Foreword xxiii Introduction xxv Chapter 1 Introducing VMware vSphere 5.5 1 Exploring VMware vSphere 5.5 1 Examining the Products in the vSphere Suite 3 Examining the Features in VMware vSphere 8 Licensing VMware vSphere 18 Why Choose vSphere? 22 The Bottom Line 24 Chapter 2 Planning and Installing VMware ESXi 25 Planning a VMware vSphere Deployment 25 Choosing a Server Platform 26 Determining a Storage Architecture 28 Integrating with the Network Infrastructure 29 Deploying VMware ESXi 30 Installing VMware ESXi Interactively 31 Performing an Unattended Installation of VMware ESXi 35 Deploying VMware ESXi with vSphere Auto Deploy 39 Performing Post-installation Configuration 47 Installing the vSphere C# Client 47 Reconfiguring the Management Network 50 Configuring Time Synchronization 52 Configuring Name Resolution 53 The Bottom Line 54 Chapter 3 Installing and Configuring vCenter Server 57 Introducing vCenter Server 57 Centralizing User Authentication Using vCenter Single Sign-On 59 Using the vSphere Web Client for Administration 62 Understanding the vCenter Inventory Service 62 Providing an Extensible Framework 63 Choosing the Version of vCenter Server 64 Planning and Designing a vCenter Server Deployment 65 Sizing Hardware for vCenter Server 66 Choosing a Database Server for vCenter Server 68 Planning for vCenter Server Availability 70 Running vCenter Server and Its Components as VMs 72 Installing vCenter Server and Its Components 74 Configuring the vCenter Server Backend Database Server 75 Installing the vCenter Server Components 80 Installing vCenter Server in a Linked Mode Group 88 Deploying the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance 91 Configuring an IP Address on the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance 94 Accepting the End-User License Agreement 95 Configuring the Database 96 Setting Up Single Sign-On 96 Active Directory Settings 97 Starting the vCenter Server Services 97 Exploring vCenter Server 97 What''s in the vSphere Web Client Home Screen? 98 Using the Navigator 100 Creating and Managing a vCenter Server Inventory 100 Understanding Inventory Views and Objects 100 Creating and Adding Inventory Objects 103 Exploring vCenter Server''s Management Features 106 Understanding Basic Host Management 106 Examining Basic Host Configuration 108 Using Scheduled Tasks 111 Using Events Console in vCenter Server 113 Working with Host Profiles 114 Tags 116 Managing vCenter Server Settings 120 General vCenter Server Settings 120 Licensing 123 Message of the Day 123 Advanced Settings 123 vSphere Web Client Administration 123 Roles 124 Licensing 124 vCenter Solutions Manager 124 Log Browser 124 The Bottom Line 126 Chapter 4 vSphere Update Manager and the vCenter Support Tools 129 vSphere Update Manager 129 Installing vSphere Update Manager 131 Defining the Requirements 132 Configuring VUM''s Database 133 Creating the Open Database Connectivity Data Source Name 136 Installing VUM 137 Installing the Update Manager Download Service (Optional) 140 Installing the vSphere Update Manager Plug-in 141 Reconfiguring the VUM or UMDS Installation with the Update Manager Utility 142 Upgrading VUM from a Previous Version 143 Configuring vSphere Update Manager 143 Creating Baselines 149 Routine Updates 153 Attaching and Detaching Baselines or Baseline Groups 153 Performing a Scan 156 Staging Patches 159 Remediating Hosts 160 Upgrading VMware Tools 164 Upgrading Virtual Appliances and Host Extensions 166 Upgrading Hosts with vSphere Update Manager 166 Importing an ESXi Image and Creating the Host Upgrade Baseline 167 Upgrading a Host 168 Upgrading VM Hardware 171 Performing an Orchestrated Upgrade 173 Investigating Alternative Update Options 173 Using vSphere Update Manager PowerCLI 173 Upgrading and Patching without vSphere Update Manager 174 vCenter Support Tools 175 ESXi Dump Collector 175 Syslog Collector 181 Other vCenter Support Tools 185 The Bottom Line 185 Chapter 5 Creating and Configuring Virtual Networks 189 Putting Together a Virtual Network 189 Working with vSphere Standard Switches 192 Comparing Virtual Switches and Physical Switches 193 Understanding Ports and Port Groups 194 Understanding Uplinks 196 Configuring Management