VMware vSphere 6.x Datacenter Design Cookbook - Second Edition

Table of Contents

VMware vSphere 6.x Datacenter Design Cookbook Second Edition

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewer

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Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Sections

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

See also

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. The Virtual Datacenter

Introduction

The hypervisor

Virtual machines

Virtual infrastructure management

Understanding the benefits of virtualization

Identifying when not to virtualize

Becoming a virtual datacenter architect

How to do it…

There's more…

Using a holistic approach to datacenter design

How to do it...

How it works...

Passing the VMware VCAP6-DCV Design exam

Getting ready

How to do it…

There's more…

Identifying what's new in vSphere 6

How to do it…

How it works...

There's more…

Planning a vSphere 6 upgrade

How to do it…

How it works…

2. The Discovery Process

Introduction

Identifying the design factors

How to do it…

How it works…

Identifying stakeholders

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Conducting stakeholder interviews

How to do it…

How it works…

VMware Capacity Planner

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Using Windows Performance Monitor

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Conducting a VMware Optimization Assessment

How to do it…

How it works…

Identifying dependencies

How to do it…

How it works…

3. The Design Factors

Introduction

Identifying design requirements

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Identifying design constraints

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Making design assumptions

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Identifying design risks

How to do it...

How it works...

Creating the conceptual design

How to do it...

How it works...

Design requirements

Design constraints

Assumptions

There's more...

4. vSphere Management Design

Introduction

Identifying vCenter components and dependencies

How to do it…

How it works…

Selecting a vCenter deployment option

How to do it…

How it works…

Determining vCenter resource requirements

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Selecting a database for the vCenter deployment

How to do it…

How it works…

Determining database interoperability

How to do it…

How it works...

There's more…

Choosing a vCenter deployment topology

How to do it…

How it works…

Designing for management availability

How to do it…

How it works…

Designing a separate management cluster

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Configuring vCenter Mail, SNMP, and Alarms

How to do it…

How it works…

Using Enhanced Linked Mode

How to do it…

How it works…

Using the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix

How to do it…

How it works...

There's more…

Backing up the vCenter Server components

How to do it…

How it works...

Upgrading vCenter Server

How to do it…

How it works…

Designing a vSphere Update Manager Deployment

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

5. vSphere Storage Design

Introduction

Identifying RAID levels

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Calculating the storage capacity requirements

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Determining the storage performance requirements

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Calculating the storage throughput

How to do it...

How it works...

Storage connectivity options

How to do it...

How it works...

Storage path selection plugins

How to do it...

How it works...

Sizing datastores

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Designing for VMware VSAN

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Using VMware Virtual Volumes

How to do it…

How it works…

Incorporating storage policies into a design

How to do it…

How it works…

NFS version 4.1 capabilities and limits

How to do it…

How it works…

6. vSphere Network Design

Introduction

Determining network bandwidth requirements

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Standard or distributed virtual switches

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Providing network availability

How to do it...

How it works…

Network resource management

How to do it…

How it works…

Using private VLANs

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

IP storage network design considerations

How to do it…

How it works…

Using jumbo frames

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating custom TCP/IP stacks

How to do it…

How it works…

Designing for VMkernel services

How to do it…

How it works…

vMotion network design considerations

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

IPv6 in a vSphere Design

How to do it…

How it works…

7. vSphere Compute Design

Introduction

Calculating CPU resource requirements

How to do it…

How it works…

Calculating memory resource requirements

How to do it…

How it works…

Transparent Page Sharing

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Scaling up or scaling out

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Determining the vCPU-to-core ratio

How to do it…

How it works…

Clustering compute resources

How to do it...

How it works…

Reserving HA resources to support failover

How to do it…

How it works…

Using Distributed Resource Scheduling to balance cluster resources

How to do it…

How it works…

Ensuring cluster vMotion compatibility

How to do it…

How it works…

Using resource pools

How to do it…

How it works…

Providing fault tolerance protection

How to do it…

How it works…

Leveraging host flash

How to do it…

How it works…

8. vSphere Physical Design

Introduction

Using the VMware Hardware Compatibility List

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Understanding the physical storage design

How to do it…

How it works…

Understanding the physical network design

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating the physical compute design

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating a custom ESXi image

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Best practices for ESXi host BIOS settings

How to do it…

How it works…

Upgrading an ESXi host

How to do it…

How it works…

9. Virtual Machine Design

Introduction

Right-sizing virtual machines

How to do it…

How it works…

Enabling CPU Hot Add and Memory Hot Plug

How to do it…

How it works…

Using paravirtualized VM hardware

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating virtual machine templates

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Upgrading and installing VMware Tools

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Upgrading VM virtual hardware

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Using vApps to organize virtualized applications

