafficparameters.YoucanselecttospecifytheAverageBandwidth,thePeakBandwidthandtheBurstSizeineitherMegabitspersecond(Mbps),Kilobitspersecond(Kbps),orbitspersecond(bps).

92


14.3 scheduling tasks Youcancreatescheduledtaskstoautomaticallyperformoperationsatspecifiedtimesandconfigurethetaskstooccuronceorroutinely.Youcanapplytaskstogroups,farms,orindividualvirtualmachines.TheScheduledTaskspanellistsallplannedforanduser-definedactionswithintheVirtualCenterenvironment.Youcancreate,modify,orremovetasks,asneeded.

CreateascheduledtaskthroughtheNewTaskWizard,whichdisplaystheavailabletaskoptionssuchas:

• Deployavirtualmachinefromatemplate

• Cloneanexistingvirtualmachine

• Changethepowerstateofavirtualmachine

• Migrateavirtualmachine

• MigrateavirtualmachinewithVMotion

• Changeresourcesettingsofavirtualmachine

Afteryouselectanoption,thewizarddisplaysthescreensthatarerelevanttothetypeoftaskyouarescheduling.TheNewTaskWizardendswhenyousetthetimingofthetask.Youcanrescheduletasks.

Ifthedirectionsofmanuallydrivenandscheduledactivitiesconflict,VirtualCenterperformswhicheveractivityisduefirst.Ifavirtualmachineisinanincorrectstatetoperformanyactivity,manualorscheduled,VirtualCentersendsamessagetotheloganddoesnotperformthetask.

Whenyoucreateascheduledtask,VirtualCenterverifiesthatyouhavethecorrectpermissionstoperformtheactionsontherelevantfarms,hosts,andvirtualmachines.Oncethetaskiscreated,thetaskisper-formedevenifyounolongerhavepermissiontoperformthetask.

WhenanobjectisremovedfromVirtualCenter,allassociatedtasksarealsoremoved.Eventsareloggedtotheeventlogatstartandcompletionofthetasks.Anyerrorsthatoccurduringthetaskarealsorecordedintheeventlog.

Performthefollowingstepstoscheduleataskforavirtualmachine.Thisexampleshutsdownaserverat2amdailyforafullbackupandasecondscheduledtaskcanrestarttheserverafterthebackupwindowhaspassed.

1. ChooseFile > New > Scheduled Task fromtheVirtualCenterclientmenu.

2. ConfirmcontinuingwiththeNewTaskWizard.ClickNext.

3. SelecttoChange the power status of a virtual machine.ClickNext.

93


4. SelectthePowerOperationShutdownfromtheoptions.ClickNext.

5. Choosewhichvirtualmachinethescheduledtaskappliesto.ClickNext.

6.Choosethetimewhenthistaskwillrun.Thistaskcaneitherrunonceorrecuratregularintervals.SelectaDailyintervalat2:00 am.ClickNext.

7. ClickFinishtocompletetheNewTaskWizard.Youcanoptionallyselecttoreceiveanemailwhenthistaskcompletes.Tocompletethisexample,youcancreateasecondscheduledtaskthatPowers onthevirtualmachineeverydayat2:30amoncethebackupiscomplete.

94


14.4 using Events and alarmsAneventisanyactionthatisofinteresttoVirtualCenter.EacheventtriggersaneventmessagethatisloggedintheVirtualCenterdatabase.Youcanvieweventmessagesfromtwolocations:

• TheEventsoptioninthenavigationbardisplaysalleventsthathaveoccurredontheVirtualCenterserver.

• AnEvents tabforanyobjectundertheInventorybutton.TheseEventstablistingsshowonlytheeventsthatoccurredonortotheselectedfarm,host,orvirtualmachine.

Themostrecenteventsappearattheendofascrollablelist.Messagesareidentifiedbytype:

• Information

• Error

• Warning

Messagesarealsocolor-coded.Ashortenedeventmessageappearsinthedescriptionportionofthepanel.AmoredetailedversionofaselectedeventmessageappearsintheEventDetailsportionofthepanel.Typically,theEventDetailentryindicatesthehostorvirtualmachineonwhichtheeventoccurredanddescribestheactionthatoccurred.Theobjectoftheeventisalinktotheobject’sindividualeventpage.

VirtualCenterallowsyoutosortandfilterVirtualCentereventsusingthetextsearchstringfieldintheupperrightcorneroftheEventstab.Youcanalsoexporteventsusingthe File > Export EventsoptionintheVirtualCentermenu.

Alarmsarepreconfiguredactionsthatcanbetriggeredwhenselectedeventsoccur.YoucanapplyalarmstoanyVirtualCenterobjectandview,modify,andremoveanexistingalarmthroughtheAlarmstaboftheobjectwherethealarmwasdefined.ThescreenshotbelowdisplaysthedefaultalarmscreatedforeachESXServerhost.

95


YoucancreateadditionalalarmsbyrightclickingonthetargethostorvirtualmachineandselectingNewAlarm.TheavailabletriggersmonitorCPUusage,memoryusage,heartbeatandstateandtrackthemwithinthresholdsthatcategorizethemasGreen,YelloworRed.Whenatriggerchangesfromonecolortoanother,youcanselecttoautomateanactionsuchassendinganemail,sendinganotificationtrap,runningascriptandsuspending/poweringoff/resettingthevirtualmachine.

96


15. Configuring an EsX viN to use a storage area NetworkUpuntilnow,allevaluationactivitieshaveusedthelocalVMFSstorageontheESXServer.ThisnextchapterwillwalkyouthroughsettingupyourESXServertostoreandrunvirtualmachinesfromaLUNonasharedstorageareanetwork.ESXServersupportsQLogicandEmulexHBAs(hostbusadapters),whichallowanESXServercomputertobeconnectedtoaSANandtoseetheavailablediskarrays.Thesestepsassumeyouhaveasupportedstoragesystem,asupportedFibreChannelswitch,andthatthereisatleastoneFibreChannelHBAineachserver.Ifyoudon’thavesufficienthardwareavailable,youcanstillreadthroughthissectiontogainanunderstandingofhowSANsareusedbythevirtualinfrastructure.