Networking 198 Configuring VMkernel Networking 202 Configuring TCP/IP Stacks 207 Configuring VM Networking 209 Configuring VLANs 212 Configuring NIC Teaming 216 Using and Configuring Traffic Shaping 229 Bringing It All Together 230 Working with vSphere Distributed Switches 234 Creating a vSphere Distributed Switch 234 Removing an ESXi Host from a Distributed Switch 239 Removing a Distributed Switch 240 Managing Distributed Switches 240 Working With Distributed Port Groups 244 Managing Adapters 252 Using NetFlow on vSphere Distributed Switches 257 Enabling Switch Discovery Protocols 259 Setting Up Private VLANs 260 Configuring LACP 263 Examining Third-Party Distributed Virtual Switches 268 Cisco Nexus 1000V 269 IBM Distributed Virtual Switch 5000V 269 HP FlexFabric Virtual Switch 5900v 270 Configuring Virtual Switch Security 270 Understanding and Using Promiscuous Mode 271 Allowing MAC Address Changes and Forged Transmits 272 Looking Ahead 276 The Bottom Line 277 Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring Storage Devices 279 Reviewing the Importance of Storage Design 279 Examining Shared Storage Fundamentals 280 Comparing Local Storage with Shared Storage 283 Defining Common Storage Array Architectures 284 Explaining RAID 286 Understanding VSAN 290 Understanding Midrange and External Enterprise Storage Array Design 292 Choosing a Storage Protocol 294 Making Basic Storage Choices 307 Implementing vSphere Storage Fundamentals 309 Reviewing Core vSphere Storage Concepts 309 Working with VMFS Datastores 327 Working with Raw Device Mappings 347 Working with NFS Datastores 349 Working with VM-Level Storage Configuration 359 Leveraging SAN and NAS Best Practices 372 The Bottom Line 377 Chapter 7 Ensuring High Availability and Business Continuity 379 Understanding the Layers of High Availability 379 Clustering VMs 381 Introducing Network Load Balancing Clustering 382 Introducing Windows Server Failover Clustering 383 Implementing vSphere High Availability 395 Understanding vSphere High Availability 395 Understanding vSphere HA''s Underpinnings 396 Enabling vSphere High Availability 399 Configuring vSphere High Availability 401 Managing vSphere High Availability 413 Implementing vSphere Fault Tolerance 415 Using vSphere Fault Tolerance with vSphere High Availability 420 Using vSphere Fault Tolerance with vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler 420 Examining vSphere Fault Tolerance Use Cases 421 Planning for Business Continuity 421 Providing Data Protection 421 Recovering from Disasters 425 Using vSphere Replication 427 The Bottom Line 431 Chapter 8 Securing VMware vSphere 433 Overview of vSphere Security 433 Securing ESXi Hosts 434 Working with ESXi Authentication 434 Controlling Access to ESXi Hosts 441 Keeping ESXi Hosts Patched 449 Managing ESXi Host Permissions 449 Configuring ESXi Host Logging 458 Reviewing Other ESXi Security Recommendations 458 Securing vCenter Server 459 Authenticating Users with Single Sign-On 460 Understanding the vpxuser Account 464 Managing vCenter Server Permissions 466 Examining vCenter Server Logging 476 Securing Virtual Machines 477 Configuring Network Security Policies 477 Keeping VMs Patched 478 The Bottom Line 478 Chapter 9 Creating and Managing Virtual Machines 481 Understanding Virtual Machines 481 Examining Virtual Machines from the Inside 481 Examining Virtual Machines from the Outside 484 Creating a Virtual Machine 488 Choosing Values for Your New Virtual Machine 499 Installing a Guest Operating System 504 Working with Installation Media 505 Using the Installation Media 507 Working in the Virtual Machine Console 508 Installing VMware Tools 509 Installing VMware Tools in Windows 510 Installing VMware Tools in Linux 514 Managing Virtual Machines 516 Adding or Registering Existing VMs 516 Changing VM Power States 518 Removing VMs 519 Deleting VMs 519 Modifying Virtual Machines 519 Changing Virtual Machine Hardware 520 Using Virtual Machine Snapshots 524 The Bottom Line 529 Chapter 10 Using Templates and vApps 531 Cloning VMs 531 Installing Sysprep on the vCenter Server 532 Creating a Customization Specification 533 Cloning a Virtual Machine 538 Creating Templates and Deploying Virtual Machines 541<.