Technical information

VMware, Inc. 7
This book, Performance Best Practices for VMware
®
vSphere 4.0, provides a list of performance tips that cover the
most performance-critical areas of VMware
®
vSphere 4.0. It is not intended as a comprehensive guide for
planning and configuring your deployments.
Chapter 1, “Hardware for Use with VMware vSphere,” on page 11, provides guidance on selecting hardware
for use with vSphere.
Chapter 2, “ESX and Virtual Machines,” on page 17, provides guidance regarding VMware ESX
™
software
and the virtual machines that run in it.
Chapter 3, “Guest Operating Systems,” on page 29, provides guidance regarding the guest operating systems
running in virtual machines.
Chapter 4, “Virtual Infrastructure Management,” on page 35, provides guidance regarding resource
management best practices.
Intended Audience
This book is intended for system administrators who are planning a VMware vSphere 4.0 deployment and are
looking to maximize its performance. The book assumes the reader is already familiar with VMware vSphere
concepts and terminology.
Document Feedback
VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. If you have comments, send your
feedback to:
[e-mail]
VMware vSphere Documentation
The VMware vSphere documentation consists of the combined VMware vCenter and VMware ESX
documentation set.
You can access the most current versions of this manual and other books by going to:
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs
About This Book
NOTE For planning purposes we recommend reading this entire book before beginning a deployment.
Material in the Virtual Infrastructure Management chapter, for example, may influence your hardware
choices.
N
OTE Most of the recommendations in this book apply to both ESX and ESXi. The few exceptions are noted
in the text.