UsetheStorage ManagementoptionintheESXServerMUItomanageyourstorageareanetworkandattachedstoragedevicesforyourESXServersystemanditsvirtualmachines.BecausemultipleESXServerscanpotentiallyaccessthedisksontheSANsconcurrently,therearesomeconfigurationissuesthatareuniquetoSANs.TheSCSIconfigurationinformationcontainedinthissectionalsoappliestoFibreChanneladapters,butnotethatFCadaptersmayrequireadditionalconfigurationaswell.ForinformationonsupportedSANhardware,downloadtheVMwareESXServerSANCompatibilityGuidefromtheVMwareWebsiteathttp://www.vmware.com/support/resources/esx_resources.html.

Understanding Storage ArraysLargestoragesystems(alsoknownasdiskarrays)combinenumerousdisksintoarraysforavailabilityandperformance.Typically,acollectionofdisksisgroupedintoaRedundantArrayofInexpensiveDisks(RAID)arraytoprotectthedatabyeliminatingdiskdrivesasapotentialsinglepointoffailure.DiskarrayscarvethestorageRAIDsetintologicalunits(LUNs)thatarepresentedtotheserverinamannersimilartoanindependentsingledisk.Typically,LUNsarefewinnumber,relativelylarge,andfixedinsize.YoucancreateLUNswiththestoragemanagementapplicationofyourdiskarray.

ESX Server can Run Virtual Machines from SANs and Optionally Boot from SANsWithESXServer2.5,youcaninstallthesystemonaSANversuslocaldisksandbootfromtheSAN.ThisoptionalruntimeconfigurationisidealfordisklessbladeserversandisfurtherdescribedintheVMwareSANConfigurationGuide.IfyouarenotinstallingESXServersothatitcanbebootedfromaSAN,werecommendthatallFibreChanneladaptersbededicatedexclusivelyforthevirtualmachines.

97


ConfirmthatyourHBAisassignedonlytovirtualmachinesandnotsharedwiththeServiceConsole.ThiswasaconfigurationoptionduringresourceallocationintheESXServerinstallation.Right-clickontheESXServerHostinVirtualCenterandselectEdit Configuration.ThiswillopentheVMwareManagementInterfacefortheESXServer.

SelecttheOptionstabandopentheStartup Profiledialog.ScrolldowntoyourfiberstoragecontrollergroupandensurethecontrollerisnotShared with Service Console.Ifitis,deselecttheoption,applythechange,andrebootthesystemtoimplementthechange.

Configure VMkernel Options for Your SAN (Advanced Settings)WhenyouinstalltheVMwareESXServer,varioussystemparametersareassignedpredeterminedvalues.Theseparameterscontrolsettingsformemory,theprocessorandnetworking,forexample,andaffecttherunningofvirtualmachines.YoucanviewthesesettingsfromtheESXServermanagementinterface.InordertouseallstoragedevicesonyourSAN,youmayneedtochangesomeVMkernelconfigurationoptionsasdescribedbelow.Caution:YoushouldnotmakeanychangestothesesettingsunlessyouareworkingwiththeVMwaresupportteamorotherwisehavethoroughinformationaboutwhatvaluesyoushouldprovideforthem.SomeconfigurationsettingsshownonthispagearedescribedintheESXServermanualandmaybechangedasdescribedinthemanual.Inmostcases,however,youshouldnotmodifythesesettingsunlessthisevaluationguideoraVMwaretechnicalsupportengineersuggeststhatyoudoso.

Tomakethesechanges,completethefollowingsteps.

1. LogintotheVMwareManagementInterfaceasroot.TheStatusMonitorpageappears.NotethatyoumustbeloggedintotheESXServerasrootfortheOptionstabtobeavailable,

2. ClicktheOptionstabandtheAdvanced Settingsoption.

3. Ingeneral,tochangethesettingforaVMkernelconfigurationparameter,clickthelinkforthevalue.TheUpdate VMkernel ParameterwindowopensontopoftheVMwareManagementInterfacewindow.IntheValueentryfield,typethevaluefortheparameterandclickOK.ThewindowclosesandtheupdatedparameterappearsontheAdvancedSettingspage.

98


4. Bydefault,theVMkernelscansforonlyLUN0toLUN7foreverytarget.IfyouareusingLUNnumberslargerthan7youmustchangethesettingfortheDiskMaxLUNfieldfromthedefaultof8tothevaluethatyouneed.Forexample,ifyounowhaveLUNnumbers0to27active,setthisoptionto28.Currently,anESXServermachinecanseeamaximumof128LUNsoveralldiskarraysonaSAN.

5. Bydefault,theVMkernelisconfiguredtosupportsparseLUNs—thatis,acasewheresomeLUNsintherange0toN-1arenotpresent,butLUNNispresent.ConfirmthattheDiskSupportSparseLUNfieldissetto1.ThisincreasesthetimeneededtoscanforLUNsbutenablestheESXServertofindsparseLUNs.

6.TheDiskMaskLUNsconfigurationoptionallowsthemaskingofspecificLUNsonspecificHBAs.MaskedLUNsarenottouchedoraccessiblebytheVMkernel,evenduringinitialscanning.Thisoptiontakesastringcomprisedoftheadaptername,targetIDandcomma-separatedrangelistofLUNstomask.Theformatisasfollows:

<adapter>:<target>:<comma_separated_LUN_range_list>;

Forexample,ifyouwanttomaskLUNs0-20and27-255onvmhba1target0.Toaccomplishthis,settheDiskMaskLUNsoptiontothefollowing:vmhba1:0:0-20,27-255;

NotethatLUN0cannotbemasked.TheDiskMaskLUNsoptionoverridestheDiskMaxLUNoptionforadaptersthathaveaLUNmask.Inotherwords,continuingtheprecedingexample,therearefouradapters,vmhba0,vmhba1,vmhba2,andvmhba3,andtheDiskMaxLUNoptionissetto28.Inthisexample,vmhba0,vmhba2andvmhba3onlyscanLUNs0-27,butvmhba1scansallLUNsthatarenotmasked,uptoLUN255,orthemaximumLUNsettingreportedbytheadapter,whicheverisless.Foradministrativeorsecuritypurposes,youcanuseLUNmaskingtopreventtheserverfromseeingLUNsthatitdoesn’tneedtoaccess.Refertoyourdocumentationondiskarraysformoreinformation.

