VMware vSphere Design

Forbes Guthrie, VCAP-DCD, (tweet @forbesguthrie) is a technical architect who specializes in virtualization and storage technologies. He is also a VMware vExpert and the creator of several popular virtualization reference cards. Forbes blogs at www.vReference.com. Scott Lowe, VCDX 39, (tweet @scott_lowe) is a technical architect at VMware. Scott is a VMware vExpert and the author of Mastering VMware vSphere 5. Scott also writes at blog.scottlowe.org, which attracts thousands of visitors daily.

• Introduction xxiChapter 1 • An Introduction to Designing VMware Environments 1What is Design? 1The Facets of vSphere Design 5The Technical Facet 6The Organizational Facet 7The Operational Facet 8The Principles of Design 9Availability 9Manageability 10Performance 10Recoverability 10Security 11The Process of Design 11Gathering and Defining Functional Requirements 11Assessing the Environment 13Performing a Gap Analysis 14Assembling the Design 15Documenting the Design 16Performing the Implementation 17Summary 17Chapter 2 • The ESXi Hypervisor 19Evolution of the vSphere Hypervisor 19The ESXi Concept 21ESXi Design 22ESXi Components 22ESXi Agents 23ESXi System Image 24ESXi Customized Images 25ESXi Disk Layout 27Tardisks and Ramdisks 29ESXi Deployment 29Hardware Requirements 29ESXi Flavors: Installable, Embedded, and Stateless 29Auto Deploy Infrastructure 36Comparing Deployments Options 38Upgrading ESXi 41Migrating from ESX 42Testing 42Deployment 43Management 44Postinstallation Design Options 45Management Tools Overview 51Host-Management Tools 51Centralized Management Tools 54Hardware Monitoring 56Logging 57Summary 58Chapter 3 • The Management Layer 59Reviewing the Components of the Management Layer 59VMware vCenter Server 59vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client 62vSphere Update Manager 63Management Applications 64Examining Key Management Layer Design Decisions 69Virtual or Physical vCenter Server? 70vCenter Server on Windows or vCenter Server Appliance? 72Local or Remote Database Server? 73Which Operating System for vCenter Server? 75Creating the Management Layer Design 76Availability 76Manageability 82Performance 86Recoverability 92Security 92Summary 94Chapter 4 • Server Hardware 95Hardware Considerations 95Factors in Selecting Hardware 96Computing Needs 99Server Constraints 101Differentiating among Vendors 104Server Components 106CPU 107RAM 110NUMA 117Motherboard 118Storage 118Network 119PCI 119Preparing the Server 121Configuring the BIOS 122Other Hardware Settings 122Burn-in 123Preproduction Checks 123Scale-Up vs Scale-Out 123Advantages of Scaling Up 125Advantages of Scaling Out 126Scaling is a Matter of Perspective 127Risk Assessment 127Choosing the Right Size 128CPU to Memory Design Ratio 129Sizing the Hosts 130Blade Servers vs Rack Servers 131Blade Servers 132Rack Servers 135Form-Factor Conclusions 136Alternative Hardware Approaches 136Cloud Computing 136Converged Hardware 138Summary 139Chapter 5 • Designing Your Network 141Examining Key Network Components 141Physical Connectivity 142Network Traffic Types 142Software Components 144Exploring Factors Influencing the Network Design 144Physical Switch Support 145vSwitches and Distributed vSwitches 152IP-Based Storage 15410Gb Ethernet 156I/O Virtualization 158SR-IOV and DirectPath I/O 159Server Architecture 160Crafting the Network Design161Availability 161Manageability 168Performance 171Recoverability 173Security 174Design Scenarios 177Two NICs 177Four NICs 178Six NICs 178Eight NICs 179Looking to the Future 180Summary 180Chapter 6 • Storage 181Dimensions of Storage Design 181Storage Design Factors 182Storage Efficiency 183vSphere Storage Features 186Designing for Capacity 186RAID Options 187Estimating Capacity Requirements 189VMFS Capacity Limits 190Large or Small Datastores? 191Thin Provisioning 193Data Deduplication 195Array Compression 196Downside of Saving Space 197Designing for Performance197Measuring Storage Performance 197How to Calculate a Disk’s IOPS 197What Can Affect a Storage Array’s IOPS? 198Measuring Your Existing IOPS Usage 206Local Storage vs Shared Storage 207Local Storage 207What about Local Shared Storage? 