VMware vSphere 5.5 Cookbook

Book description

A task-oriented guide with over 150 practical recipes to install, configure, and manage VMware vSphere components

In Detail

VMware is still the undisputed leader in providing virtualization solutions ranging from server virtualization to storage and network virtualization. VMware vSphere is the industry's most complete and robust virtualization platform, transforming data centers into dramatically simplified cloud infrastructures.

VMware vSphere 5.5 Cookbook will walk you through the procedures involved in installing or upgrading your current vSphere environment to Version 5.5 and also help you perform the most common administration tasks ranging from configuring HA, DRS, and DPM, configuring storage and networking, to patching/upgrading using vSphere Update Manager, performing remote CLI operations using VMA, and monitoring the performance of a vSphere environment.

This book is written with simplified and to-the-point theory eliminating the need for lengthy reading before performing a task. Most of the tasks are accompanied with relevant screenshots and flowcharts to facilitate your understanding.

What You Will Learn

  • Upgrade your existing vSphere environment to vSphere 5.5 or build a new one

  • Autodeploy a large set of stateless/stateful ESXi hosts in your vSphere environment

  • Configure vSphere networking using standard or distributed virtual switches

  • Configure and manage FC, iSCSI, and NAS storage

  • Configure high availability, load distribution, and power savings on an ESXi cluster using vSphere HA, DRS, and DPM

  • Patch and upgrade the vSphere environment using vSphere Update Manager

  • Use vSphere Management Assistant as a remote command-line interface

  • Discover the built-in tools available for monitoring the performance of a vSphere environment

