The Discovery Process | VMware vSphere 5.x Datacenter Design Cookbook

Sign In Start Free Trial

Book Overview & Buying
Table Of Contents

VMware vSphere 5.x Datacenter Design Cookbook

By : Hersey Cartwright

4.5 (10)

VMware vSphere 5.x Datacenter Design Cookbook

4.5 (10)

By: Hersey Cartwright

Overview of this book

VMware vSphere 5.x Datacenter Design Cookbook

VMware vSphere 5.x Datacenter Design Cookbook

Credits

Credits

About the Author

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Reviewers

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Preface

Free Chapter

The Virtual Datacenter

The Virtual Datacenter

Introduction

Becoming a virtual datacenter architect

Using a holistic approach to datacenter design

Passing the VMware VCAP-DCD exam

The Discovery Process

The Discovery Process

Introduction

Identifying the design factors

Identifying stakeholders

Conducting stakeholder interviews

VMware Capacity Planner

Using Windows Performance Monitor

Identifying dependencies

The Design Factors

The Design Factors

Introduction

Identifying design requirements

Identifying design constraints

Making design assumptions

Identifying design risks

Creating the conceptual design

The vSphere Management Design

The vSphere Management Design

Introduction

Identifying vCenter components and dependencies

Selecting a vCenter deployment option

Determining the vCenter system requirements

Selecting a database for vCenter deployment

Determining database interoperability

Choosing a vCenter Single Sign-On deployment mode

Designing for management availability

Backing up the vCenter Server components

Using vCenter Server Heartbeat to provide vCenter availability

Securing the management components

Designing a separate management cluster

The vSphere Storage Design

The vSphere Storage Design

Introduction

Identifying RAID levels

Calculating storage capacity requirements

Determining storage performance requirements

Calculating storage throughput

Storage connectivity options

Storage path selection plugins

Sizing datastores

The vSphere Network Design

The vSphere Network Design

Introduction

Determining network bandwidth requirements

Standard or distributed virtual switches

Providing network availability

Virtual switch security

Network resource management

Using private VLANs

IP storage network design considerations

vMotion network design considerations

The vSphere Compute Design

The vSphere Compute Design

Introduction

Calculating CPU resource requirements

Calculating memory resource requirements

Scaling up or scaling out

Determining the vCPU-to-core ratio

Clustering compute resources

Reserving HA resources to support failover

Using distributed resource scheduling to balance cluster resources

Ensuring cluster vMotion compatibility

The vSphere Physical Design

The vSphere Physical Design

Introduction

Using the VMware Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)

Understanding the physical storage design

Understanding the physical network design

Creating the physical compute design

Creating a custom ESXi image

Best practices for ESXi host BIOS settings

The Virtual Machine Design

The Virtual Machine Design

Introduction

Right-sizing virtual machines

Enabling CPU Hot Add and Memory Hot Plug

Creating virtual machine templates

Using vApps to organize virtualized applications

Using VM affinity and anti-affinity rules

Converting physical servers with vCenter Converter Standalone

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Introduction

Backing up ESXi host configurations

Configuring ESXi host logging

Backing up virtual distributed switch configurations

Deploying VMware Data Protection

Using VMware Data Protection to back up virtual machines

Replicating virtual machines with vSphere Replication

Protecting the virtual datacenter with Site Recovery Manager

The Design Documentation

The Design Documentation

Introduction

Creating the architecture design document

Writing an implementation plan

Developing an installation guide

Creating a validation test plan

Writing operational procedures

Presenting the design

Implementing the design

Index

Index

Identifying the design factors

The design factors are the primary considerations that influence the design. These factors define the function that the design must accomplish, how it should accomplish it, and what may prevent the design from accomplishing it.

How to do it…

The design factors encompass much more than just the physical resources, such as the CPU, memory, and storage, necessary to run workloads in a virtual environment.

Identifying the design factors needs the following requirements:

Functional and nonfunctional requirements
Constraints
Assumptions
Risks

How it works…

Requirements define what a design must do and how it should do it. Requirements can be business or technical. There are two types of requirements: functional and nonfunctional. The requirements should be clearly defined. A good design requirement is verifiable, traceable, feasible, and specific.

Functional requirements specify a specific function of the design or simply what a design must do. Functional requirements can...

CONTINUE READING

83

Tech Concepts

36

Programming languages

73

Tech Tools

Unlimited access to the largest independent learning library in tech of over 8,000 expert-authored tech books and videos.

Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.

50+ new titles added per month and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.

VMware vSphere 5.x Datacenter Design Cookbook

Search

Your notes and bookmarks