Table of Contents VCSA restoration procedure 372 Managing data centers, clusters, and hosts 374 Creating a data center 75 Adding a host to the vCenter Server isconnecting a host from vCenter Server Removing a host from vCenter Server Creating a cluster 379 Removing a host from a cluster 380 Managing hosts Scheduling tasks Managing host profiles 23347 Automating tasks with scripts Automating with PowerCLl PowerCLI script examples VCenter REST AP Chapter 12: Life Cycle Management, Patching, and Upgrading 394 Patching a vSphere 6.7 environment Upgrade flow to vSphere 6.7 Upgrading the workflow and procedure Step 1-pre-migration Step 2-migration 398 Step 3-validation 398 Upgrading vCSA 6.5 to VCSA 6.7 399 upgrading vCenter 6.5 for Windows to vCenter 6.7 for Windows SC upgrade Upgrading vCenter Server Migrating vCenter 6.5 for Windows to VCSA 6.7 Migration procedure Upgrading standalone ESXi servers ESXi compatibility checker dating or patching ESXi hosts through the installation ISO Updating or patching ESXi hosts through the command line 410 Rolling back to the previous version 412 VUM Configuring VUM 413 Working with baselines 416 Baseline groups 418 Attaching or detaching base Scanning VMs and hosts 420 Staging and remediating patches Upgrading hosts with VUM 423 Upgrading VM hardware Ipgrading VM Tools
Table of Contents [ x ] vCSA restoration procedure 372 Managing data centers, clusters, and hosts 374 Creating a data center 375 Adding a host to the vCenter Server 376 Disconnecting a host from vCenter Server 378 Removing a host from vCenter Server 379 Creating a cluster 379 Removing a host from a cluster 380 Managing hosts 381 Using tags 382 Tasks 383 Scheduling tasks 383 Managing host profiles 384 Automating tasks with scripts 387 Automating with PowerCLI 388 PowerCLI script examples 391 vCenter REST API 392 Chapter 12: Life Cycle Management, Patching, and Upgrading 394 Patching a vSphere 6.7 environment 395 Upgrade flow to vSphere 6.7 396 Upgrading the workflow and procedure 396 Step 1 – pre-migration 397 Step 2 – migration 398 Step 3 – validation 398 Upgrading vCSA 6.5 to vCSA 6.7 399 Upgrading vCenter 6.5 for Windows to vCenter 6.7 for Windows 401 PSC upgrade 402 Upgrading vCenter Server 402 Migrating vCenter 6.5 for Windows to vCSA 6.7 403 Migration procedure 404 Upgrading standalone ESXi servers 407 ESXi compatibility checker 408 Updating or patching ESXi hosts through the installation ISO 409 Updating or patching ESXi hosts through the command line 410 Rolling back to the previous version 412 VUM 413 Configuring VUM 413 Working with baselines 416 Baseline groups 418 Attaching or detaching baselines 419 Scanning VMs and hosts 420 Staging and remediating patches 421 Upgrading hosts with VUM 423 Upgrading VM hardware 425 Upgrading VM Tools 426
Table of contents Updating the VCSA Updating the vCSa through the command line 428 Staging and remediating patches Updating the VCSA with VAMI Chapter 13: VM Deployment and Management The components of a virtual machine Virtual hardware 433 Virtual disks Storage controller File structure 440 Changing the default file positio Virtual machine tools 442 444 Deploying VMs Creating a new VN Hardware version 448 Setting the default hardware version Installing virtual Machine Tools 451 Cloning a VM Deploying a VM from a template VM customization Specifications 455 Content library 458 Creating a content library 459 Local content library 459 Subscribed content library Working with the content library Uploading Iso images Uploading templates and OVF files Deploying VMs from the content library Iso files from the content library Managing vms Adding or registering an existing VM Removing or deleting a VM 470 Managing the power state of a Vn 471 Managing∨ M snapshots 472 Creating a snapshot 473 475 Committing changes Snapshot consolidation Importing and exporting VMs Deploying Open Virtual Format(OVF)and Open Virtual Appliance (OVA)templates 476 Exporting a virtual machine and an Open Virtual Format(OVF) 479
