ptg ptg VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise ptg This page intentionally left blank ptg Upper Saddle River, NJ • Boston • Indianapolis • San Francisco New York • Toronto • Montreal • London • Munich • Paris • Madrid Cape Town • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore • Mexico City VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise Planning Deployment of Virtualization Servers Edward L. Haletky ptg Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals. The author and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein. The publisher offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales, which may include electronic versions and/or custom covers and content particular to your business, training goals, marketing focus, and branding interests. For more information, please contact: U.S. Corporate and Government Sales (800) 382-3419 corpsales@pearsontechgroup.com For sales outside the United States, please contact: International Sales international@pearson.com Visit us on the Web: informit.com/aw Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Haletky, Edward. Vmware ESX and ESXI in the enterprise : planning deployment of virtualization servers / Edward Haletky. 2nd ed. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-13-705897-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Virtual computer systems. 2. Virtual computer systems Security measures. 3. VMware. 4. Operating systems (Computers) I. Title. QA76.9.V5H35 2010 006.8 dc22 2010042916 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copy- right, and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permissions, write to: Pearson Education, Inc. Rights and Contracts Department 501 Boylston Street, Suite 900 Boston, MA 02116 Fax (617) 671-3447 ISBN-13: 978-0-137-05897-6 ISBN-10: 0-137-05897-7 Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at Edwards Brothers in Ann Arbor, Michigan. First printing January 2011 Editor-in-Chief Mark Taub Executive Editor Chris Guzikowski Senior Development Editor Chris Zahn Managing Editor Kristy Hart Project Editor Jovana San Nicolas- Shirley Copy Editor Barbara Hacha Indexer Tim Wright Proofreaders Michael Henry Sheri Cain Publishing Coordinator Raina Chrobak Cover Designer Chuti Prasertsith Compositor Gloria Schurick From <www.wowebook.com> ptg To my mother, who always told me to read to my walls. From <www.wowebook.com> ptg This page intentionally left blank From <www.wowebook.com> ptg vii Contents CHAPTER 1 SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS 1 Basic Hardware Considerations 2 Feature Considerations 3 Processor Considerations 6 Cache Considerations 8 Memory Considerations 11 I/O Card Considerations 13 10Gb Ethernet 16 Converged Network Adapters 16 Disk Drive Space Considerations 16 Basic Hardware Considerations Summary 17 Specific Hardware Considerations 19 Blade Server Systems 19 1U Server Systems 20 2U Server Systems 21 Large Server-Class Systems 22 The Effects of External Storage 23 Examples 27 Example 1: Using Motherboard X and ESXi Will Not Install 27 Example 2: Installing ESX and Expecting a Graphical Console 27 Example 3: Existing Datacenter 28 Example 4: Office in a Box 29 Example 5: The Latest and Greatest 30 Example 6: The SAN 31 Example 7: Secure Environment 32 Example 8: Disaster Recovery 33 Hardware Checklist 34 Conclusion 35 From <www.wowebook.com> ptg viii VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise CHAPTER 2 VERSION COMPARISON 37 VMware ESX/ESXi Architecture Overview 38 vmkernel Differences 40 ESX Boot Differences 44 Tool Differences 51 Virtual Networking 52 vNetwork Distributed Switch 53 Third-Party Virtual Switches 53 Fault Tolerance (FT) Logging 54 iSCSI Participation 54 IPv6 Support 54 VMsafe-Net 54 Summary 54 Storage 56 Grow a VMFS Volume 57 Storage IO Control (SIOC) 57 Multipath Plug-in (MPP) 57 iSCSI and NFS Improvements 57 FCoE 58 Storage Summary 58 Availability 60 Host Profiles 60 Fault Tolerance 60 Dynamic Power Management 62 High Availability (HA) Improvements 62 vMotion 62 Storage vMotion 62 Availability Summary 63 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Differences 64 Virtual Hardware 66 Virtual Machine and Server Management 68 Security Differences 69 Installation Differences 70 Licensing Differences 71 VMware Certification 74 Conclusion 75 From <www.wowebook.com> ptg ix Contents CHAPTER 3 INSTALLATION 77 Preinstallation Checklist 77 Preinstallation/Upgrade Steps 80 Step 1: Back Up ESX 81 Step 2: Read the Release Notes 82 Step 3: Perform a Pre-Upgrade Test 82 Step 4: Prepare Your ESX Host 84 Installation/Upgrade Steps 85 Step 1: Read the Release Notes 85 Step 2: Read All Relevant Documentation 85 Step 3: Is Support Available for the Hardware Configuration? 85 Step 4: Verify the Hardware 85 Step 5: Are the Firmware Levels at Least Minimally Supported? 86 Step 6: Is the System and Peripheral BIOS Correctly Set? 87 Step 7: Where Do You Want the Boot Disk Located? 