VMware ESXI PDF

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,
HYD. Ph:9959562929,66848223. WWW.SHIVACOMPUTERS.NET
SHIVA COMPUTERS
# 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND
MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET, HYD.
Ph:9959562929,66848223.
www.shivacomputers.net
VMWARE
VCENTER 5.0
1|Page

INDEX
Lesson
Topic
Page No
2|Page

LESSON 1: VCENTER INTRODUCTION

VCenter (VC)
VCenter is Virtual Center
It is used for centralized management of ESX servers
VCenter is a software, that works on windows platform only
One VCenter can manage 200 ESX servers
Vmotion (hot migration), clustering, fault tolerance (FT) templates, host profiles, alarms, scheduled tasks,
plug-ins are possible with VC
VSphere client is used to manage VCenter
VCenter Hierarchy
VCenter Data Center Cluster ESX Server VM

3|Page

VCenter installation
Database is required for VCenter
Microsoft SQL 2005, 2008, Oracle 9i, 10g are supported
MySQL is not supported at this moment
Database can be a separate server or can be installed in the same server with VC
VCenter
enter
Microsoft SQL 2005 express is free and comes with VCenter software by default. This database can support
5 ESX servers with 50 VMs
VCenter installation Types

VCenter installation is two types
Standalone mode
o One VSphere client to manage one VCenter
Linked mode
o One VSphere client to manage multiple VCenters
4|Page

Installation screens
5|Page

LESSON 2: CLUSTERING
Clustering
Clusters are used to group the ESX servers
With clusters HA (Failover) and DRS (Load balancing) are possible
In case of ESX failures, still VMs are available if they are moved to other ESX server
Mainly there are two components in clustering
HA
o High Availability
o Used for Failover
DRS
o Distributed Resource Scheduling
o Used for load balancing
HA (High Availability)
HA is for Failover
If any ESX is down, all VMs are moved to other ESX automatically
There is a minimum downtime, since VM restarts
6|Page

DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduling)

DRS is for load balancing
VMs are moved from one ESX to other ESX for load balancing
VMs are not restarted during migration
7|Page

Migration Methods
Manual
o Need to migrate manually
o VCenter gives suggestions
Partially automated
o Auto migration at power on
o VCenter gives suggestions
Fully automated
o Auto migration at power on and on
on-overload
o VCenter doesnt give any suggestions
Threshold points for migration
ESX takes the migration decisions based on these threshold points
8|Page

DPM (Distributed Power Management)

DPM is used forr power management and to save the power
DPM works with DRS
DPM is not supported in all Hardware
With DPM, some VMs with low load on one ESX are moved to other ESX, so that ESX goes to sleep mode to
save the power
Generally the load on VMs is low at weekends
DPM has 3 power modes

OFF
Manual
Automatic
9|Page

VCenter Interface
VCenter interface after installation

Creating a new Datacenter
To create a new datacenter
10 | P a g e

Datacenter created (eg. HYD-DC)

Creating a new cluster (in datacenter)
To create a new cluster
11 | P a g e

Specify name of cluster (eg. Testcluster)

Select cluster features (HA and DRS)
12 | P a g e

Select automation level for migration (best level is fully automated)
Specify the power management method (DPM modes)
13 | P a g e

Enable host monitoring

Configure admission control and admission control policy
Host failures cluster tolerates (default 1, maximum 4)
Percentage of cluster resources reserved (default 25%, maximum 50%)
Configure VM options
14 | P a g e

Configure VM monitoring status and monitoring sensitivity (low, medium, high)
Configure EVC (Enhanced Vmotion Compatibility) for AMD hosts

15 | P a g e

If Disabled: no compatibility for vmotion if hardware is different
If enabled: compatibility for vmotion even hardware is different
Configure EVC (Enhanced Vmotion Compatibility) for Intel Hosts

Vmotion is moving VM while the power is ON
16 | P a g e

Configure swapfile policy for VMs
Shows summary information and Cluster is ready to complete

17 | P a g e

A new cluster is created (eg. Testcluster)

VMWARE ESX servers can be added to this cluster
Adding Host (ESX server) to the cluster
Adding host (adding ESX server)
18 | P a g e

Specify IP address and authorization (username and password)
19 | P a g e

License key assignment
Choose the destination resource pool
20 | P a g e

Displays summary information, the ESX is ready to be added to cluster
ESX server is added to cluster (eg. Shiva-esx1 / 172.16.0.1)

It also displays all the VMs created on that ESX
21 | P a g e

LESSON 3: VCENTER HOME PAGE

Inventory/Search
It is used to search for the objects in inventory
22 | P a g e

Inventory/Hosts and Clusters
Displays VCenter Hierarchy (datacenters, clusters, hosts/ESX and VMs)
23 | P a g e

Inventory/VMs and Templates
24 | P a g e

Displays VMs and Templates

(Template is a prebuilt VM which is a standard to create VMs)
Inventory/Datastores
25 | P a g e

Displays Datastores information. Generally these are SAN or NAS shared volumes
Inventory/Networking
26 | P a g e

Displays network information (Vswitches, VM Port Group, VM Kernel Ports etc)
Administration/Roles
27 | P a g e

