What is this VMware for Beginners Series?

First, this initial blog post explains what VMware vSphere Hypervisor is. The next is a series of blog posts that are about the basics of vSphere:

  • How to install vSphere/ESXi
  • ESXi Local Virtual Networks and Local ESXi Storage
  • VMware vCenter
  • Configure vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) and vSphere Distributed Switch(vDS)
  • Configure NAS/SAN on ESXi
  • Configure vCenter Hight Available (HA) and vCenter Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
  • … and more

We will finalize the VMware for Beginners Series with some blog posts about VMware certifications. How to apply, how and what to study to be able to pass VMware certifications.

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I start with a quick glossary about VMware

  • VMware: This is the company name. The company has many products, from cloud computing to virtualization technology
  • VMware vSphere: vSphere is the VMware hypervisor but includes other products and features, like vSphere Client, vMotion, vStorage, HA, and recently vSphere with Tanzu provided by vCenter, which are all part of the vSphere umbrella stack
  • VMware ESXi: It is the bare-metal hypervisor server or host from vSphere
  • VMware vSphere Web Client: Manage the essential functions of vSphere remotely from any browser
  • VMware vCenter Server: vCenter provides centralized management of vSphere virtual infrastructure. IT administrators can ensure security and availability, simplify day-to-day tasks, and reduce the complexity of managing virtual infrastructure. It manages virtual machines, multiple ESXi hosts, and all dependent components from a single centralized location
  • VMware vCenter Web Client: This is a web interface allowing to connect to the vCenter Server and its resources(ESXi hosts, VMs, etc.) remotely from any browser
  • vSphere Standard Switch(vSS or vSwith): Is a local virtual switch that connects a VM or an ESXi service(like iSCSI) to the ESXi physical network
  • vSphere Distributed Switch(vDS): The same as vSS but is shared and accessible through all ESXi hosts. It provides a centralized interface from which you can configure, monitor, and administer all networks in the vCenter. It also provides advanced VMware vSphere networking features
  • vSphere Cluster: A configuration where one or more ESXi hosts are combined to provide CPU, Memory, and Storage resources to run VMs(or other virtual objects)
  • vMotion: It provides the ability to do live migrations of running virtual machines from one ESXi to another with zero downtime, continuous service availability, and complete transaction integrity. With vMotion, IT Administrators can migrate any VM power-on without downtime
  • Storage vMotion(or vStorage): Similar to vMotion, it allows VMs power-on live migrations from one Storage system to another without downtime. Can be a VMFS datastore, or an NFS/iSCSI
  • vSphere HA: HA runs in vCenter at vSphere Cluster and provides High Available to VMs by automatically detecting failures on an ESXi host by migrating/restarting the VM to the next ESXi hosts available
  • vSphere DRS: DRS works on a cluster of ESXi hosts and provides resource management capabilities like load balancing and virtual machine (VM) placement. If an ESXi host reaches a % resource used (set by the administrator or DRS default), DRS will migrate VM(s), using vMotion, to another host with more resources available to balance workloads
  • VMware Fault Tolerance: VMware vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT) provides continuous availability for applications (with up to four virtual CPUs) by creating a live shadow instance of a virtual machine that mirrors the primary virtual machine
  • VMFS: VMFS, which stands for Virtual Machine File System, is the file system proprietary by VMware. vSphere uses VMFS to create Datastores, store VMs and provide virtual disk resources to a virtual machine
  • vmkernel: VMkernel networking interface provides network connectivity services for the host and handles VMware vMotion, traffic management, and fault tolerance. vSAN, iSCSI, vMotion, and vStorage use the vmkernel network to work
  • VMware Tools: It is an optional set of drivers and utilities that increase both the VMs Guest OS performance and the interaction between the VM Guest OS and ESXi

Note: There are too many terms in VMware and we are focusing on the key ones to keep it simple.

What is vSphere in simple words?

In a previous blog post about Hypervisors KVM vs VMware – A Hypervisor Comparison, I explained a bit about both main Hypervisors in the market and vSphere.

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VMware vSphere is the VMware Hypervisor umbrella stack. In vSphere, with central management(vCenter), we can create Clusters, VMs, vApp, Datastores, vSAN, Kubernetes, and containers using vSphere Tanzu.

With vCenter, vSphere is responsible for creating vSphere Clusters, or vSAN Clusters with vSphere HA and vSphere DRS and providing Cluster services to your VMs and other virtual objects.

How to install ESXi?

First, we can install ESXi on a server, a personal computer, or even a Raspberry Pi, depending on if we are going to use it for testing, demos, or production.

For beginners, the option is always to install an ESXi as a nested. This means that you have a Hypersivor already installed on your Server or Computer and create a VM with a nested ESXi.

For your testing and learning, you can use an old server as long as it runs vSphere. For the list of servers that supports vSphere, you can check the VMware HCL list.

But even if not supported by VMware doesn’t mean it doesn’t run and work properly. Of course, this option should be used for training and/or R&D tests.

I have written a blog post in my personal blog: Install vSphere 7 in a non-supported HP DL360-G7
VMware doesn’t support vSphere 7.x anymore on an HP DL360 G7, but as I show in my tests, it is possible to run it without any issues.

Note: This should not be used in a production environment since VMware does not support it, and you will not have support from VMware in case of any problems.

But the easy way for anyone to start using vSphere and learn is to install it on your computer or laptop with VMware Workstation. In another Vembu blog post, I explained what VMware Workstation Pro and Player are.

VMware Workstation is a hosted hypervisor, which means you can run it in your OS(Windows or Linux). From there, you can create some VMs and use them to install and create your first vSphere Nested environment.

Installing ESXi in a VM is not difficult, but it needs some extra configuration on the VM by exposing the host’s virtualization extensions, such as VT-x for Intel and AMD-V for AMD, to the VM.

In the next blog on this Vembu VMware for Beginners, I explain how to create and Install vSphere and also how to create a nested vSphere environment by installing ESXi on a VM.

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