Insummary,tousethemostopenconfigurationthatshoulddisplayallavailableLUNs,settheDiskSupportSparseLUNto1,settheDiskMaxLUNto255orashighasyourSANisconfiguredtosupport,andleavetheDiskMaskLUNstoanemptystringtodisableLUNmasking.

99


Scan for Devices and LUNs Available to ESX ServerNext,youcanmanuallyinitiateascanthroughtheVMwareManagementInterfacebyselectingtoRescanSANfromtheStorageManagementwindow.ESXServerscansfordevices,andLUNsonthesedevices,wheneveraFibreChanneldriverisloaded.YoumaywanttorescandevicesorLUNswheneveryouaddanewdiskarraytotheSAN,createnewLUNsonadiskarray,orchangetheLUNmaskingonadiskarray.Youcanalsousethecos-rescan.shcommandsimplybyenteringthecommandatashellprompt.

Create a Disk Partition on the Target LUNTheDisksandLUNSwindowallowsyoutoviewandmodifytheparti-tionsandfilesystemsonyourdisks.YoucancreatediskpartitionsthatusetheVMFSfilesystem,suitableforstoringdisksforvirtualmachines.Youcanalsoedit,labelandremoveexistingpartitions.WhenyoueditaVMFSpartition,youcanchangethevolumelabel,maximumfilesize,accessmodeandwhetheryouwanttospanthepartitionacrossmultipleLUNs.YoucanuseanyexistingfreespaceonyourVMFSvolumestocreatenewdiskpartitions.NotethatyoucannotchangeanypartitionssetupwhenyouinstalledESXServer.TheseincludeanyvolumeswithaLinuxfilesystemorthatareusedforLinuxswapspace.BesurethatonlyoneESXServersystemhasaccesstotheSANwhileyouareusingtheVMwareManagementInterfacetoconfiguretheSANandformattheVMFS-2volumes.

TocreateanewVMFS-2partitionforhostingvirtualmachines,completethefollowingsteps.

1. IntheDisksandLUNswindow,clickCreate Volumetotherightoftheunpartitioneddisk.

2. Youareaskedhowyouprefertoconfigurethedisk.ClickTypical.

100


3. NextenterauniquelabelforthenewVMFSvolume.ClickOKtocreatethevolume.

4. Afteryoucreatetheparti-tion,youwillseeitinthelistofvolumesavailabletotheESXServer.Toeditanexistingdiskpartition,selectthepartitionandclickEdit.

5. TheEditVolumewindowappears,allowingyoutoeditthevolumelabel,changetheaccessmode,setthemaximumfilesizeandspanthediskwithanypublicextents.Afteryouhavefinishedtheconfiguration,besurethatallpartitionsonthephysicallysharedSANdiskaresetforpublicorsharedaccessforaccessbymultipleESXServersystems.TherearetwomodesforaccessingVMFSvolumes:publicandshared.

• Public—ThisisthedefaultandrecommendedmodeforESXServer.WithpublicVMFSversion2(VMFS-2)volumes,multipleESXServercomputersandtheirhostedvirtualmachinescanaccesstheVMwareESXServerfilesystemconcurrently.VMwareESXServerfilesystemswithapublicmodehaveautomaticlockingtoensurefilesystemconsistency.

• Shared—UsedforaVMFSvolumethatisusedforfailover-basedclusteringamongvirtualmachinesonthesameordifferentESXServers.FormoreinformationonclusteringwithESXServer,seeConfigurationforClusteringintheESXAdministrator’sGuide.

101


Troubleshooting SAN Issues with ESX ServerYoucanviewLUNsthroughtheVMwareManagementInterfaceorviewingtheoutputof

ls /proc/vmware/scsi/<FC_SCSI_adapter>fromtheServiceConsole.Iftheoutputdiffersfromwhatyouexpect,thencheckthefollowing:

1. DiskMaxLUN—ThemaximumnumberofLUNspervmhbathatarescannedbyESXServer.YoucanviewandsetthisoptionthroughtheVMwareManagementInterface(AdvancedSettingsintheOptionspage)orbyviewingthissettingthrough/proc/vmware/config/DiskintheServiceConsole.

2. DiskSupportSparseLUN—Ifthisoptionison,thenESXServerscanspastanymissingLUNs.Ifthisoptionisoff,ESXServerstopsscanningforLUNsifanyLUNismissing.YoucanviewandsetthisoptionthroughtheVMwareManagementInterface(AdvancedSettingsintheOptionspage)orbyviewingthissettingthrough/proc/vmware/config/DiskintheServiceConsole.

3. LUNmasking—WithLUNmasking,eachLUNisexclusivelyassignedandaccessedbyaspecificlistofconnections.BesurethatLUNmaskingisimplementedproperlyandthattheLUNsarevisibletotheHBAsonESXServer.

4. Zoning—Zoninglimitsaccesstospecificstoragedevicesandincreasessecurityanddecreasestrafficoverthenetwork.Ifyouusezoning,besurethatzoningontheSANswitchissetupproperlyandthatallvmhbaandthecontrollersofthediskarrayareinthesamezone.

5. Storagecontroller—Ifadiskarrayhasmorethanonestoragecontroller,thenmakesurethattheSANswitchhasaconnectiontothecontrollerthatownstheLUNsyouwishtoaccess.Onsomediskarrays,onlyonecontrolleris“active”andtheothercontrolleris“passive”untilthereisafailure.Ifyouarecon-nectedtothewrongcontroller,thenyoumaynotseetheexpectedLUNs,oryoumayseetheLUNs,butmaygeterrorswhentryingtoaccessthem.