Table of Contents [ xi ] Updating the vCSA 427 Updating the vCSA through the command line 428 Staging and remediating patches 428 Updating the vCSA with VAMI 429 Chapter 13: VM Deployment and Management 432 The components of a virtual machine 433 Virtual hardware 433 vCPUs 434 Memory 434 Network adapter 435 Virtual disks 436 Storage controller 438 File structure 440 Changing the default file position 442 Virtual machine tools 442 OVT 444 Deploying VMs 445 Creating a new VM 446 Hardware version 448 Setting the default hardware version 449 Installing the OS 450 Installing Virtual Machine Tools 451 Cloning a VM 452 Deploying a VM from a template 453 VM customization Specifications 455 Content library 458 Creating a content library 459 Local content library 459 Subscribed content library 460 Working with the content library 463 Uploading ISO images 464 Uploading templates and OVF files 465 Deploying VMs from the content library 466 ISO files from the content library 467 Managing VMs 468 Adding or registering an existing VM 468 Removing or deleting a VM 470 Managing the power state of a VM 471 Managing VM snapshots 472 Creating a snapshot 473 Reverting to a snapshot 475 Committing changes 475 Snapshot consolidation 475 Importing and exporting VMs 476 Deploying Open Virtual Format (OVF) and Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) templates 476 Exporting a virtual machine and an Open Virtual Format (OVF) 479
Table of Contents Converting vMs P2V conversion V2V conversion Chapter 14: VM Resource Management Virtual machine resource management Reservations limits. and shares Shares 485 CPU resources 486 Memory resources M ESXi host memory states 491 TPS 495 Ballooning Compression Host swapping 499 Virtual machine migration 499 Compute vMotion Storage vMotion vMotion without shared storage 506 DRS Virtual network-aware DRS 511 Managing drs rules 511 VM-VM affinity rule 512 VM-Host affinity rule 513 DRS recommendations 515 DRS utilization 516 Managing power resources 516 Resource pools and vApps 518 Resource pool configuration Expandable resource pool 52 Resource allocation monitoring and calculations 524 Managing resource pools 526 Network and storage resources hapter 15: Availability and Disaster Recovery VMware vSphere HA vSphere HA confiquration 53 vSphere Ha heartbeats vSphere HA network heartbeats rage vSphere HA protection mechanism Virtual Machine Component Protection (VMCP Proactive HA Admission control 539
Table of Contents [ xii ] Converting VMs 480 P2V conversion 480 V2V conversion 482 Chapter 14: VM Resource Management 483 Virtual machine resource management 484 Reservations, limits, and shares 484 Shares 485 Reservations 486 Limits 486 CPU resources 486 Memory resources 488 VM swapping 490 ESXi host memory states 491 TPS 495 Ballooning 497 Compression 498 Host swapping 499 Virtual machine migration 499 Compute vMotion 500 Storage vMotion 504 vMotion without shared storage 506 DRS 507 Virtual network-aware DRS 511 Managing DRS rules 511 VM-VM affinity rule 512 VM-Host affinity rule 513 DRS recommendations 515 DRS utilization 516 Managing power resources 516 Resource pools and vApps 518 Resource pool configuration 518 Expandable resource pool 522 Resource allocation monitoring and calculations 524 Managing resource pools 525 vApps 526 Network and storage resources 529 Chapter 15: Availability and Disaster Recovery 530 VMware vSphere HA 531 vSphere HA configuration 531 vSphere HA heartbeats 533 vSphere HA network heartbeats 533 vSphere HA storage heartbeats 534 vSphere HA protection mechanism 536 Virtual Machine Component Protection (VMCP) 536 Proactive HA 538 Admission control 539
able of contents VM restart and monitoring 541 VMware vSphere FT 542 FT configuration Working with FT-enabled VM FT performance implications Virtual machine clustering Clustering features available in VMware vSphere 550 RDM device and multi-writer flag Virtual machine backup 554 Transport modes Backup solutions for VMware vSphere Veeam Backup and Replication NAKIVO Backup and Replication Altaro VM Backup 557 Vembu VMBackup 558 Deduplication appliances Hyper-scale solutions Cohesity 559 VMware vSphere replication Sphere Replication installation 560 Working with vSphere Replication Configuring vSphere Replication Disaster recovery and disaster avoidance dR of a virtual data center 565 DR versus disaster avoidance DR versus stretched clusters 567 VMware solutions 568 VM Replication Stretched cluster 570 SRM 571 hapter 16: Securing and Protecting Your Environment Security and hardening concepts in vSphere 573 Hardening vSphere Authentication and identity SSo confiquration 576 Role-Based Access Control(RBAC) 578 Active directory integration MFA 580 Smart card RSA SecurlD 583 VCenter Server, ESXi, and VM hardening 583 ESXi hardening 585 I xiii
