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VMware vSphere™Bootcamp Overview2012

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VMware vCenter Server


VMware vSphere 5: Quick Start Video Series

vCenter Server: Management Platform

vCenter Server provides a central administration point for ESXi hosts and virtual machines Up to 1,000 hosts per

vCenter Server instance

Up to 10,000 powered-on virtual machines per vCenter Server instance VMware

vSphere® VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere

VMware vCenter Server

Manage



vCenter Architecture

ESXi host ESXi host ESXi host

* NIS also supported

* *



vCenter Server Components

database server

distributed services Active Directory / NIS Services

vSphere API

user access control

VMware ESX®/ESXi management

core services

Additional Services : • Update manager

• Orchestrator



vCenter Server Deployment options

Windows-based vCenter Server Can be deployed on a physicial host or virtual

machine

Reasons to use this deployment option: • Staff trained only on Windows operating systems • Prefer to use a physical host

-OR-

physical host

Virtual Appliance based vCenter Server Deployed as a virtual appliance that runs the SuSE

Linux operating system

Reasons to use this deployment option: • No operating system license required • Simple configuration using web browser • Offers same user experience as Windows-based

deployment



Before Installing vCenter Server

Before beginning the vCenter Server installation, make sure that the following prerequisites are met: Ensure that vCenter Server hardware and software requirements are

met. Ensure that the vCenter Server system belongs to a domain rather

than a workgroup. Create a vCenter Server database, unless you are using the default

database.



vCenter Server Hardware and Software Requirements

Hardware requirements (physical or virtual machine): Number of CPUs – Two 64-bit CPUs or one 64-bit dual-core

processor Processor – 2.0GHz or higher Intel or AMD processor* Memory – 4GB RAM minimum* Disk storage – 4GB minimum* Networking – Gigabit connection recommended * Higher if database runs on the same machine

Software requirements: 64-bit operating system is required. See “VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes” at

http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php



vCenter Database Requirements

Each vCenter Server instance must have a connection to a database to organize all the configuration data.

Default database – Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express: Bundled with vCenter Server Used for product evaluations and demos Also used for small deployments (up to five hosts and 50 virtual

machines)

Supported databases: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP3 (required)

• SP4 recommended Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Oracle 10g R2 and 11g IBM DB2 9.5 and 9.7



Installing vCenter Server and Its Components

Use the VMware vCenter Installer to install vCenter Server and its components.

Install vCenter Server.

Install VMware vSphere Client™.

Install VMware vSphere® Update Manager

DEMO



Standalone Instance or Linked Mode Group DEMO



vCenter Server Installation Wizard

The vCenter Server Installation wizard asks for the following data.

Parameter Description

User name and organization User identification License key Evaluation or valid license key

Database information Default database or remote database connection information

SYSTEM account information User for running the vCenter Server service

Destination folder Software location

Standalone or join a Linked Mode group

Standalone instance or enable two or more vCenter Server inventories to be visible from the vSphere Client

Ports Ports used for communicating with client interfaces and managed hosts

JVM memory JVM memory configuration for the vCenter Server Web service

Ephemeral port configuration Select if vCenter Server will manage hosts that power on more than 2000 virtual machines simultaneously

DEMO



After vCenter Server is installed, a number of services start upon reboot and can be managed from the Windows Control Panel (Administrative Tools > Services).

vCenter Server Services DEMO



Logging into vCenter Server

To log in to vCenter Server: Launch the vSphere

Client Enter the hostname or

IP address of the vCenter Server system Windows user and

password (Optional) Use your Windows session credentials.

DEMO



Navigating the vSphere Client



Datacenter Object



Organizing Inventory Objects into Folders



Adding a Host to the vCenter Server Inventory

To add an ESXi host to the vCenter Server inventory, use the Add Host wizard and specify: Fully qualified

domain name User name and

password Lockdown mode

enabled



vCenter License Overview

Licenses are managed and monitored from vCenter Server. Licensing consists of: Product – License to use a vSphere software component or

feature License key – 25-character string that corresponds to a product Asset – Machine on which a product is installed

product

license key

assets



Default vCenter Server Plug-Ins

vCenter Server is installed with a set of default plug-ins. To install a new plug-in, select Plug-ins > Plug-in Manager in the vSphere Client.



