VMware Infrastructure Introduction

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IntroductionESX Server 3.0.1 and VirtualCenter 2.0.1


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VMware, Inc.3145 Porter DrivePalo Alto, CA 94304www.vmware.com

2 VMware, Inc.

Introduction

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on our Web site at

http://www.vmware.com/support/

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

[email protected]

2006-2008 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242,6,496,847, 6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022,6,961,941, 6,961,806 and 6,944,699; patents pending.

VMware, the VMware boxes logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks ortrademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.

All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Introduction

Revision: 20060925Item: VI-ENG-Q206-213
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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VMware, Inc. 3

Contents

Preface 5

1 VMwareInfrastructureIntroduction 9PhysicalTopologyofVIDatacenter 12

ComputingServers 12

StorageNetworksandArrays 13

IPNetworks 13

ManagementServer 13

DesktopClients 13

VirtualDatacenterArchitecture 14

Hosts,Clusters,andResourcePools 15

VMwareVMotion,VMwareDRS,andVMwareHA 17

NetworkArchitecture 19

StorageArchitecture 22

VMwareConsolidatedBackup 25

VirtualCenterManagementServer 26

CommunicationBetweenVirtualCenterandESXServer 28

AccessingtheVirtualDatacenter 29

Conclusion 30

Glossary 31
http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-


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Introduction

4 VMware, Inc.


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VMware, Inc. 5

ThisprefacedescribesthecontentsofthisIntroductionandprovidespointersto

VMwaretechnicalandeducationalresources.

Thispreface

contains

the

following

topics:

AboutThisBookonpage 6

TechnicalSupportandEducationResourcesonpage 8

Preface


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Introduction

6 VMware, Inc.

About This Book

Thismanual,theIntroduction,describestheVMwareInfrastructurecomponents.

Revision History

Thismanualisrevisedwitheachreleaseoftheproductorwhennecessary.Arevised

versioncancontainminorormajorchanges.Table P1providesyouwiththerevision

historyofthismanual.

Intended AudienceTheinformationpresentedinthismanualiswrittenforexperiencedWindowsorLinux

systemadministratorsandwhoarefamiliarwithvirtualmachinetechnology

datacenteroperations.

Document Feedback

Ifyouhavecommentsaboutthisdocumentation,submityourfeedbackto:

[email protected]

VMware Infrastructure Documentation

TheVMwareInfrastructuredocumentationconsistsofthecombinedVirtualCenterand

ESXServerdocumentationset.

Youcan

access

the

most

current

versions

of

this

manual

and

other

books

by

going

to:

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs

Table P-1. Revision History

Revision Description

20060615 ESXServer3.0andVirtualCenter2.0versionoftheVMwareInfrastructure3Introduction.Thisisthefirsteditionofthismanual.

20060925 ESXServer3.0.1andVirtualCenter2.0.1versionoftheVMwareInfrastructure3Introduction.Thiseditioncontainsminorchanges.
mailto:[email protected]://www.vmware.com/support/pubshttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubsmailto:[email protected]


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VMware, Inc. 7

Preface

Conventions

Table P2illustratesthetypographicconventionsusedinthismanual.

Abbreviations Used in Graphics

Thegraphics

in

this

manual

use

the

abbreviations

listed

in

Table P

3.

Table P-2. Conventions Used in This Manual

Style Elements

Blue(onlineonly) Crossreferencesandemailaddresses

Blueboldface(onlineonly) Links

Blackboldface Userinterfaceelementssuchasbuttonnamesandmenuitems

Monospace Commands,filenames,directories,andpaths

Monospace bold Userinput

Italic Documenttitles,glossaryterms,andoccasionalemphasis

Variableandparameternames

Table P-3. Abbreviations

Abbreviation Description

VC VirtualCenter

VI VirtualInfrastructureClient

server VirtualCenterServer

database VirtualCenterdatabase

hostn VirtualCentermanagedhosts

VM# Virtualmachinesonamanagedhost

user# Userwithaccesspermissions

dsk# Storagediskforthemanagedhost

datastore

Storage

for

the

managed

hostSAN Storageareanetworktypedatastoresharedbetweenmanagedhosts

tmplt Template


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Introduction

8 VMware, Inc.

Technical Support and Education Resources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportresourcesavailabletoyou.

Self-Service Support

UsetheVMwareTechnologyNetwork(VMTN)forselfhelptoolsandtechnical

information:

Productinformationhttp://www.vmware.com/products/

Technologyinformationhttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/technology

Documentationhttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs

VMTNKnowledgeBasehttp://www.vmware.com/support/kb

Discussionforumshttp://www.vmware.com/community

Usergroupshttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/usergroups.html

FormoreinformationabouttheVMwareTechnologyNetwork,goto

http://www.vmtn.net.

Online and Telephone Support

Useonlinesupporttosubmittechnicalsupportrequests,viewyourproductand

contractinformation,andregisteryourproducts.Goto

http://www.vmware.com/support.

Customerswithappropriatesupportcontractsshouldusetelephonesupportforthefastestresponseonpriority1issues.Goto

http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html .

Support Offerings

FindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds.Goto

http://www.vmware.com/support/services.

VMware Education Services

VMwarecoursesofferextensivehandsonlabs,casestudyexamples,andcourse

materialsdesignedtobeusedasonthejobreferencetools.Formoreinformationabout

VMwareEducationServices,gotohttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfm.
http://www.vmware.com/products/http://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/technologyhttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubshttp://www.vmware.com/support/kbhttp://www.vmware.com/communityhttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/usergroups.htmlhttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunityhttp://www.vmware.com/supporthttp://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.htmlhttp://www.vmware.com/support/serviceshttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfmhttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfmhttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfmhttp://www.vmware.com/support/serviceshttp://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.htmlhttp://www.vmware.com/supporthttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunityhttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/usergroups.htmlhttp://www.vmware.com/communityhttp://www.vmware.com/support/kbhttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubshttp://www.vmware.com/vcommunity/technologyhttp://www.vmware.com/products/


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VMware, Inc. 9

1

VMwareInfrastructureisafullinfrastructurevirtualizationsuitethatprovides

comprehensivevirtualization,management,resourceoptimization,application

availability,andoperationalautomationcapabilitiesinanintegratedoffering.VMware

Infrastructurevirtualizesandaggregatestheunderlyingphysicalhardwareresourcesacrossmultiplesystemsandprovidespoolsofvirtualresourcestodatacenterinthe

virtualenvironment.

Inaddition,VMwareInfrastructurebringsaboutasetofdistributedservicesthat

enablesfinegrain,policydrivenresourceallocation,highavailability,and

consolidatedbackupoftheentirevirtualdatacenter.Thesedistributedservicesenable

anITorganizationtoestablishandmeettheirproductionServiceLevelAgreements

withtheircustomersinacosteffectivemanner.

VMware Infrastructure

Introduction

1


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Introduction

10 VMware, Inc.

TherelationshipsamongthevariouscomponentsoftheVMwareInfrastructureare

showninFigure 11.

Figure 1-1. VMware Infrastructure

VMwareInfrastructureincludesthefollowingcomponentsshowninFigure 11:

VMwareESXServerArobust,productionprovenvirtualizationlayerrunon

physicalservers

that

abstracts

processor,

memory,

storage,

and

networking

resources

intomultiplevirtualmachines.

VirtualCenterManagementServer(VirtualCenterServer)Thecentralpointfor

configuring,provisioning,andmanagingvirtualizedITenvironments.

VirtualInfrastructureClient(VIClient)Aninterfacethatallowsuserstoconnect

remotelytotheVirtualCenterServerorindividualESXServersfromanyWindowsPC.

