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VMware vSphere 5® Building a Virtual Datacenter

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Product Author Bios

Eric Maillé is Pre-Sales Consultant at EMC (after successful experiences at IBM, NEC Computers, and HP). Eric works on virtualization infrastructure and cloud computing projects upstream. He helps corporate enterprises make the best technological decisions based on their business requirements. Eric draws from his expertise to explain the transformations that VMware vSphere® 5 implies and the challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the proper architecture is selected and that its components are optimized. Eric has been honored with VMware vExpert 2011 and 2012 award, and he is an author of a previous book on VMware vSphere® 4: Mise en place d’une infrastructure virtuelle (in French and Spanish). He is certified a VCP (VMware Certified Professional), Cloud Architect (EMC), and co-founder of a site dedicated to virtualization technologies (www.virt-now.com).

 

René-François Mennecier works as a Cloud Architect Senior Consultant at EMC. René-François first specialized in disaster recovery plans and service continuity. Then, his experience at Dell allowed him to gain expertise in virtualization, including rationalization, consolidation, and datacenter-relocation challenges. At EMC, he is now in charge of strategic transformation and private cloud IT projects for enterprise accounts. He is a certified VCP VMware and EMC Cloud Architect and was awarded the title vExpert 2012.

Every year, datacenter managers must deliver more services faster, with greater flexibility. They must efficiently handle soaring amounts of data, and unprecedented levels of complexity. And they must do all this with lower budgets and fewer resources. Datacenter virtualization with VMware’s vSphere® 5 is the best way to achieve these goals and to accelerate your transition to cloud services. VMware vSphere® 5: Building a Virtual Datacenter brings together all the practical knowledge you need to evaluate, plan, implement, and manage vSphere 5 in your datacenter environment.

 

Top datacenter virtualization consultants Eric Maillé and René-François Mennecier begin by introducing vSphere 5 from the viewpoint of the datacenter manager and professional. They present essential definitions, advantages, and functions; review vSphere 5’s architecture; and introduce core components  such as vCenter Server and ESXi 5.0.

 

Next, Maillé and Mennecier turn to implementation, presenting detailed examples, schemas, and best practices drawn from their extensive experience. They share practical insights into budgeting, scheduling, and planning; choosing the right architecture; and integrating vSphere with existing datacenter elements, including servers, storage, clusters, network infrastructure, and business continuity plans. They conclude  with a start-to-finish case study: a datacenter virtualization project designed to support specific  business objectives.

 

Coverage includes

     •    Assessing the potential benefits of datacenter virtualization in your environment

     •    Organizing and managing a smooth migration to the virtualized datacenter

     •    Anticipating specific challenges and risks associated with datacenter virtualization

     •    Making tradeoffs to optimize stability, elasticity, scalability, and cost

     •    Choosing the best installation/configuration options for your environment

     •    Effectively linking vSphere 5 virtualization  to existing datacenter elements

     •    Driving more value from vSphere 5’s powerful new datacenter features

     •    Providing storage to efficiently support your hosted VMs, now and in the future

     •    Managing limited memory and other  server constraints

     •    Leveraging new options for service continuity and high availability

     •    Using backup architecture as a lever to  reduce costs

 

 

Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Without doubt one of the best titles Firewall.cx has seen yet from VMware Press, October 28, 2012
By 
Christos Partsenidis (Thessaloniki, Greece - www.Firewall.cx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: VMware vSphere 5® Building a Virtual Datacenter (VMware Press Technology) (Paperback)
We at Firewall.cx have been reviewing a number of titles on VMware technologies and this is without doubt one of the best titles we've seen yet.

These are challenging times for every industry and especially for IT. Every day IT managers are facing an uphill task to deliver a high level of service against the mounting odds of cost and shrinking budgets. Virtualisation is able to address all such issues and give added benefits of modernising the infrastructure.

