VMware Cookbook: A Real-World Guide to Effective VMware Use

by Ryan Troy, Matthew Helmke

Overview

With scores of step-by-step solutions, this cookbook helps you work with VMware ESXi in a wide range of network environments. You’ll not only learn the basics—how to pool resources from hardware servers, computer clusters, networks, and storage, and then distribute them among virtual machines—but also how to overcome the stumbling blocks you’ll encounter when you monitor systems, troubleshoot problems, and deal with security.

This expanded second edition covers recent advances in vCloud Director and vShield cloud security. Ideal for system administrators of any level, VMware Cookbook also includes valuable information to help you determine your virtualization needs.

• Move into the cloud with vCloud Director, and secure virtual datacenters with vSphere
• Secure and monitor your virtual environment from the command line
• Manage disk, SSD, and SAN storage implementation and configuration
• Discover options for managing resources, such as clustering, shares, and hot add/hotplug support
• Configure logical and physical networks, including virtual switches and software and hardware adapters
• Make virtual machine replication easier by automating ESXi installations
• Gain valuable tips for configuration and fine-tuning

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449340476
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/14/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	364
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Ryan Troy has over 12 years of Unix/Linux system administration experience, working in diverse industries that range from web hosting to the newspaper industry. He has written articles for Linux Identity magazine and co-authored articles for Linux+ magazine. He is passionate about virtualization, specifically VMware's technologies. Ryan also founded the now-official Ubuntu Linux forums (http://www.ubuntuforums.org) in October 2004; he currently serves as technical administrator and chairman of the Ubuntu Forum Council.

One of Ryan's latest projects has been to architect and build a virtualization infrastructure for a large newspaper chain in Michigan using VMware's ESX product line along with Dell Equallogic Storage Arrays.

Ryan is also a VMware Certified Professional.

Matthew Helmke has written articles for magazines such as Linux+ and Linux Identity, helped write Prentice Hall's The Official Ubuntu Book, and has written and self-published two books about Arabic and Moroccan culture. He first used Unix in 1987 while studying Lisp on a Vax at the university. Currently, he is an active member of the Ubuntu Linux community as an Administrator and Forum Council member for the Ubuntu Forums (ubuntuforums.org), and a member of the membership approval committee for Ubuntu in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has run a business using only free software, has done some consulting, and is currently working on a master's degree in Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

