Modules
13 Modules, 24 Labs.Day OneModule 1: Course Introduction
Module 2: Introduction to VMWare Virtualisation
Module 3: Configuring VMWare ESX and ESXi
Module 4: Installing and Using VMWare vCenter Server
Module 5: Networking
Day TwoModule 6: Storage
Module 7: Virtual Machines
Day ThreeModule 7: Virtual Machines (finished)
Module 8: Access Control
Module 9: Resource Monitoring
Day FourModule 9: Resource Monitoring (finished)
Module 10: Scalability
Module 11: High Availability and Data Protection
Module 12: Configuration Management
Module 13: Installing VMWare ESX and ESXi
My Notes
VMWare Product Comparsion
vSphere is a suite of products.
Distributed virtual switches - only in Enterprise plus licence.
Binary Translation - " is the emulation of one instruction set by another through translation of code. Sequences of instructions are translated from the source to the target instruction set."
vmware-hostd process - accepts management calls, relays onto kernel.
Restarting management agent will not interfere with VMs.
VMWare has a purple screen of death if the ESX server dies.
Two types of visualization, hosted and hypervisor.
vSphere client manages environment, infrastructure.
Purple Screen of Death
Networking
Management Interface uses network
3 switch connection types; virtual machine, VMKernal and service console.
Created during installation is a port group of "VM Network" and a port group of "Service Console".
disable STP on physical ports connected to VM.
VM supports for 802.1Q (VLAN Trunking)
VM supports for CDP.
Physical NIC may need to be VTP trunk (does need).
Virtual MAchines access network
VLANs are implemented by at port group level
VMKernal access SAN (vMotion)
Virtual Switch mimicks a layer 2
vSwitch0 = default switch
Phyiscal NIC connects via "uplink" to virtual switch
Distributed switches live in virtual center and span multiple host.
There is no link aggeration in VMWare (yet?)
no STP in virtual switch
no trunking in virtual switch
Default number of ports is 56 (4,088 max)
Each uplink adapter uses one port
VMKernel needs IP / NIC for vMotion (one needed for iSCSI / NFS)
Service Console port
You can't see vSwitch0 in ESXi
Port groups allow for "policies" to be applied
Distributed switch is used in bigger organisations and in Enterprise Plus Licence.
Phyiscal NIC can't be uplink to multiple virtual switches.
Ultimately 1:1 ratio between phyiscal NIC and virtual switches.
Switch ports need to be trunk when connecting to phyiscal network.
ports in use on switches uses CPU time, rather than multiple virtual switches
vmnic0 default rest are named based on PCI slot.
Distributed Switch
distributed switch exists across whole network
distributed switches behave like standard switches
Managed hosts send a regular heartbeat over UDP port 902 to vCenter.
Ports 903 is used by vSphere Client.
vSphere client connects (ideally) to vSphere server which connects to multiple hosts.
vCenter uses a DB to store information.
vCenter DB is not mission critical to the network.
vSphere is licensed per CPU socket (Quad core CPU - single licence)
vCenter DB, on a small network (under 5 hosts) can use SQL Express.
VMWare modules come in 2 parts; Server Part - vCenter; client plugin for vSphere client.
vCenter Server
vCenter Server is installed on a Windows System.
vCenter Server communicates on ports 902 and 903.
vSphere client System logs will show current log file (these rotate)
vSphere Client
Going direct to the host rather than via vCenter means it does not get logged in the DB.
Compute - CPU and Memory
IO - network and storage.
System logs and Hardware logs
Typically in hardware logs would be errors related to SCSI reservation timeouts etc.
VPXD Logs for debugging vCenter - mostly due to lost connection to DB.
1 vCenter can handle approx. 200 hosts and 3000 VMs.
The same processors are required on hosts for vMotion to work - ie. Intel & Intel, AMD & AMD.
HA will boot a machine on another host.
Hypervisor - controls access to hardware.
ESX / ESXi work differently; there is no feature difference.
ESX comes with old school service console - has 70MB footprint
ESXi has vCLI access and 32MB footprint.
ESX service console is a redhat linux based OS, used to manage server (has now been abstracted to vCenter).
ESX / ESXi can be installed via evaluation mode and has 60 days fully functional trial.
vCenter Servier, installed on windows and can use AD accounts to access.
VMWare "encapsulation" - virtual machines are contained in a group of files, thus encapsulating them (allowing them to be moved etc.)
Virtual Machine uses virtual VMWare drivers.
Partition Alignment - (ask James)
User Account Best Practices
1. control root privileges to hosts
2. use vSphere client to manage ESX/ESXi host
3. use vCenter Server to manage hosts (ideally).
VMWare Products
VMWare View - virtual desktops product, allows for centralized management.
VMWare Lab Manager - library of images for preconfigured appklications. Allows development of applications (IE8, IIS, SQL Server) to be passed to testers / management for review.
Update Manager - module for patch management.
Security
By default, the windows local administrator group is given the vCenter server role of Administrator.
Processes
vpxd - virtual cluster server
vpxa - agent (proxy for hostd)
Configuring ESXi
lockdown mode prevents remote personel from logging into the ESXi host.
Virtual Machine Files
.vmx - Configuration file (text)
.vmdk - VMFS drive file
Log File -
NVRAM -
Services
VmWare Mount Service for Virtual Center
VMWAre Tools Service
VMWare vCenter Orchestrator Configuration
VMWare Virtual Center Server
VMWareVCMSDS
Ports
[[VMWare Ports|3103670464_674d0e5a01_b.jpg]]389 and 636 for LDAP and SSL on AD
902 UDP used for vCenter Server to communicate with hosts
903 used for vClient connections
VMWare Competitors
www.parallels.com/eu/ - Mac Based.
www.oracle.com/virtualiron/index.html - Bought by Oracle May 13, 2009.
Glossary
DRAC Card - Dell Remote Access Controller, out of band management facilities, web browser interface (Dell version of iLo HP).
DRS - distrbuted resource scheduler
VMFS - VM file system
VMSafe
VMotion
VShield
VMTN - Vmware Technical Network (old name).
Static binary translation - "where an entire executable file is translated into an executable of the target architecture".
dynamic translation looks "at a short sequence of code, typically on the order of a single basic block, translates it and caches the resulting sequence."
References