VMware has been the trend setter in everything to do with virtualisation. Some of the key aspects it delivers are cost reduction, improved SLA, flexibility, operation efficiency, automation and standardisation. This publication from VMware Press uses VMware vSphere 5 to demonstrate how, as an IT Manager, one can use this in a datacentre environment. Full credit goes to both authors who have taken care to carry out a full analysis of all the product in their entirety, ensuring readers would be able to derive... Read more
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on VMWare virtualization that I have ever read..., September 19, 2012
This review is from: VMware vSphere 5® Building a Virtual Datacenter (VMware Press Technology) (Paperback)
VMware vShere 5 Building a virtual datacenter by Eric Maille and René-Francois Mennecier is the best book on VMWare virtualization that I have ever read... The authors present a global view of the themes that are most important in VMware deployments and provide advice based on years of real world experiences. The authors were able to convey information essential for practical deployments in a very clear manner enabling me as the reader to make informed choices for my particular environments.

Extremely well written and well thought out - I am already looking forward to the authors' next book...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A good vSphere 5 book, September 5, 2012
This review is from: VMware vSphere 5® Building a Virtual Datacenter (VMware Press Technology) (Paperback)
Excellent educational book on vSphere 5 to read for any virtualization project, written by consultants which have operational experience. Explanations of vSphere 5 features are well documented and illustrated. Many best practices and guidance are given in the various chapters of this book. I highly recommend this book.
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Online Sample Chapter