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Installing VMware ESXi 5



ESXi Hardware Prerequisites

Processor – 64-bit x86 CPU: All AMD Opteron processors All Intel Xeon 3000/3200, 3100/3300, 5100/5300, 5200/5400, 5500/5600,

7100/7300, 7200/7400, and 7500 processors Up to 160 logical CPUs (cores or hyperthreads)

Memory – 2GB RAM minimum One or more Ethernet controllers: Gigabit or 10Gb Ethernet controllers are supported. For best performance and security, use separate Ethernet controllers for the

management network and the virtual machine networks. Disk storage: A SCSI adapter, Fibre Channel adapter, converged network adapter, iSCSI

adapter, or internal RAID controller A SCSI disk, Fibre Channel LUN, iSCSI disk, or RAID LUN with unpartitioned

space: SATA, SCSI, SAS



Installing ESXi 5.0

Install Option

Required/ Optional

Default Selection

Comments

Host name Required None

Install Location

Required None Must be at least 5GB if you install the components on a single disk.

Keyboard Language

Optional U.S. English

VLAN ID Optional None VLAN ID Range: 0 through 4094

IP Address Optional DHCP Configure a static IP address or use DHCP to configure the network.

IP address, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS

network settings can be changed after installation.

Secondary DNS server can also be defined.

Subnet Mask

Optional Calculated based on IP address

Gateway Optional Based on IP address and subnet mask

Primary DNS

Optional Based on IP address and subnet mask

Root Password

Optional None Must contain between 6 and 64 characters.



Installing ESXi

You must have the ESXi 5.0 ISO file on CD or DVD media. Boot from the CD or DVD to start the ESXi installer. Make sure that you select a disk that is not formatted with VMware vSphere® VMFS. Choose a volume

that has not been formatted with

VMFS.



Boot from SAN

ESXi may be booted from SAN. Supported for Fibre Channel SAN

Supported for iSCSI and FCoE for certain qualified storage adapters

SAN connections must be made through a switched topology unless the array is certified for direct-connect.

The ESXi host must have exclusive access to its own boot LUN. Use different LUNs for VMFS datastores and

boot partitions.

VMware ESXi

boot LUN



Installing ESXi DEMO



Booting ESXi Host after Installation DEMO



Switching to DCUI DEMO



DCUI DEMO








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Configuring vNetwork Standard Switches



Virtual Switches

vSphere virtual networking supports two types of virtual switches: vNetwork standard switches vNetwork distributed switches

• Discussed later in this series of videos

Both types of virtual switches are modelled after physical Ethernet switches

NOTE: You may at times see these referred to by their former names: Standard Virtual Switches and Distributed Virtual Switches.



Types of Virtual Switch Connections

A virtual switch allows two connection types: Virtual machine port groups

• Provide network connectivity to virtual machines VMkernel ports

• Provides network connectivity for IP storage (NFS and iSCSI), vMotion, VMware FT, and the ESXi management network

Prod TestDev DMZ vMotion Mgmt.



Virtual Switch Connection Examples



Virtual Networking - The Larger Picture

A virtual switch: Directs network traffic between

virtual machines and links to external networks.

NIC Teaming combines the bandwidth of multiple network adapters and balances traffic among them. It can also handle physical network interface card (NIC) failover.

External World

Physical Switch

operating system

application

Virtual NIC

operating system

application

Virtual NIC

operating system

application

Virtual NIC

Physical NIC

A virtual network provides the networking for hosts and virtual machines.

NOTE: vSphere labels physical NICs with names such as “vmnic0”. These are also sometimes referred to as “uplinks”.



Configuring a Virtual Machine Port Group DEMO



Network Adapter Properties

For each physical adapter, speed and duplex can be changed. You might need to set the speed and duplex for certain NIC and switch combinations.

DEMO



Standard Virtual Switch Ports

You can change the number of ports on a standard virtual switch.

DEMO



VLANs

ESXi supports 802.1Q VLAN tagging. Virtual switch tagging is one of three tagging policies supported. Packets from a virtual machine are

tagged as they exit the virtual switch. Packets are untagged as they return

to the virtual machine. Affect on performance is minimal.

ESXi provides VLAN support by giving a port group a VLAN ID



Connecting a Virtual Machine to a Network DEMO








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Using VMFS Datastores



Storage Overview

storage technology

datastore types

FCoE iSCSI Fibre Channel

Direct Attached

File system

NAS

NFS VMware vSphere VMFS

VMware® ESXi™

hosts



Storage Protocol Overview

Storage Protocol

Supports boot from

SAN

Supports VMware

vSphere® vMotion®

Supports vSphere

High Availability

Supports vSphere

DRS

Supports Raw Device

Mapping

Fibre Channel • • • • •

FCoE • • • • • iSCSI • • • • • NFS • • • DAS (for virtual

machine swap files) •



Datastore

A datastore is a logical storage unit that can use disk space on one physical device, or span several physical devices.

Datastores are used to hold: Virtual machine files Templates ISOs

Types of datastores: VMFS Network File System (NFS)

host host

Datastore



To create a VMFS datastore, use the Add Storage wizard: Select the storage type, Disk/LUN. Select an available LUN.