88 Step 8: VMware ESX Host License 89 Step 9: Guest OS License and Installation Materials 89 Step 10: Service Console Network Information 89 Step 11: Memory Allocated to the Service Console 89 Step 12: vmkernel Network Information 90 Step 13: Number of Virtual Network Switches 90 Step 14: Virtual Network Switch Label Name(s) 91 Step 15: File System Layouts 91 Step 16: Configure the Server and the FC HBA to Boot from SAN or Boot from iSCSI 93 Step 17: Start ESX/ESXi Host Installations 102 Step 18: Connecting to the Management User Interface for the First Time 112 Step 19: Third-Party Tools to Install 116 Step 20: Additional Software Packages to Install 117 Step 21: Patch ESX or ESXi 117 Step 22: Guest Operating System Software 117 Step 23: Guest Operating System Licenses 117 From <www.wowebook.com> [...]... xvi VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise EPILOGUE: THE FUTURE OF THE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT 539 REFERENCES 543 INDEX 545 From Preface How often have you heard this kind of marketing hype around the use of VMware vSphere 4? The latest version of ESX does everything for you! Virtualize Everything! It is cloud ready! VMware ESX and ESXi, specifically the latest incarnation, VMware. .. steps being the actual installation procedure There is more to planning your installation than the actual installation process Chapter 4: Auditing and Monitoring Because the preceding chapter discussed additional software, it is now time to discuss even more software to install that aids in the auditing and monitoring of ESX There is nothing like having to read through several thousands of lines of errors... planning would have alleviated all the From xx VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise rework The goal is to make the readers aware of these gotchas before they bite After a review of planning, the chapter moves on to various installations of ESX and ESXi with a discussion on where paths diverge and why they would For example, installing boot from SAN is quite different from a simple installation,...x VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise Step 24: Network Information for Each Guest Operating System Step 25: Guest Upgrades Automating Installation EXi 4.1 ESX 4 Kickstart Directives Conclusion CHAPTER 4 AUDITING AND MONITORING 118 118 118 118 118 119 121 123 Auditing Recipe ESX and ESXi ESX ESXi Auditing Conclusion Monitoring Recipe Host Hardware Monitoring Virtual Machine State Monitoring Network... first edition of this book, VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers Edward owns AstroArch Consulting, Inc., providing virtualization, security, network consulting, and development, and The Virtualization Practice, where he is also an analyst Edward is the moderator and host of the Virtualization Security Podcast, as well as a guru and moderator for the VMware Communities... Host These chapters tie it all together; we have installed, configured, and attached storage to ESX Now what? We need to manage ESX There are five ways to manage ESX: the use of the web-based webAccess; the use of vCenter (VC), with its NET client; the use of the remote CLI, which is mostly a collection of VI SDK applications; the use of the VI SDK; and the use of the command-line interface (CLI) These... placed in the environment Keeping in mind the big picture and your application mix is a good idea as you read through each chapter of this book Throughout this book we will refer to ESX as the combination of VMware ESX and VMware ESXi products Who Should Read This Book? This book delves into many aspects of virtualization and is designed for the beginning administrator as well as the advanced administrator... networking In ESX terms, this discussion is all about network interface card (NIC) teaming, or in more general terms, the bonding of multiple NICs into one bigger pipe for the purpose of increasing bandwidth and failover However, the checklist is not limited to the hardware but also includes the application of best practices for the creation of various virtual switches (vSwitches) within ESX, such as the. .. Virtual Switch, the standard virtual switch, and the Cisco Nexus 1000V In addition we will look at best practices for what network interfaces are virtualized, and when to use one over the other The flexibility of networking inside ESX implies that the system and network administrators From xxii VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise also have to be flexible, because the best practices... this information in simple language and in detail so that readers with different backgrounds can begin to use this extremely powerful tool Therefore, this book explains and comments on VMware ESX and ESXi versions 3.5.x and 4.x I have endeavored to put together a “soup to nuts” description of the best practices for ESX and ESXi that can also be applied in general to the other tools available in the . Tokyo • Singapore • Mexico City VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise Planning Deployment of Virtualization Servers Edward L. Haletky ptg Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers. kind of marketing hype around the use of VMware vSphere 4? The latest version of ESX does everything for you! Virtualize Everything! It is cloud ready! VMware ESX and ESXi, specifically the. <www.wowebook.com> ptg xviii VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise As you read, keep in mind the big picture that virtualization provides: bet- ter utilization of hardware and resource sharing. In many ways, virtualization