OnceyouhavesuccessfullyconfiguredtheESXServerforaccesstosharedLUNsontheSAN,theseadditionaldatastoreswillshowupalongwithavailablelocaldisksintheDatastoressectionoftheSummarytabfortheselectedhostserverwithintheVirtualCenterclient.Youcancreatenewvirtualmachines,deployvirtualmachinesfromtemplatesandcloneexistingvirtualmachinesontothesenewSANdatastoresjustasthoughtheywerelocalSCSIdisks.

102


16. Migrating virtual Machines across EsX serversMigrationistheactofmovingavirtualmachinefromonemanagedhosttoanother.NotethatinordertodemonstratemigrationofvirtualmachinesacrossESXServers,youwillneedtorepeatthestepsinChapter10toinstallasecondESXServerandChapter15toconfigureitsaccesstosharedSANLUNs.Ifyoudon’thavesufficienthardwaretosetupasecondserver,youcanstillreadthroughthissectiontogainanunderstandingofhowvirtualmachinescanbedynamicallyandseamlesslyrelocatedwithinthevirtualinfrastructure.

‘Cold’ Migration—Movingapoweredoffvirtualmachinebetweenmanagedhostsonafarm.Thefiguretotheleftillustratestheprocessformigratingapoweredoffvirtualmachinefromonemanagedhosttoanother.NotethatcoldmigrationofvirtualmachinescanoccurbetweenESXServersandGSXServersanddoesnotrequiretheserverhoststoshareaSAN.

‘Hot’ Migration with VMotion—Movingapoweredonvirtualmachinebetweenmanagedhostsinaserverfarm.Movingapowered-onvirtualmachineallowsthevirtualmachinetocontinueperformingtransactionswithoutinterruption.ThisfunctionrequiresactivationofVMotiononboththesourceandtargethost.ThefiguretotheleftillustratesmigratingapoweredonvirtualmachinefromonemanagedhosttoanotherusingVMotion.

TheVirtualCenterMigrationWizardwillautomaticallyperformacoldmigrationontheselectedvirtualmachineifitispoweredoff,andahotmigrationontheselectedvirtualmachineifitispoweredonandVMotionisenabled.

103


16.1 Migrate a Powered-off virtual Machine to another Host using the saNOnceyouhavesuccessfullyconfiguredaccesstotheStorageAreaNetworkontheESXServer,youcannowhostvirtualmachinesontheESXServerthatutilizetheSANserverratherthanthelocalSCSIdiskforstorage.RunningvirtualmachinesfromsharedSANstorageenablesVMotionhotmigrationsandgreatlyincreasesdatacenterflexibilityandfaulttolerance.

Atthispoint,youcanchoosetocreateanewvirtualmachineontheSAN,deployanexistingtemplatetotheSAN,cloneanexistingvirtualmachinetotheSANorcoldmigrateanexistingvirtualmachinetotheSAN.TheonlystepdifferentinplacingavirtualmachineontheSANistoselecttodeploythevirtualmachinetotheSANratherthantoalocalVMFSpartitionwhenprompted.Ascoldmigrationistheonlyoptionnotyetdemonstrated,usecoldmigrationtomoveavirtualmachinetoadifferentESXServerwhilemovingthevirtualmachinestoragefromlocaldisktosharedSANstorage.

Performthefollowingstepstomigrateapowered-offvirtualmachinefromthelocaldiskofoneESXServertothesharedSANstorageofanotherESXServer:

1. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,viewtheinventorypaneltodisplaytheavailablevirtualmachines.Shutdownthevirtualmachineifitisrunning.Right-clickonthedesiredvirtualmachineandselecttheMigrateoptiontostarttheMigrationWizard.ConfirmtheMigrationWizard.ClickNext.

2. Selectthetargetdestinationhostforthevirtualmachine.ClickNext.

3. SelectthesharedLUNdatastoreforthevirtualmachineratherthanalocalSCSIdisk.ClickNext.

104


4. Completethewizard.ClickFinish.VirtualCentermovesthevirtualmachineandvirtualdiskstothenewESXServerhostanddatastorelocation.EventmessagesappearintheEventstab.ThedatadisplayedontheSummaryandTaskstabshowsthestatusandstatethroughoutthemigration.

16.2 Migrate a Powered-on virtual Machine to another Host using the saN (vMotion)VMotionallowsworkingprocessestocontinuethroughoutamigrationwithVMotion.TheentirestateofthevirtualmachineaswellasitsconfigurationfileismovedtothenewhostevenwhilethedatastorageremainsinthesamelocationontheSAN.TheassociatedvirtualdiskremainsinthesamelocationontheSANstoragethatissharedbetweenthetwohosts.Oncetheconfigurationfileismigratedtothealternatehost,thevirtualmachineisthenrunonthenewhost.

Thestateinformationincludesthecurrentmemorycontentandalltheinformationthatdefinesandiden-tifiesthevirtualmachine.Thememorycontentincludestransactiondataandwhateverbitsoftheoperat-ingsystemandapplicationsareinthememory.Thedefiningandidentificationinformationstoredinthestateincludesallthedatathatmapstothevirtualmachinehardwareelements,suchasBIOS,devices,CPU,MACaddressesfortheEthernetcards,chipsetstates,registers,andsoforth.MigrationwithVMotionhappensinthreestages:

1. Whenthemigra-tionwithVMotionisrequested,VirtualCenterveri-fiesthattheexistingvirtualmachineisinastablestatewithitscurrenthost.

2. Thevirtualmachinestateinformation,thatis,memory,registers,networkconnections,iscopiedtothetargethost.

3. Thevirtualmachineresumesitsactivitiesonthenewhost.

105


Understanding VMotion RequirementsTheESXServerhostsyouareplanningtomigratebetweenmustmeetthefollowingrequirements:

• Shared SAN—ThesourceandtargethostsmustshareaSANwithapublicmodeVMFSpartitionthatcontainsthevirtualmachinetobemigrated.EnsurethatallVMFSvolumesonyourmanagedhostsusevolumenames,andthatthevirtualmachinesusethevolumenamesforspecifyingthevirtualdisks.