VirtualInfrastructure

Web

Access

(VI

Web

Access)

AWebinterfacethatallows

virtualmachinemanagementandaccesstoremoteconsoles.

enterpriseservers

enterprisenetwork

enterprisestorage

apps

OS

apps

OS

apps

OS

apps

OS

apps

OS

apps

VMFSVirtual SMP

ConsolidatedBackup

virtual machines

ESX Servers

VirtualCenter Management Server

HADRS

VI SDKVI Web AccessVI Client

VMware Infrastructure

OS

apps

OS


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VMware, Inc. 11

Chapter 1 VMware Infrastructure Introduction

VMwareVirtualMachineFileSystem(VMFS)Ahighperformanceclusterfile

systemforESXServervirtualmachines.

VMware

Virtual

Symmetric

Multi

Processing

(SMP)

Feature

that

enables

asingle

virtualmachinetousemultiplephysicalprocessorssimultaneously.

VMwareVMotionFeaturethatenablesthelivemigrationofrunningvirtual

machinesfromonephysicalservertoanotherwithzerodowntime,continuousservice

availability,andcompletetransactionintegrity.

VMwareHAFeaturethatprovideseasytouse,costeffectivehighavailabilityfor

applicationsrunninginvirtualmachines.Intheeventofserverfailure,affectedvirtual

machinesareautomaticallyrestartedonotherproductionserversthathavespare

capacity.

VMwareDistributedResourceScheduler(DRS)Featurethatallocatesandbalances

computingcapacitydynamicallyacrosscollectionsofhardwareresourcesforvirtual

machines.

VMwareConsolidatedBackup(ConsolidatedBackup)Featurethatprovidesan

easytouse,centralizedfacilityforagentfreebackupofvirtualmachines.ItsimplifiesbackupadministrationandreducestheloadonESXServers.

VMwareInfrastructureSDKFeaturethatprovidesastandardinterfaceforVMware

andthirdpartysolutionstoaccesstheVMwareInfrastructure.


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Introduction

12 VMware, Inc.

Physical Topology of VI Datacenter

AsFigure 12shows,atypicalVMwareInfrastructuredatacenterconsistsofbasic

physicalbuilding

blocks

such

as

x86

computing

servers,

storage

networks

and

arrays,

IPnetworks,amanagementserver,anddesktopclients.

Figure 1-2. VMware Infrastructure Datacenter Physical Topology

Computing Servers

Thecomputingserversareindustrystandardx86serversthatrunVMwareESXServer

onthebaremetal.ESXServerprovidesresourcesforandrunsthevirtualmachines.

Eachcomputingserverisreferredtoasastandalonehostinthevirtualenvironment.A

numberofsimilarlyconfiguredx86serverscanbegroupedtogetherwithconnections

tothesamenetworkandstoragesubsystemstoprovideanaggregatesetofresources

inthevirtualenvironment,calledacluster.

servergroup 1

virtual machines

servergroup 2

servergroup 3

fibre channelstorage array

iSCSIstorage array

NASstorage array

VirtualCenterManagement Server terminalWeb browserVI Client

fibre channel switch fabric / IP network

ESX Server

VM VM VM

VM VM VM


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VMware, Inc. 13


Storage Networks and Arrays

FiberChannelSANarrays,iSCSISANarrays,andNASarraysarewidelyusedstorage

technologiessupported

by

VMware

Infrastructure

to

meet

different

datacenter

storage

needs.Sharingthestoragearraysbetween(byconnectingthemto)groupsofserversvia

storageareanetworksallowsaggregationofthestorageresourcesandprovidesmore

flexibilityinprovisioningthemtovirtualmachines.

IP Networks

EachcomputingservercanhavemultiplegigabitEthernetnetworkinterfacecards

(NICs)toprovidehighbandwidthandreliablenetworkingtotheentiredatacenter.

Management Server

TheVirtualCenterManagementServerprovidesaconvenientsinglepointofcontrolto

thedatacenter.ItrunsontopWindows2003Servertoprovidemanyessential

datacenterservicessuchasaccesscontrol,performancemonitoring,andconfiguration.

Itunifiestheresourcesfromtheindividualcomputingserverstobesharedamong

virtualmachinesintheentiredatacenter.Itaccomplishesthisbymanagingthe

assignmentofvirtualmachinestothecomputingserversandtheassignmentof

resourcestothevirtualmachineswithinagivencomputingserverbasedonthepolicies

setbythesystemadministrator.

Computingserverswillcontinuetofunctionevenintheunlikelyeventthat

VirtualCenterManagementServerbecomesunreachable(forexample,thenetworkis

severed).Theycanbemanageseparatelyandwillcontinuetorunthevirtualmachines

assignedtothembasedontheresourceassignmentthatwaslastset.Afterthe

VirtualCenterManagementServerbecomesreachable,itcanmanagethedatacenteras

awholeagain.

ThearchitectureofVirtualCenterManagementServerwillbedescribedindetailin

latersections.

Desktop ClientsVMwareInfrastructureprovidesaselectionofinterfacesfordatacentermanagement

andvirtualmachineaccess.Userscanchoosetheinterfacethatbestmeetstheirneeds:

VirtualInfrastructureClient(VIClient),WebAccessthroughaWebbrowser,or

terminalservices(suchasWindowsTerminalServicesorXterm).


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Introduction

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Virtual Datacenter Architecture

VMwareInfrastructurevirtualizestheentireITinfrastructureincludingservers,

storage,and

networks.

It

aggregates

these

heterogeneous

resources

and

presents

a

simpleanduniformsetofelementsinthevirtualenvironment.WithVMware

Infrastructure,ITresourcescanbemanagedlikeasharedutilityanddynamically

provisionedtodifferentbusinessunitsandprojectswithoutworryingaboutthe

underlyinghardwaredifferencesandlimitations.

Figure 13showsthekeyelementsinvirtualdatacenter.Youcanview,configure,and

managethesekeyelementsusingVirtualCenterServer.Theseelementsinclude:

Computingandmemoryresourcescalledhosts,clusters,andresourcepools

Storageresourcescalleddatastores

Networkingresourcescallednetworks

Virtualmachines

Figure 1-3. Virtual Datacenter Architecture

Ahostisthevirtualrepresentationofthecomputingandmemoryresourcesofa

physicalmachinerunningESXServer.Whenoneormorephysicalmachinesare

groupedtogethertoworkandbemanagedasawhole,theaggregatecomputingand

memoryresourcesformacluster.Machinescanbedynamicallyaddedorremoved

fromacluster.Computingandmemoryresourcesfromhostsandclusterscanbefinely

partitionedintoahierarchyofresourcepools.

cluster1

host1

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

VM

RP1 RP3

RP2

datastores

network A

network B


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VMware, Inc. 15


Datastoresarevirtualrepresentationsofcombinationsofunderlyingphysicalstorage

resourcesinthedatacenter.Thesephysicalstorageresourcescancomefromthelocal

SCSIdisksoftheserver,theFiberChannelSANdiskarrays,theiSCSISANdiskarrays,

orNetworkAttachedStorage(NAS)arrays.

Networksinthevirtualenvironmentconnectvirtualmachinestoeachotherortothe

physicalnetworkoutsideofthevirtualdatacenter.

Virtualmachinesaredesignatedtoaparticularhost,clusterorresourcepool,anda

datastorewhentheyarecreated.Avirtualmachineconsumesresourceslikean

applianceconsumingelectricity.Whileinpoweredoff,suspended,oridlestate,they

consumeno

resources.

After

being

powered

on

they

consume

resources

dynamically

astheworkloadincreasesorgivebackresourcesdynamicallyastheworkload

decreases.

Provisioningofvirtualmachinesismuchfasterandeasierthanphysicalmachines.