Displays roles and permissions to access VCenter
Administration/Sessions
28 | P a g e

Displays the current users logged into Vcenter. Shows all the sessions and their status
Administration/Licensing
29 | P a g e

Displays the licensing information
30 | P a g e

Administration/System Logs
Displays system logs
31 | P a g e

Administration/VCenter Server Settings
VCenter Server Settings can be configured

32 | P a g e

(Licensing, Statistics, Runtime settings, Active Directory, Mail, SNMP, Port, Timeout settings, logging options,
database, DB retention policy, SSL settings, advanced settings can be modified)
Administration/VCenter Service Status
Displays VCenter services and their status

33 | P a g e

Management / Scheduled Tasks
Displays configured Scheduled tasks, Last run, Next run information
34 | P a g e

Management / Events
Displays Events information

35 | P a g e

Management / Maps
36 | P a g e

Displays Maps. Its a logical map that shows Virtual machine Resources
Management / Host Profiles
37 | P a g e

Displays Host profiles

Host Profiles are ESX profiles. These are copied from one ESX and applied to other ESX to ensure the same
configuration (like Networking, Vswitches, and VM Port Groups etc)
Management / Customization Specifications Manager
38 | P a g e

Displays customization specifications manager
Solutions and Applications / Guided consolidation

39 | P a g e

Displays guided consolidation information.

Guided consolidation helps to check the confidence level of physical machine for P2V migration
40 | P a g e

Solutions and Applications / Update Manager
Shows update manager administration

Update manager is available after installing the plug-in
41 | P a g e

LESSON 4: VCENTER SERVER SETTINGS
To modify Vcenter server settings
42 | P a g e

To modify Licensing settings
Statistics configuration
Runtime settings configuration
43 | P a g e

Active directory settings
Mail settings (SMTP server, sender account configuration)
SNMP configuration
44 | P a g e

Ports configuration
LESSON 5: VCENTER CONCEPTS

Vcenter concepts
Alarms
Scheduled Tasks
Maintenance Mode
Host Profiles
Templates
Fault Tolerance
Migration
Snapshots
Plug-ins
o Guided consolidation
o Update manager
o Vcenter converter
Dvswitch
Alarms
Generates normal, warning, alert messages

Triggers need to be configured to define when to generate alarms
45 | P a g e

To add alarm
Specify name (eg. testalarm2) and alarm type
Add the triggers (matching condition to generate alarm)
46 | P a g e

Trigger is added with threshold values (warning and alert)
Configure reporting settings
Add the action
47 | P a g e

Action is added (eg. send a notification email address specified)

Mail settings can be done in Vcenter server settings
Alarm is created (eg. testalarm2)
48 | P a g e

Testalarm2 is added to definitions (some default alarms also there)

Scheduled Tasks
To define scheduled tasks
To create a new scheduled task
Select the type of task (eg. create a virtual machine)
49 | P a g e

VM configuration
Specify name of VM and inventory location
Select datacenter and cluster
50 | P a g e

Select datastore
Select Guest OS type and Version
Specify Virtual Disk Size
51 | P a g e

Specify scheduled task name (eg. testvm) and start time
Specify email address to send notification after task completion
Displays VM settings
52 | P a g e

Scheduled task is created (eg. testvm)
Maintenance Mode
ESX server Maintenance Mode is used in managing some special operations and troubleshooting
VMs on ESX server do not work, if ESX is running in maintenance mode
To put ESX server in maintenance mode

53 | P a g e

ESX server is in maintenance mode (eg. shiva-esx1)

ESX shows a different icon in maintenance mode
Host Profiles
Host Profiles are ESX host profiles

Host Profiles are available from ESX 4.0 onwards
All ESX servers must have same properties like Network, VM Port Group, VLAN etc to ensure proper VM
operations (like VM migration, Fault tolerance etc)
Take a profile of one ESX and apply it to all ESX servers

Target ESX should be in maintenance mode while applying a profile
Taking a profile
Select create profile from Host
54 | P a g e

Create a host profile (creating profile from shiva-esx2)

Assign a name to that profile
Applying profile
Put the ESX server in maintenance mode
Manage profile
Check compliance
Apply profile
55 | P a g e

ESX server has been put in Maintenance mode

Now manage profiles
Select the profile from the existing list of profiles (eg. superesx)
56 | P a g e

Check compliance before applying the profile (compatibility between hosts)
Now apply profile (applying to shiva-esx1)
While applying profiles, Vswitches Service console IP address and VM Kernel Port IP addresses need to be changed
on target ESX server to avoid IP conflictions
57 | P a g e

Change the IP addresses of SCP and VMKP when prompted
Displays the final changes that will be applied on the target Host
All the profile settings copied from source Host (eg. shiva-esx2) are applied to target Host (eg. shiva-esx1)
Now put the target host from maintenance mode to normal mode
58 | P a g e

Templates
Hot Cloning is supported in ESX

Template is a prebuilt VM which is a standard to create VMs
Template is used to create VMs only
Templates cant be powered on
Create a template from VM

