VMware vSphere Design

Achieve the performance, scalability, and ROI your business needs

What can you do at the start of a virtualization deployment to make things run more smoothly? If you plan, deploy, maintain, and optimize vSphere solutions in your company, this unique book provides keen insight and solutions. From hardware selection, network layout, and security considerations to storage and hypervisors, this book explains the design decisions you'll face and how to make the right choices.

Written by two virtualization experts and packed with real-world strategies and examples, VMware vSphere Design, Second Edition will help you design smart design decisions.

• Shows IT administrators how plan, deploy, maintain, and optimize vSphere virtualization solutions

• Explains the design decisions typically encountered at every step in the process and how to make the right choices

• Covers server hardware selection, network topology, security, storage, virtual machine design, and more

• Topics include ESXi hypervisors deployment, vSwitches versus dvSwitches, and FC, FCoE, iSCSI, or NFS storage

Find out the "why" behind virtualization design decisions and make better choices, with VMware vSphere Design, Second Edition, which has been fully updated for vSphere 5.x.

Autorentext

Forbes Guthrie, VCAP-DCD, (tweet @forbesguthrie) is a technical architect who specializes in virtualization and storage technologies. He is also a VMware vExpert and the creator of several popular virtualization reference cards. Forbes blogs at www.vReference.com. Scott Lowe, VCDX 39, (tweet @scott_lowe) is a technical architect at VMware. Scott is a VMware vExpert and the author of Mastering VMware vSphere 5. Scott also writes at blog.scottlowe.org, which attracts thousands of visitors daily.

Zusammenfassung
Achieve the performance, scalability, and ROI your business needs

What can you do at the start of a virtualization deployment to make things run more smoothly? If you plan, deploy, maintain, and optimize vSphere solutions in your company, this unique book provides keen insight and solutions. From hardware selection, network layout, and security considerations to storage and hypervisors, this book explains the design decisions you'll face and how to make the right choices.

Written by two virtualization experts and packed with real-world strategies and examples, VMware vSphere Design, Second Edition will help you design smart design decisions.

• Shows IT administrators how plan, deploy, maintain, and optimize vSphere virtualization solutions
• Explains the design decisions typically encountered at every step in the process and how to make the right choices
• Covers server hardware selection, network topology, security, storage, virtual machine design, and more
• Topics include ESXi hypervisors deployment, vSwitches versus dvSwitches, and FC, FCoE, iSCSI, or NFS storage
  Find out the "why" behind virtualization design decisions and make better choices, with VMware vSphere Design, Second Edition, which has been fully updated for vSphere 5.x.

Inhalt

Introduction xxi

Chapter 1 • An Introduction to Designing VMware Environments 1

What is Design? 1

The Facets of vSphere Design 5

The Technical Facet 6

The Organizational Facet 7

The Operational Facet 8

The Principles of Design 9

Availability 9

Manageability 10

Performance 10

Recoverability 10

Security 11

The Process of Design 11

Gathering and Defining Functional Requirements 11

Assessing the Environment 13

Performing a Gap Analysis 14

Assembling the Design 15

Documenting the Design 16

Performing the Implementation 17

Summary 17

Chapter 2 • The ESXi Hypervisor 19

Evolution of the vSphere Hypervisor 19

The ESXi Concept 21

ESXi Design 22

ESXi Components 22

ESXi Agents 23

ESXi System Image 24

ESXi Customized Images 25

ESXi Disk Layout 27

Tardisks and Ramdisks 29

ESXi Deployment 29

Hardware Requirements 29

ESXi Flavors: Installable, Embedded, and Stateless 29

Auto Deploy Infrastructure 36

Comparing Deployments Options 38

Upgrading ESXi 41

Migrating from ESX 42

Testing 42

Deployment 43

Management 44

Postinstallation Design Options 45

Management Tools Overview 51

Host-Management Tools 51

Centralized Management Tools 54

Hardware Monitoring 56

Logging 57

Summary 58

Chapter 3 • The Management Layer 59

Reviewing the Components of the Management Layer 59

VMware vCenter Server 59

vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client 62

vSphere Update Manager 63

Management Applications 64

Examining Key Management Layer Design Decisions 69

Virtual or Physical vCenter Server? 70

vCenter Server on Windows or vCenter Server Appliance? 72

Local or Remote Database Server? 73

Which Operating System for vCenter Server? 75

Creating the Management Layer Design 76

Availability 76

Manageability 82

Performance 86

Recoverability 92

Security 92

Summary 94

Chapter 4 • Server Hardware 95

Hardware Considerations 95

Factors in Selecting Hardware 96

Computing Needs 99

Server Constraints 101

Differentiating among Vendors 104

Server Components 106

CPU 107

RAM 110

NUMA 117

Motherboard 118

Storage 118

Network 119

PCI 119

Preparing the Server 121

Configuring the BIOS 122

Other Hardware Settings 122

Burn-in 123

Preproduction Checks 123

Scale-Up vs Scale-Out 123

Advantages of Scaling Up 125

Advantages of Scaling Out 126

Scaling is a Matter of Perspective 127

Risk Assessment 127

Choosing the Right Size 128

CPU to Memory Design Ratio 129

Sizing the Hosts 130

Blade Servers vs Rack Servers 131

Blade Servers 132

Rack Servers 135

Form-Factor Conclusions 136

Alternative Hardware Approaches 136

Cloud Computing 136

Converged Hardware 138

Summary 139

Chapter 5 • Designing Your Network 141

Examining Key Network Components 141

Physical Connectivity 142

Network Traffic Types 142

Software Components 144

Exploring Factors Influencing the Network Design 144

Physical Switch Support 145

vSwitches and Distributed vSwitches 152 IP-Based Storage 15...