Datasheet

ManualsBrandsWiley ManualsSoftware978-0-470-48138-7

McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm Page 1

Chapter 1

Introducing VMware vSphere 4

VMware vSphere 4 builds upon previous generations of VMware virtualization products, becom-

ing an even more robust, scalable, and reliable server virtualization product. With dynamic

resource controls, high availability, unprecedented fault tolerance features, distributed resource

management, and backup tools included as part of the suite, IT administrators have all the tools

they need to run an enterprise environment ranging from a few servers up to thousands of servers.

In this chapter, you will learn to:

◆ Identify the role of each product in the vSphere product suite

◆ Recognize the interaction and dependencies between the products in the vSphere suite

◆ Understand how vSphere differs from other virtualization products

Exploring VMware vSphere 4

The VMware vSphere product suite includes a number of products and features that together

provide a full array of enterprise virtualization functionality. These products and features in the

vSphere product suite include the following:

◆ VMware ESX and ESXi

◆ VMware Virtual Symmetric Multi-Processing

◆ VMware vCenter Server

◆ VMware vCenter Update Manager

◆ VMware vSphere Client

◆ VMware VMotion and Storage VMotion

◆ VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler

◆ VMware High Availability

◆ VMware Fault Tolerance

◆ VMware Consolidated Backup

◆ VMware vShield Zones

◆ VMware vCenter Orchestrator

Rather than waiting to introduce these products and features in their own chapters, I’ll intro-

duce each product or feature in the following sections. This will allow me to explain how each

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

Summary of content (16 pages)

PAGE 1
McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm Chapter 1 AL Introducing VMware vSphere 4 TE RI VMware vSphere 4 builds upon previous generations of VMware virtualization products, becoming an even more robust, scalable, and reliable server virtualization product.
PAGE 2
McCain 2 c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 product or feature affects the design, installation, and configuration of your virtual infrastructure. After I cover the features and products in the vSphere suite, you’ll have a better grasp of how each of them fits into the design and the big picture of virtualization. Certain products outside the vSphere product suite extend the vSphere product line with new functionality.
PAGE 3
McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm EXPLORING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 Figure 1.1 Linux VMs Installing VMware ESX installs two interoperable components: the Linux-derived Service Console and the virtual machine-managing VMkernel. Service Console VMkernel Compared to previous versions of ESX/ESXi, VMware has expanded the limits of what the hypervisor is capable of supporting. Table 1.1 shows the configuration maximums for this version of ESX/ESXi as compared to the previous release. Table 1.
PAGE 4
McCain 4 c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 virtual machine. Figure 1.2 identifies the differences between multiple processors in the ESX/ESXi host system and multiple virtual processors. Figure 1.2 VMware Virtual SMP allows virtual machines to be created with two or four processors.
PAGE 5
McCain c01.
PAGE 6
McCain 6 c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 Chapter 4, ‘‘Installing and Configuring vCenter Update Manager,’’ features more extensive coverage of vCenter Update Manager. VMware vSphere Client The VMware vSphere Client is a Windows-based application that allows you to manage ESX/ESXi hosts, either directly or through a vCenter Server.
PAGE 7
McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm EXPLORING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 has more available CPU. More details on the VMware VMotion feature and its requirements are provided in Chapter 10, ‘‘Managing Resource Allocation.’’ Storage VMotion builds on the idea and principle of VMotion, further reducing planned downtime with the ability to move a virtual machine’s storage while the virtual machine is still running.
PAGE 8
McCain 8 c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 DRS isn’t limited to operating only at virtual machine startup, though. DRS also manages the virtual machine’s location while it is running. For example, let’s say three servers have been configured in an ESX/ESXi cluster with DRS enabled.
PAGE 9
McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm EXPLORING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 The VMware HA feature, unlike DRS, does not use the VMotion technology as a means of migrating servers to another host. In a VMware HA failover situation, there is no anticipation of failure; it is not a planned outage, and therefore there is no time to perform a VMotion. VMware HA is intended to address unplanned downtime because of the failure of a physical ESX/ESXi host.
PAGE 10
McCain 10 c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 VMware Consolidated Backup One of the most critical aspects to any network, not just a virtualized infrastructure, is a solid backup strategy as defined by a company’s disaster recovery and business continuity plan. VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) is a set of tools and interfaces that provide both LAN-free and LAN-based backup functionality to third-party backup solutions.
PAGE 11
McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm EXPLORING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 Chapter 14, ‘‘Automating VMware vSphere,’’ provides more information on vCenter Orchestrator and other automation technologies and tools. VMware vSphere Compared to Hyper-V and XenServer It’s not really possible to compare some virtualization solutions to other virtualization solutions because they are fundamentally different in approach and purpose.
PAGE 12
McCain 12 c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 Licensing VMware vSphere With the introduction of VMware vSphere, VMware introduces a number of new licensing tiers and bundles that are intended to provide a good fit for every market segment. In this section, I’ll explain the different licensing tiers—called editions—and how the various features that I’ve discussed so far fit into these editions.
PAGE 13
McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm LICENSING VMWARE VSPHERE Table 1.
PAGE 14
McCain 14 c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING VMWARE VSPHERE 4 Why Choose vSphere? Much has been said and written about the total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) for virtualization projects involving VMware virtualization solutions. Rather than rehashing that material here, I’ll instead focus, very briefly, on why an organization should choose VMware vSphere as their virtualization platform.
PAGE 15
McCain c01.tex V3 - 09/17/2009 12:23pm THE BOTTOM LINE These scenarios begin to provide some idea of the benefits that organizations see when virtualizing with an enterprise-class virtualization solution like VMware vSphere. The Bottom Line Identify the role of each product in the vSphere product suite. The VMware vSphere product suite contains ESX and ESXi and vCenter Server. ESX and ESXi provide the base virtualization functionality and enable features like Virtual SMP.
PAGE 16
McCain c01.