Storage in vSphere 5

Table of Contents

    Acknowledgments xvi

    Foreword xviii

    Preface xx

1 From Server Virtualization to Cloud Computing 1

    Virtualization: The Heart of IT Transformation 1

        Server Virtualization 2

        Server Virtualization Adoption Factors 2

        Specifications for a Virtualized Environment 4

        Benefits of Virtualization 6

    Phases of Virtualization 8

        Phase 1: IT Rationalization 9

        Phase 2: Critical Applications 10

        Phase 3: Automation 13

    Virtualization Ecosystem 15

        Server Virtualization 15

        Desktop Virtualization 16

    The Future Looks Bright 20

2 The Evolution of vSphere 5 and Its Architectural Components 21

    VMware Overview 21

        VMware Portfolio 21

        VMware Evolution 22

    vSphere 5 Licenses 27

        vSphere 5 Versions 27

        Licensing Model 29

        vCenter Server 5.0 Licenses 30

    What’s New in vSphere 5? 31

    Existing Features 33

    Software Sold Separately 36

        vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 36

        vCenter Converter 36

        vCenter Operations Management Suite 36

    vSphere 5 Technical Architecture 39

        vCenter Server 5 40

        ESXi 5 Hypervisor 46

    Security 53

        vShield Zones 53

        Components to Monitor 54

    An Evolved Solution 55

3 Storage in vSphere 5 57

    Storage Representation 57

    Available Storage Architectures 58

        Local Storage 60

        Centralized Storage 60

    Storage Networks 62

        IP Storage Network 62

        Fibre Channel Network 66

        Which Protocol Is Best for You? 68

    VMFS 69

        VMFS-5 Specifications 70

        Upgrading VMFS-3 to VMFS-5 70

        Signature of VMFS Datastores 71

        Rescanning the Datastore 74

        Alignment 74

        Increasing Volume 75

        Can a Single Large 64-TB Volume Be Created to Host All VMs? 76

        Best Practices for VMFS Configuration 76

    Virtual Disk 77

        VMDKs 77

        Disk Types 78

        Raw Device Mapping 81

        OVF Format 83

    The Datastore 84

    Storage vMotion 85

        When to Use Storage vMotion 86

        How Storage vMotion Works 86

    Storage DRS 87

        Datastore Load Balancing 88

        Affinity Rules 89

        Profile-Driven Storage 90

    Storage I/O Control 90

    vSphere Storage Appliance 92

    VMware Storage APIs 93

        vStorage API for Array Integration 93

        vSphere Storage API: Storage Awareness 95

    Multipathing 95

        Pluggable Storage Architecture 96

        Modes 97

    Disk Technology Considerations 98

        Supported Disk Types 98

        RAID 99

        Storage Pools 100

        Automatic Disk Tiering 100

        Performance 100

        Additional Recommendations 101

    Device Drivers 101

    Storage Is the Foundation 102

4 Servers and Network 103

    ESXi Servers 103

        Memory Management 103

        The Processor 110

        Moving VMs with VMotion 120

        Distributed Resource Scheduler 124

        vSphere Distributed Power Management 129

    Network 129

        vSphere Standard Switch 131

        vSphere Distributed Switch 141

        Virtual Network Cards 145

        Cisco NEXUS 1000V 145

        Provisioning and Good Practices 147

    Applications in a Virtualized Environment 148

        Oracle and SQL Databases 148

        Exchange 150

        SAP 150

        Active Directory 150

        Microsoft Cluster Service in a vSphere 5 Environment 151

        Transforming the Datacenter 152

5 High Availability and Disaster Recovery Plan 153

    General Comments 153

        Recovery Point Objective/Recovery Time Objective 153

        Information Availability 154

        Infrastructure Protection 156

    Local Availability 157

        SPOF Removal 157

        High Availability 159

        What Is a Cluster? 159

        vSphere HA 160

        vSphere Fault Tolerance 172

    Business Continuity 174

        Failover Causes 175

        DRP Issues in Physical Environments 175

        vSphere 5 Leverage for the DRP 176

        Replication 176

        Site Recovery Manager 5 180

        Stretched Cluster 188

6 Backups in vSphere 5 193

    Backups: An Overview 193

        What Is a Backup? 193

        Backup Objectives 194

        Business Impact 194

        Traditional Backup Method 194

        Backup Issues in Virtual Environments 195

    Backup Methods in Virtual Environments 196

        Brief History of VMware Consolidated Backup 196

        Methods in vSphere 5 197

    Snapshots 199

        Array Snapshots Versus vSphere Snapshots 199

        Advantages of VM Snapshots 200

    Application Consistency 202

        Volume Shadow Copy Service 203

        Pre-Freeze and Post-Thaw Scripts 205

    Troubleshooting Virtual Environments 206

        Changed Block Tracking 206

        De-Duplication 208

        LAN-Free Backups 209

    Backup Process Through VADP APIs 209

    Data Recovery 2.0 210

    Backups Are Important, But Restores Are Critical 211

7 Implementing vSphere 5 213

    Sizing 213

    The Different Installation Modes 214

    Pre-Installation 215

        Checklist 215

        Prerequisites 216

    Preparing the Server 220

    Installation 220

        ESXi 5 Server 220

        vCenter Server 5 Installation 225

        Upgrading to vSphere 5 226

    The Different Connection Methods 229

        Direct Console User Interface 230

        vSphere Client 231

        vSphere Web Client 232

        Scripting Tools 233

    vCenter Configuration 233

        Licenses 235

        General Settings 235

        Hosts and Clusters 236

        Datacenter Creation 237

        Managing Permissions 237

        Storage and Network 239

        P2V Conversion 239

    Efficient Management of the Virtual Environment 241

        Monitoring the Host Server 241

        Alarms and Maps 242

        Resource Sharing 242

        Resource Pools 249

        Consolidation Rate 250

        Performance in vCenter Server 251

        Clones and Templates 254

        vApp 254

        Best Practices 254

        Well-Planned Architecture Is the Key 255

8 Managing a Virtualization Project 257

    Context 257

        Objectives 258

        Criteria to Choose a Solution 259

    Project Stages 259

    Planning 260

        Discovery 260

        Analysis 270

    Design 272

    Implementation 276

        Implementation of SRM5 278

    Management 280

    Summary and Conclusion 281

    A Compelling Story 283

Common Acronymns 285

TOC, 9780321832214, 7/26/12

 

 
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