  • Table of contents

    1. VMware vSphere 5.5 Cookbook
      1. Table of Contents
      2. VMware vSphere 5.5 Cookbook
      3. Credits
      4. About the Author
      5. About the Reviewers
      6. www.PacktPub.com
        1. Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more
          1. Why subscribe?
          2. Free access for Packt account holders
          3. Instant updates on new Packt books
      7. Preface
        1. What this book covers
        2. What you need for this book
        3. Who this book is for
        4. Sections
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
          4. There's more…
          5. See also
        5. Conventions
        6. Reader feedback
        7. Customer support
          1. Downloading the color images of this book
          2. Errata
          3. Piracy
          4. Questions
      8. 1. Upgrading to vSphere 5.5
        1. Introduction
        2. Downloading vCenter 5.5
          1. How to do it...
        3. Carrying out pre-upgrade checks
          1. How to do it...
            1. Checking ESXi host compatibility with vCenter
            2. Running the VMware vCenter Host Agent Pre-Upgrade Checker
            3. Checking database compatibility
            4. Backing up SSL certificates
            5. Enabling SSL certificate verification
        4. Upgrading the Single Sign-On component
          1. How to do it...
        5. Upgrading the vSphere Web Client
          1. How to do it...
          2. There's more...
        6. Upgrading the vCenter Inventory Service
          1. How to do it...
        7. Performing an upgrade of vCenter Server
          1. How to do it...
        8. Upgrading ESXi to Version 5.5
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
        9. Upgrading vCenter Server Appliance to Version 5.5
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        10. Upgrading VMware Tools
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
        11. Upgrading the virtual machine hardware
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
        12. Scheduling the virtual machine hardware upgrade
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
      9. 2. Performing a New Installation of vSphere 5.5
        1. Introduction
        2. Installing ESXi 5.5
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. There's more...
          4. See also
        3. Configuring the ESXi Management Network
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. There's more…
        4. Installing vCenter 5.5
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
            1. Creating a DSN for the SQL database for vCenter Server
            2. Performing a new installation of vCenter Server
          3. How it works…
        5. Adding an additional Identity Source to the SSO server
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        6. Assigning users/groups to the vCenter Server
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
        7. Deploying SSO for the vCenter Linked Mode
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        8. Creating a vCenter Linked Mode group
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
        9. Deploying vCenter Server Appliance 5.5
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
      10. 3. Using vSphere Host Profiles
        1. Introduction
        2. Preparing a reference host
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        3. Creating a Host Profile
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        4. Exporting a Host Profile
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        5. Importing a Host Profile
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        6. Duplicating a Host Profile
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        7. Attaching/detaching ESXi hosts to/from a Host Profile
          1. How to do it…
        8. Verifying the profile compliance of an ESXi host
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        9. Remediating an ESXi host for profile compliance
          1. How to do it…
        10. Using Host Profiles to push a new configuration change
          1. How to do it…
      11. 4. Using ESXi Image Builder
        1. Introduction
          1. vSphere Installation Bundle
          2. Image profiles
          3. Offline bundles
        2. Downloading an ESXi offline bundle
          1. How to do it...
        3. Creating an image profile by cloning a predefined profile
          1. How to do it...
            1. Adding an ESXi software depot
            2. Listing available image profiles
            3. Cloning a predefined ESXi image profile to form a new one
          2. How it works...
          3. See also
        4. Removing an ESXi image profile
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        5. Adding a VIB (software package) to an image profile
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. There's more...
        6. Adding the HA VIB to the image profile
          1. How to do it...
        7. Exporting an image profile as an ISO or offline bundle
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        8. Creating an image profile from scratch
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
          4. See also
        9. Applying an image profile to the host
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
      12. 5. Using vSphere Auto Deploy
        1. Introduction
          1. vSphere Auto Deploy architecture
          2. Preparing a vSphere environment for vSphere Auto Deploy
        2. Installing an Auto Deploy server
          1. How to do it…
        3. Configuring a TFTP Server with Auto Deploy files
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        4. Configuring the DHCP server for PXE boot
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        5. Testing the PXE boot configuration
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        6. Preparing VMware PowerCLI for first use
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        7. Preparing vSphere Auto Deploy for provisioning
          1. Adding a Software Depot
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        8. Choosing an ESXi Image Profile to deploy
          1. How to do it…
        9. Creating a Host Profile
          1. How to do it…
        10. Creating a deploy rule
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        11. Activating a deploy rule
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
          3. There's more…
        12. Testing Auto Deploy
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
            1. First boot
            2. Subsequent boot
        13. Enabling Stateless Caching
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        14. Performing an Auto Deploy stateful install
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
      13. 6. Configuring vSphere Networking
        1. Introduction
        2. Creating a vSphere Standard Switch
          1. How to do it…
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client
            2. Using esxcli
          2. How it works…
        3. Deleting a vSphere Standard Switch
          1. How to do it…