Specify a datastore name. Specify the datastore size: use full or partial LUN.

Creating a VMFS Datastore DEMO



Browsing Datastore Contents

Right-click the datastore in the host’s Summary tab or click the Storage link in the Configuration tab.

DEMO



Using a VMFS Datastore

Illustrate how to give a virtual machine a virtual disk that resides in a VMFS datastore.

DEMO








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Using Thin Provisioned Virtual Disks



vStorage Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning

More efficient storage utilization: Virtual disk allocation140GB

Available datastore capacity 100GB

Used storage capacity 80GB

A virtual machine sees the full allocated disk size at all times.

Virtual machine disks consume only the amount of capacity needed to hold the current files.

You can mix thick and thin formats.

Full reporting and alerts help manage allocations and capacity.



Managing Overcommitted Datastores

An overcommitted datastore can occur when there are many thin-provisioned virtual disks that use close to their maximum allotted disk space.

Actively monitor your datastore capacity: Alarms assist through notifications:

• Datastore disk overallocation • Datastore disk usage Use reporting to view space usage.

Actively manage your datastore capacity: Increase datastore capacity when necessary. Use vSphere Storage vMotion to mitigate space usage issues on a

particular datastore.



Creating a Thin Provisioned Virtual Disk

Show how to create a thin provisioned virtual disk in an existing virtual machine.

Show how to determine whether a disk is thick or thin.

DEMO








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Installing a Guest Operating System



Virtual Machine Hardware



Create New Virtual Machine Wizard

Create a new virtual machine in the VMware vCenter Server inventory. In the Inventory view, select a

datacenter, cluster, or host. Start the Create New Virtual Machine wizard. Perform a “typical” or “custom”

configuration.

DEMO



Typical Configuration

Information needed for a typical configuration: Virtual machine name and inventory location Location in which to place the virtual machine (cluster, host, resource

pool) Datastore on which to store the virtual machine’s files Guest operating system and version Disk parameters for creating a new virtual disk:

• Disk size • Disk-provisioning settings:

- Allocate and commit space on demand (Thin Provisioning) - Support clustering features such as Fault Tolerance

DEMO



Installing the Guest Operating System

Install the guest operating system into the virtual machine.

DEMO



Virtual Machine Console

Send power changes to the virtual machine. Access the virtual machine’s guest operating system. Send Ctrl+Alt+Del to the guest operating system. Press Ctrl+Alt+Ins

in the virtual machine console.

Press Ctrl+Alt to release the pointer from the virtual machine console.

DEMO



VMware Tools

Features of VMware Tools include: Device drivers:

• SVGA display • vmxnet/vmxnet3 • Balloon driver for

memory management

• Sync driver for quiescing I/O

• Improved mouse

Virtual machine heartbeat

Time synchronization Ability to shut down

virtual machine Adds additional

choices to Perfmon DLL.

Install VMware Tools into the guest operating system.

DEMO








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Using Templates and Cloning



Templates and Cloning

Templates and cloning are techniques used to rapidly provision virtual machines. Both techniques duplicate existing virtual machines. When using either technique, guest customization can be performed.



Customizing the Guest Operating System

VMware recommends customization of a clone’s guest operating system to prevent software and network conflicts. During cloning or deploying from template, you have the option of running the Guest Customization wizard. The wizard lets you create a specification that you can use to

prepare the guest operating systems of virtual machines. Specifications can be stored in the vCenter database. You can edit specifications in the Customization Specifications

Manager.




Show how to install sysprep files

DEMO



Using Templates

A template is a master copy of a virtual machine used to create and provision new virtual machines. The template is an image that typically includes a guest operating system, a set of applications, and a specific virtual machine configuration.



Creating a Template

Clone the virtual machine to a template. The virtual machine can either

be powered on or powered off. Convert the virtual machine to a template. The virtual machine must be

powered off.

Clone a template. Select the template in

inventory first.

DEMO



Viewing Templates

Two ways to view templates: Use the VMs and Templates inventory view. Use the Virtual Machines tab in the Hosts and Clusters inventory

view.

DEMO



Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template

To deploy a virtual machine, you must provide such information as the virtual machine name, inventory location, host, datastore, and guest operating system customization data.

DEMO




Show guest customization

DEMO



Updating a Template

To update a template: 1. Convert the

template to a virtual machine.

2. Place the virtual machine on an isolated network to prevent user access.

3. Make appropriate changes to the virtual machine.

4. Convert the virtual machine to a template.

DEMO



Cloning a Virtual Machine

Cloning is an alternative to deploying a virtual machine. A clone is an exact copy of the virtual machine. The virtual machine being cloned can either be powered on or powered off.