• Compatible Processors—Ensurethatthesourceanddestinationhostshaveacompatiblesetofpro-cessors.SinceVMotiontransferstherunningarchitecturalstateofavirtualmachinebetweenunderly-ingVMwareESXServers,VMotioncompatibilitymeansthattheCPUsofthetargethostmustbeabletoresumeexecutionusingtheequivalentinstructionswheretheCPUsofsourcehostweresuspended.CPUclockspeedsandcachesizesmayvary,butinorderfortwoprocessorstobecompatibleformigrationwithVMotion,theymustsatisfythefollowingconstraints:

o Samevendorclass(Intelvs.AMD)

o Sameprocessorfamily(ProcessorfamiliessuchasXeonMPandOpteronaredefinedbytheCPUvendors,anddifferentversionswithinthesameprocessorfamilycanbedistinguishedbycomparingaCPU’smodel,steppinglevel,andextendedfeatures.InmostcasesdifferentCPUversionswithinthesamefamilyaresimilarenoughtomaintaincompatibility.)

• Local Virtual Machine Configuration File—ThevirtualmachineconfigurationfileshouldnotresideonaVMFSlocatedontheshareddatastore.

• No Clustered Applications, Raw or Undoable Disks—VMotiondoesnotcurrentlysupportthemigrationofclusteredapplicationsorraworundoablevirtualdisks.Ifyouhaveclusteredapplicationsorraworundoabledisks,storethedisksonseparateVMFSvolumesfromthevirtualmachinesyouplantomigrateusingVMotion.

• Dedicated Gigabit Ethernet Network—VMotionrequiresthesetupofaprivate,GigabitEthernetmigrationnetworkbetweenalloftheVMotion-enabledmanagedhosts.WhenVMotionisenabledonamanagedhost,configureauniquenetworkidentityobjectforthemanagedhostandconnectittotheprivatemigrationnetwork.

ProvidedyouhaveasharedSANwithcompatibleserverprocessorsandthededicatedEthernetNetwork,theconfigurationdescribedinthisevaluationguideshouldensuretheserequirementsaremet.

Enabling VMotion for an ESX Server HostYoumustenableVMotiononboththetargetandthesourcehosttosupportmigrationwithVMotion.

106


To enable a host for VMotion: 1. ThehostneedstohavetheevaluationVMotionlicensesentered.Thiswaslikelyperformedwhen

VirtualCenterwasinstalledandthelicensekeyfilewascreatedandentered.

2. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,displaytheinventorypaneltoviewthehost.t

3. ClicktheInventoryoptioninthenavigationbar.Expandtheinventoryasneeded,right-clickthedesiredhostandselectPropertiestodisplaytheHostPropertiesdialogbox.

4. ToenableVMotion,selecttheVMotiontabandclickYes.TheremainderofthisconfigurationistheinformationfortheVMotionmigrationnetwork,includingwhichNICituses,anditsIPaddressandgateway.Themigrationnetworkispreferablyitsownseparatenetwork.SelecttheNetwork Label,whichislikelyVMotionifthatwaswhatyoulabeledthevirtualswitchduringthevirtualmachine’sconfiguration.EnteranyIP AddressthatshouldbevalidandavailableonthemigrationnetworkconnectingtheESXServerhosts.IntheGatewayaddressfield,youwouldtypicallyenterthestaticIPaddressofanetworkgateway.Forthisexampledeployment,youcanduplicatetheVMotionIPaddressintheGatewayfield.ClickOK.

107


Moving Powered-On Virtual Machines with VMotionTodemonstratetheseamlessserver-to-servermigrationofarunningvirtualmachine,youcanselecttohaveanytypeofapplicationsrunningonthevirtualmachinefromadatabaseservertoavideoclient.Inthisexample,avideoisstreamingfromtheInternettoalocalbrowserontheserverandyoucanwatchthevideoconsistentlyontheconsoleevenasthehardwareisexchangedoutfromunderthevirtualmachine.

Tomanuallymigrateapowered-onvirtualmachine:

1. DisconnectanyremoteconsolesthatareexternaltoVirtualCenterandconnectedtothevirtualmachineyouaremigrating.Themigrationwillnotcompleteuntilexternalremoteconsolesarediscon-nected.Also,disconnectanyperipheraldevicesconnectedtothevirtualmachine.

2. FromtheVirtualCenterclient,displaytheinventorypaneltoviewthevirtualmachine.ClicktheInventoryoptioninthenavigationbar.Expandtheinventoryasneeded,andselectthevirtualmachinetomove.

3. ViewtheSummarytabofboththesourceandtargetESXServerhoststoensurethattheyareVMotion-enabledandusingthesameSAN.ChecktheVMotion Enabled fieldandtheDatastoressection.TheVMotion EnabledfieldshouldsayYes.Datastoresonbothhostsshouldlistthesameshareddatastorethatcontainsthevirtualmachinetomigrate.

4. ClickontheConsoletabtoviewthedesktopandconfirmthatthevirtualmachineisrunning.Selecttostartthevirtualmachineifitisnotrunning.Right-clickonthedesiredvirtualmachineandselectMigratetostarttheMigrationWizard

108


5. Alternately,youcandraganddropthevirtualmachineontothetargethosttostarttheMigrationWizard.ConfirmtheMigrationWizard.ClickNext.

5. Ifyoudidnotusedraganddroptoidentifythedestinationhostinadvance,theDestinationHostwindowwillappearnext.Selectthetargetdestinationhostforthevirtualmachine.ClickNext.

6.Selectthemigrationprioritylevel.SetthepriorityofthemigrationtoensurethatsufficientCPUresourcesareavailableonboththesourceandtargethoststoperformthemigration.ClicktheappropriatebuttonandclickNext.

7. ConfirmthemigrationwithVMotionWizard.ClickFinish.VirtualCentermovestheselectedvirtualmachinefromtheoriginalhosttothetargethost.Thevirtualdisksremaininthesamelocationontheshareddatastore,theIPaddressofthevirtualmachineremainsthesame,butthevirtualmachineisnowhostedonadifferentserver.