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client
            2. Using esxcli
        4. Creating a VMkernel interface on a standard vSwitch
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client
            2. Using esxcli and esxcfg-vmknic
          2. There's more…
          3. See also
        5. Deleting a port group from a standard vSwitch
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client
            2. Using esxcli
          3. How it works…
        6. Adding an uplink to a standard vSwitch
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client
            2. Using esxcfg-vswitch
        7. Creating a vSphere Distributed Switch
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        8. Creating a distributed port group
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
            1. Port binding
            2. Port allocation
            3. Network resource pools
        9. Adding hosts to a vSphere Distributed Switch
          1. How to do it...
        10. Migrating a virtual machine network from a vSphere Standard Switch to a vSphere Distributed Switch
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works...
        11. Mapping a physical adapter (vmnic) to a dvUplink
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client
            2. Using esxcfg-vswitch
          2. How it works...
          3. There's more…
        12. Configuring security, traffic shaping, teaming and failover on a vSwitch and a VDS
          1. How to do it…
            1. On a standard vSwitch
            2. On a VDS
          2. How it works…
            1. Security
            2. Traffic shaping
            3. Teaming and failover
            4. Load balancing
            5. Failover Detection and Failover Order
        13. Migrating VMkernel interfaces between a standard vSwitch and VDS
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
          4. See also
        14. Creating additional VMkernel interfaces on a VDS
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        15. Creating a backup of a VDS
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
          3. See also
        16. Restoring a VDS configuration
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        17. Importing a VDS into the data center from a backup
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works...
        18. Creating Network Resource Pools on a VDS
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
            1. System network resource pools
            2. User-defined network resource pools
        19. Enabling port mirroring on a VDS
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
        20. Enabling NetFlow on a VDS
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        21. Configuring private VLANs on a VDS
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works…
      14. 7. Creating and Managing VMFS Datastores
        1. Introduction
        2. Viewing the LUNs presented to an ESXi host
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client to view the LUNs
            2. Using the ESXi CLI to view the LUN information
          3. How it works...
          4. There's more...
        3. Viewing the datastores seen by the ESXi hosts
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client to view the datastores
            2. Using the ESXi CLI to view the datastores
        4. Viewing and changing the multipathing of a LUN
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client GUI
            2. Using ESXi CLI
          2. How it works...
          3. There's more…
        5. Creating a VMFS datastore
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
            1. Using the New Datastore wizard
            2. Using ESXi CLI to create a VMFS volume
          3. There's more…
        6. Expanding/growing a VMFS datastore
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the Increase Datastore Capacity wizard
            2. Using the ESXi CLI tool vmkfstools
          2. How it works...
        7. Extending a VMFS datastore
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
            1. Using the Increase Datastore Capacity wizard
            2. Using vmkfstools
          3. How it works...
        8. Unmounting a VMFS datastore
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client GUI to unmount a datastore
            2. Using the ESXi CLI tool "unmount"
        9. Mounting a VMFS datastore
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the vSphere Web Client UI to mount
            2. Using esxcli to mount an unmounted volume
        10. Deleting a VMFS datastore
          1. How to do it...
        11. Upgrading from VMFS3 to VMFS5
          1. How to do it...
            1. Upgrading the VMFS using the vSphere Web Client GUI
            2. Upgrading using the ESXi CLI tool vmkfstools
          2. How it works...
        12. Mounting VMFS from a snapshot LUN
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the New Datastore wizard
            2. Using ESXi CLI
          2. How it works...
        13. Resignaturing VMFS on a snapshot LUN
          1. How to do it...
            1. Using the datastore wizard
            2. Using ESXi CLI
          2. How it works...
        14. Masking paths to a LUN
          1. How to do it...
        15. Unmasking paths to a LUN
          1. How to do it...
        16. Creating a datastore cluster
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
          3. There's more...
        17. Enabling Storage DRS
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
            1. Initial placement
            2. Balancing space utilization
            3. Balancing I/O load
          3. See also
      15. 8. Managing iSCSI and NFS Datastores
        1. Introduction
        2. Adding the software iSCSI adapter
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
          4. There's more…
        3. Preparing the vSphere network for iSCSI multipathing
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        4. Binding VMkernel interfaces to the software iSCSI adapter
          1. How to do it...
          2. There's more…
        5. Adding an iSCSI target server to the software iSCSI adapter
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        6. Creating an NFS Datastore
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
      16. 9. vSphere Storage Policies and Storage I/O Control
        1. Introduction
        2. Adding a storage provider
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
          4. See also
        3. Creating user-defined capability tags for datastores
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        4. Creating VM storage policies
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
        5. Assigning VM storage policies to virtual machine disks
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        6. Enabling Storage I/O Control
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works...
          4. See also
        7. Modifying disk shares on a VM
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
      17. 10. Creating and Managing Virtual Machines
        1. Introduction