Newvirtualmachinescanbecreatedinseconds,nopurchaseorderisrequired,no

waiting,andnophysicalconstraintstoworryabout.Whenavirtualmachineis

provisioned,theappropriateoperatingsystemandapplicationscanbeinstalled

unalteredon

the

virtual

machine

to

handle

aparticular

workload

just

as

though

they

werebeinginstalledonaphysicalmachine.Tomakethingseasier,avirtualmachine

canevenbeprovisionedwiththeoperatingsystemandapplicationsalreadyinstalled

andconfigured.

Resourcesareprovisionedtovirtualmachinesbasedonthepoliciessetbythesystem

administratorwhoownstheresources.Thepoliciescanreserveasetofresourcesfora

particularvirtualmachinetoguaranteeitsperformance.Thepoliciescanalsoprioritize

andsetavariableportionofthetotalresourcestoeachvirtualmachine.Avirtualmachinewillbepreventedfrombeingpoweredon(toconsumeresources)ifdoingso

wouldviolatetheresourceallocationpolicies.Formoreinformationonresource

management,seetheResourceManagementGuide.Thefollowingsectionsexamineindetailthevirtualelementsofthedatacenter.

Hosts, Clusters, and Resource Pools (SEE UPDATE)

Hosts,clusters,andresourcespoolsprovideflexibleanddynamicwaystoorganizethe

aggregatedcomputingandmemoryresourcesinthevirtualenvironmentandlink

thembacktotheunderlyingphysicalresources.

Ahostrepresentstheaggregatecomputingandmemoryresourcesofaphysicalx86

server.Forexample,ifthephysicalx86serverhasfourdualcoreCPUsrunningat

4 gigahertzeachand32gigabytesofsystemmemory,thehostwillhave32gigahertzof

computingpowerand32gigabytesofmemoryavailableforrunningvirtualmachinesthatareassignedtoit.


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Introduction

16 VMware, Inc.

Aclusteractsandcanbemanagedmuchlikeahost.Itrepresentstheaggregate

computingandmemoryresourcesofagroupofphysicalx86serverssharingthesame

networkandstoragearrays.Forexample,ifthegroupcontainseightservers,each

serverhasfourdualcoreCPUsrunningat4gigahertzeachand32gigabytesofmemory.Theclusterwillthenhave256gigahertzofcomputingpowerand256

gigabytesofmemoryavailablefortherunningvirtualmachinesassignedtoit.

Resourcepoolsarepartitionsofcomputingandmemoryresourcesfromasinglehost

oracluster.Anyresourcepoolcanbepartitionedintosmallerresourcepoolstofurther

divideandassignresourcestodifferentgroupsorfordifferentpurposes.Inother

words,resourcepoolscanbehierarchicalandnested.

Figure 1-4. Hosts, Clusters, and Resource Pools

Figure 14illustratestheuseofresourcepools.Threex86serverswith4gigahertz

computingpowerand16gigabyteofmemoryeachareaggregatedtoformaclusterof

12gigahertzcomputingpowerand48gigahertzofmemory.Aresourcepool(Finance

Department)ofreserves8gigahertzcomputingpowerand32gigabytesoffromthe

cluster,leaving4gigahertzcomputingpowerand16gigabytesofmemoryreservedfor

thevirtualmachineOthers.FromtheFinanceDepartmentresourcepool,asmaller

resourcepool(Accounting)reserves4gigahertzcomputingpowerand16gigabytes

forthevirtualmachinesfromtheaccountingdepartment.Thatleaves4gigahertzand16gigabytesofmemoryforthevirtualmachinecalledPayroll.

x86 server4 GHz

16 GB RAM

Cluster12 GHz

48 GB RAM

x86 server4 GHz

16 GB RAM

x86 server4 GHz

16 GB RAM

VM VMVM VM VM

8 GHz32 GB RAM

4 GHz16 GB RAM

Finance Department

Accounting

Other Payroll

virtual

physical


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VMware, Inc. 17


Resourcesreservedcanbedynamicallychanged.Imaginethatatyearend,

Accountingsworkloadincreases,wewanttobumpuptheresourcepoolAccounting

fromreserving4gigahertzofcomputingpowerto6gigahertz.Wecanmakethechange

totheresourcepooldynamicallywithoutshuttingdowntheassociatedvirtualmachines.Resourcesreservedforaresourcepoolorvirtualmachinearenottakenaway

immediately.Theyaretakenondemanddynamically.

Forexample,ifthe4gigahertzofcomputingresourcesreservedfortheAccounting

departmentarenotbeingused,virtualmachinePayrollcanmakeuseofthose

gigahertzduringitspeaktime.WhenAccountingdemandsthoseresources,Payroll

willdynamicallygivethemback.Asaresult,eventhoughresourcesarereservedfor

differentresourcepools,theyarenotbeingwastedifnotusedbytheirowner.

Asdemonstratedbytheexample,resourcepoolscanbenested,organized

hierarchically,anddynamicallyreconfiguredsothattheITenvironmentmatchesthe

companyorganization:individualbusinessunitscanreceivededicatedinfrastructure

whilestillprofitingfromtheefficiencyofresourcepooling.

VMware VMotion, VMware DRS, and VMware HA

VMwareVMotion,DRS,andHAaredistributedservicesthatenableefficientand

automatedresourcemanagementandhighvirtualmachineavailability.

VirtualmachinesrunonandconsumeresourcesfromESXServer.VMotionenablesthe

migrationofrunningvirtualmachinesfromonephysicalservertoanotherwithout

serviceinterruption,asshowninFigure 15.Thisallowsvirtualmachinestomovefrom

aheavilyloadedservertoalightlyloadedone.Theeffectisamoreefficientassignment

ofresources.

With

VMotion,

resources

can

be

dynamically

reallocated

to

virtual

machinesacrossphysicalservers.

Figure 1-5. Migration with VMotion

VMwareDRSaidsinresourcecontrolandmanagementcapabilityinthevirtual

datacenter.Aclustercanbeviewedasanaggregationofthecomputingandmemory

resourcesof

the

underlying

physical

hosts

put

together

in

asingle

pool.

Virtual

ESX Server

VMotion technology

ESX Server

applications

virtual machine

guest operatingsystem

applications

virtual machine


apapap licalicalica ionsionsions

virtuvirtual mal m chinechine

gueguegue t opt opt op ratingratingratingysteysteystemmm

applications

virtual machine



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Introduction

18 VMware, Inc.

machinescanbeassignedtothatpool.DRSmonitorstheworkloadoftherunning

virtualmachinesandtheresourceutilizationofthehoststoassignresources.

Using

VMotion

and

an

intelligent

resource

scheduler,

VMware

DRS

automates

the

task

ofassigningvirtualmachinestoserverswithintheclustertousethecomputingand

memoryresourcesofthatserverasshowninFigure 16.DRSdoesthecalculationand

automatesthepairing.

Ifanewphysicalserverismadeavailable,DRSautomaticallyredistributesthevirtual

machinesusingVMotiontobalancetheworkloads.Ifaphysicalservermustbetaken

downforanyreason,DRSautomaticallyreassignsitsvirtualmachinestootherservers.

Figure 1-6. VMware DRS

VMwareHAoffersasimpleandlowcosthighavailabilityalternativetoapplication

clustering.Itenablesquickrestartofvirtualmachinesonadifferentphysicalserver

withinaclusterautomaticallyifthehostingserverfails.Allapplicationswithinthe

virtualmachinesenjoythehighavailabilitybenefit,notjustone(throughapplication

clustering).

HAmonitorsallphysicalhostsinaclusteranddetectshostfailures.Anagentplaced

oneachphysicalhostmaintainsaheartbeatwiththeotherhostsintheresourcepool,

andlossofaheartbeatinitiatestheprocessofrestartingallaffectedvirtualmachineson

otherhosts.SeeFigure 17.HAensuresthatsufficientresourcesareavailableinthe

physical server

cluster

ESX Server

virtual machines

VM VM VMVMVM

physical server

ESX Server

virtual machines

VM VM

physical server

ESX Server

virtual machines

VM VM VM

VM


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VMware, Inc. 19


clusteratalltimestorestartvirtualmachinesondifferentphysicalhostsintheeventof

hostfailure.

