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VMware vCenter Cookbook

Chapter 1. vCenter Basic Tasks and Features

In this chapter, we will cover the follow recipes:

Choosing the right vSphere and vCenter edition
Booting a VM from a virtual CD-ROM
Using hosts with different CPUs in one cluster
Fixing VMware tools to autostart after Linux updates
Running vCenter on a VM
Managing several vCenter Servers from one client
Accessing new vCenter features
Accessing hosts via SSH
Securing host management access
Storing host logs on a shared datastore
Configuring remote logging

Choosing the right vSphere and vCenter editions

The vCenter edition required for a particular environment is very much determined by the vSphere edition in use. The vSphere edition in turn is chosen based on the size of the environment and features that will be used.

How to do it...

To choose the vCenter edition that's right for your environment you need to:

Determine the vSphere features required.
Choose the vSphere edition based on environment size, features required, and growth expected.
Select the vCenter edition if it's not included in the chosen vSphere edition.

vSphere editions

A vSphere license can be bought as part of a kit or separately. Kits include a vCenter license while other vSphere editions require a separate vCenter license. When choosing a vSphere edition, it may be a good idea to take a look at its kits first. An included vCenter license will save costs. If you determine that none of the available kits include the required features and capacity, select one of the separate vSphere editions.

The following table compares five main kits available and shows the features that are included in each kit:

Features	Essentials kits		Operations management kits (vSOM)
Features	Essentials	Essentials Plus	Standard	Enterprise	Enterprise Plus
Physical CPUs included	6	6	6	6	6
Hypervisor	+	+	+	+	+
vMotion		+	+	+	+
High Availability (HA)		+	+	+	+
Data Protection (DP)		+	+	+	+
vSphere Replication (VR)		+	+	+	+
Operations monitoring, optimization and visibility			+	+	+
Fault Tolerance (FT)			+	+	+
Storage vMotion			+	+	+
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)				+	+
Distributed Power Management (DPM)				+	+
Storage DRS					+
Distributed switch					+
Flash Read Cache					+

Kit editions are meant for smaller environments and have their limitations. Six processors included determine that the environment cannot be larger than three servers with two physical processors each. As a result, if there is a plan to grow the environment in the near future, choose one of the separate vSphere editions.

The following table shows the available vSphere editions and features included:

Features	Standard	Enterprise	Enterprise Plus	Standard with vSOM	Enterprise with vSOM	Enterprise Plus with vSOM
Physical CPUs included (per-CPU license entitlement)	1	1	1
Hypervisor (basic virtualization capabilities)	+	+	+
Operations monitoring, optimization and visibility				+	+	+
vMotion	+	+	+	+	+	+
High Availability (HA)	+	+	+	+	+	+
Data Protection (DP)	+	+	+	+	+	+
vSphere Replication (VR)	+	+	+	+	+	+
Fault Tolerance (FT)	+	+	+	+	+	+
Storage vMotion	+	+	+	+	+	+
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)		+	+		+	+
Distributed Power Management (DPM)		+	+		+	+
Storage DRS			+			+
Distributed switch			+			+
Flash Read Cache			+			+

Remember that vSphere 5 is licensed per physical CPU. For instance, two physical servers with two CPUs each will require four vSphere 5 CPU licenses. If DRS is a requirement, four Enterprise licenses will be needed. To take advantage of the Storage DRS, you will need four Enterprise Plus licenses in this case.

Both the preceding tables include only the main features we believe are necessary to make a decision. A full feature comparison can be found on the Compare VMware vSphere Editions page at http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/compare.

Additional information on the existing features and editions as well as upgrade paths from vSphere 4 can be found at the following link: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf

vCenter editions

Each of the following vSphere kit editions includes one instance of vCenter:

Essentials
Essentials Plus
vSOM Standard
vSOM Enterprise
vSOM Enterprise Plus

Other vSphere editions do not include a vCenter license, and if a separate vSphere edition has been chosen, there are two options for the vCenter edition:

vCenter Server Foundation
vCenter Server Standard

It is important to know that according to the End User License Agreement, customers licensed under Essentials or Essentials Plus are not allowed to purchase any other vCenter addition. If you need to manage more hosts, then the solution is to upgrade the existing license to vSphere Standard or above and purchase vCenter Standard.

