Virtualization and Hypervisors Overview

vSphere Client

Provides an intuitive interface for managing vSphere components, accessible via web browsers, supporting remote management, and customization of views and settings.

vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)

Pre-configured Linux-based virtual appliance that simplifies deployment, eliminates the need for a separate Windows Server, and supports large environments.

VMFS (Virtual Machine File System)

A clustered file system optimized for storing virtual machine files.

vSAN (Virtual SAN)

A software-defined storage solution that aggregates local disks of ESXi hosts to create a shared datastore.

vVols (Virtual Volumes)

A storage architecture that enables VM-centric storage management.

Raw Device Mapping (RDM)

A feature that provides a VM with direct access to a physical LUN on a storage array.

Datastore Clusters

Aggregating multiple datastores into a single entity for easier management and automated resource balancing.

ESXi Firewall

Protects ESXi hosts by controlling inbound and outbound traffic.

Lockdown Mode

Includes Normal Lockdown Mode and Strict Lockdown Mode in ESXi hosts, with differences in user access permissions.

Security Profiles

Configure security settings for services running on ESXi hosts, enhancing security by disabling unnecessary services.

Network Virtualization

Flexibility, cost efficiency, isolation, scalability, simplified provisioning, multi-tenancy, dynamic management, automation, performance, disaster recovery.

Storage Virtualization

Utilization, scalability, management, cost efficiency, flexibility, performance, data protection, capacity planning, compatibility, availability.

Application Virtualization

Deployment, compatibility, management, security, performance, mobility, reduced conflicts, backup and recovery, cost efficiency, scalability.

Components of a VM

Operating System (OS), VMware Tools, Virtual CPU, Memory, Storage, Network Adapters, Virtual BIOS, Virtual Hardware, Snapshots, VM Configuration Files, VM Log Files.

Templates

Ensures consistent configuration across VMs, saves time by avoiding repeated configuration, simplifies management and deployment, facilitates rapid deployment, ensures security policies are consistently applied.

vCenter Server

Centralized management platform for VMware vSphere environments, providing management, monitoring, and configuration of ESXi hosts and VMs.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

An authentication service that allows users to log in once and access multiple vSphere components without needing to log in separately.

VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA)

Provides SSL certificates for vSphere components, ensuring secure communications.

VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks)

Enhance network security by isolating network traffic into separate segments, reducing unauthorized access risks and improving performance.

Traffic Shaping

Controls bandwidth allocation to network traffic, ensuring critical applications receive necessary bandwidth and preventing network congestion.

NIC Teaming

Combines multiple physical NICs into a single logical interface for redundancy, load balancing, and enhanced network performance.

VM Port Groups

Logical groupings of VMs within a virtual switch, simplifying network configuration, supporting network segmentation, and allowing application of network policies.

VMkernel Ports

Special network adapters for management traffic, vMotion, IP storage, and critical vSphere services, ensuring efficient and secure network operations.

Uplink Ports

Connect virtual switches to physical network adapters, providing connectivity between virtual and physical networks for optimal performance.

Private VLANs (PVLANs)

Segments VLANs into smaller isolated networks, enhancing security and reducing broadcast traffic.

Network I/O Control (NIOC)

Manages and prevents storage congestion by controlling bandwidth allocation.

NFS (Network File System)

A file system protocol allowing file access over a network.

Storage I/O Control (SIOC)

A feature that manages and prevents storage congestion by prioritizing I/O resources based on predefined rules.

vSphere HA architecture

Ensures high availability by automatically restarting VMs on surviving hosts in a cluster when a host failure is detected.

Redundant heartbeat networks

Ensure reliable failure detection by using multiple network paths for HA heartbeat communication, increasing resilience and reducing the risk of false positives.

Reservations, Limits, and Shares

Reservations guarantee a minimum amount of CPU or memory resources for a VM, limits cap the maximum resources a VM can use, and shares prioritize resource allocation among VMs based on the number of shares assigned.

Resource Pools

Logically group resources that can be allocated to VMs or other resource pools, simplifying management and allocation.

vSphere Performance Charts

Visual representations of resource usage and performance metrics within the vSphere environment.