209Shared Storage 212Choosing a Protocol 212Fibre Channel 215iSCSI 218NFS 221Protocol Choice 224Multipathing 225SAN Multipathing 225NAS Multipathing 229vSphere Storage Features 229vSphere Storage APIs 230Performance and Capacity 233Storage Management 242Summary 247Chapter 7 • Virtual Machines 249Components of a Virtual Machine 249Base Virtual Machine Hardware 251Hardware Versions 251Virtual Machine Maximums 253Hardware Choices 253Removing or Disabling Unused Hardware 259Virtual Machine Options 259SDRS Rules 263vApp Options 263vServices 263Naming Virtual Machines 263VMware Tools 264Notes, Custom Attributes, and Tagging 264Sizing Virtual Machines 265Virtual Machine CPU Design 265Cores per Socket 267CPU Hot Plug 267Resources 268Additional CPU Settings 269Virtual Machine Memory Design 270Resources 271Additional Memory Settings 272Virtual Machine Storage Design 272Disks 273Disk Types 274Disk Shares and IOPS Limits 275Disk Modes 275SCSI Controllers 276RDMs 277Storage vMotion 279Cross-Host vMotion 279VM Storage Profile 280Virtual Machine Network Design 280vNIC Drivers 281MAC Addresses 284VLAN Tagging 284Guest Software 285Selecting an OS 285Guest OS and Application Licensing 286Disk Alignment 287Defragmentation 288Optimizing the Guest for the Hypervisor 289Clones, Templates, and vApps 291Clones 291Templates 292Preparing a Template 293Virtual Appliances 294OVF Standard 295vApps 295Virtual Machine Availability 295vSphere VM Availability 296Third-Party VM Clustering 298vCenter Infrastructure Navigator 302Summary 303Chapter 8 • Datacenter Design 305vSphere Inventory Structure 305Inventory Root 306Folders 307Datacenters 307Clusters 309Resource Pools 309Hosts 309Virtual Machines 309Templates 309Storage 309Networks 310Why and How to Structure 310Clusters 311EVC 313Swapfile Policy 313Cluster Sizing 314Resource Pools 315Resource Pool Settings 317Admission Control 319Distributed Resource Scheduling 319Load Balancing 319Affinity Rules 324Distributed Power Management 327High Availability and Clustering 331High Availability 331Fault Tolerance 347Summary 355Chapter 9 • Designing with Security in Mind 357Why is Security Important? 357Separation of Duties 358Risk Scenario 358Risk Mitigation 359vCenter Server Permissions 360Risk Scenario 360Risk Mitigation 360Security in vCenter Linked Mode 363Risk Scenario 363Risk Mitigation 363Command-Line Access to ESXi Hosts 365Risk Scenario 365Risk Mitigation 366Managing Network Access 368Risk Scenario 368Risk Mitigation 369The DMZ 371Risk Scenario 371Risk Mitigation 372Firewalls in the Virtual Infrastructure 375The Problem 375The Solution 376Change Management 378Risk Scenario 378Risk Mitigation 378Protecting the VMs 379Risk Scenario 379Risk Mitigation 380Protecting the Data 381Risk Scenario 382Risk Mitigation 382Cloud Computing 383Risk Scenario 383Risk Mitigation 384Auditing and Compliance 385The Problem 385The Solution 385Summary 387Chapter 10 • Monitoring and Capacity Planning 389Nothing is Static 389Building Monitoring into the Design 390Determining the Tools to Use 390Selecting the Items to Monitor 396Selecting Thresholds 398Taking Action on Thresholds 399Alerting the Operators 400Incorporating Capacity Planning in the Design 400Planning before Virtualization 401Planning during Virtualization 405Summary 408Chapter 11 • Bringing a vSphere Design Together 411Sample Design 411Business Overview for XYZ Widgets 411Hypervisor Design 413vSphere Management Layer 413Server Hardware 413Networking Configuration 414Shared Storage Configuration 414VM Design 415VMware Datacenter Design 415Security Architecture 415Monitoring and Capacity Planning 416Examining the Design 416Hypervisor Design 416vSphere Management Layer 417Server Hardware 418Networking Configuration 419Shared Storage Configuration 421VM Design 423VMware Datacenter Design 423Security Architecture 424Monitoring and Capacity Planning 424Summary 425Chapter 12 • vCloud Design 427Differences between Cloud and Server Virtualization 428Role of vCloud Director in Cloud Architecture 429vCloud Director Use Cases 430Use Case #1 432Use Case #2 432Use Case #3 432Use Case #4 433Components of the vCloud Management Stack 433vCloud Cell and NFS Design Considerations 435Management vs Consumable Resources 437Database Concepts 438vCenter Design 439vCloud Management: Physical Design 442The Physical Side of Provider Virtual Datacenters 444The Logical Side of Provider Virtual Datacenters 449Network Pool Decisions 455External Networks 456Designing Organizations, Catalogs, and Policies 461Correlating Organizational Networks to Design 464End Users and vApp Networking 466Designing Organization Virtual Datacenters 470Multiple Sites 476Backup and Disaster Recovery 477Summary 478Index 479