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

About the Author

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.