1 VMware Infrastructure Installation 1

1.1 What Is VMware Infrastructure 3? 2

1.2 What Is VMware vSphere 4.0? 3

1.3 VMware ESX 3.x/4.x Configuration Maximums 5

1.4 VMware ESX 3.x Server Overview o11

1.5 VMware ESX 3.x Installation 12

1.6 VMware ESXi 3.5 Overview 21

1.7 VMware ESXi 3.5 Installation 22

1.8 VMware vCenter Server 2.x Overview 27

1.9 vCenter Server 2.x Installation 27

1.10 VMware Center Client 2.x Overview 36

1.11 vCenter Client 2.x Installation 36

1.12 License Server Overview 37

1.13 License Server (vCenter 2.x) Installation 37

1.14 vConverter Overview 38

1.15 vConverter Installation 38

1.16 VMware ESX 4.0 Installation 42

2 Storage 55

2.1 Comparing ESX Storage Options 55

2.2 Storage Device Naming Scheme 56

2.3 Creating a Network for a Software iSCSI Initiator 57

2.4 Configuring Software iSCSI 59

2.5 Configuring a Hardware iSCSI Initiator 62

2.6 Configuring iSCSI in Windows Virtual Machines 64

2.7 Opening Firewall Ports for an ESX iSCSI Software Initiator 68

2.8 Multipathing with iSCSI 69

2.9 Adding Fibre Channel Storage in ESX 72

2.10 Raw Device Mapping in Virtual Machines 73

2.11 Creating a Port to Access NFS Datastores 74

2.12 Configuring ESX to Use NFS 77

2.13 Creating a VMFS Volume in vCenter 78

2.14 Performing a Storage Rescan 79

2.15 Creating a VMFS Volume via the Command Line 80

2.16 Viewing the Files That Define a VMFS Volume 81

2.17 Extending a VMFS Volume 82

2.18 Reading VMFS Metadata 83

2.19 Renaming a VMFS Volume Label from the Command Line 84

2.20 Manually Creating and Aligning a VMFS Partition 85

2.21 Creating a Diagnostic Partition 86

2.22 Removing Storage Volumes fromESX 87

2.23 Determining Whether a VMFS Datastore Is on a Local or SAN Disk 88

2.24 Adjusting Timeouts When Adding Storage in vCenter 89

2.25 Setting Disk Timeouts in Windows 89

3 Networking 91

3.1 Understanding Differences Between ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5 in Network Support 91

3.2 Configuring ESX Network Ports and Firewall 92

3.3 Creating a vSwitch for Virtual Machines 95

3.4 Removing a Virtual Switch 97

3.5 Adding VMotion to Enable Virtual Machine Migration 98

3.6 Creating a Service Console Network via the CLI 101

3.7 Checking Connectivity Using vrnkping 103

3.8 Modifying the Speed of a Network Adapter 104

3.9 Choosing Network Elements That Protect Security 105

3.10 Setting the Basic Level 2 Security Policy 106

3.11 Ethernet Traffic Shaping 109

3.12 Using Multiple Gateways 111

3.13 Load Balancing and Failover 112

3.14 Creating a Jumbo Frame VMkernel Interface for iSCSI 116

3.15 Enabling Jumbo Frames on a vSwitch 117

3.16 Enabling Jumbo Frames on a Virtual Machine 118

3.17 Changing the Service Console IP Address 118

3.18 Using the Command Line to Locate Physical Ethernet Adapters 120

3.19 Changing the Ethernet Port Speed via the Command Line 121

3.20 Restoring a Service Console via the CLI 122

4 Resource and vCenter Management 125

4.1 Understanding Virtual Machine Memory Use Through Reservations, Shares, and Limits 126

4.2 Configuring Virtual Machine CPU Limits 128

4.3 Configuring Virtual Machine CPU Shares 129

4.4 Configuring Virtual Machine CPU Reservations 131

4.5 Setting Up Resource Pools 132

4.6 Understanding Resource Pools 134

4.7 Expandable Reservations in Resource Pools 136

4.8 Creating a Cluster 138

4.9 Adding Hosts to a Cluster 141

4.10 Enabling DRS in a Cluster 144

4.11 Understanding Cluster States and Warnings 148

4.12 Reconfiguring HA on a Host 149

4.13 Using ESX 4.x CPU/RAM Hot Add/Hotplug Support 151

4.14 Surviving a vCenter Server Failure or Outage 151

5 Useful Command-Line Tools 155

5.1 Entering Maintenance Mode via the Command Line 155

5.2 Displaying Server Information 156

5.3 Viewing the ESX Version 157

5.4 Changing the Virtual Disk from BusLogic to LSI Logic 158

5.5 Hiding the VMware Tools Icon 160

5.6 Emptying a Large Virtual Machine Logfile 161

5.7 Viewing Disk Partitions via the Console 161

5.8 Monitoring CPU Usage 162

5.9 Monitoring Memory 164

5.10 Monitoring Storage Performance 168

5.11 Monitoring Network Usage 169

5.12 Managing Virtual Switches 171

5.13 Generating a Logfile for VMware Support 173

5.14 Checking ESX Patches 175

5.15 Enabling NTP in vCenter 176

5.16 Enabling NTP via the Command Line 179

5.17 Changing the ESX Server's Time 180

5.18 Using TCP Wrappers 181

5.19 Restarting the vCenter Agent 182

5.20 Unregistering a Virtual Machine via the Command Line 183

5.21 Registering a Virtual Machine via the Command Line 183

5.22 Finding Virtual Machine Snapshots 183

5.23 Renaming a Virtual Machine via vCenter 184

5.24 Renaming a Virtual Machine via the Command Line 185

5.25 Using Host Files 186

5.26 Setting ESX Options Using the Command Line 186

5.27 Configuring Authentication Choices Using the Command Line 188

5.28 Manipulating the Bootloader 189

5.29 Manipulating the Crash Dump Partition 190

5.30 Configuring a Firewall on the Command Line 192

5.31 Managing ESX Driver Modules 193

5.32 Configuring Storage Multipathing 194

5.33 Managing NFS Mounts 196

5.34 Managing Disk Volumes with ESX4 197

5.35 Configuring Ethernet Adapters 198

5.36 Rescanning Host Bus Adapters 199

5.37 Managing ESX4 Add-ons from the Command Line 199

5.38 Managing Resource Groups from the Command Line 201

5.39 Managing VMkernel Network Routes 202

5.40 Configuring Software iSCSI Options 203

5.41 Configuring Hardware iSCSCI Options 204

5.42 Upgrading Your Version of VMware 205

5.43 Displaying vmhba Names with Associated Mappings 206

5.44 Managing SCSI Device Mappings with ESX4 vSphere 207

5.45 Managing VMkemel Ports 208

5.46 Managing vswif Console Network Settings 209

6 General Security 213

6.1 Enabling SSH on ESXi 213

6.2 Enabling Direct root Logins on Your ESX Server 214

6.3 Adding Users and Groups 215

6.4 Allowing or Denying Users the Use of SSH 217

6.5 Turning on the MOTD for Console Users 219

6.6 Changing the root Password via the Console 219

6.7 Recovering a Lost root Password 220

6.8 Disabling Direct root Console Logins 222

6.9 Securing the GRUB Bootloader Menu 224

6.10 Disabling USB Drive Mounting 225

6.11 Opening and Closing Firewall Ports via the Console 225

6.12 Checking Default ESX Ports 228

6.13 Turning on SNMP for Remote Administration 229

6.14 Using SNMP Version 3 231

6.15 Using sudo 232

6.16 Configuring sudo 233

6.17 Tracking Users via the CLI 235

6.18 Configuring Active Directory Authentication 238

6.19 Setting a Maximum Number of Failed Logins 240

6.20 Limiting Access to the su Command 241

6.21 Setting User Password Aging 241

6.22 Disabling Copy and Paste 246

6.23 Disabling Disk Shrinking on Virtual Machines 246

6.24 Disabling Unneeded Devices 247

6.25 Preventing Unwanted Device Additions and Removals 248

6.26 Disabling VMware Tools Settings Override 248

7 Automating ESX Installation 251

7.1 Enabling Scripted Install Support on ESX 251

7.2 Using the Scripted Installer 252

7.3 Enhancing the Kickstart Configuration 257

7.4 Copying the CD-ROM to Facilitate NFS Installations 266

7.5 Advanced Install Scripting Using %pre 266

7.6 Advanced Install Scripting Using %post 267

7.7 Using the ESX Deployment Appliance 269

Index 271