VMware how-tos

SearchVMware.com presents a resource page for full-length VMware tutorials, ESX and backup tips. Keep checking back as we'll be updating this guide regularly. As always, if you have a suggestion for a tutorial or have any comments, feel free to email me: hdrake@techtarget.com.

Directory

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• VMware tutorials
  Full-length guides on VMotion, VMware on Linux and Windows, the VI3 SDK and more.

   

• VMware ESX tips
  Tips on improving performance, gathering and exporting information and more.
  

   

• VMware backup tips
  Find VCB script additions, a chapter download on backing up and recovering virtual machines and more.

VMware tutorials

Storage and virtualization learning guideThis guide, brought to you by SearchVMware.com, SearchServerVirtualization.com and SearchStorage.com, offers tips, news and expert advice on storage considerations for the virtualized environment. Learn about storage options and strategies for storage for virtualization in data center in three categories: Architecture, operations and backup.

VMware on Linux: Learning guide
In this fast guide, VMware expert Andrew Kutz details every part of installing VMware Server on Linux in layman's terms.

VMotion how-to
VMware's VMotion technology is the process by which a running Virtual Machine is migrated from one ESX host to another without incurring downtime. This how-to explores how to obtain VMotion, how to configure it, what its appropriate usage scenarios are, and finally, how VMotion technology actually works.

Easy VMDK conversions
If you're already running and working with VMware virtual machines and would like to see how your VMs (virtual machines) perform on other virtualization engines, then you may want to take a look at the tool VMDK to VHD Converter. This tip by expert Chris Wolf shows you how to do just that.

VMware on Windows fast guide
In this fast guide, VMware expert Andrew Kutz details every part of installing VMware Server on Windows in layman's terms.

Leveraging the VI3 SDK with .NET
The preferred mechanism for programmatically interacting with VI3 is the SDK, not the commands available in the ESX COS (such as the suite of commands prefixed with "esxcfg" found in /usr/sbin). The SDK is very powerful, and its power can be harnessed with another equally powerful tool, .NET. In this series, Andrew Kutz tells you how to leverage the VI3 SDK with .NET using C#.

Securing the mobile workforce with VMware ACE, part 1
A mobile workforce presents unique corporate IT security challenges. Author and Microsoft MVP Alessandro Perilli discusses a real-world scenario in which virtualization with VMware ACE could stop unauthorized data leakage in your corporate network and reduce the risk of infiltration.

VMware ESX tips

Using VMware Capacity Planner for ESX or VI3
In this tip, an IT team uses VMware Capacity Planner for an initial capacity utilization assessment. We'll show the baseline measurements VMware Capacity Planner gives for existing servers' capacities in relation to new servers' capabilities in a VMware ESX or Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3) environment.

VMware ESX Server guest OS performance tips
Want better guest operating system performance? Upgrade to VI3 and improve the host computer's processor, storage and memory. Find out why and how from virtualization authors David Marshall and Wade Reynolds in this series.

Subverting VMware ESX 2.5
Never judge a book by its cover. This tip is not about how to hack ESX 2.5; it is a quick reference guide for installing the Subversion source control software on the COS in ESX 2.5.

Smurf sanctions: Gathering and exporting information on VMware ESX Server
It's a common misconception that VMware ESX Server offers no information about how it's running on the machine. In this tip, Andrew Kutz explains how to use existing tools to gather information about the ESX system software and the physical server.

Upgrade VMs, migrate to ESX?
In this expert answer response, Andrew Kutz explains whether or not upgrading Virtual Machines before migrating to ESX 3.0 is a good idea.

VMware backup tips

VMware Consolidated Backup: Adding an iSCSI LUN to ESX Server
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) is VMware's officially sanctioned enterprise-level method for backing up virtual machines (VMs). The problem is that until recently VMware left a lot of IT administrators out in the cold by failing to provide support for iSCSI. VMware recognized this mistake, and beginning with ESX 3.0.2 and VCB 1.0.3, iSCSI is a supported option for backing up VMs. This article shows readers how to configure ESX and VCB for use with iSCSI. In this, part one of our series, we explore how to prepare ESX for iSCSI.

Troubleshooting VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB), an optional component of VMware's Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3), can be hard to configure and produces unhelpful error messages. This tip can help you get more debugging information outputted to the VCB log files, understand that info, and resolve VCB issues quickly and successfully.

How to back up VMware 3.0.1: File level and raw file backup
Learn about backup alternatives for a standalone VMware 3.0.1 environment and a method of performing backups to allow for easy restoration of this type of virtual environment. This tip details the processes of both file level and raw virtual machine file backup alternatives and gives examples of how to configure and set up the backups for each of the backup methods.

VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) script additions
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) provides image-level backup of virtual machines and file-level backups of Windows VMs by hooking into existing backup solutions such as Veritas BackupExec. But the scripts Veritas BackupExec uses to interact with VCB are less than optimal. This article introduces possible changes that make these stock scripts more flexible and more useful for your backup needs.

Chapter Download: Backing Up and Recovering Virtual Machines
In this chapter, "Backing Up and Recovering Virtual Machines," excerpted from Virtualization: From the Desktop to the Enterprise, you'll explore the process of planning for and administering backup and recovery operations on VMs and VM hosts.