<p>VMware ESX and VMware ESXi hypervisors are used for providing the foundation for building and managing a virtualized IT infrastructure. vSphere 5.1 delivers the same industry-leading performance and scalability as prior vSphere releases, with several additional benefits including its improved reliability and security. VMware vSphere 5.1 is based on the ESXi hypervisor architecture, a thin purpose-built hypervisor that does not depend on a general purpose operating system, which does away with the requirement of persistent storage. So we can now store it on a dedicated compact storage device, drastically reducing the hypervisor install footprint to less than 150MB.</p> <p>"VMware ESXi 5.1 Cookbook" explores every aspect of VMware administration. We will learn to configure and to administer vSphere including high availability (HA), distributed resource scheduler (DRS), fault tolerance (FT), vMotion , svMotion, virtual machine provisioning, update manager, and distributed virtual switches. We will also explore advanced level operations with lots of tips and tricks to ease your job.</p> <p>"VMware ESXi 5.1 Cookbook" offers a comprehensive understanding of new features released with vSphere 5.1 and how it enhances your VMware virtual environment. Starting with the installation and configuration of ESXi and vCenter and followed by the configuration of various core components including the network, storage, virtual machine administration, security, performance, and patching, along with the high availability of the virtual infrastructure.</p> <p>Also exploring how the vSphere environment can be secured, learn to monitor your virtual environment using default alarms available with the vCenter server and to collect performance reports for your vSphere environment.</p>