VMware Knowledge

IT Project need to consider challenger:

Availability / Scalability / Optimization / Management

Hypervisor: 

1. Bare-Metal: Installed as the operation system: VMware ESXi

2. Hosted: Installed as application: VMware workstation

ESXi can be install server / sd card / usb 

vCenter: manage several ESXi system

vCenter feature:

Based on CPU, Memory

vMotion: migration running vm system from on ESXi to another ESXi

DRS: load balance. Give out suggestion when manually. If start automatically, it will perform vMotion and migration on background.

DPM: Give out suggestion when manually. If start automatically, it will perform vMotion and Power off ESXi; power on ESXi at schedule time. 

Based on Storage

Storage vMotion: migration vm system from one storage to another

Storage DRS: storage level load balance based on Usage

Data Protection

vSphere Data Protection(VDP): Backup Virtual machine

High Availability(HA): start the standby machine when primary has hardware problem

Fault Tolerance (FT): without service interruption

vSphere Replication(VR): copy the virtual machine to another site for disaster recovery

virtual network adaptor --> virtual switch --> physical switch --> internet

virtual switch

1. standard virtual switch architecture: manages virtual machine and networking at the host level

2. Distributed virtual switch architecture: manages virtual machine and networking at the data center level

virtual networking feature

1. VLAN:logical network separate

2. Traffic Shaping: set the inbound and outbound 

3. Port Mirroring: monitor the traffic of port (distributed virtual switch)

4. QoS, DSCP: set priority of network usage

5. CDP / LLDP: trouble shooting

vSphere 5.5 Editions

vSphere Edition	ESXi Hypervisor	vMotion	High Availability	Data Protection	vSphere Replication	Storage vMotion	Fault Tolerance	DRS	DPM	Storage DRS	Distributed Switch
Essentials	X
Essentials Plus	X	X	X	X	X
Standard	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Enterprise	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Enterprise Plus	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X

vCenter Operation Manager

Monitor virtual system / work together with vCenter / Dynamically adjusting thresholds / Monitor current capacity

vCenter Configuration Manager

Record the change / work together with vCenter / Configuration Analysis / Automatically correlating changes to performance issues / Regulatory Compliance

vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM)

Business Problem --> VMware Solution

no interrutped by hardware failures --> Fault Tolerance (FT)

minimize the downtime caused by hardware failure --> High Availability(HA)

perform hardware maintenance during normal business hours --> vMotion

replicate our servers to another site, and need a hardware independent solution --> vSphere Replication(VR)

server backup are diffcult to test, hard to restore --> vSphere Data Protection (VDP)

monitoring and reporting system --> vCenter Operation Manager