A full-color beginner's guide to the core concepts and skills of virtualization Virtualization is the IT world's hottest trend in recent years, and many colleges do not yet have curricula in place to prepare students for this important area. This guide fills the need, with a learn-by-doing approach to mastering the core elements of virtualization. Each chapter clearly outlines what is covered, thoroughly discusses the concepts, and engages readers with hands-on tutorials. The book covers how virtualization software operates; hypervisor products; how to manage CPU, memory, storage, and networking; and much more.
- Fills the gap left by the many colleges and universities that are unprepared to educate IT students on virtualization, a megatrend in the IT world
- Covers the fundamental concepts and skills, including how virtualization software operates within a computing environment
- Explains the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors and tells how to create a virtual machine from scratch or by migrating from physical to virtual
- Tells how to manage the basics and how to configure supporting devices for a virtual machine
Virtualization Essentials gets IT students and practitioners up to speed on one of the most important aspects of today's IT environment.
Table of Contents:
Introduction xv CHAPTER 1 Understanding Virtualization 1
Describing Virtualization 1
Microsoft Windows Drives Server Growth 3
Explaining Moore's Law 6
Understanding the Importance of Virtualization 9
Examining Today's Trends 11
Virtualization and Cloud Computing 14
Understanding Virtualization Software Operation 15
Virtualizing Servers 15
Virtualizing Desktops 15
Virtualizing Applications 17
CHAPTER 2 Understanding Hypervisors 19
Describing a Hypervisor 19
Exploring the History of Hypervisors 20
Understanding Type 1 Hypervisors 21
Understanding Type 2 Hypervisors 23
Understanding the Role of a Hypervisor 24
Holodecks and Traffic Cops 24
Resource Allocation 25
Comparing Today's Hypervisors 27
VMware ESX 27
Citrix Xen 29
Microsoft Hyper-V 31
Other Solutions 32
CHAPTER 3 Understanding Virtual Machines 35
Describing a Virtual Machine 35
Examining CPU in a Virtual Machine 38
Examining Memory in a Virtual Machine 39
Examining Network Resources in a Virtual Machine 39
Examining Storage in a Virtual Machine 41
Understanding How a Virtual Machine Works 42
Working with Virtual Machines 43
Understanding Virtual Machine Clones 44
Understanding Templates 45
Understanding Snapshots 47
Understanding OVF 48
CHAPTER 4 Creating a Virtual Machine 51
Performing P2V Conversions 51
Investigating the Physical-to-Virtual Process 52
Hot and Cold Cloning 53
Loading Your Environment 54
Exploring VMware Player 60
Building a New Virtual Machine 63
Thinking About VM Confi guration 64
Creating a First VM 65
CHAPTER 5 Installing Windows on a Virtual Machine 71
Loading Windows into a Virtual Machine 71
Installing Windows 7 72
Installing VMware Tools 83
Understanding Confi guration Options 89
Optimizing a New Virtual Machine 95
CHAPTER 6 Installing Linux on a Virtual Machine 97
Loading Linux into a Virtual Machine 97
Installing Linux into a Virtual Machine 98
Installing VMware Tools 113
Understanding Confi guration Options 117
Optimizing a New Linux Virtual Machine 122
CHAPTER 7 Managing CPUs for a VM 125
Understanding CPU Virtualization 125
Confi guring VM CPU Options 129
Tuning Practices for VM CPUs 130
Choosing Multiple vCPUs vs. a Single vCPU 131
Hyper-Threading 132
Working with Intel and AMD Servers 134
CHAPTER 8 Managing Memory for a Virtual Machine 137
Understanding Memory Virtualization 137
Confi guring VM Memory Options 140
Tuning Practices for VM Memory 142
Calculating Memory Overhead 143
Memory Optimizations 144
CHAPTER 9 Managing Storage for a Virtual Machine 151
Understanding Storage Virtualization 151
Confi guring VM Storage Options 156
Tuning Practices for VM Storage 162
CHAPTER 10 Managing Networking for a Virtual Machine 171
Understanding Network Virtualization 171
Confi guring VM Network Options 181
Tuning Practices for Virtual Networks 187
CHAPTER 11 Copying a Virtual Machine 191
Cloning a Virtual Machine 191
Working with Templates 197
Saving a Virtual Machine State 201
Creating a Snapshot 204
Merging Snapshots 208
CHAPTER 12 Managing Additional Devices in Virtual Machines 211
Using Virtual Machine Tools 212
Understanding Virtual Devices 213
Confi guring a CD/DVD Drive 214
Confi guring a Floppy Disk Drive 215
Confi guring a Sound Card 218
Confi guring USB Devices 219
Confi guring Graphic Displays 221
Confi guring Other Devices 222
CHAPTER 13 Understanding Availability 227
Increasing Availability 227
Protecting a Virtual Machine 230
Protecting Multiple Virtual Machines 234
Protecting Datacenters 238
CHAPTER 14 Understanding Applications in a Virtual Machine 243
Examining Virtual Infrastructure Performance Capabilities 243
Deploying Applications in a Virtual Environment 248
Understanding Virtual Appliances and vApps 256
Index 261
About the Author :
Matthew Portnoy is a Senior System Engineer at VMware and has more than 30 years of work experience in the IT industry. He is an Adjunct Professor at Wake Tech Community College, teaching CIS classes since 2007. Matt has presented at many trade shows and industry events, including VMware User Group events and VMworld, which is the largest virtualization conference.
