VSphere in a Box: Storage VMotion

The Storage VMotion feature allows an administrator to migrate Virtual Machine Disk files from one datastore to another all while the virtual machine is still accessible.

Please feel free to download the document below using the download button. As always, I welcome any comments/suggestions.

VSphere in a Box: Vmotion

Vmotion allows us to move a running virtual machine from one ESX host to another without any type of disruption. In a perfect scenario, this is transparent to any end users involved. This PDF documents the steps to perform a successful Virtual Machine host migration using VMotion.

Feel free to download the document below using the download button. As always, I welcome any comments/suggestions.

VSphere in a Box: Adding Sysprep files for Windows Guest OS

Sysprep is what Vcenter uses to customize a Microsoft Windows machine when we clone it, or deploy it from a template. For those not familiar with it, it's also used when creating standard images (ie with symantec Ghost etc...) of desktops/servers etc...for deployment throughout your organization.

Windows Vista/2008 already have Sysprep installed. So this is mainly for Windows 2003 and prior operating systems.

Please feel free to download the document below using the download button. As always I welcome any comments/suggestions.

VSphere in a Box: Create and Deploy a VM Template

Using Templates to deploy or create virtual machines is one of the many benefits of virtualization. You can have a server configured exactly as you like and it saves a lot of time.

Imagine being able to setup a new server within minutes. Some might argue that it's even faster than installing a traditional image using a utility like Symantec Ghost or Acronis.

Please feel free to download the document below using the download link. As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions.

VSphere in a Box: Installing an OS in a Virtual Machine

We've created the virtual machine, and copied the ISO file over to our ESX hosts. This next piece of documentation will walk you through on how to install an OS within our newly created Virtual Machine.

Please feel free to download the document below using the download button. And as always, I welcome any comments, suggestions, criticisms.

VSphere in a Box: Create a Virtual Machine

Now that we have a datastore mapped to our VCenter/ESX hosts, we can create some Virtual Machines and store the VM's and Virtual Disks on the datastore.

Please feel free to download the document below using the download button.

As always, please feel free to share any comments/suggestions/criticims.

VSphere in a Box: Create an iSCSI Datastore

We created a LUN in Openfiler earlier in this blog/series. Now we are going to make our VCenter/ESX hosts aware of it's existence and create a datastore for our Virtual Machines.

Please feel free to download the document using the download button below. As always, I welcome any comments/criticisms/suggestions...

VSphere in a Box: Copy an ISO file to your ESX Host

When you're ready to build an Virtual Machine in your ESX host, the process is made MUCH quicker by having the ISO install image stored on the ESX host.

There are other methods, like using the actual CD and putting into the CD drive, but this can be a bit more time consuming. Having the ISO already mounted to your virtual machine streamlines the process.

Please feel free to download the PDF file below using the dowload button:

VSphere in a Box: Creating a Datacenter in VCenter

As I've said before, VCenter is used to administer/manage multiple ESX hosts from one location. This document goes through the steps in creating a Datacenter, setting up a cluster, and adding hosts to said cluster.

Again, any comments are more than welcome.

Please feel free to download the embedded document using the download button below.

VSphere in a Box - Installing VCenter

In the previous blog, we covered how to Setup a SQL Database for the VCenter installation. Now we're going to cover the actual VCenter Installation.

VCenter allows one to manage multiple ESX hosts, configure High Availablility, Vmotion and a plethora of other options.

Please feel free to download the document using the download link below. As always, any comments, criticims, suggestions etc... are more than welcome.

VSphere in a Box: Prepare your MS SQL Database for VCenter Installation

VCenter requires some type of database engine to store information about your ESX hosts. For a small setup, the VCenter installer will use SQL Server Express edition (which is free from Microsoft).

For a larger setup, one should have a good, fully functional database server. Despite the fact that our lab here is small, it's good practice to know how to prepare a database for your VCenter installation.

This document focuses on using Microsfot SQL Server 2008, however, the same exact instructions would apply for Microsoft SQL 2005.

Before proceeding with this, you should already have Windows Server 2003 or 2008 installed, as well as SQL Server 2008 or 2005. You can find 180 day evaluation copies of each via Microsoft's website (www.microsoft.com). (*Note: I just created another VM within workstation. It runs right along with the two ESX servers).

Please feel free to download the document using the download button below. Please feel free to share any questions/criticism/comments.