What this book covers
Content wise, the book is now distinctly split into three main parts. Each part happens to have five chapters each:
- Part 1 provides the technical foundation of SDDC management. It aims to correct deep-rooted misunderstanding of knowledge that is considered basic. Terms such as VM and SDDC will be redefined, and we hope that you will gain new perspective. Part 1 is also written for VMware specialists who need to explain these topics to their peers, customers, or management.
- Part 2 provides the actual solution that you can implement in your environment. We provide the reasons behind each dashboard, so you get the understanding on why it is required and what problem it solves.
- Part 3 acts as a reference section. If you need to know the meaning behind a specific counter and how it relates to other counters, Part 3 has over 100 pages on this topic.
Chapter 1, VM – It Is Not What You Think!, aims to clear up the misunderstandings that customers have about virtualization. It explains why a VM is radically different from a physical server.
Chapter 2, Software-Defined Data Centers, takes the concept further and explains why a virtual data center is fundamentally different from a physical data center. You will see how it differs architecturally in almost all aspects.
Chapter 3, SDDC Management, covers the aspects of management that are affected with the new architecture.
Chapter 4, Performance Monitoring, takes the topic of the previous chapter deeper by discussing how performance management should be done in a virtual data center. It introduces a new paradigm that redefines the word Performance.
Chapter 5, Capacity Monitoring, complements Chapter 4 by explaining why capacity management needs to take into account performance before utilization. This chapter wraps up Part 1 of the book.
Chapter 6, Performance-Monitoring Dashboards, kicks off Part 2, where we cover the practical aspects of this book, as they show how sample solutions are implemented. We start by showing the steps to implement dashboards to monitor performance.
Chapter 7, Capacity-Monitoring Dashboards, takes the dashboards in Chapter 6 further by adding capacity monitoring requirement. You will see how they are closely related.
Chapter 8, Specific-Purpose Dashboards, complements those dashboards by covering specific use cases. They are often used by specific roles, such as network team, storage team, and senior management.
Chapter 9, Infrastructure Monitoring Using Blue Medora, takes the dashboards beyond VMware. It covers non-VMware components of your IaaS. Blue Medora is contributing their expertise here.
Chapter 10, Application Monitoring Using Blue Medora, completes our scope by going above the infrastructure layer. It covers commonly used applications in your VMware-based SDDC. This chapter also wraps up Part 2 of the book.
Chapter 11, SDDC Key Counters, sets the technical foundations of performance and capacity management by giving you a tour of the four infrastructure elements (CPU, RAM, network, and storage). It also maps these four elements into all the vSphere objects, so you know what is available at each level.
Chapter 12, CPU Counters, covers CPU counters in detail. It is the first of four chapters that cover the core infrastructure element (CPU, RAM, network, and storage). If you do not fully understand the various counters in vSphere and vRealize Operations, how they impact one another, and what values you consider healthy, then these four chapters are good for you. They dive deep into the counters, comparing the counters in vCenter and vRealize Operations. Knowing the counters is critical, as choosing the wrong counters or interpreting the values wrongly will lead to a wrong conclusion.
Chapter 13, Memory Counters, continues the deep dive by covering memory counters. It explains why memory is one of the most complex area to monitor and troubleshoot in SDDC.
Chapter 14, Storage Counters, continues the deep dive by covering storage counters. It explains the multiple layers of storage that occur as a result of virtualization. It also explains that distributed storage requires different monitoring approach.
Chapter 15, Network Counters, completes the deep dive by covering network counters and wraps up the book.