109


17. application Functional testing and load testingWithanESXServerVirtualInfrastructureNodeinstalledandbeingmanagedbyVirtualCenter,yourevaluationatthispointisself-directed.Youcould,forexample,recreatesomeoftheproductionsystemsinyourITinfrastructureontooneboxtotesttheirrelativeperformanceindividuallyandunderconsolidatedload.

Withanyofthesevirtualmachines,youcanclickthroughthefullmenustructureofVirtualCenterandtestouttheotherconfigurationpropertiesandactionsavailable.Keepinmindthatyoucanrefertothefulluser’sguidesforESX ServerandVirtualCenterformoreinformationortosupportevaluationstepsnotaddressedinthisguide.

Recallthatvirtualmachinesforevaluationcanbecreatedfromscratch,clonedfromexistingphysicalserversusingP2VAssistant,andinstalledfromtemplatesavailablefrom3rdpartyvendorsthroughtheVMTNprogram.

18. summaryVMwareisthemarketleaderindatacenterservervirtualizationforthex86platform.ESXServeristheVMwareflagshipvirtualizationplatformsoftwareforpartitioningandconsolidatingsystemsinthemostdemandingenvironments.ESXServerisindustryproven,wellaheadofanyothervirtualmachinesoftwareinprovidinghighperformance,scalability,availability,manageability,andsupport.ESXServerprovidesrobustresourcemanagement,allowingworkloadstobedynamicallyreconfiguredbasedonbusinessneeds.ESXServerisproventoreducehardwareandoperationalcostswhilegreatlyreducingthetimerequiredtoprovisionanddeploynewservers.

VirtualCenterprovidesyourentireITadministrativeteamwithoneplacetodeterminethestatusofyourvirtualinfrastructureandtheoverallsystemutilizationofyourcomputingresources.Itgivesusersthetoolstheyneedtoanalyzeandbetterdeterminewhichvirtualmachinesrequireresourceadjustments,sotheywillperformoptimally.ThisproductprovidesITstaffswithtremendousflexibilityinmanagingandconsolidatingapplicationworkloads.VirtualCenterisanecessityformanagingvirtualinfrastructureandakeybuildingblocktoenableutilitycomputing.

110


19. glossary Alarms—Anentitythatmonitorsoneormorepropertiesofavirtualmachine,suchasCPUload.Alarmsusegreen,red,andyellowcolor-codingissuenotificationsasdirectedbytheconfigurablealarmdefinition.

Allocated disk—Atypeofvirtualdiskwherealldiskspaceforthevirtualmachineisallocatedatthetimethediskiscreated.ThisisthedefaulttypeofvirtualdiskcreatedbyVirtualCenter.Thealternativetoanallocateddiskisarawdisk.

Clone—Theprocessofmakingacopyofavirtualmachine.Thisprocessincludestheoptiontocustomizetheguestoperatingsystemofthenewvirtualmachine.Whenacloneiscreated,VirtualCenterprovidesanoptiontocustomizetheguestoperatingsystemofthatvirtualmachine.Clonescanbestoredonanyhostwithinthesamefarmastheoriginalvirtualmachine.

Configuration—SeeVirtualmachineconfigurationfile.

Console—SeeVMwareVirtualMachineConsole.

Custom networking—Anytypeofnetworkconnectionbetweenvirtualmachinesandthehostthatdoesnotusethedefaultbridged,host-onlyornetworkaddresstranslation(NAT)networkingconfigurations.Forinstance,differentvirtualmachinescanbeconnectedtothehostbyseparatenetworksorconnectedtoeachotherandnottothehost.Anynetworktopologyispossible.

Customization—Theprocessofcustomizingaguestoperatingsysteminavirtualmachineasitisbeingeitherdeployedfromatemplateorclonedfromanotherexistingvirtualmachine.Customizationoptionsincludechangingthenewvirtualmachineidentificationandnetworkinformation.

Datastore—Thestoragelocationsforthevirtualmachinefiles.

Drag and drop—AfeatureofVMwareVirtualCenterthatallowsyoutomovevirtualmachineseasilybetweengroups.

Events—AmessagerecordofVirtualCenteractivities.ThroughtheNavigationoptionalltheeventsaredisplayed.Throughanobjectspecificpanel,onlyeventsrelativetothatobjectaredisplayed.

Farm—ArequiredstructureunderwhichhostsandtheirassociatedvirtualmachinesareaddedtotheVirtualCenterserver.VirtualCenterserversupportsmultiplefarms.Ahostcanbemanagedonlyunderonefarm.

Farm groups—Anoptionalgroupingstructure,itiscontainedwithintheServerFarmsstructure.TheVirtualCenterserversupportsmultiplefarmgroups.Farmgroupscancontainotherfarmgroupsandfarms.

Guest operating system—Anoperatingsystemthatrunsinsideavirtualmachine.

Headless—Aprogramorapplicationthatrunsinthebackgroundwithoutanyinterfaceconnectedtoit.Arunningvirtualmachinethathasnoconsolesconnectedtoitisrunningheadless.

Host—ThephysicalcomputeronwhichtheVirtualCentervirtualmachinesareinstalled.

Host-only networking—Atypeofnetworkconnectionbetweenavirtualmachineandthehost.Underhost-onlynetworking,avirtualmachineisconnectedtothehostonaprivatenetwork,whichnormallyisnotvisibleoutsidethehost.Multiplevirtualmachinesconfiguredwithhost-onlynetworkingonthesamehostareonthesamenetwork.

111


Inventory—ProvidesaviewofallthemonitoredobjectsinVirtualCenter.Monitoredobjectsinclude:ServerFarms,farms,farmgroups,hosts,virtualmachines,andvirtualmachinegroups.

Migration—Coldmigrationmovesapoweredoffvirtualmachinebetweenhosts.Hotmigration(VMotion)movesapoweredonvirtualmachinebetweenhosts.

Migration with VMotion—Movingavirtualmachinethatispoweredonandhasmetselectedrequirements,includingtheactivationofVMotiononboththesourceandtargethost.WhenamigrationwithVMotionisperformed,theoperationsofthevirtualmachinecancontinuewithoutinterruption.