Cloning a Virtual Machine DEMO




Show guest customization

DEMO








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Protecting Virtual Machines with vSphere HA



vSphere HA Failure Scenarios

vSphere HA protects against three types of failures ESXi host failures Guest OS failures Application failures



Failure Scenario – ESXi Host

virtual machine A

virtual machine B

virtual machine C

virtual machine F

vCenter Server


virtual machine D

virtual machine E

virtual machine A virtual machine B

= vSphere HA cluster

= Heartbeat

Shared Storage

If a host fails, vSphere HA restarts the affected virtual machines on other hosts.



Failure Scenario – Guest Operating System

Shared Storage

vCenter Server


If a virtual machine stops sending heartbeats, vSphere HA resets the virtual machine.

Requires VMware Tools.

VMware tools virtual machine C

VMware tools virtual machine E

VMware tools virtual machine F

VMware tools virtual machine A

VMware tools virtual machine B

VMware tools virtual machine D


= Heartbeat



Shared Storage

Failure Scenario - Application

vCenter Server


virtual machine E

application virtual machine C

application

virtual machine F

application virtual machine D

application

virtual machine A

application

virtual machine B

application

If an application fails, vSphere HA restarts the affected virtual machine on the same host.

Requires VMware Tools.


= Heartbeat



Enabling vSphere HA

Enable vSphere HA by creating a cluster or modifying a vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) cluster.

DEMO



Configuring vSphere HA Settings DEMO



Configuring Virtual Machine Options

Configure options at the cluster level or per virtual machine.

VM restart priority determines relative order in which virtual machines are restarted after a host

failure.

Host Isolation response determines what happens to virtual machines when a host loses

the management network but continues running.

DEMO



Configuring Virtual Machine Monitoring

Reset a virtual machine if its VMware Tools

heartbeat or VMware Tools application

heartbeats are not received.

Determine how quickly failures are

detected.

Set monitoring sensitivity for individual virtual machines.

DEMO



Cluster Resource Allocation Tab

How much CPU and memory resources is the cluster using now? How much reserved capacity remains?

DEMO



Performing Maintenance on the Heartbeat Network

Before changing the networking configuration on the ESXi hosts (adding port groups, removing vSwitches): Deselect

Enable Host Monitoring. Place the

host in maintenance mode.

These steps prevent unwanted attempts to fail over virtual machines.

DEMO



Best Practices

Maintenance mode before shutdown/reboot Uncheck checkbox before performing maintenance on heartbeat

network Redundant heartbeat network



Best Practices

You can use NIC teaming to create a redundant heartbeat network on ESXi hosts.








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Migrating Virtual Machines with vMotion



vMotion Migration

A vMotion migration moves a powered-on virtual machine from one host to another. vMotion can be used to: Improve overall hardware

utilization Allow continued virtual

machine operation while accommodating scheduled hardware downtime

Allow vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to balance virtual machines across hosts



How vMotion Migration Works

vMotion network

Production network

VM A



Virtual Machine Requirements for vMotion Migration

A virtual machine must meet the following requirements: A virtual machine must not have a connection to a virtual device (such

as a CD-ROM or floppy drive) with a local image mounted.

A virtual machine must not have a connection to an internal vSwitch (vSwitch with zero uplink adapters).

A virtual machine must not have CPU affinity configured.

If the virtual machine’s swap file is not accessible to the destination host, vMotion must be able to create a swap file accessible to the destination host before migration can begin.

If a virtual machine uses an RDM, the RDM must be accessible by the destination host.



Host Requirements for vMotion Migration

Source and destination hosts must have: Visibility to all storage (Fibre Channel, iSCSI, or NAS) used by the

virtual machine At least a Gigabit Ethernet network:

• Four concurrent vMotion migrations on a 1Gbps network • Eight concurrent vMotion migrations on a 10Gbps network

Access to the same physical networks Compatible CPUs



Title DEMO

Demonstrate creating vmkernel ports on both hosts Demonstrate successful vMotion migration



Verifying vMotion Layout: Virtual Machine Map DEMO



Checking vMotion Errors DEMO



Identifying CPU Characteristics

One way to identify CPU characteristics is to use the VMware CPU identification utility.



Exposing or Hiding NX/XD

For future CPU features, edit mask at the bit level.

DEMO



Methods for Addressing CPU Compatibility Requirements

There are several methods which can be used to address vMotion CPU compatibility requirements: Procure servers with identical CPUs Compatibility masking in the vSphere Client Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC)

• Automatically masks off CPU incompatibility • A feature of DRS clusters








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