<<Chapter 4. install and configure vmeare esxi>>

With vCenter ready for action, next up is preparing the hypervisors themselves for running virtual machines. We won’t be ready for creating our first virtual machines for a few more nuggets, but at this point we'll run through the installation and initial configuration of ESXi. You’ll see how this almost appliance-like hypervisor gets installed, how its networking is prepared, and how it gets connected into vCenter.

<<Chapter 5. Configure vNetwork standard switches & vSS policies>>

If you’re new to virtualization, an ESXi server will be unlike almost any other server you’ve worked with before. Able to support trunked network connections just as easily as those at your network’s access layer, you’ll need to know how to correctly work with ESXi’s vNetwork Standard Switches. That knowledge, along with a full explanation of all its configuration options, are in this nugget.

<<Chapter 6. Configure Shared Storage for vSphere>>

Storage is the next configuration before we can create virtual machines. And in the vSphere virtual world, that storage is shared storage. Unlike the direct attached disks that are connected to a server’s hardware chassis, shared storage means SAN storage. You’ll be configuring exactly that shared storage for later use by your virtual machines in this nugget.

<<Chapter 7. Create and Configure VMFS Datastores>>

Configuring the connection to storage is but the first step in the process. Making that storage production-worthy requires redundancy and multiple paths. With the connection ready, you also require extra work in creating VMFS datastores. Those datastores are the file system in which your virtual machines will operate. You’ll also get an introduction to some of vSphere’s newest technologies like User-defined Storage Capabilities and Storage I/O Control.

<<Chapter 8. Create and Deploy VM & vApps>>

Only after ESXi’s operating system, its vSwitches, and its shared storage are configured can you begin creating and working with virtual machines. In this nugget you’ll get that opportunity. You’ll also learn about how virtual machines can be aggregated together into vApps for easier management, as well as how to P2V convert a physical (or other hypervisor’s virtual) machine into a VM that’s ready for vSphere.

<<Chapter 9. Administer and migrate VM amd vApps>>

<<Chapter 10. Config VMware Cluster and resource pools>>

<<Chapter 11. Manage virtual machine clones and temples>>

A virtual machine that’s powered off is nothing more than a file on disk. Even one that’s powered on, with the right tools, can be “copied and pasted” just like a file. That ease of replicating VMs feeds directly into this nugget on managing VM clones and templates. You’ll learn the best practices and the step-by-step to cloning your virtual machines and starting their lives via “golden p_w_picpath” templates.

Discuss:

(1) Identify the vcenter server manangerd esxi hosts and virtual macjines maximums;

(2)Determine the appropriate deployment methodology for a given virtual machine application.

Interact:

(1) Clone an existing virtual machine;

(2) Create a template from an existing vm;

(3)Deploy a vm from a template;

(4) Work with the customization specification manager;

(5)Deploy the vcenter appliance from an an OVF template.

<<Chapter 12. Backup and restore VM>>

Interact:

(1) Work with VM snapshots;

(2) Install and configure VMware data recovery;

(3) Create a backup job with vmware data recovery;

(4) perform restores with vmware data recovery.

 <<chapter 19. Monitor vCenter and administer alarms>

Yellow and red lights are never a good thing when they’re seen in a solution’s management console. But sometimes those lights aren’t well tuned. Other times you might just prefer to turn them off. You’ll learn how to tune vCenter’s alarm structure in this nugget. With the information you learn here, you’ll know that every warning light has meaning.