Managing and Optimizing VMware vSphere® Deployments
The Complete Guide to Planning, Deploying, and Operating High-Performance VMware vSphere 5 Virtual Infrastructure
To make the most of VMware’s vSphere 5, IT professionals need knowledge, tips, and insights they’ll never find in the manuals–or in any book, until now! In Managing and Optimizing VMware vSphere Deployments, two world-class VMware experts offer start-to-finish lessons for vSphere planning, implementation, operation, management, and troubleshooting: expert insights drawn from their unsurpassed "in-the-trenches" consulting experience.
Writing for experienced VMware professionals, the authors focus on high-value techniques optimized for the new vSphere 5, helping you establish frameworks that support your virtual infrastructure’s evolution for years to come. They present scenarios and examples drawn from real-world data, helping you address crucial issues ranging from sizing and performance to redundancy. The book concludes with a full case study that walks you through a design from inception through implementation and explores the reasons for each key decision.
Coverage includes
• Building a strong foundation for virtual infrastructure: design considerations and best practices
• Smoothly integrating vSphere 5 into current environments and considerations
• Establishing a more stable infrastructure
• Choosing hardware and making optimal configuration decisions
• Transforming your VMware design from blueprint to completion
• Operating vSphere solutions more efficiently on a day-to-day basis
• Automating tasks and maximizing availability
• Streamlining the installation of updates, patches, and upgrades
• Forecasting and planning capacity on an ongoing basis to support growth
• Overcoming roadblocks on the journey to 100% virtualization
• Monitoring vSphere 5 with tools provided by VMware and its community
• Discovering the most valuable and current online VMware resources
• Examples using Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) are provided throughout the book
Table of Contents:
Preface
Chapter 1 Laying the Groundwork
Planning
Capacity
Performance
Management
Designing
Laying the Groundwork Summary
Chapter 2 Implementing the Solution
Following the Design Blueprint
Reviewing the Design Documentation
Stakeholder Review
Functional Requirements
Constraints
Technical Review
Assumptions
Design Deviations
Automating Implementation Tasks
PowerCLI
Host Profiles
Auto Deploy Server
vCenter Orchestrator
Verifying Implementation
Testing Functionality
Quality Assurance Assessment
Implementing the Solution Summary
Chapter 3 Operating the Environment
Backups
Data Recovery
Disaster Recovery
Manual Disaster Recovery
Site Recovery Manager
Physical to Virtual Conversions
Issues and Troubleshooting
Domain Controllers
Windows Server with OEM Installations
SQL, Exchange, and Other Applications Servers
Linux
V2V and Other Methods
Maintenance
Update Manager
Monitoring
Alerting
Defining Actions for Alarms
Considerations for Tweaking Default Alarms
Verifying Configurations
Host Profiles
Health Check
VMware’s Health Check Delivery
Operating the Environment Summary
Chapter 4 Managing the Environment
Capacity Management
Storage Capacity Management
Host Capacity Management
Networking Capacity Management
Performance Management
Storage Performance Management
Host Performance Management
Networking Performance Management
vCenter Operations Management Suite
Managing the Environment Summary
Chapter 5 Roadblocks to 100% Virtualization
Political Roadblocks
Financial Roadblocks
Capex Versus Opex
ROI
Policies and Culture
Technical Roadblocks
VM Sprawl
Application Roadblocks
Desktop Virtualization
Roadblocks to 100% Virtualization Summary
Chapter 6 Full Case Study
Customer Scenario
Planning and Designing
Implementation
Operating
Managing
Full Case Study Summary
Appendix A Additional Resources
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About the Author :
Sean Crookston currently is a data center implementation engineer at TBL Networks, a VMware Enterprise Solutions Provider in Richmond, Virginia. Sean holds certifications from VMware, Cisco, EMC, and Microsoft. Throughout his career, Sean has engineered technology solutions for the healthcare, government, manufacturing, publishing/broadcast, and high-tech industries that streamline business processes and reduce operational expenses. Sean has been awarded the VMware vExpert award in 2010 and 2011.
Harley Stagner is a VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX #46) and the first VCDX in Virginia. Harley is currently a datacenter design architect at TBL Networks, a VMware Enterprise Solutions Provider in Richmond, Virginia. Harley is focused on vSphere Architecture utilizing the latest datacenter technologies. Harley maintains a blog about these specialties at harleystagner.com. A list of Harley’s other publications can be found at www.harleystagner.com/publications.