        2. Creating a virtual machine
          1. How to do it...
        3. Creating a new hard disk for a virtual machine
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        4. Adding an existing hard disk to a virtual machine
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        5. Attaching RDM to a virtual machine
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
          4. There's more...
        6. Mapping a virtual machine's vNIC to a different port group
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        7. Adding a new virtual network adapter to a virtual machine
          1. How to do it...
        8. Creating a virtual machine snapshot
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
          3. There's more...
        9. Deleting a virtual machine snapshot
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
          3. See also
        10. Reverting to a current virtual machine snapshot
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        11. Switching to an arbitrary virtual machine snapshot
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        12. Consolidating snapshots
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
          3. See also
        13. Exporting a virtual machine
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
      18. 11. Configuring vSphere HA
        1. Introduction
        2. Enabling vSphere HA on a cluster
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
          3. How it works...
          4. See also
        3. Configuring vSphere HA Admission Control
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
          3. See also
        4. Setting the host isolation response for an HA cluster
          1. How to do it...
          2. See also
        5. Setting the VM restart priority for an HA cluster
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        6. Configuring VM monitoring
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        7. Configuring datastore heartbeating
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        8. Configuring a VM to override host monitoring and VM monitoring settings
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        9. Disabling host monitoring
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
      19. 12. Configuring vSphere DRS, DPM, and VMware EVC
        1. Introduction
        2. Enabling vSphere DRS on a cluster
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        3. Configuring VMware EVC
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
          4. See also
        4. Choosing a DRS automation level
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        5. Overriding the cluster automation level for a VM
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        6. Setting a migration threshold
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        7. Creating DRS host groups
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
        8. Creating DRS VM groups
          1. How to do it…
        9. Creating VMs to the host affinity rules
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        10. Creating VM affinity/anti-affinity rules
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        11. Configuring vSphere Distributed Power Management
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        12. Enabling power management on a per-host level
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
      20. 13. Upgrading and Patching Using vSphere Update Manager
        1. Introduction
        2. Preparing database connectivity for VUM
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works...
          3. See also
        3. Installing vSphere Update Manager
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it...
        4. Installing the vSphere Update Manager plugin
          1. How to do it...
        5. Adding a download source
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        6. Creating a baseline
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        7. Importing ESXi Images
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        8. Creating a host baseline group
          1. How to do it...
        9. Creating a VM and VA baseline group
          1. How to do it...
        10. Remediating a host or a cluster
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
          3. There's more…
            1. Host maintenance mode options for remediation
            2. Cluster maintenance mode options for remediation
        11. Remediating a VM or a VA
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        12. Staging patches
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        13. Installing the Update Manager Download Service
          1. How to do it...
        14. Configuring UMDS and downloading data
          1. How to do it...
        15. Creating a shared repository
          1. How to do it...
          2. How it works...
        16. Using a shared repository
          1. How to do it...
      21. 14. Using vSphere Management Assistant
        1. Introduction
        2. Deploying the vMA appliance
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
        3. Preparing VMware vMA for first use
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        4. Configuring VMware vMA to join an existing domain
          1. How to do it…
        5. Adding vCenter to vMA with AD authentication
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        6. Adding vCenter to vMA with fastpass (fpauth) authentication
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        7. Adding an ESXi host to vMA
          1. How to do it…
          2. How it works…
        8. Reconfiguring an added target server
          1. How to do it…
            1. Changing the authentication policy
            2. Changing or recovering a user
          2. How it works…
        9. Running CLI commands on target servers
          1. How to do it…
            1. Method 1 – issuing commands on the default target
            2. Method 2 – issuing commands by specifying a target server
            3. Method 3 – issuing commands against a vCenter added as the target
        10. Updating the vMA
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
          4. There's more...
      22. 15. Monitoring the Performance of a vSphere Environment
        1. Introduction
        2. Using esxtop to monitor performance
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
          4. See also
        3. Exporting and importing esxtop configurations
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        4. Running esxtop in batch mode
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
        5. Gathering VM I/O statistics using vscsiStats
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
        6. Using vCenter performance graphs
          1. Getting ready
          2. How to do it…
          3. How it works…
          4. See also
      23. Index

    Product information

    • Title: VMware vSphere 5.5 Cookbook
    • Author(s): Abhilash G B
    • Release date: February 2015
    • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
    • ISBN: 9781782172857