Figure 1-7. VMware HA

Network Architecture

VMwareInfrastructureistheonlysolutionthatbringsaboutarichsetofvirtual

networkingelementsthatmakesnetworkingthevirtualmachinesinthedatacenteras

easyandsimpleasinthephysicalenvironment.Furthermore,itenablesanewsetof

capabilitiesnotpossibleinthephysicalenvironmentbecausemanyofthelimitationsin

thephysicalworlddontapply.

physical server

cluster

ESX Server

virtual machines

VM VM VM

physical server

ESX Server

virtual machines

VM

VM VM

physical server

ESX Server

virtual machines

VM

VM VM

I t d ti


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Introduction

20 VMware, Inc.

Figure 1-8. Networking

Figure 18showstherelationshipbetweenthenetworksinsideandoutsidethevirtual

environment.Thevirtualenvironmentprovidessimilarnetworkingelementsasthephysicalworld.Theyarevirtualnetworkinterfacecards(vNIC),virtualswitches

(vSwitch),andportgroups.

Likeaphysicalmachine,eachvirtualmachinehasitsownvNIC.Theoperatingsystem

andapplicationstalktothevNICthroughastandarddevicedriveroraVMware

optimizeddevicedriverjustasthoughthevNICisaphysicalNIC.Totheoutside

world,thevNIChasitsownMACaddressandoneormoreIPaddresses,andresponds

tothestandardEthernetprotocolexactlyasaphysicalNICwould.Infact,anoutside

agentdoesnotknowthatitiscommunicatingwithavirtualmachine.

Avirtualswitchworkslikealayer2physicalswitch.Eachserverhasitsownvirtual

switches.Ononesideofthevirtualswitchareportgroupsthatconnecttovirtual

machines.OntheothersideareuplinkconnectionstophysicalEthernetadaptersonthe

serverwherethevirtualswitchresides.Virtualmachinesconnecttotheoutsideworld

throughthephysicalEthernetadaptersthatareconnectedtothevirtualswitchuplinks.

AvirtualswitchcanconnectitsuplinkstomorethanonephysicalEthernetadapterto

enableNICteaming.WithNICteaming,twoormorephysicaladapterscanbeusedto

sharethetrafficloadorprovidepassivefailoverintheeventofaphysicaladapter

hardwarefailureoranetworkoutage.ForinformationonNICteaming,seetheServerConfigurationGuide.Portgroupisauniqueconceptinthevirtualenvironment.Aportgroupisamechanism

forsettingpoliciesthatgovernthenetworkconnectedtoit.AvSwitchcanhavemultipleportgroups.InsteadofconnectingtoaparticularportonthevSwitch,avirtual

physical network adapters

Host1

Host1

Host2

Host2

portgroups

NetworkC

VM VM VM VMVM

vSwitch

A B C D E

vSwitch

A B C D E

virtual

physical

physical network



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VMware, Inc. 21


machineconnectsitsvNICtoaportgroup.Allvirtualmachinesthatconnecttothe

sameportgroupbelongtothesamenetworkinsidethevirtualenvironmentevenif

theyareondifferentphysicalservers.

Portgroupscanbeconfiguredtoenforceanumberofpoliciesthatprovideenhanced

networkingsecurity,networksegmentation,betterperformance,higheravailability,

andtrafficmanagement:

Layer2securityoptionsEnforceswhatvNICsinavirtualmachinecandoby

controllingpromiscuousmode,MACaddresschange,orforgedtransmits.

VLANsupportAllowsvirtualnetworkstojoinaphysicalVLANsorsupport

QOSpolicies.

TrafficshapingDefinesaveragebandwidth,peakbandwidth,andburstsize.

Thesearepoliciesthatcanbesettoimprovetrafficmanagement.

NICteamingSetstheNICteamingpoliciesforanindividualportgroupor

networktosharetrafficloadorprovidefailoverincaseofhardwarefailure.

Introduction


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Introduction

22 VMware, Inc.

Storage Architecture (SEE UPDATE)

TheVMwareInfrastructurestoragearchitecture,showninFigure 19,consistsoflayers

ofabstraction

that

hide

and

manage

the

complexity

and

differences

among

physical

storagesubsystems.

Figure 1-9. Storage Architecture

Totheapplicationsandguestoperatingsystemsinsideeachvirtualmachine,the

storagesubsystemisasimplevirtualBusLogicorLSISCSIhostbusadapterconnected

tooneormorevirtualSCSIdisksasshowninFigure 19.

ThevirtualSCSIdisksareprovisionedfromdatastoreelementsinthedatacenter.A

datastoreislikeastorageappliancethatservesupstoragespaceformanyvirtual

machinesacrossmultiplephysicalhosts.

VMFS volume

DAS SCSI FC SAN iSCSI NAS

NFS

VM1 VM2 VM3 VM4

file1.vmdk

vm1.vmx

file2.vmdk

vm2.vmx

file3.vmdk

vm3.vmx

file4.vmdk

vm4.vmx

datastore1 datastore2

virtual

physical

host1 host2

IP network



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VMware, Inc. 23

p

Thedatastoreprovidesasimplemodeltoallocatestoragespacetotheindividual

virtualmachineswithoutexposingthemtothecomplexityofthevarietyofphysical

storagetechnologiesavailable,suchasFibreChannelSAN,iSCSISAN,directattached

storage,andNAS.

Avirtualmachineisstoredasasetoffilesinadirectoryinthedatastore.Avirtualdisk

insideeachvirtualmachineisoneormorefilesinthedirectory.Asaresult,youcan

operateonavirtualdisk(copy,move,backup,andsoon)justlikeafile.Newvirtual

diskscanbehotaddedtoavirtualmachinewithoutpoweringitdown.Inthatcase,

avirtualdiskfile(.vmdk)iscreatedinVMFStoprovidenewstorageforthehotadded

virtualdiskoranexistingvirtualdiskfileisassociatedwithavirtualmachine.

EachdatastoreisphysicallyaVMFSvolumeonaNASdevice.Datastorescanspan

multiplephysicalstoragesubsystems.AsshowninFigure 19,asingleVMFSvolume

cancontainoneormoreLUNsfromalocalSCSIdiskarrayonaphysicalhost,aFibre

ChannelSANdiskfarm,oriSCSISANdiskfarm.NewLUNsaddedtoanyofthe

physicalstoragesubsystemsareautomaticallydiscoveredandmadeavailabletoall

existingornewdatastores.StoragecapacityonapreviouslycreatedVMFSvolume

(datastore)canbehotextendedwithoutpoweringdownphysicalhostsorstorage

subsystemsbyaddinganewphysicalLUNfromanyofthestoragesubsystemsthatarevisibletoit.Conversely,ifanyoftheLUNswithinaVMFSvolume(datastore)failsor

becomesunavailable,onlythosevirtualmachinesthattouchthatLUNareaffected.All

othervirtualmachineswithvirtualdisksresidinginotherLUNscontinuetofunction

asnormal.

VMFSisaclusteredfilesystemthatleveragessharedstoragetoallowmultiplephysical

hoststoreadandwritetothesamestoragesimultaneously.VMFSprovidesondisk

lockingtoensurethatthesamevirtualmachineisnotpoweredonbymultipleservers

atthesametime.Ifaphysicalhostfails,theondisklockforeachvirtualmachineis

releasedsothatvirtualmachinescanberestartedonotherphysicalhosts.

