VMware vSphere 5.1 Cookbook

Over 130 task-oriented recipes to install, configure, and manage various vSphere 5.1 components

Overview

• Install and configure vSphere 5.1 core components
• Learn important aspects of vSphere such as administration, security, and performance
• Configure vSphere Management Assistant(VMA) to run commands/scripts without the need to authenticate every attempt

In Detail

Amidst all the recent competition from Citrix and Microsoft, VMware’s vSphere product line is still the most feature rich and futuristic product in the virtualization industry. Knowing how to install and configure vSphere components is important to give yourself a head start towards virtualization using VMware.

If you want to quickly grasp the installation and configuration procedures, especially by using the new vSphere 5.1 web client, this book is for you.

VMware vSphere 5.1 Cookbook will take you through all the steps required to accomplish a task with minimal reading required. Most of the tasks are accompanied with relevant screenshots with an intention to provide a visual guidance as well.

The book has many useful recipes that will help you progress through the installation of VMware ESXi 5.1 and vCenter Server 5.1. You will learn to use Auto Deploy and Image Profiles to deploy stateless/stateful ESXi servers, configure failover protection for virtual machines using vSphere HA, configure automated load balancing using vSphere DRS and DPM.

Finally, the book guides you through upgrading or patching ESXi servers using VMware Update Manager and also deploying and configuring vSphere Management Assistant (VMA) to be able to run scripts to manage the ESXi servers.

What you will learn from this book

• Install and configure ESXi 5.1 and vCenter 5.1
• Manage the deployment of ESXi servers using Auto Deploy and Image Profiles
• Configure FC, iSCSI and NFS storage access to ESXi servers and manage the storage devices presented to the ESXi servers
• Configure vSphere Networking using vSphere Standard and vSphere Distributed Switches
• Learn to create and manage virtual machines
• Configure HA, DRS, DPM and EVC on an ESXi cluster
• Install VMware Update Manager (VUM) to upgrade and patch ESXi servers
• Configure vSphere Management Assistant(VMA) to run commands/scripts without the need to authenticate every attempt

Approach

A fast-paced, task-oriented Cookbook covering recipes on the installation and configuration of vSphere 5.1 components. The recipes are accompanied with relevant screenshots with an intention to provide a visual guidance as well. The book concentrates more on the actual task rather than the theory around it, making it easier to understand what is really needed to achieve the task.

Who this book is written for

This book is a guide for anyone who wants to learn how to install and configure VMware vSphere components. This is an excellent handbook for support professionals or for anyone intending to give themselves a head start in learning how to install and configure vSphere 5.1 components. It is also a good task-oriented reference material for consultants who design and deploy vSphere environments.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Upgrading to vSphere 5.1
Chapter 2: Performing a Fresh Installation of vSphere 5.1
Chapter 3: vSphere Auto Deploy
Chapter 4: ESXi Image Builder
Chapter 5: Creating and Managing VMFS Datastores
Chapter 6: Managing iSCSI and NFS Storage
Chapter 7: Profile-driven Storage and Storage I/O Control
Chapter 8: Configuring the vSphere Network
Chapter 9: Creating and Managing Virtual Machines
Chapter 10: Configuring vSphere HA
Chapter 11: Configuring vSphere DRS, DPM, and VMware EVC
Chapter 12: Upgrading and Patching using vSphere Update Manager
Chapter 13: Using vSphere Management Assistant (vMA 5.1)