Alarms

Notify administrators of specific events or conditions in the vSphere environment.

Custom Roles

User-defined roles in RBAC to meet specific administrative needs.

Active Directory Integration

Enhances security by centralizing authentication and allowing the use of existing AD credentials and group policies.

vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM)

Provides centralized patch management for ESXi hosts, automating patch deployment and ensuring compliance with security policies.

Update Planner

Ensures readiness for upgrades by performing prechecks to verify compatibility and readiness for updates.

Best Practices for Troubleshooting

Include regular monitoring, up-to-date documentation, a structured approach, involving stakeholders, and tracking known issues and resolutions.

vMotion

Minimizes downtime, facilitates non-disruptive maintenance, optimizes resource usage, and enables live migration of running VMs in vSphere.

Storage vMotion

Allows live migration of VM disk files from one datastore to another without downtime, optimizing storage usage.

Server Virtualization

Cost reduction, resource utilization, scalability, flexibility, disaster recovery, energy efficiency, simplified management, isolation, testing and development, legacy support.

Desktop Virtualization

Centralized management, security, cost efficiency, flexibility, disaster recovery, remote access, consistency, maintenance, resource allocation, user experience.

Type 1 Hypervisors (Bare-metal)

A hypervisor installed directly on physical hardware, e.g., VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V. Better performance, enhanced security, scalability, lower overhead, stability, isolation, centralized management, hardware integration, robust support.

Type 2 Hypervisors (Hosted)

A hypervisor installed on top of a host operating system, e.g., VMware Workstation, Oracle VirtualBox. Ease of use, better compatibility with hardware and OS configurations, suitable for development and testing environments, often cheaper, user-friendly interface.

Virtual Machines (VMs)

Emulates a complete physical machine including hardware and operating system, full isolation between VMs, requires more resources due to OS overhead, strong isolation enhancing security, simplified backup and recovery through snapshot and cloning.

Containers

Shares the host OS kernel while isolating applications, more efficient resource utilization, faster startup times compared to VMs, ideal for microservices and cloud-native applications, supports rapid development and deployment cycles.

Cloning

Creating an exact copy of an existing VM, speeding up deployment of new VMs, useful for testing and development, ensures consistency, facilitates safe experimentation, speeds up recovery.

Thick Provisioning

Allocates the entire disk space at the time of VM creation. Generally better disk performance due to pre-allocated space.

Thin Provisioning

Allocates disk space dynamically as needed. Uses storage space more efficiently by allocating only the space that is actually used.

Snapshots

A quick backup option that captures the state of a VM at a specific point in time, facilitating easy recovery or rollback to a previous state.

High Availability (HA)

Ensures high availability by restarting VMs on surviving hosts in a cluster when a host failure is detected, minimizing downtime and automating recovery.

Fault Tolerance (FT)

Provides continuous availability by running a secondary VM in lockstep with the primary VM, ensuring zero downtime and maintaining data consistency.

Standard Switch (vSS)

A virtual switch configured individually on each ESXi host, providing network isolation and easy management.

Distributed Switch (vDS)

A virtual switch that provides centralized management and configuration across multiple ESXi hosts, ensuring consistent network configuration and simplifying network management.

esxtop

A command-line tool for real-time performance monitoring in vSphere.

Regular Monitoring

Improves resource management by providing insights into resource usage and performance, enabling proactive adjustments to optimize resources.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Enhances security in vSphere by assigning specific roles and permissions to users, controlling their access to various objects and actions within the environment.

Structured Troubleshooting Approach

Involves identifying symptoms, gathering data, analyzing data, implementing solutions, and verifying resolution in vSphere troubleshooting.

New Virtual Machine Wizard

Tool for creating new VMs from scratch, providing detailed customization of VM settings.

Active Learning

Benefits include enhancing understanding and retention by actively engaging with material through summaries, questions, and discussions.

Spaced Repetition

Effective in memory retention by reviewing information at increasing intervals to prevent forgetting.

Chunking

Helps in learning by breaking down information into smaller, manageable parts for easier processing and remembering.

Interleaved Practice

Enhances learning by mixing different topics to improve differentiation and understanding.