VMFSalsofeaturesenterpriseclasscrashconsistencyandrecoverymechanisms,such

asdistributedjournaling,acrashconsistentvirtualmachineI/Opath,andmachine

statesnapshots.Thesemechanismscanaidquickrootcauseandrecoveryfromvirtual

machine,physicalhost,andstoragesubsystemfailures.

VMFSalsosupportsrawdevicemapping(RDM).RDMprovidesamechanismforavirtualmachinetohavedirectaccesstoaLUNonthephysicalstoragesubsystem(Fibre

ChanneloriSCSIonly).RDMisusefulforsupportingtwotypicaltypesofapplications:

SANsnapshotorotherlayeredapplicationsthatruninthevirtualmachines.RDM

betterenablesscalablebackupoffloadingsystemsusingfeaturesinherenttothe

SAN.

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24 VMware, Inc.

AnyuseofMicrosoftClusteringServices(MSCS)thatspansphysicalhosts:

virtualtovirtualclustersaswellasphysicaltovirtualclusters.Clusterdataand

quorumdisksshouldbeconfiguredasRDMsratherthanasfilesonashared

VMFS.

Figure 1-10. Raw Device Mapping

AnRDMcanbethoughtofasasymboliclinkfromaVMFSvolumetoarawLUN(see

Figure 110).ThemappingmakesLUNsappearasfilesinaVMFSvolume.The

mappingfile,nottherawLUN,isreferencedinthevirtualmachineconfiguration.

WhenaLUNisopenedforaccess,themappingfileisreadtoobtainthereferencetothe

rawLUN.Thereafter,readsandwritesgodirectlytotherawLUNratherthangoing

throughthemappingfile.

VMFS volume

FC SANor iSCSI SAN

LUN

datastore

openread/write

virtual

physical

host

mapping file

VM



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VMware, Inc. 25

VMware Consolidated Backup

VMwareInfrastructuresstoragearchitectureenablesasimplevirtualmachinebackup

solution:VMwareConsolidatedBackup.ConsolidatedBackupprovidesacentralizedfacilityforLANfreebackupofvirtualmachines.

AsshowninFigure 111,ConsolidatedBackupworksinconjunctionwithathirdparty

backupagentresidingonaseparatebackupproxyserver(notontheserverrunning

ESXServer)butdoesnotrequireanagentinsidethevirtualmachines.

Thethirdpartybackupagentmanagesthebackupschedule.ItstartsConsolidated

Backupwhenitistimetodoabackup.Whenstarted,ConsolidatedBackuprunsaset

ofpre

backup

scripts

to

quiesce

the

virtual

disks

to

take

their

snapshots.

It

then

runs

a

setofpostthawscriptstorestorethevirtualmachinebacktonormaloperation.Atthe

sametime,itmountsthedisksnapshottothebackupproxyserver.Finally,the

thirdpartybackupagentbacksupthefilesonthemountedsnapshottoitsbackup

targets.Bytakingsnapshotsofthevirtualdisksandbackingthemupthrougha

separatebackupproxyserver,ConsolidatedBackupprovidesasimple,lessintrusive,

andlowoverheadbackupsolutionforthevirtualenvironment.

Figure 1-11. VMware Consolidated Backup

physical server

MOUNT

snapshot

snapshot

snapshot

SAN storage

ESX Server

virtual machines

backupproxy

server

backup

disk

apps

OS

apps

OS

apps

OS

centralizeddata mover

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26 VMware, Inc.

VirtualCenter Management Server

VirtualCenterManagementServerprovidesaconvenientcentralizemanagement

cockpit

for

the

datacenters.

It

aggregates

physical

resources

from

multiple

ESX

Servers

andpresentsacentralcollectionofsimpleandflexibleresourcesforthesystem

administratortoprovisiontovirtualmachinesinthevirtualenvironment.

TheVirtualCenterManagementServercomponentsareuseraccesscontrol,core

services,distributedservices,andvariousinterfaces.

Figure 1-12. VirtualCenter Management Server Components

VMotion

DRS

host and VMconfiguration

VI API

HAVirtualCenter

Management Server

ESX Server management

core services

distributedservices

useraccesscontrol

activedirectoryinterface

database

interface

VirtualCenterdatabase

VM provisioning

resources &virtual machine

inventorymanagement

taskscheduler

statisticslogging

alarms & eventsmanagement

activedirectory

server

third-partyapplication

Host

VirtualCenter

Agent

VMVM

HA

Host Agent

VI API



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VMware, Inc. 27

Figure 112showsthefollowingkeycomponentsoftheVirtualCenterServer.

TheUserAccessControlallowsthesystemadministratortocreateandmanage

differentlevelsofaccesstotheVirtualCenterfordifferentusers.

Forexample,theremightbeauserclassthatmanagesconfiguringthephysicalservers

inthedatacenterandtheremightbeadifferentuserclassthatmanagesonlyvirtual

resourceswithinaparticularresourcepool.

CoreServicesarebasicmanagementservicesforavirtualdatacenter.Theyinclude

servicessuchas:

VMProvisioningGuidesandautomatestheprovisioningofvirtualmachines

HostandVMConfigurationAllowstheconfigurationofhostsandvirtual

machines

ResourcesandVirtualMachineInventoryManagementOrganizesvirtual

machinesandresourcesinthevirtualenvironmentandfacilitiestheir

management

Statistics

and

Logging

Logs

and

reports

on

the

performance

and

resource

utilizationstatisticsofdatacenterelements,suchasvirtualmachines,hosts,and

clusters

AlarmsandEventManagementTracksandwarnsusersonpotentialresource

overutilizationoreventconditions.

TaskSchedulerSchedulesactionssuchasVMotiontohappenatagiventime

DistributedServices

are

solutions

that

extend

VMware

Infrastructure

scapabilities

to

thenextlevelsuchasVMwareDRS,VMwareHA,andVMwareVMotion.Distributed

Servicesallowtheconfigurationandmanagementofthesesolutionscentrallyfrom

VirtualCenterManagementServer.

VirtualCenterServerhasfourkeyinterfaces:

ESXServermanagementInterfaceswiththeVirtualCenteragenttomanageeach

physicalserverinthedatacenter.

VMwareInfrastructureAPIInterfaceswithVMwaremanagementclientsand

thirdpartysolutions.

DatabaseinterfaceConnectstoOracleorMicrosoftSQLServertostore

information,suchasvirtualmachineconfigurations,hostconfigurations,

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28 VMware, Inc.

resourcesandvirtualmachineinventory,performancestatistics,events,alarms,

userpermissions,androles.

ActiveDirectoryinterfaceConnectstoActiveDirectorytoobtainuseraccess

controlinformation.

Communication Between VirtualCenter and ESX Server

TheVirtualCentercommunicateswithESXServershostagentthroughtheVMwareInfrastructureAPI(VIAPI).WhenahostisfirstaddedtoVirtualCenter,VirtualCenter

sendsaVirtualCenteragenttorunonthehost.Thatagentcommunicateswiththehostagent.

See

Figure 1

13.

Figure 1-13. Host Agent

TheVirtualCenteragentactsasaminiVirtualCenterServertoperformthefollowing

functions:

RelaysandenforcesresourceallocationdecisionsmadeinVirtualCenter,including

thosesentbytheDRSengine

Passesvirtualmachineprovisioningandconfigurationchangecommandstothe

hostagent

Passeshostconfigurationchangecommandstothehostagent

Collectsperformancestatistics,alarms,anderrorconditionsfromthehostagentandsendsthemtotheVirtualCenterManagementServer

Host

VirtualCenterAgent

VirtualCenterManagement Server

TerminalServices

VI ClientVI Web Access

third-party software

VMVM

HA

Host Agent

VI API



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VMware, Inc. 29

Accessing the Virtual Datacenter

UserscanmanagetheVMwareInfrastructuredatacenteroraccessthevirtualmachine

consolethroughthreedifferentmeans:theVIClient,WebAccessthroughaWeb

browser,orterminalservices(suchasWindowsTerminalServicesorXterm),asshown

inFigure 114.Accessinghostsshouldbedoneonlybyphysicalhostadministratorsin

specialcircumstances.Allrelevantfunctionalitythatcanbedoneonthehostcanalso

bedoneinVirtualCenterServer.