The following table compares vCenter editions:

Feature	Essentials (part of Essentials or Essentials Plus kit)	Foundation	Standard
Maximum number of hosts that can be managed	3	3	1,000
Management service	+	+	+
Database server	+	+	+
Inventory service	+	+	+
vSphere Clients	+	+	+
vCenter APIs	+	+	+
Single Sign-On	+	+	+
vCenter Orchestrator			+
Linked Mode			+

There's more…

There is also an option to purchase a support plan from VMware along with the software. The two available options include:

Basic: Provides support during business hours
Production: Provides 24 x 7 support

The production support plan is recommended for critical environments. Both plans include an unlimited number of support cases. Any of the preceding subscriptions are required for at least one year.

VMware also offers an option for per incident support, which can be purchased in 1, 3, or 5-incident packs. This option is available for vSphere Essentials kit only.

Using hosts with different CPUs in one cluster

One of the core vSphere features is vMotion. It allows administrators to move a running virtual machine from one host to another without interruption.

Unfortunately, one of the requirements for vMotion is to use hosts with the same processors so that the virtual machine that has been moved can keep running on a new host. This is due to the fact that newer processors, even within the same family, typically have additional features. New generations of processors can also have a different set of instructions. When features or instructions an application is using are not available, the application will crash.

Clusters consisting of hosts with different CPU generations can use Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) mode. In this mode, vCenter hides CPU features and instructions that are not available on older hosts. This way, it makes all hosts' CPUs in the cluster look like they are the same.

The obvious downside of using this feature is that the cluster's processors will all be the same or lower than the oldest host's CPU.

Getting ready

Things to consider before enabling the feature are as follows:

All hosts must have either Intel or AMD processors.
All cluster VMs running on hosts where EVC mode will be enabled must be shut down before the feature can be turned on.

How to do it...

To enable EVC:

Switch to the Hosts and Clusters view.
Right-click on your cluster and choose Edit Settings.
Go to VMware EVC and click on Change EVC Mode.
Choose AMD or Intel depending on the host's CPU.
Choose the best available option for processor generation.
In vCenter Web Client, this setting can be found by going to vCenter | Cluster | Manage | Settings | VMware EVC:
Press the Edit... button next to the VMware EVC section to change EVC mode:

There's more…

Virtual machines always have to be off when changing EVC mode to an older processor generation. This is not a requirement when EVC mode is being raised. Unfortunately, in this case, new CPU features will not be available to VMs until they are powered off and back on. Suspending or restarting VMs is not sufficient because virtual machine EVC mode is determined when it's turned on.

Running vCenter on a VM

Administrators have three options when it comes to deploying the vCenter Server. vCenter can be imported as a Linux-based virtual appliance or it can be installed on a physical or virtual Windows Server.

How to do it...

For smaller environments, it makes sense to choose a vCenter appliance. Its installation and configuration is easier than deploying your own vCenter Server:

Download the vCenter Server Appliance from my.vmware.com.
Deploy the appliance from a template using the Deploy OVF Template... option from the File menu.
Open your web browser and go to http://<ip address of virtual appliance>:5480.
Log in using the default credentials to configure vCenter:
- Username: root
- Password: vmware
After logging in, go through the steps of the configuration wizard to start using the appliance.

There's more…

vCenter Appliance has its limitations. First of all, if an embedded database is used, this server will be able to manage only up to five hosts and up to 50 virtual machines. In vSphere 5.5, this limit has been increased to 100 hosts and 3,000 virtual machines.

Also, this solution doesn't support the Linked Mode configuration. More information about the supported services and limitations can be found in the Knowledge Base article KB2002531 at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2002531.

vCenter Server on a VM

Running the vCenter Server on a virtual machine offers all virtualization advantages:

No additional hardware is needed, which means savings and flexibility.
Administrators can take advantage of using high availability features offered by vSphere—HA or FT.
vMotion offers additional flexibility and higher uptime.
Snapshots can be utilized as a rollback option.