How to do it…

How it works…

Using VM affinity and anti-affinity rules

How to do it…

How it works…

Using a VM to host affinity and anti-affinity rules

How to do it…

How it works…

Converting physical servers with vCenter Converter Standalone

How to do it…

How it works…

10. vSphere Security Design

Introduction

Managing the Single Sign-On Password Policy

How to do it…

How it works

Managing Single Sign-On Identity Sources

How to do it…

How it works…

Using Active Directory for ESXi host authentication

How to do it…

How it works…

ESXi Firewall configuration

How to do it…

How it works…

The ESXi Lockdown mode

How to do it…

How it works…

Configuring role-based access control

How to do it…

How it works…

Virtual network security

How to do it…

How it works…

Using the VMware vSphere 6.0 Hardening Guide

How to do it…

How it works…

11. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Introduction

Backing up ESXi host configurations

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more…

Configuring ESXi host logging

How to do it…

How it works…

Backing up virtual distributed switch configurations

How to do it…

How it works…

Deploying VMware Data Protection

How to do it…

How it works…

Using VMware Data Protection to back up virtual machines

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

Replicating virtual machines with vSphere Replication

How to do it…

How it works…

Protecting the virtual datacenter with Site Recovery Manager

How to do it…

How it works…

12. Design Documentation

Introduction

Creating the architecture design document

How to do it...

How it works...

Writing an implementation plan

How to do it...

How it works...

Developing an installation guide

How to do it...

How it works...

Creating a validation test plan

How to do it...

How it works...

Writing operational procedures

How to do it...

How it works...

Presenting the design

How to do it...

How it works...

Implementing the design

How to do it...

How it works...

Index

VMware vSphere 6.x Datacenter Design Cookbook Second Edition

VMware vSphere 6.x Datacenter Design Cookbook Second Edition

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: January 2014

Second published: June 2016

Production reference: 1220616

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78528-346-8

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

Hersey Cartwright

Reviewer

Kim Bottu

Commissioning Editor

Pratik Shah

Acquisition Editor

Vinay Argekar

Content Development Editor

Viranchi Shetty

Technical Editor

Dhiraj Chandanshive

Copy Editor

Stuti Srivastava

Project Coordinator

Izzat Contractor

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

Mariammal Chettiyar

Graphics

Jason Monteiro

Kirk D'Penha

Production Coordinator

Melwyn Dsa

Cover Work

Melwyn Dsa

About the Author

Hersey Cartwright has worked in the technology industry since 1996 in many roles, from help desk support to IT management. He first started working with VMware technologies in 2006. He is currently a solutions architect for SimpliVity, where he designs, sells, and supports VMware vSphere enterprise environments running on the SimpliVity Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) platform. He has experience of working with a wide variety of server and storage platforms.

In 2012, he began preparing to submit a design to defend for his VMware Certified Design Expert. In February 2013, he successfully completed his defense and obtained VCDX. His VCDX number is #128.

Since January 2011, he has been an instructor with the VMware IT Academy at Tidewater Community college where he teaches vSphere 5 and vSphere 6 classes. He designed and implemented the lab environment that is used by students in the virtualization and security programs offered at the Chesapeake Campus of Tidewater Community College. He enjoys teaching and learns a lot from teaching others about the benefits of virtualization.

He actively participates in the VMware community, and he has been awarded the vExpert title every year since 2012. He has presented multiple ProfessionalVMware.com vBrownBags on vSphere administration, vSphere design, and vSphere disaster recovery. He regularly blogs about virtualization and other technologies at http://www.vhersey.com/.

I want to thank my family, especially my wife Sandy, for putting up with the long hours I work, listening to the noisy lab gear in the closet, and supporting everything I do. You guys are my everything, and your support and encouragement means the world to me.

I also want to thank the great VMware community. There are a lot of great folks there that are always willing to help out. A special thanks to the #vCoffee crew on Twitter: Shane, Susan, Matt, and Todd.

About the Reviewer

Kim Bottu is a virtualization engineer in the EMEA region for an international Biglaw firm, where he focuses on virtual datacenter operations, optimization, and design. In his current role, he takes care of the consolidated virtual datacenters in Asia and Europe, and he is the SME for the EMEA Litigation virtual datacenters.

He holds the following certifications and honors: VCA-NV, VCP5-DCV, VCP6-DCV, and VCAP5-DCD, and has been named vExpert 2016.

Kim currently lives in Belgium and is a proud dad of his daughter named Zoey. In his spare time you might find him playing with his daughter, reading books, or riding his mountain bike.

He can be reached at www.vMusketeers.com.

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Preface

VMware is the industry leader for datacenter virtualization. This second edition of the Datacenter Design Cookbook covers VMware's vSphere 6.x suite of products, which provide a robust and resilient platform to virtualize server and application workloads. The features available in vSphere 6.x simplify management, increase availability, provide security, and guarantee the performance of workloads deployed in the virtualized datacenter.

The VMware vSphere 6.x Datacenter Design Cookbook Second Edition provides recipes to create a virtual datacenter design using the features of vSphere 6.x. It does this by guiding you through the process of identifying the design factors and applying them to the logical and physical design process.