Table of Contents [ xiii ] VM restart and monitoring 541 VMware vSphere FT 542 FT configuration 545 Working with FT-enabled VM 547 FT performance implications 547 Virtual machine clustering 549 Clustering features available in VMware vSphere 550 RDM device and multi-writer flag 552 Virtual machine backup 554 Transport modes 555 Backup solutions for VMware vSphere 555 Veeam Backup and Replication 556 NAKIVO Backup and Replication 556 Altaro VM Backup 557 Vembu VMBackup 558 Deduplication appliances 558 Hyper-scale solutions 558 Cohesity 559 Rubrik 559 VMware vSphere Replication 559 vSphere Replication installation 560 Working with vSphere Replication 562 Configuring vSphere Replication 562 Disaster recovery and disaster avoidance 563 DR of a virtual data center 565 DR versus disaster avoidance 566 DR versus stretched clusters 567 VMware solutions 568 VM Replication 569 Stretched cluster 570 SRM 571 Chapter 16: Securing and Protecting Your Environment 573 Security and hardening concepts in vSphere 573 Hardening vSphere 574 Authentication and identity 575 SSO configuration 575 Password management 576 Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) 578 Active directory integration 580 MFA 580 Smart cards 581 RSA SecurID 583 vCenter Server, ESXi, and VM hardening 583 ESXi hardening 584 Lockdown mode 585
Table of Contents Networking Transparent Page Sharing(TPS) VIB acceptance level Host encryption mode VCenter hardening 589 VM hardening VM Secure boot Other security aspects Log management 592 Monitoring protocols Certification management 593 Encryption options of the vSphere 595 Protecting the data at rest VM encryption Protecting data in motion 9900 Encrypted vMotion Chapter 17: Analyzing and Optimizing Your Environment Monitoring a virtual environment 603 vSphere monitoring vCenter Server statistics levels Performance monitoring with vCenter Server ESXi health Working with alarms CLI monitoring 612 ESXTOP 613 PowerClI VM optimization 616 Using the default VM templates 616 Using only the necessary virtual hardware Choosing the correct virtual network adapter 617 VMware tools 617 Paravirtual SCSI(PVSCSI) storage controller 617 Don' t use snapshots in production 617 Dont oversize your VMs 618 VMware OS Optimization Tool (OSOT) 618 Log management vRealize Log Insight rEalize Operations vRealize Operations installation vRealize Operations analytics vRealize Operations integrations Other monitoring tools Veeam ONE Vizor 631 Chapter 18: Troubleshooting Your Environment
Table of Contents [ xiv ] Networking 586 Transparent Page Sharing (TPS) 586 VIB acceptance level 587 Host encryption mode 587 ESXi Secure Boot 588 vCenter hardening 589 VM hardening 589 VM Secure Boot 590 Other security aspects 591 Log management 592 Monitoring protocols 592 Certification management 593 Encryption options of the vSphere 595 Protecting the data at rest 596 VM encryption 597 Protecting data in motion 601 Encrypted vMotion 601 Chapter 17: Analyzing and Optimizing Your Environment 603 Monitoring a virtual environment 603 vSphere monitoring 604 vCenter Server statistics levels 604 Performance monitoring with vCenter Server 605 ESXi health 609 Working with alarms 610 CLI monitoring 612 ESXTOP 613 PowerCLI 614 VM optimization 616 Using the default VM templates 616 Using only the necessary virtual hardware 616 Choosing the correct virtual network adapter 617 VMware tools 617 Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) storage controller 617 Don't use snapshots in production 617 Don't oversize your VMs 618 VMware OS Optimization Tool (OSOT) 618 Log management 619 vRealize Log Insight 620 vRealize Operations 622 vRealize Operations installation 622 vRealize Operations analytics 625 vRealize Operations integrations 627 Other monitoring tools 628 Veeam ONE 629 Opvizor 631 Chapter 18: Troubleshooting Your Environment 632