Create a VM from template when required
Creating a new template
With convert to template option VM will be converted as a template (VM doesnt exist after conversion)
59 | P a g e

With clone to template option a new template will be created from VM (VM exists after cloning)
Specify template name (eg. new template)
60 | P a g e

Select datacenter and cluster
Select datastore
61 | P a g e

Select disk format (same as source/thin provisioning/thick provisioning)
Ready to create a template
New template is created (eg. New Template). Template has a different icon
62 | P a g e

Creating a VM from template
With clone option a duplicate template can be created
With convert to virtual machine option, template will be converted as VM (no template after conversion)
Deploy virtual machine from this template option creates a new VM from template (template exist after conversion)
63 | P a g e

Fault Tolerance (FT)
Fault Tolerance is ensuring VM services available eve

even it goes down
FT feature is available from ESX 4.0 onwards
FT feature creates a duplicate VM on other ESX in the cluster
If ESX goes down, VM is still available from other ESX
FT ensures a duplicate VM on other ESX server all the time
FT enabled VMs icons are thick in color
FT Prerequisites
HA must be configured in the cluster level
VM must have 1 CPU
VM HDD should be thick provisioning
Enable FT logging at VM Kernel Port level
Enabling FT
Configure HA in the cluster level.. Ensure VM has thick HDD and only one CPU
CPU.. Enable FT logging also
64 | P a g e

Vmotion and FT logging are enabled
Turn on Fault Tolerance feature for VM (eg. sales)
Confirmation to enable FT
65 | P a g e

Sales VM is enabled with FT

FT enabled VMs icon is thick in color
Migration
Migration is relocating a VM from one ESX to other ESX
Migration is two types
Cold Migration
o Migration in power off state
Hot Migration
o Migration in power on state
o Also called as VMotion
Migration Methods
Change Host
o Only changing ESX
o Happens in Power on /off state of VM
o Cold and Hot migration
o Possible if the datastore is shared storage (SAN/NAS)
Change Datastore
o Only changing datastore
o Happens in power on / off state of VM
o Cold and Hot migration
Change both
o Changing both ESX and Datastore
o Happens only in power off state of VM
o Cold migration
66 | P a g e

To migrate a VM to another ESX
67 | P a g e

Select the migration type
Select the destination ESX in the cluster
Select the datastore
68 | P a g e

Select disk format
Displays summary information
VM migration is in progress (eg. New vm 1 is being relocated)
Snap Shots
With snapshots, the VM can be restored back to earlier state (at which snap shot is already taken)
69 | P a g e

To take a snapshot of VM at current state
Displays current snapshots (eg. snapshot for New vm 1)
DvSwitch
70 | P a g e

Distributed Virtual Switch

Dvswitch is available from ESX 4.0 onwards
Dvswitch is datacenter level switch ( Vswitch is ESX level switch)
Dvswitch is used for centralized management of networking
No of Ports in a DV Port group can be changed
Port group is associated with a VLAN id
To access networking page
71 | P a g e

To create a new Dvswitch
Specify the name and number of dvUplink ports (eg. shiva-dv-switch with 8 ports)
Add hosts and physical adapters
72 | P a g e

Displays summary information with preview
A Dvswitch is created with uplink group (eg. shiva-dv-switch with shiva-dv-switch-DVUplinks-777)
To add a new port group to Dvswitch

73 | P a g e

Specify DV Port group name, number of ports and VLAN type (eg. shiva-dv-port-group with 128 ports)
Displays summary information
DV Port group is created (eg. shiva-dv-port-group)

74 | P a g e

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SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

HYD. Ph:9959562929,66848223. WWW.SHIVACOMPUTERS.NET

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

LESSON 1: VCENTER INTRODUCTION

VCenter Data Center Cluster ESX Server VM

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

VCenter installation Types

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduling)

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Threshold points for migration

ESX takes the migration decisions based on these threshold points

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

DPM (Distributed Power Management)

DPM has 3 power modes

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

VCenter interface after installation

To create a new datacenter

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Datacenter created (eg. HYD-DC)

To create a new cluster

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Specify name of cluster (eg. Testcluster)

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Select automation level for migration (best level is fully automated)

Specify the power management method (DPM modes)

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Enable host monitoring

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Configure VM monitoring status and monitoring sensitivity (low, medium, high)

Configure EVC (Enhanced Vmotion Compatibility) for AMD hosts

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Configure EVC (Enhanced Vmotion Compatibility) for Intel Hosts

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Configure swapfile policy for VMs

Shows summary information and Cluster is ready to complete

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

A new cluster is created (eg. Testcluster)

Adding Host (ESX server) to the cluster

Adding host (adding ESX server)

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Specify IP address and authorization (username and password)

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

License key assignment

Choose the destination resource pool

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Displays summary information, the ESX is ready to be added to cluster

ESX server is added to cluster (eg. Shiva-esx1 / 172.16.0.1)

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

LESSON 3: VCENTER HOME PAGE

It is used to search for the objects in inventory

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Inventory/Hosts and Clusters

Displays VCenter Hierarchy (datacenters, clusters, hosts/ESX and VMs)

SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

Inventory/VMs and Templates