Figure 1-14. VMware Infrastructure Access and Control

TheVIClientaccessesVirtualCenterthroughtheVMwareAPI.Aftertheuseris

authenticated,asessionstartsinVirtualCenter,andtheuserseestheresourcesand

virtualmachinesthatareassignedtotheuser.Forvirtualmachineconsoleaccess,the

VIClientfirstgetsthevirtualmachinelocationfromVirtualCenterthroughthe

Host

VI Web Access

VirtualCenterAgent

VMVM

HA

VI

API

WindowsTerminal Services/

Xterm

Webbrowser

VIClient

VirtualCenter

mgmt

access

host &vm

config. &

control

access

vm console

access

VirtualCenter

mgmt

access

host &vm

config. &

control

access

vm console

access

VirtualCenterManagement Server

ESX Server management

distributed services

core services

useraccesscontrol

activedirectoryinterface

databaseinterface

Host Agent

VI API

vm consoleaccess

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30 VMware, Inc.

VMwareAPI.Itthenconnectstotheappropriatehostandprovidesaccesstothevirtual

machineconsole.

UserscanalsoaccessVirtualCenterManagementServerthroughtheWebbrowserby

firstpointingthebrowsertoanApacheTomcatServersetupbyVirtualCenter

ManagementServer.TheApacheTomcatServermediatesthecommunicationbetween

thebrowserandVirtualCenterthroughtheVMwareAPI.

ToaccessthevirtualmachineconsolesthroughtheWebbrowser,userscanmakeuseof

thebookmarkthatiscreatedbyVirtualCenterServer.Thebookmarkfirstpointstothe

VIWebAccess.

VIWebAccessresolvesthephysicallocationofthevirtualmachineandredirectstheWebbrowsertotheESXServerwherethevirtualmachineresides.

IfthevirtualmachineisrunningandtheuserknowstheIPaddressofthevirtual

machine,theusercanalsoaccessthevirtualmachineconsoleusingstandardtools,such

asWindowsTerminalServicesorXterm.

ConclusionVMwareInfrastructureprovidesasimplearchitectureinthevirtualenvironmenttoallowcompaniestomanagecomputing,storage,andnetworkingresourceswithout

worryingabouttheunderlyingphysicalhardware.VIarchitectureallowsenterprises

tocreateandconfiguretheirdatacentersandreallocateresourcestodifferentpriorities

withoutthetimedelayandcostofreconfiguringtheirphysicalhardware

infrastructure.

Withasuiteofcomplementaryvirtualizationandmanagementservices,suchasVMwareVMotion,VMwareDRS,VMwareHA,andVMwareConsolidatedBackup,

VMwareInfrastructureistheonlyproductthatprovidesacompletesolutionrather

thanapiecemealapproachtobuildingdatacentersinthevirtualenvironment.


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VMware, Inc. 31

A administrativelockout

AglobalsettingprovidingpasswordprotectionforWindowshosts.

Administrativelockoutrestrictsusersfromcreatingnewvirtualmachines,editing

virtualmachineconfigurations,andchangingnetworksettings.

alarm

Anentitythatmonitorsoneormorepropertiesofavirtualmachine,suchasCPU

load.Alarmsusegreen,red,andyellowcolorcodingtoissuenotificationsas

directedbytheconfigurablealarmdefinition.

allocateddisk

Atypeofvirtualdiskinwhichalldiskspaceforthevirtualmachineisallocatedat

thetimethediskiscreated.Thisisthedefaulttypeofvirtualdiskcreatedby

VirtualCenter.

appendmode

Whensoftware

running

in

the

virtual

machine

writes

to

adisk

used

in

append

mode,thechangesappeartobewrittentothedisk.Infact,however,theyare

storedinatemporaryfile(.REDO).Ifasystemadministratordeletesthisredolog

file,thevirtualmachinereturnstothestateitwasinthelasttimeitwasusedin

persistentmode.Seealsodiskmode.

authorizationrole

Aset

of

privileges

grouped

for

convenient

identification

under

names

such

as

Administrator.

Glossary

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32 VMware, Inc.

C child

Amanagedentitygroupedbyafolderobjectorothermanagedentity.Seealso

folder.

clone

(n.)Aduplicateofavirtualmachine.

(v.)Tomakeacopyofavirtualmachine.Thisprocessincludestheoptionto

customizetheguestoperatingsystemofthenewvirtualmachine.Whenacloneis

created,VirtualCenterprovidesanoptiontocustomizetheguestoperatingsystem

ofthatvirtualmachine.Clonescanbestoredonanyhostwithinthesamefarmastheoriginalvirtualmachine.

CloneVirtualMachineWizard

Apointandclickinterfaceforconvenient,easyduplicationofavirtualmachine.

cluster

Servergroupinthevirtualenvironment.

clustercomputeresource

Anextendedcomputeresourcethatrepresentsaclusterofhostsavailablefor

backingvirtualmachines.

computeresource

Amanagedobjectthatrepresentseitherasinglehostoraclusterofhostsavailable

forbackingvirtualmachines.

customization

Theprocessofcustomizingaguestoperatingsysteminavirtualmachineasitis

beingdeployedfromatemplateorclonedfromanotherexistingvirtualmachine.

Customizationoptions

include

changing

the

new

virtual

machine

identification

andnetworkinformation.

customnetworking

Anytypeofnetworkconnectionbetweenvirtualmachinesandthehostthatdoes

notusethedefaultbridged,hostonly,ornetworkaddresstranslation(NAT)

configurations.Forinstance,differentvirtualmachinescanbeconnectedtothe

hostbyseparatenetworksorconnectedtoeachotherandnottothehost.Anynetworktopologyispossible.Seealsohostonlynetworking.

Glossary


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VMware, Inc. 33

D dataobject

AcompositeobjectthatispassedbyvaluebetweentheclientandtheWebservice.

Adataobjecthaspropertiesassociatedwithitbutdoesnothaveanyoperationsof

itsown.Seealsomanagedobject.

datasourcename

AnODBCobjectthatyoumustconfiguretoenableVirtualCenterServertoaccess

adatabase.

datastore

Virtualrepresentationsofcombinationsofunderlyingphysicalstorageresources

inthedatacenter.Thedatastoreisthestoragelocationforthevirtualmachinefiles.

Thiscanbeaphysicaldisk,aRAID,aSAN,orapartitiononanyofthese.

diskmode

Apropertyofavirtualdiskthatdefinesitsexternalbehaviorbutiscompletely

invisibleto

the

guest

operating

system.

There

are

four

modes:

persistent

(changes

tothediskarealwayspreservedacrosssessions),nonpersistent(changesarenever

preserved),undoable(changesarepreservedattheusersdiscretion),andappend

(similartoundoable,butthechangesarepreserveduntilasystemadministrator

deletestheredologfile).

draganddrop

Afeature

of

VMware

VirtualCenter

that

allows

you

to

move

virtual

machines

easilybetweengroups.

E event

AnactionthatisofinteresttoVirtualCenter.Eacheventtriggersaneventmessage.

EventmessagesarearchivedintheVirtualCenterdatabaseandappearintwo

locations:theEventsoptioninthenavigationbarandtheEventstabforanobject

undertheInventorybutton.

F fault

Adataobjectcontaininginformationaboutanexceptionalconditionencountered

byanoperation.