Virtual machines are easier to manage but at the same time, there are a few concerns related to this approach:

The main concern is that issues with the vSphere environment potentially can affect the vCenter Server and as a result, the administrator's ability to manage the environment and troubleshoot issues.
For example, if a host where vCenter VM is running becomes unavailable, vCenter is not accessible until it's restarted and comes back online. In certain cases, HA fails to restart some VMs so vCenter may become unavailable for a longer time.
The administrator can connect to hosts directly using the vSphere Client but in this case, the core features offered by vCenter will not be available.
Another concern is related to environments that have only one host. Certain tasks such as ESXi updates require host maintenance mode, which means that all VMs need to be turned off. In this case, the vCenter Server has to be shut down and thus, Update Manager can't be used.
Updating ESXi from the command line can be more time consuming and challenging in certain cases. In other words, running the vCenter Server on a VM in environments with only one ESXi host can introduce some administrative difficulties.
Note
In general, a single ESXi host with vCenter Server VM is not a recommended design option for the enterprise environment.

Managing several vCenter Servers from one client

There is a way to manage more than one vCenter Server from the same vCenter client. This is accomplished by using Linked Mode groups. Linked Mode group is a group of vCenter Servers that allows managing other members by connecting to any one of them.

Getting ready

This feature is available only in vCenter Server Standard edition and cannot be used with vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA).

The main requirement is that all group members must run the same version of vCenter. Other requirements are as follows:

Members must belong to the same Active Directory domain or different domains that have two-way trust relationships with each other.
DNS has to be operational for Linked Mode groups to work properly.
vCenter must be licensed or in evaluation mode.
The domain account is the local administrator on both vCenter Servers—the one that is being joined to the group and the target server.

How to do it...

To be able to manage additional vCenter Servers, they need to be joined to the Linked Mode group.

Joining vCenter to a group

The vCenter Server can be joined to a group either during installation or any time after. The Linked Mode group is created when the first member is being joined to a group that doesn't exist.

To join the running vCenter Server to the existing Linked Mode group, follow the ensuing steps:

On the vCenter Server, go to Start | All Programs | VMware.
Run vCenter Server Linked Mode Configuration.
Select Modify linked mode configuration.
Click on Join this vCenter server instance to an existing linked mode group or another instance.
Click on Next.
Enter the FQDN of an existing member and LDAP port.
In case role conflict has been detected, choose a way to resolve it. You can either let vCenter rename the group or you can rename it yourself.
Restart the vCenter Server.

If a member that is being joined to the Linked Mode group is running an older version of vCenter than other members of the group it has to be upgraded. Also, if vCenter on a member is upgraded, it will be disconnected from the group.

Removing vCenter from a group

To remove vCenter from a Linked Mode group, execute the following steps:

On the vCenter Server, go to Start | All Programs | VMware.
Run vCenter Server Linked Mode Configuration.
Choose Modify linked mode configuration.
Select Isolate this vCenter server instance from linked mode group and click on Next.
Click on Continue and then on Finish.
Reboot the vCenter Server.

Accessing hosts via SSH

In certain cases, you may need to access the ESXi host via SSH. This may be needed to run a script, troubleshoot an issue, or use a command or a feature not available via vSphere Client.

How to do it...

SSH access to ESXi hosts is disabled by default and can be enabled using the ESXi console and command line or through vCenter. To enable it from vCenter:

Allow SSH port through the host's firewall.
Start the SSH service on the host.

Opening the SSH port on the firewall

To allow the SSH port through the firewall on the ESXi host, execute the following steps:

Go to the Hosts and Clusters view.
Select the host and go to the Configuration tab.
Click on Security Profile on the left.
Click on the Properties... link next to the Firewall section.
The Firewall Properties window will open. Check SSH Server under the Secure Shell section.
Click on the Firewall button to allow only certain IP addresses to connect. Click on OK when finished to apply the changes.

In Web Client, perform the following steps:

Select a host.
Go to Manage | Settings | Security Profile.
Click on the Edit... button next to the Firewall section.
Select the SSH Server option and click on OK as shown in the next screenshot.
Tip
To allow connections from only certain IP addresses, uncheck the Allow connections from any IP address option and enter the IP addresses separated by commas.