This book steps through the design process from beginning to end, from the discovery process, to creating the conceptual design, to calculating the resource requirements of the logical storage, compute, and network design, to mapping the logical requirements to a physical design, and finally creating the design documentation.

This book's recipes provide guidance for making design decisions to ensure the successful creation, and ultimately the successful implementation, of a VMware vSphere 6.x virtual datacenter design.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, The Virtual Datacenter, provides an introduction to the benefits of the virtual datacenter, VMware vSphere products, and basic virtualization concepts. This chapter identifies the differences between a datacenter administrator and a datacenter architect. An overview of the VMware Certified Advanced Professional Datacenter Design (VCAP-DCD) certification is also covered.

Chapter 2, The Discovery Process, explains how to identify stakeholders, conduct stakeholder interviews, and perform technical assessments in order to discover the business and technical goals of a virtualization project. This chapter covers how to use tools, VMware Capacity Planner, Windows Performance Monitor, and vRealize Operations Manager to collect resource information during the discovery process.

Chapter 3, The Design Factors, explains how to identify and document the design requirements, constraints, assumptions, and risks. This chapter details how to use the design factors to create the conceptual design.

Chapter 4, vSphere Management Design, describes the vCenter Server components and their dependencies. This chapter contains recipes to determine the vCenter Server deployment option, the Windows server or virtual appliance that you need to use, and determine the type of database that you need to use, based on the deployment size.

Chapter 5, vSphere Storage Design, covers logical storage design. Recipes are included to calculate the storage capacity and performance requirements for the logical storage design. This chapter covers the details of selecting the correct RAID level and storage connectivity to support a design. Recipes for VSAN and VVOLs are provided in this chapter.

Chapter 6, vSphere Network Design, provides details on logical network design. This chapter explains how to calculate bandwidth requirements to support a vSphere design. Details on selecting a virtual switch topology, designing for network availability, and the network requirements to support vMotion and IP connected storage are also covered.

Chapter 7, vSphere Compute Design, provides recipes to calculate the CPU and memory requirements to create the logical compute design. This chapter also covers cluster design considerations for High Availability (HA) and the Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).

Chapter 8, vSphere Physical Design, explains how to satisfy the design factors by mapping the logical management, storage, network, and compute designs to hardware to create the physical vSphere design. The chapter also provides details of creating a custom installation ISO to install ESXi and the best practices for host BIOS configurations.

Chapter 9, Virtual Machine Design, looks at the design of virtual machines and application workloads running in the virtual datacenter. Recipes are provided to right-size virtual machine resources, enable the ability to add virtual machine resources, and create virtual machine templates. This chapter details the use of affinity and anti-affinity rules to improve application efficiency and availability. Converting or migrating physical servers to virtual machines is also covered in this chapter.

Chapter 10, vSphere Security Design, provides an overview of vSphere features available to provide security in the virtual datacenter. Recipes covering authentication, access controls, and security hardening that must be incorporated into the datacenter design to secure the vSphere environment.

Chapter 11, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity, covers options for backup, recovery, and continued operations in the event of system failure. This chapter covers how to create backups of vSphere configurations so that they can be quickly restored. The protection of virtual machines using VMware products for backup and replication is also covered in this chapter.

Chapter 12, Design Documentation, covers documenting a vSphere design. Documentation includes the Architecture Design Document, the Implementation Plan, the Installation Guide, the Validation and Test Plan, and the Operational Procedures. This chapter also provides tips to present the design to stakeholders and using the design documentation to implement the design.

What you need for this book

The following are the software requirements for this book:

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x

VMware vCenter Server 6.x

VMware PowerCLI 6.x

VMware vCLI 6.x

Who this book is for

If you are an administrator or consultant interested in designing virtualized datacenter environments using VMware vSphere 5.x and the supporting components, then this book is for you. This book will help both new and experienced architects deliver professional VMware vSphere virtual datacenter designs.

Sections

In this book, you will find several headings that appear frequently (Getting ready, How to do it, How it works, There's more, and See also).

To give clear instructions on how to complete a recipe, we use these sections as follows:

Getting ready

This section tells you what to expect in the recipe, and describes how to set up any software or any preliminary settings required for the recipe.

How to do it…

This section contains the steps required to follow the recipe.

How it works…

This section usually consists of a detailed explanation of what happened in the previous section.

There's more…

This section consists of additional information about the recipe in order to make the reader more knowledgeable about the recipe.

See also

This section provides helpful links to other useful information for the recipe.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: VIB files have the .vib file extension.

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

ESX1 # esxcli network ip netstack add –N Name_of_Stack

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: The Send a notification email or Send a notification trap action can be configured in the alarm Actions section.

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Reader feedback

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or disliked. Reader feedback is important for us as it helps us develop titles that you will really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply e-mail <feedback@packtpub.com>, and mention the book's title in the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book,