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: 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.

VSphere in a Box: Installing and Configuring Openfiler 2.3 in Vmware Workstation 6.5

Now that we have a couple of ESX servers installed within Workstation 6.5, I think it would be a good idea to simulate some type of storage solution. After all, it would be very unlikely that one would be storing their VMs on the local drives of the ESX servers. You'd most likely be dealing with iSCSI, Fiber, or NFS storage.

After doing some research, I found Openfiler. This software basically turns any regular PC into an iSCSI storage device. Best of all it's free! Great for testing!

I found this site to be a tremendous help when I was configuring my Openfiler VM: http://www.techhead.co.uk/how-to-configure-openfiler-v23-iscsi-storage-for-use-with-vmware-esx

Here is the Installing and Configuring Openfiler in Workstation 6.5 document (please feel free to download the PDF):

VSphere in a Box - Installing Vpshere ESX in Workstation 6.5, Ubuntu 9.04 64-Bit

As I wrote in my previous post, in order to get a bit more familiar with Vsphere ESX, I decided to purchase a Quad Core 8GB PC, install Ubuntu 64bit, Vmware Workstation 6.5 and use that as my base to virtualize a small ESX Lab.

I will be documenting all the steps I'm making in setting this lab up and providing it for anyone who may find it useful. (Feel free to download it at the bottom of this post).

I will say this now, this is all new to me, so I'm open to any suggestions, criticisms etc... I'm literally documenting as I'm learning and I hope that it may help others as well as myself.

Here are the following steps for my lab (so far), the point highlighted is the step we're currently working on:

1) Install 2 ESX servers within Workstation.
2) Install and configure Openfiler iSCSI within Workstation (to act as a SAN for the ESX servers).
3) Setup and Install VCenter to manage the 2 ESX servers.
4) Create, manage virtual servers using VCenter.

(I expect this list to grow dramatically as I learn more).

Without further ado....Vsphere In a Box, Installing ESX within Vmware Workstation (Please feel free to download it using the download button below):

VMWARE VSPHERE in a Box - Build a small, efficient Home Lab

I've always found Vmware ESX fascinating. I've worked with ESX 3.5 briefly, but wanted to understand more about it. However, building a lab would be no easy task. The hardware costs would be too much!

Then I stumbled upon this site:

http://xtravirt.com/xd10089

I found that one can install ESX 4.0 within a VM in Vmware's Workstation 6.5.2!! Heck, you can put a small infrastructure on there, containing the following:

2 ESX hosts
1 Windows Server for VCenter
1 iSCSI (Openfiler).

So now I just needed a dedicated machine to do this. I wanted a quad core processor, with approximately 8 GB of RAM. So I did some digging around and found a Gateway DX4200-09 on www.jr.com for $339. It was a short lived promotion and is no longer available at their site. So I'm glad I snagged it up.

It can also be found on http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NVW8F0 albeit more expensive.

I also purchased an extra 4GB of RAM (since it comes with 4GB installed) from www.newegg.com.

Once all the parts were in, I immediately removed Windows Vista and installed Ubuntu. As I feel linux will make better use of the resources. I need as much speed as I can get.

In my next several posts, I will document how I setup a virtual infrastructure within VMWARE workstation using the guide provided by www.xtravirt.com.