VMware vSphere For Dummies

Introduction 1

Part I: Deciding on vSphere 7

Chapter 1: Getting the Most Out of VMware vSphere 9

Chapter 2: Introducing Virtualization 15

Chapter 3: Exploring the Capabilities of VMware vSphere 29

Chapter 4: Comparing Virtual Infrastructure 3.5 with vSphere 4.x 39

Part II: Getting Ready for vSphere 51

Chapter 5: Planning for a vSphere Rollout 53

Chapter 6: Preparing Network and Storage for vSphere 65

Part III: Installing vSphere 73

Chapter 7: Installing VMware ESX 4 for the First Time 75

Chapter 8: Building the vCenter Server 89

Chapter 9: Getting Started with the vSphere Client 103

Part IV: Configuring and Connecting vSphere 111

Chapter 10: Configuring a New vCenter Server 113

Chapter 11: Wiring Up vSphere to the Network, Virtually 129

Chapter 12: Connecting vSphere to Shared Storage 149

Chapter 13: Assembling an ESX Cluster 171

Part V: Administering and Maintaining vSphere 181

Chapter 14: Creating, Cloning, and Converting VMs 183

Chapter 15: Organizing vSphere Resources 205

Chapter 16: Events, Alarms, and Monitoring 219

Chapter 17: A Quick Tour of Your Virtual Infrastructure 231

Chapter 18: One of These Hosts Is Not Like the Other — Host Profiles 241

Part VI: Tuning and Troubleshooting vSphere 259

Chapter 19: Making VMs Play Fair with Resource Pools 261

Chapter 20: Using vSphere Availability Features 271

Chapter 21: Troubleshooting vSphere 287

Part VII: The Part of Tens 301

Chapter 22: Ten Tools to Make vSphere Management Easier 303

Chapter 23: Ten Places to Improve Your vSphere Know-How 313

Chapter 24: Ten Pro Tips for a Successful vSphere Deployment 317

Index 323