Books - 7

Leading experts Matt Liebowitz and Alex Fontana present end-to-end coverage of virtualizing Windows Server 2012 AD domain controllers and failover clusters, Exchange Server 2013, SQL Server 2012, and SharePoint Server 2013. They offer indispensable advice on sizing, architecture, performance, availability, monitoring, and metrics.

Throughout, the authors share valuable tips, tricks, and insights from their own experiences. For each Microsoft application, they provide "proof of concept" sample configurations and clearly explain how new features impact virtualization. You’ll also find authoritative, up-to-date guidance on licensing  and other issues related to ensuring full support from both Microsoft and VMware.

Coverage includes:

• Evaluating the benefits, risks, and challenges of virtualizing Microsoft business critical applications
• Identifying strategies for success associated with people, processes, and technology
• Reviewing VMware vSphere features most important to virtualizing business-critical applications
• Taking advantage of new virtualization-aware features built in to Windows Server 2012 domain controllers
• Designing and configuring vSphere High Availability (vSphere HA) clusters to run Windows enterprise applications
• Reflecting Exchange Server 2013’s new architecture to maximize its performance in virtualized environments
• Leveraging new SQL Server 2012 features to simplify the delivery of high availability on virtual servers
• Reducing SQL Server 2012 licensing costs through virtualization
• Planning, designing, and deploying virtualized SharePoint Server 2013 environments

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

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.

VMware vSphere 5.1 Cookbook

Most people associate security with network security and focus on firewalls and network monitoring. However, there is more to security than that. Security starts with the establishment of a stable environment, protecting this environment not only from intrusion, but also from malicious intent. It is about tracking the issue and recovering from it. These elements of security are what this book aims to address.

VMware View Security Essentials addresses the topic of security in the corporate environment in a new way. It starts with the underlying virtual infrastructure and then delves into securing your base, your connection, and your client. This is not only a “how-to” book, but is also a book that explains the background and the insights of View security for the experienced professional's desktop virtualization.

This book takes you through the four major View security areas. Each area deals with all the aspects of security and explains the background as well as laying out simple-to-follow recipes to implement a higher security standard.

We start at the Virtualization base and work our way through the various View server types. We will then dive into the problems and issues of securing a connection before we address the security of the desktop itself. We conclude with a look into the backing up of our View installation and preparing for disaster recovery.

What you will learn from this book:

• Create, use, and install SSL certificates
• Acquire a new skill set in troubleshooting security issues
• Learn about secure tunnelling your desktop connection with RDP and PCoIP
• Understand the concepts of pairing View security and transfer servers with View connection servers
• Understand the key aspects of blocking undesirable USB devices

Go to: VMware View Security Essentials

As organizations have extended their usage of virtualization, performance monitoring has become increasingly crucial. But many VMware administrators find it time-consuming and challenging to create and manage VMware performance reports. Fortunately, there’s a fast, powerful, and efficient way to do this crucial job: use VMware’s free PowerCLI snap-in on the familiar Windows PowerShell scripting platform.

Now, in vSphere Performance Monitoring with PowerCLI , Luc Dekens covers all you need to know to automate performance reporting for both vSphere hosts and individual VMware virtual machines. Responding to multiple requests for guidance on PowerCLI scripting, Dekens explains:

• How vSphere Performance Monitoring works
• Which metrics are available and how to use them most effectively
• How to track CPUs, memory, datastores, virtual disks, networks, and systems
• How to produce performance reports over any regular or custom period
• How to create on-demand reports to troubleshoot emerging problems
• How to optimize your reporting scripts
• How to work with esxtop from PowerCLI
• How to add graphics that make reports easier to understand

When Dekens taught this material at VMworld, he attracted more than 2,000 VMware pros in several standing room sessions: it’s that valuable. If you also run Windows servers, you may already have directly relevant experience with PowerShell scripting; if you don’t, Dekens even provides a concise PowerShell introduction. Bottom line: whether you want to improve reporting in response to existing problems or as a proactive measure to prevent them, this tutorial and reference delivers all the knowledge and scripts you’ll need.

vSphere Performance Reporting with PowerCLI: Automating vSphere Performance Reports (VMware Press Technology)

VMware vSphere is the key virtualization technology in today’s market. vSphere is a complex tool and incorrect design and deployment can create performance-related problems. vSphere High Performance Cookbook is focused on solving those problems as well as providing best practices and performance-enhancing techniques.

vSphere High Performance Cookbook offers a comprehensive understanding of the different components of vSphere and the interaction of these components with the physical layer which includes the CPU, memory, network, and storage. If you want to improve or troubleshoot vSphere performance then this book is for you!

vSphere High Performance Cookbook will teach you how to tune and grow a VMware vSphere 5 infrastructure. This book focuses on tuning, optimizing, and scaling the infrastructure using the vSphere Client graphical user interface. This book will enable the reader with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to build and run a high-performing VMware vSphere virtual infrastructure.

You will learn how to configure and manage ESXi CPU, memory, networking, and storage for sophisticated, enterprise-scale environments. You will also learn how to manage changes to the vSphere environment and optimize the performance of all vSphere components.

This book also focuses on high value and often overlooked performance-related topics such as NUMA Aware CPU Scheduler, VMM Scheduler, Core Sharing, the Virtual Memory Reclamation technique, Checksum offloading, VM DirectPath I/O, queuing on storage array, command queuing, vCenter Server design, and virtual machine and application tuning.

By the end of this book you will be able to identify, diagnose, and troubleshoot operational faults and critical performance issues in vSphere.

VMware vSphere PowerCLI is a powerful command-line tool to automate all aspects of a VMware vSphere environment. PowerCLI is built on top of the popular Windows PowerShell, with which you can automate server tasks and reduce manual input, allowing you to focus on more important tasks.

"Learning PowerCLI" is a practical, hands-on guide that provides you with a thorough knowledge of VMware vSphere PowerCLI. This knowledge will help you to automate your routine tasks so you can save valuable time.

"Learning PowerCLI" introduces you to VMware vSphere PowerCLI, from downloading and installing the software to creating good-looking reports of your VMware vSphere environment.

You will learn about working with host profiles, configuring virtual switches, removing snapshots, configuring Storage DRS, working with affinity rules, configuring an alarm, and managing roles and permissions. You will learn everything you need to know to get started with automating your VMware vSphere infrastructure. All the examples in Learning PowerCLI can be used directly in your environment.

What you will learn from this book:
Go to: Learning PowerCLI by Robert vdNieuwendijk