Virtualization Essentials

Learn the fundamental concepts and skills by building your own virtual machine. Virtualization is more important than ever, it's how the Cloud works! As virtualization continues to expand, millions of companies all over the world are leveraging virtualization. IT professionals need a solid understanding of virtualization concepts and software to compete in today's job market. The updated new edition of Virtualization Essentials teaches you the core concepts and skills necessary to work with virtualization environments. Designed for new and aspiring IT professionals alike, this practical guide offers an applied, real-world approach to help you develop the necessary skill set to work in Cloud computing, the DevOps space, and the rest of the virtual world. Virtualization Essentials simplifies complex concepts to ensure that you fully understand what virtualization is and how it works within the computing environment. Step by step, you’ll learn how to build your own virtual machine, both by scratch and by migrating from physical to virtual. Each user-friendly chapter contains an overview of the topic, a discussion of key concepts, hands-on tutorials, end-of-chapter exercises, review questions, and more. Configure and manage a virtual machine’s CPU, memory, storage, and networking Distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors Compare the leading hypervisor products in today’s market Configure additional devices for a virtual machine Make considerations for availability Understand how cloud computing leverages virtualization Virtualization Essentials is an invaluable ‘learn-by-doing’ resource for new and aspiring IT professionals looking to gain a solid foundation in virtualization. It is also an excellent reference for more experienced IT admins responsible for managing on-premise and remote computers and workstations. Cover 1 Title Page 5 Copyright Page 6 Acknowledgments 8 About the Author 9 Contents at a Glance 11 Contents 13 Introduction 17 Who Should Read This Book 18 What Is Covered in This Book 19 How to Contact the Author 21 Chapter 1 Understanding Virtualization 23 Describing Virtualization 23 Microsoft Windows Drives Server Growth 25 Explaining Moore’s Law 29 Understanding the Importance of Virtualization 32 Consolidation Drives Down Costs 33 Virtual Servers Now Outnumber Physical Servers 34 Examining Today’s Trends 34 Virtualization and Cloud Computing 37 Hyperconverged Infrastructure 38 Understanding Virtualization Software Operation 39 Virtualizing Servers 39 Virtualizing Desktops 40 Virtualizing Applications 41 Chapter 2 Understanding Hypervisors 45 Describing a Hypervisor 45 Exploring the History of Hypervisors 46 Understanding Type 1 Hypervisors 47 Understanding Type 2 Hypervisors 49 Understanding the Role of a Hypervisor 50 Holodecks and Traffic Cops 50 Resource Allocation 52 Comparing Today’s Hypervisors 53 VMware ESX 53 Citrix Hypervisor (Xen) 55 Microsoft Hyper-V 57 Other Solutions 58 Chapter 3 Understanding Virtual Machines 61 Describing a Virtual Machine 61 Examining CPUs in a Virtual Machine 64 Examining Memory in a Virtual Machine 65 Examining Network Resources in a Virtual Machine 66 Examining Storage in a Virtual Machine 67 Understanding How a Virtual Machine Works 69 Working with Virtual Machines 71 Understanding Virtual Machine Clones 72 Understanding Templates 73 Understanding Snapshots 74 Understanding OVF 75 Understanding Containers 76 Chapter 4 Creating a Virtual Machine 79 Performing P2V Conversions 79 Investigating the Physical-to-Virtual Process 80 Hot and Cold Cloning 81 Loading Your Environment 82 Loading VMware Workstation Player 83 Exploring VMware Workstation Player 88 Loading VirtualBox 92 Building a New Virtual Machine 97 Thinking About VM Configuration 98 Creating a First VM 99 Chapter 5 Installing Windows on a Virtual Machine 105 Loading Windows into a Virtual Machine 105 Installing Windows 11 106 Installing VMware Tools 119 Understanding Configuration Options 124 Optimizing a New Virtual Machine 129 The Essentials and Beyond 131 Chapter 6 Installing Linux on a Virtual Machine 133 Loading Linux into a Virtual Machine 133 Exploring Oracle VM VirtualBox 134 Installing Linux into a Virtual Machine 137 Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions 148 Understanding Configuration Options 151 Optimizing a New Linux Virtual Machine 157 The Essentials and Beyond 158 Chapter 7 Managing CPUs for a Virtual Machine 161 Understanding CPU Virtualization 161 Configuring VM CPU Options 165 Tuning Practices for VM CPUs 167 Choosing Multiple vCPUs vs. a Single vCPU 167 Hyperthreading 168 Working with Intel and AMD Servers 169 Chapter 8 Managing Memory for a Virtual Machine 173 Understanding Memory Virtualization 173 Memory Growth in Consumer Devices 174 Configuring VM Memory Options 176 Tuning Practices for VM Memory 178 Calculating Memory Overhead 179 Memory Optimizations 180 Chapter 9 Managing Storage for a Virtual Machine 187 Understanding Storage Virtualization 187 How Much Digital Information Is There? 188 Filesystem Options 192 Configuring VM Storage Options 193 Tuning VM Storage 201 RAID Basics for Availability and Performance 202 The Essentials and Beyond 207 Chapter 10 Managing Networking for a Virtual Machine 209 Understanding Network Virtualization 209 Configuring VM Network Options 220 Tuning Practices for Virtual Networks 225 The Essentials and Beyond 228 Chapter 11 Copying a Virtual Machine 229 Cloning a Virtual Machine 229 This Is Not the Recommended Practice for Creating a New Virtual Machine 230 What Is Sysprep? 238 Working with Templates 239 Saving a Virtual Machine State 243 Creating a Snapshot 246 Merging Snapshots 250 Chapter 12 Managing Additional Devices in Virtual Machines 253 Using Virtual Machine Tools 253 Understanding Virtual Devices 256 Configuring a CD/DVD Drive 256 Configuring a Floppy Disk Drive 257 Configuring a Sound Card 261 Configuring USB Devices 262 Configuring Graphic Displays 264 Configuring Other Devices 265 The Essentials and Beyond 269 Chapter 13 Understanding Availability 271 Increasing Availability 271 Protecting a Virtual Machine 274 Some Advanced Topics 275 Protecting Multiple Virtual Machines 278 Protecting Data Centers 283 The Essentials and Beyond 286 Chapter 14 Understanding Applications in a Virtual Machine 287 Examining Virtual Infrastructure Performance Capabilities 287 Deploying Applications in a Virtual Environment 292 Understanding Virtual Appliances and vApps 301 Where Can You Get a Virtual Appliance? 302 Open Stack and Containers 303 Cloud and the Future of Virtualization 304 The Essentials and Beyond 305 Appendix: Answers to Additional Exercises 307 Chapter 1 307 Chapter 2 307 Chapter 3 308 Chapter 4 309 Chapter 5 310 Chapter 6 311 Chapter 7 311 Chapter 8 311 Chapter 9 312 Chapter 10 313 Chapter 11 313 Chapter 12 314 Chapter 13 314 Chapter 14 315 Glossary 317 Index 323 EULA 336