Starting an SSH service

To start an SSH service on the host from the same place under Configuration | Security Profile:

Click on the Properties... link next to the Services section.
Select SSH in the list of services and click on Options....
Click on the Start button.
Once the service starts, both windows can be closed.

From Web Client, perform the following steps:

Select a host.
Go to Manage | Settings | Security Profile.
Scroll down to the Services section.
Click on the Edit button.
Select SSH from the list.
Click on Start.

There's more…

Now you will be able to access the ESXi command line using the SSH client.

Note

Note that when SSH service is running on the host, vCenter marks it with a yellow exclamation mark as it is a configuration issue. Enabling SSH is considered to be an insecure practice.

Securing host management access

When it comes to managing ESXi hosts, there are a few interfaces available to perform management tasks:

Common Information Model (CIM), which is used for vCenter Server access.
Direct Console User Interface (DCUI), which is also known as the ESXi console.
Tech Support Mode (TSM)
- Local—console access to the ESXi command line.
- Remote—SSH access to the ESXi command line.
vSphere Application Programming Interface (API) such as vSphere Client, PowerCLI, vCLI, and so on.

Remote TSM has been covered in the Accessing hosts via SSH recipe in this chapter. Local TSM and DCUI are console options available if you have physical access to the host or remote console access such as iDRAC.

All interfaces except vSphere API can be managed from vCenter under host Configuration | Security Profile | Services:

Both TSM options can also be configured from the DCUI console.

The following table summarizes different management interfaces and where each one can be configured:

Management interface	Description	Configuration from vCenter	Configuration from DCUI
CIM	vCenter access	Host's Services
DCUI	ESXi console	Host's Services
Local TSM	Console CLI	Host's Services	Troubleshooting menu
Remote TSM	SSH access to CLI	Host's Services	Troubleshooting menu
APIs	vSphere Client, PowerCLI, vCLI

VMware offers a way to secure management access to hosts called Lockdown mode.

Lockdown mode is a security feature, which limits the administrator's ability to manage the ESXi host only through vCenter. When a host is in this mode, the administrator cannot use the command line or run scripts. Also, any third-party software cannot get or change any settings on this host.

Note

User root will still be able to access DCUI but not TSM.

The following table summarizes each management interface's behavior in Normal and Lockdown modes:

Management interface	Normal mode	Lockdown mode
CIM	User and group permissions	Only vCenter server
DCUI	User root and users with administrator rights	Only root user
Local TSM	Only root user	None
Remote TSM	Only root user	None
APIs	User and group permissions	Only vCenter vpxuser

Additional security always means inconvenience. If the vCenter VM crashed or didn't come up after the reboot, and access to vCenter has been lost, ESXi has to be reinstalled on hosts that are in Lockdown mode to restore access.

How to do it...

To enable lockdown mode from vCenter, execute the following steps:

Lockdown mode can be enabled per host by going to Configuration | Security Profile:
Click on Edit next to Lockdown Mode, select Enable Lockdown Mode, and click on OK:

Note

All the existing vCenter Client connections to the host will be dropped immediately.

Users that are currently logged in to DCUI or TSM will still have access after Lockdown mode has been enabled until they log off. Logged in users will not be able to switch Lockdown mode off in this case.

All the existing user and group permissions will be restored once Lockdown mode is disabled if it was enabled from vCenter.

To enable Lockdown Mode from Web Client, execute the following steps:

Select a host.
Go to Manage | Settings | Security Profile.
Scroll down to the Lockdown Mode section.
Click on the Edit next to the section.
Check Enable Lockdown Mode.
Click on OK.

Enable Lockdown mode from the ESXi console

To enable Lockdown mode from DCUI, press F2, log in with the root user, move the cursor to the Configure Lockdown Mode item, and press Enter.

Tip

All the existing user and group permissions will be lost once Lockdown mode is enabled from DCUI so the best practice is to use vCenter to enable Lockdown.

Storing host logs on a shared datastore

ESXi server logs are stored locally by default on each host in the /var/log directory. In certain cases, there is a requirement to store logs on a datastore.

Possible scenarios are hosts without local storage, where all locally stored logs disappear after reboot, compliance requirements where there is a requirement to store logs in an alternative location, or space concerns where there are many hosts and the administrator has to keep older logs.

