Managing and Optimizing VMware vSphere Deployments (IT Best Practices): Lessons Learned on the Virtualization Journey (IT Best Practices)

Managing and Optimizing VMware vSphere® Deployments

The Complete Guide to Planning, Deploying, and Operating High-Performance VMware vSphere 5 Virtual Infrastructure

To make the most of VMware’s vSphere 5, IT professionals need knowledge, tips, and insights they’ll never find in the manuals–or in any book, until now! In Managing and Optimizing VMware vSphere Deployments, two world-class VMware experts offer start-to-finish lessons for vSphere planning, implementation, operation, management, and troubleshooting: expert insights drawn from their unsurpassed "in-the-trenches" consulting experience.

Writing for experienced VMware professionals, the authors focus on high-value techniques optimized for the new vSphere 5, helping you establish frameworks that support your virtual infrastructure’s evolution for years to come. They present scenarios and examples drawn from real-world data, helping you address crucial issues ranging from sizing and performance to redundancy. The book concludes with a full case study that walks you through a design from inception through implementation and explores the reasons for each key decision.

Coverage includes

• Building a strong foundation for virtual infrastructure: design considerations and best practices

• Smoothly integrating vSphere 5 into current environments and considerations

• Establishing a more stable infrastructure

• Choosing hardware and making optimal configuration decisions

• Transforming your VMware design from blueprint to completion

• Operating vSphere solutions more efficiently on a day-to-day basis

• Automating tasks and maximizing availability

• Streamlining the installation of updates, patches, and upgrades

• Forecasting and planning capacity on an ongoing basis to support growth

• Overcoming roadblocks on the journey to 100% virtualization

• Monitoring vSphere 5 with tools provided by VMware and its community

• Discovering the most valuable and current online VMware resources

• Examples using Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) are provided throughout the book

Sean Crookston currently is a data center implementation engineer at TBL Networks, a VMware Enterprise Solutions Provider in Richmond, Virginia. Sean holds certifications from VMware, Cisco, EMC, and Microsoft. Throughout his career, Sean has engineered technology solutions for the healthcare, government, manufacturing, publishing/broadcast, and high-tech industries that streamline business processes and reduce operational expenses. Sean has been awarded the VMware vExpert award in 2010 and 2011.

Harley Stagner is a VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX #46) and the first VCDX in Virginia. Harley is currently a datacenter design architect at TBL Networks, a VMware Enterprise Solutions Provider in Richmond, Virginia. Harley is focused on vSphere Architecture utilizing the latest datacenter technologies. Harley maintains a blog about these specialties at harleystagner.com. A list of Harley’s other publications can be found at www.harleystagner.com/publications.