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34 VMware, Inc.

folder

Amanagedentityusedtogroupothermanagedentities.Thecontentsofagroup

arechildentitieswithrespecttotheFolderobject.Foldersaretypedbythekinds

ofchildentitiestheycancontain.Seealsochild.

G Gotosnapshot

Torestoreasnapshotoftheactivevirtualmachine.SeealsoReverttosnapshot.

guestoperatingsystem

Anoperating

system

that

runs

inside

avirtual

machine.

H headless

Describesaprogramorapplicationthatrunsinthebackgroundwithoutany

interfaceconnectedtoit.Arunningvirtualmachinethathasnoconsolesconnected

toitisrunningheadless.

host

ThephysicalcomputeronwhichthevirtualmachinesmanagedbyVirtualCenter

areinstalled.

hostagent

Softwarethat,wheninstalledonavirtualmachinehost,performsactionsonbehalf

ofaremoteclient.

hostcomputer

ThephysicalcomputeronwhichtheVirtualCentersoftwareisinstalled.Ithosts

theVirtualCentervirtualmachines.

hostonlynetworking

Atypeofnetworkconnectionbetweenavirtualmachineandthehost.Underhostonlynetworking,avirtualmachineisconnectedtothehostonaprivate

network,whichnormallyisnotvisibleoutsidethehost.Multiplevirtualmachines

configuredwithhostonlynetworkingonthesamehostareonthesamenetwork.

Seealsocustomnetworking.

I inventory

AhierarchicalstructureusedbytheVirtualCenterServerorthehostagenttoorganizemanagedentities.Thishierarchyispresentedasalistintheleftpanelof

Glossary


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VMware, Inc. 35

theVirtualCenterclientwindowthatprovidesaviewofallthemonitoredobjects

inVirtualCenter.

L licenseserver

Aserverthatstoresandallocateslicenses.

M managedentity

Amanagedobjectthatispresentintheinventory.Seealsoinventory.

managedobject

Acompositeobjectthatresidesonaserverandispassedbetweentheclientand

theWebserviceonlybyreference.Amanagedobjecthasoperationsassociated

withitbutmightnothaveproperties.Seealsodataobject.

migration

Movingavirtualmachinebetweenhosts.UnlessVMotionisused,thevirtual

machinemustbepoweredoffwhenyoumigrateit.SeealsomigrationwithVMotion.

migrationwithVMotion

Movingavirtualmachinethatispoweredonandhasmetselectedrequirements,

includingtheactivationofVMotiononboththesourceandtargethosts.Whenyou

migrateavirtualmachineusingVMotion,theoperationsofthevirtualmachine

cancontinuewithoutinterruption.

N NewVirtualMachineWizard

Apointandclickinterfaceforconvenientcreationofavirtualmachine

configuration.Itcreatesfilesthatdefinethevirtualmachine,includingavirtual

machineconfigurationfileandoptionallyavirtualdiskorphysicaldiskfile.

nonpersistentmode

Ifyouconfigureavirtualdiskasanindependentdiskinnonpersistentmode,all

diskwritesissuedbysoftwarerunninginsideavirtualmachinewithadiskin

nonpersistentmodeappeartobewrittentodiskbutareinfactdiscardedafterthe

virtualmachineispoweredoff.Asaresult,avirtualdiskorphysicaldiskin

independentnonpersistentmodeisnotmodifiedbyactivityinthevirtual

machine.Seealsopersistentmode.

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36 VMware, Inc.

O operation

AfunctionperformedforaclientbytheWebservice.

P parent

Thesourcevirtualmachinefromwhichyoutakeasnapshotormakeaclone.A

clonehasnocontinuedlinktoitsparent,butasnapshotmusthaveaccesstothe

parentsvirtualdiskfiles.Ifyoudeletetheparentvirtualmachine,anysnapshot

becomespermanentlydisabled.Topreventdeletion,youcanmaketheparenta

templatevirtualmachine.Seealsosnapshot,template.

permission

Adataobjectconsistingofanauthorizationrole,auserorgroupname,anda

managedentityreference.Allowsaspecifiedusertoaccesstheentitywithanyof

theprivilegespertainingtotherole.

persistentmode

Ifyouconfigureavirtualdiskasanindependentdiskinpersistentmode,alldiskwritesissuedbysoftwarerunninginsideavirtualmachineareimmediatelyand

permanentlywrittentothevirtualdiskinpersistentmode.Asaresult,avirtual

diskorphysicaldiskinindependentpersistentmodebehaveslikeaconventional

diskdriveonaphysicalcomputer.Seealsononpersistentmode.

physicaldisk

Aharddiskinavirtualmachinethatismappedtoaphysicaldiskdriveorpartitiononthehostmachine.Avirtualmachinesdiskcanbestoredasafileonthehostfile

systemoronalocalharddisk.Whenavirtualmachineisconfiguredtousea

physicaldisk,VirtualCenterdirectlyaccessesthelocaldiskorpartitionasaraw

device(notasafileonafilesystem).Seealsovirtualdisk.

physicalnetwork

Anetworkofphysicalmachinesthatareconnectedsothattheycansenddatatoandreceivedatafromeachother.Seealsovirtualnetwork.

portgroup

Amechanismforsettingpoliciesthatgovernthenetworkconnectedtoit.

Glossary

i il


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VMware, Inc. 37

privilege

Authorizationtoperformaspecificactionorsetofactionsonamanagedobjector

groupofmanagedobjects.

property

Anattributeofamanagedobjectordataobject.Apropertycanbeanesteddata

objectoramanagedobjectreference.

propertycollector

Amanaged

object

used

to

control

the

reporting

of

managed

object

properties.

The

primarymeansofmonitoringstatusonhostmachines.

R rawdevicemapping(RDM)

AmechanismthatenablesavirtualmachinetohavedirectaccesstoaLUNonthe

physicalstoragesubsystem(FibreChanneloriSCSIonly).

readonly

user

Aroleinwhichtheuserisallowedtoviewtheinventorybutnotallowedto

performanytasks.

redolog

Thefilethatstoresthechangesmadetoadiskinundoableornonpersistentmode.

Youcanpermanentlyapplythechangessavedintheredologtoadiskinundoable

modesotheybecomepartofthemaindiskfiles.Foradiskinnonpersistentmode,

however,theredologfileisdeletedwhenyoupowerofforresetthevirtual

machinewithoutwritinganychangestothedisk.Seealsodiskmode.

resourcepool

Adivisionofcomputingresourcesusedtomanageallocationsbetweenvirtual

machines.

resume

Toreturnavirtualmachinetooperationfromitssuspendedstate.Whenyou

resumeasuspendedvirtualmachine,allapplicationsareinthesamestatethey

werewhenthevirtualmachinewassuspended.Seealsosuspend.


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Glossary

suspend


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VMware, Inc. 39

suspend

Tosavethecurrentstateofarunningvirtualmachine.Toreturnasuspended

virtualmachinetooperation,usetheresumefeature.Seealsoresume.

T template

Amasterimageofavirtualmachine.Thistypicallyincludesaspecifiedoperating

systemandaconfigurationthatprovidesvirtualcounterpartstohardware

components.Optionally,atemplatecanincludeaninstalledguestoperating

systemandasetofapplications.TemplatesareusedbyVirtualCentertocreate

newvirtualmachines.

V VirtualCenteradministrator

Aroleinwhichtheuserisallowedtosettheuser+rolepermissionsandcontrolthe

VirtualCenterlicensing.

VirtualCenteragent

Installedoneachvirtualmachinehost,thissoftwarecoordinatestheactionsreceivedfromtheVirtualCenterServer.

VirtualCenterdatabase

Apersistentstorageareaformaintainingthestatusofeachvirtualmachineand

usermanagedintheVirtualCenterenvironment.Locatedonthesamemachineas

theVirtualCenterServer.