New Virtual Machine Wizard—Apoint-and-clickinterfaceforconvenient,easycreationofavirtualmachineconfiguration.Itpromptsyouforinformation,suggestingdefaultvaluesinmostcases.Itcreatesfilesthatdefinethevirtualmachine,includingavirtualmachineconfigurationfileand(optionally)avirtualdiskfile.

Nonpersistent disk mode—Ifyouconfigureavirtualdiskinnonpersistentmode,alldiskwritesissuedbysoftwarerunninginsideavirtualmachineappeartobewrittentodiskbutareinfactdiscardedafterthevirtualmachineispoweredoff.Asaresult,avirtualdiskinnonpersistentmodeisnotmodifiedbythevirtualmachine.

Persistent disk mode—Ifyouconfigureavirtualdiskinpersistentmode,alldiskwritesissuedbysoft-warerunninginsideavirtualmachineareimmediatelyandpermanentlywrittentothevirtualdisk.Asaresult,avirtualdiskinpersistentmodebehaveslikeaconventionaldiskdriveonaphysicalcomputer.

Read Only User—Arolewheretheuserisallowedtoviewtheinventorybutnotallowedtoperformanytasks.

Redo log—hefilethatstoresthechangesmadetoadiskinundoableornonpersistentmode.Youcanpermanentlyapplythechangessavedintheredologtoadiskinundoablemodesotheybecomepartofthemaindiskfiles.Foradiskinnonpersistentmode,however,theredo-logfileisdeletedwhenyoupowerofforresetthevirtualmachinewithoutwritinganychangestothedisk.

Resume—Returnavirtualmachinetooperationfromitssuspendedstate.Whenyouresumeasuspendedvirtualmachine,allapplicationsareinthesamestatetheywerewhenthevirtualmachinewassuspended.

Role—AVirtualCenterpre-definedsetofaccessrightsandprivileges.Therearefourroles;eachsubsequentroleincludestheprivilegesofthelesserrole.

Scheduled Tasks—AVirtualCenteractivitythatisconfiguredtooccuratdesignatedtimes.TheTaskspaneldisplaysalistofandameanstoscheduleselectedactivities.

Server Farms—Thetop-levelstructurefortheVirtualCenterserver.ThereisonlyoneServerFarmsperVirtualCenterserver.

Suspend—Savethecurrentstateofarunningvirtualmachine.Toreturnasuspendedvirtualmachinetooperation,usetheresumefeature.

Template—Agoldenimageofavirtualmachine.Thistypicallyincludesaspecifiedoperatingsystemandconfigurationthatprovidesvirtualcounterpartstohardwarecomponents.Optionally,atemplatecanincludeaninstalledguestoperatingsystemandasetofapplications.TemplatesareusedbyVirtualCentertocreatenewvirtualmachines.

112


Template upload directory—AtemplateuploaddirectoryislocatedontheVirtualCenterservermachine.Acopyoftheoriginalvirtualmachinevirtualdisksisplacedinthedirectoryyouspecifyasthetemplateuploaddirectory.Thisistypicallyusedforcreatingtemplatesfromnon-ESXServerorGSXServervirtualmachinesthatarestoredlocallytotheVirtualCenterserver.

Templates—Providesalistofandameanstoimportvirtualmachinesandstorethemastemplatesfordeployingatalatertimetocreatenewvirtualmachines.

Undoable disk mode—Ifyouconfigureavirtualdiskinundoablemode,alldiskwritesissuedbysoft-warerunninginsideavirtualmachineappeartobewrittentodiskbutareinfactwrittentoaredologthatcanlaterbecommittedordiscarded.Undoablediskmodeallowsoptionaldatacommits,whereasNonpersistentdiskmodealwaysdiscardschangeswhenthevirtualmachineisrestarted.UndoableandNonpersistentdiskaccessmodesareespeciallyusefulindevelopment,testingandtrainingenvironments.

Virtual disk—Avirtualdiskisafileorsetoffilesthatappearasaphysicaldiskdrivetoaguestoperatingsystem.Thesefilescanbeonthehostmachineoronaremotefilesystem.Whenyouconfigureavirtualmachinewithavirtualdisk,youcaninstallanewoperatingsystemintothediskfile.

Virtual machine—Avirtualizedx86serverenvironmentinwhichaguestoperatingsystemandassociatedapplicationsoftwarecanrun.Multiplevirtualmachinescanoperateonthesamehostmachineconcurrently.

Virtual Machine Administrator—Arolewheretheuserisallowedtoperformallthevirtualmachinemanagementfunctions.

Virtual machine configuration—Thespecificationofwhatvirtualdevices(disks,memorysize,etc.)arepresentinavirtualmachineandhowtheyaremappedtohostfilesanddevices.

Virtual machine configuration file—Afilecontainingavirtualmachineconfiguration.ItiscreatedbytheNewVirtualMachineWizard.ItisusedbyVirtualCentertoidentifyandrunaspecificvirtualmachine.

Virtual Machine Properties—Apoint-and-clickcontrolpanelusedtoviewandmodifytheresourcesettingsofallthevirtualmachinesonahost.

Virtual Machine Groups—Anoptionalgroupingstructure,itissubsettoafarm.VirtualCenterserversupportsmultiplevirtualmachinegroups.Virtualmachinegroupscontainvirtualmachinesandothervirtualmachinegroups.

Virtual Machine User—Arolewheretheuserisallowedtoperformpoweroperationsonvirtualmachines.

VirtualCenter Administrator—Arolewheretheuserisallowedtosettheuser+rolepermissionsandcontroltheVirtualCenterlicensing.

VirtualCenter Client—AuserinterfacethatrunslocallyonaWindowsmachine.TheVirtualCenterclientrunsonanetworkedmachine.ThiscanbeonthesamemachineastheVirtualCenterserveroranothernetworkedmachine.TheVirtualCenterclientrequiresamonitorforaccesstothegraphicaluserinterface.

VirtualCenter Database—Apersistentstoragearea,formaintainingstatusofeachvirtualmachineandusermanagedintheVirtualCenterenvironment.ThisislocatedonthesamemachineastheVirtualCenterserver.