VirtualCenterServer

AservicethatactsasacentraladministratorforVMwareserversconnectedona

network.Thisservicedirectsactionsonthevirtualmachinesandthevirtual

machinehosts.VirtualCenterServeristheworkingcoreofVirtualCenter.

virtualdisk

Afileorsetoffilesthatappearsasaphysicaldiskdrivetoaguestoperating

system.Thesefilescanbeonthehostmachineoronaremotefilesystem.Seealso

physicaldisk.

VirtualInfrastructure

Asystemofhosts,agents,andclientsthatcommunicatetodeployandoperate

virtualmachines.ThetotalVMwaresolutiontomanagingadatacenter.Seealso

host,hostagent,VirtualCenterServer.

Introduction

Virtual Infrastructure Client (VI Client)


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40 VMware, Inc.

VirtualInfrastructureClient(VIClient)

AuserinterfacethatrunslocallyinaWindowsmachineandprovidesaccesstothe

virtualmachinesdisplay.TheVirtualInfrastructureClientrunsonanetworked

machine.ThiscanbeonthesamemachineastheVirtualCenterServeroranothernetworkedmachine.TheVirtualInfrastructureClientrequiresamonitorforaccess

tothevirtualmachinesdisplay.

VirtualInfrastructureWebAccessClient

AuserinterfacethatrunsinaWebbrowserandprovidesaccesstothevirtual

machinesdisplay.

virtualmachine

Avirtualizedx86PCenvironmentinwhichaguestoperatingsystemand

associatedapplicationsoftwarecanrun.Multiplevirtualmachinescanoperateon

thesamehostsystemconcurrently.

virtualmachineconfiguration

Thespecificationofwhichvirtualdevices,suchasdisksandmemory,arepresent

inavirtualmachineandhowtheyaremappedtohostfilesanddevices.

virtualmachineconfigurationfile

Afilecontainingavirtualmachineconfiguration.Itiscreatedwhenyoucreatethe

virtualmachine.ItisusedbyVirtualCentertoidentifyandrunaspecificvirtual

machine.

virtualmachinemonitor(VMM)

SoftwarethatisresponsibleforvirtualizingtheCPUs.

VirtualMachineProperties

Apointandclickcontrolpanelusedtoviewandmodifytheresourcesettingsof

allthevirtualmachinesonahost.

VirtualMachineSettingsEditor

Apointandclickcontrolpanelusedtoviewandmodifyavirtualmachines

settings.SeealsoNewVirtualMachineWizard.

Glossary

virtualnetwork


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VMware, Inc. 41

Anetworkconnectingvirtualmachinesthatdoesnotdependonphysical

hardwareconnections.Forexample,youcancreateavirtualnetworkbetweena

virtualmachineandahostthathasnoexternalnetworkconnections.YoucanalsocreateaLANsegmentforcommunicationbetweenvirtualmachinesonateam.

VMkernel

Ahighperformanceoperatingsystemthatoccupiesthevirtualizationlayerand

managesmostofthephysicalresourcesonthehardware,includingmemory,

physicalprocessors,storage,andnetworkingcontrollers.

VMODL

TheinterfacedefinitionlanguageusedintheVirtualInfrastructureSDK.

VMotion

AfeaturethatenablesyoutomoverunningvirtualmachinesfromoneESXServer

systemto

another

without

interrupting

service.

It

requires

licensing

on

both

the

sourceandtargethosts.VMotionisactivatedbytheVirtualCenteragent.The

VirtualCenterServercentrallycoordinatesallVMotionactivities.Seealso

migrationwithVMotion.

VMwareFileSystem(VMFS)

Afilesystemthatisoptimizedforstoringvirtualmachines.OneVMFSpartitionis

supportedper

SCSI

storage

device

or

SAN.

Each

version

of

ESX

Server

uses

a

correspondingversionofVMFS.Forexample,VMFS3wasintroducedwithESX

Server3.

VMwareHA(HA)

Anoptionalfeaturethatsupportsdistributedavailabilityservicesinan

environmentthatincludesESXServerandVirtualCenter.Ifyouhaveconfigured

DRSand

one

of

the

hosts

managed

by

VirtualCenter

Server

goes

down,

all

virtual

machinesonthathostareimmediatelyrestartedonanotherhost.

VMwareTools

Asuiteofutilitiesanddriversthatenhancestheperformanceandfunctionalityof

yourguestoperatingsystem.KeyfeaturesofVMwareToolsincludesomeorallof

thefollowing,dependingonyourguestoperatingsystem:anSVGAdriver,a

mousedriver,

the

VMware

Tools

control

panel,

and

support

for

such

features

as

sharedfolders,draganddropinWindowsguests,shrinkingvirtualdisks,time

Introduction

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42 VMware, Inc.

y p g

disconnectingdeviceswhilethevirtualmachineisrunning.

VMwarevirtualmachineconsole

Aninterfacetoavirtualmachinethatprovidesaccesstooneormorevirtual

machinesonthelocalhostoraremotehostrunningVirtualCenter.Youcanview

thevirtualmachinesdisplaytorunprogramswithinitormodifyguestoperating

systemsettings.Inaddition,youcanchangethevirtualmachinesconfiguration,

installtheguestoperatingsystem,orrunthevirtualmachineinfullscreenmode.

W Web

serviceAprogramminginterfacebasedonSOAPandWSDL.

Y YouAreHereicon

AniconintheSnapshotmanagerthatindicatesthecurrentstatusoftheactive

virtualmachine.Checkingthepositionofthisiconcanhelpyoudecidewhetherto

reverttoasnapshotorgotoasnapshot.SeealsoGotosnapshot,Revertto

snapshot,Snapshotmanager.

VMware Update


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VMware, Inc. 43

Updates for the IntroductionESX Server 3.0.1 and VirtualCenter 2.0.1

LastUpdated:February22,2008

ThisdocumentprovidesyouwithupdatestoESXServer3.0.1andVirtualCenter2.0.1

versionof

the

Introduction.

Updated

descriptions,

procedures,

and

graphics

are

organizedbypagenumbersoyoucaneasilylocatetheareasoftheguidethathave

changes.Ifthechangespansmultiplesequentialpages,thisdocumentprovidesthe

startingpagenumberonly.

ThefollowingisalistoftheIntroductionpageupdatesinthisdocument:UpdatesfortheStorageArchitectureDiscussiononPage 22

Updatesfor

the

Hosts,

Clusters,

and

Resource

Pools

Discussion

on

Page 15

Updates for the Storage Architecture Section on Page 22

IntheStorageArchitecture(SEEUPDATE)section,thefirstsentenceofthefifthparagraphafterfigure19inaccuratelyimpliesthatdatastoresareVMFSvolumeson

NASdevices.

Thesentenceshouldreadasfollows:

EachdatastoreisphysicallyaVMFSvolume(or,forNASdatastores,aNFSvolume

withVMFScharacteristics)onastoragedevice.

Updates for the Introduction

Updates for the Hosts, Clusters, and Resource Pools


44/44

44 VMware, Inc.

p , ,Section on Page 15

Inthe

Hosts,

Clusters,

and

Resource

Pools

(SEE

UPDATE)

section,

the

second

paragraphcontainsseveralerrorsandinaccuraciesincludinguseofgigahertzof

memoryinsteadofgigabytesofmemory.

Theparagraphshouldreadasfollows:

Figure 14illustratestheuseofresourcepools.Threex86serverswith4gigahertzof

computingpowerand16gigabytesofmemoryeachareaggregatedtoformaclusterof

12gigahertzcomputingpowerand48gigabytesofmemory.Aresourcepool(Finance

Department)reserves8gigahertzofcomputingpowerand32gigabytesofmemory

fromthecluster,leaving4gigahertzofcomputingpowerand16gigabytesofmemory

reservedforthevirtualmachineOthers.

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