113


VirtualCenter Agent—Installedoneachvirtualmachinehost,itcoordinatestheactionsreceivedfromtheVirtualCenterserver.

VirtualCenter Server—AservicethatactsasacentraladministratorforVMwareserversconnectedonanetwork,todirectactionsuponthevirtualmachinesandthevirtualmachinehosts.VirtualCenterserveristhecentralworkingcoreofVirtualCenter.

VMotion—EnablesmovingrunningvirtualmachinesfromoneESXServertoanotherwithoutserviceinterruption.Itrequireslicensingonboththesourceandtargethost.ThisfeatureisactivatedbytheVirtualCenteragent.TheVirtualCenterservercentrallycoordinatesallVMotionactivities.

VMware Tools—Asuiteofutilitiesanddriversthatenhancestheperformanceandfunctionalityofyourguestoperatingsystem.KeyfeaturesofVMwareToolsincludesomeorallofthefollowing,dependingonyourguestoperatingsystem:anSVGAdriver,amousedriver,theVMwareguestoperatingsystemservice,theVMwareToolscontrolpanelandsupportforsuchfeaturesastimesynchronizationwiththehost,VMwareToolsscriptsandconnectinganddisconnectingdeviceswhilethevirtualmachineisrunning.

VMware Virtual Machine Console—InterfacetoavirtualmachinethatprovidesaccesstooneormorevirtualmachinesonthelocalhostoraremotehostrunningVirtualCenter.Youcanviewthevirtualmachine’sdisplaytorunprogramswithinitormodifyguestoperatingsystemsettings.Inaddition,youcanchangethevirtualmachine’sconfiguration,installtheguestoperatingsystemorrunthevirtualmachineinfullscreenmode.

20. vMware Professional servicesVMwareprofessionalservicescandeliverdeploymentandimplementationofkeyvirtualinfrastructureservices,includingcustomization,rapidcutoverandbestpracticesconsulting.Inaddition,VMwarehasstrongpartnershipswithconsultingorganizationssuchasIBMGlobalServicesandHPServicesthatcanalsoprovideconsultingservices,includingserverconsolidation,deployment,anddisasterrecovery.

VMwareProfessionalServicesinclude:

Education ServicesVMwareEducationServicesprovideinstructor-ledcoursesonallVMwareproducts—frombasicfunctionalitytoadvancedtechnicalusage.Coursesofferextensivehands-onlabs,casestudyexamples,andcoursematerialsdesignedforuseason-the-jobreferencetools.

Consulting ServicesFordeliveryofbothVMwarecustomandpre-packagedsolutions,VMwarehasassembledateamofconsultingprofessionalswithanextensiveknowledgeoftheentireVMwareproductfamily,advancedexpertiseintechnicalandsystemsmanagementarchitectures,andstrongprojectmanagementdiscipline.

Professional CertificationTheVMwareCertifiedProfessionalProgramofferstechnologyprofessionalstheknowledge,skills,andcredentialstodeployandmaintainVMwarevirtualizationtechnology.Thisprogramisdesignedforanytechnicalindividual—partners,endusers,resellers,andconsultants.

114


21. vMware support servicesVMwarehasdesignedasuiteofsupportofferingsmappedtotheuniqueneedsofourcustomers,rangingfromsimpleWeb-basedself-serviceto24/7coverageprovidedbyhighlytrainedsupportengineers.

CustomersupportisavitalpartofthetotalVMwarecustomerexperience.Wewantcustomerstogetthemostfromourproductslongaftertheinitialsaleandinstallation.Wearededicatedtoensuringthatanyissuesareresolvedsatisfactorily.Werecognizetheneedforabroadandflexiblerangeofsupportoptionsthatmeetthediverseneedsofourcustomers—whetheritisasingle-userimplementationofVMwareWorkstationoracomplexmultiplatformimplementationofGSXServerandESXServer.

FormoreinformationaboutVMwaresupportofferings,pleaseseetheVMwareSupportWebsiteathttp://www.vmware.com/support.

22. vMware Partner allianceVMwarehasestablishedaglobalnetworkofbest-of-breedtechnologyanddistributionpartnerstoexpandandpromotethemarketforcomputevirtualization.Ourvaluetomutualcustomersissimple.Together,wedeliversolutionsthathelpbusinessesgrowandinnovate,whilesimplifyingcomputinginfrastructureandminimizingtotalcostofownership(TCO).WhenorganizationscombineVMwaresoftwaresolutionswiththoseofourglobalpartners,theycangetthemostcomprehensivevirtualinfrastructuresolutionsandservicesonthemarket.

Hardware Alliance Partners Software Alliance Partners

115


23. about vMwareVMware,anEMCcompany(NYSE:EMC),isthegloballeaderinvirtualinfrastructuresoftwareforindustry-standardsystems.Theworld’slargestcompaniesuseVMwaresolutionstosimplifytheirIT,fullyleveragetheirexistingcomputinginvestmentsandrespondfastertochangingbusinessdemands.VMwareisbasedinPaloAlto,California.

Next steps Ifyouwouldliketopurchase,evaluateorgetmoreinformationaboutVMwareVirtualCenter,ESXServerorP2VAssistant,VMwarehasaglobal network of solutions providerswhoarereadytohelpyou.

Ifyou’dliketocontactVMwaredirectly,youcanreachasalesrepresentativeat1-877-4VMWARE(650-475-5000outsideNorthAmerica)[email protected],pleaseincludethestate,countryandcompanynamefromwhichyouareinquiring.

Youcanalsovisitouronlinestoreathttp://www.vmware.com/vmwarestore/.

VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 650-475-5000 Fax 650-475-5001 www.vmware.comCopyright © 2005 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242 and 6,496,847; patents pending. VMware, the VMware "boxes" logo, GSX Server and ESX Server are trademarks of VMware, Inc. Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

VMware ESX Server Virtual Infrastructure Node Evaluator’s ... · the VMware Technology Network...

Documents

Transcript of VMware ESX Server Virtual Infrastructure Node Evaluator’s ... · the VMware Technology Network...