How to do it...

vCenter allows redirecting ESXi logs to one of the datastores accessible to the host. This can be accomplished by going to Configuration | Advanced Settings | Syslog by changing the variable Syslog.global.logDir to an appropriate value [Datastore]/Folder:

In vCenter Web Client, these options can be found by going to Host | Manage | Settings | Advanced System Settings, as shown in the following figure:

There's more…

Once this change is made, you will see log files created in the configured folder if you browse the datastore.

From the same Advanced Settings section, you can configure the additional logging options:

Option

Description

Syslog.global.logDirUnique

If chosen the ESXi syslog will create a separate folder for this host in the specified logging folder. The folder will be named with the ESXi hostname.

This option is helpful when the logging folder is shared between more than one host.

Syslog.global.defaultRotate

This is the maximum number of log files to keep after rotation.

Syslog.global.defaultSize

This is the maximum log file size in kilobytes. Once reached, the log file will be rotated.

The same logging parameters can also be configured from the ESXi command line using the esxcli system syslog command.

For example, to validate logging settings configured from vCenter use:

esxcli system syslog config get

VMware KB 2003322 gives more details about configuring syslog, including CLI command sequence, which is available at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2003322.

Description

If you are a system administrator who has some experience with virtualization and already uses VMware vCenter, but wishes to learn more, then this is the book for you. If you are looking for tips or shortcuts for common administration tasks as well as workarounds for pain points in vSphere administration, you'll find this guide useful.

What you will learn

Manage your virtual environment faster and in a more efficient manner

Easily implement and start using new vCenter features

Scale an existing virtual environment quickly

Optimize resource usage across virtual infrastructures

Prioritize VMs with resource pools

Perform simple and advanced administrative tasks using VMware

Discover tips on task optimization that will let you have more time for important tasks

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Art.C Jul 07, 2015

VMware vCenter Cookbook by Konstantin Kuminsky offers in-depth view on how to create and setup a new virtual environment. Whether you are just starting up with VMware or you have been managing multiple hosts. As a systems administrator for over 25 years I find this book very impressive and useful to have for all types of questions that relate to VMware functionality and reliability. As today’s technology advances you need to be able to provide and manage high scalability and availability infer structure. This book covers the necessary steps for creating and managing a healthy environment. The quick reference guides in this book provide the ability to manage multiple VM Hosts, how to create Templates to deploy VM’s much faster. How to prioritize vCPU’s to the VM’s that need the most. This book uses the latest version of VSphere 5 as the main platform which includes HA features, VM delivery and customization and network performance. Any of these points are very important to the overall performance of the VSphere Environment. Great keeper for me as it improves my ability to manage VM’s and helps out in planning for the future. I’d rather have the how to? On hand as a quick reference guide. This book provides the tools for a Great VMware vCenter.

Amazon Verified review

Kim Bottu Jul 03, 2015

For some years now my main focus has been virtualization using VMware technology.Konstantin Kuminsky's book provides a good reference work where it comes to vCenter server in all its day to day functionality. If you are new to VMware technology or just want a refresh about what VMware vCenter server can do for you, I would advise this book.Kim

Jason G. Boche Jul 28, 2015

Back in June, I was extended an offer from PACKT Publishing to review a new VMware book. I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment but it sounded like an easier read and I appreciated the offer as well as the accommodation of my request for paperback in lieu of electronic copy so I accepted. I finished reading it this past weekend.The book’s title is VMware vCenter Cookbook and it is PACKT’s latest addition to an already extensive Cookbook series (Interested in Docker, DevOps, or Data Science? There’s Cookbooks for that). Although it was first published in May 2015, the content isn’t quite so new as its coverage includes vSphere 5, and vSphere 5 only with specific focus on vSphere management via vCenter Server as the title of the book indicates. The author is Konstantin Kuminsky and as I mentioned earlier the book is made available in both Kindle and paperback formats.Admittedly I’m not familiar with PACKT’s other Cookbooks but the formula for this one is much the same as the others I imagine: “Over 65 hands-on recipes to help you efficiently manage your vSphere environment with VMware vCenter”. Each of the recipes ties to a management task that an Administrator of a vSphere environment might need to carry out day to day, weekly, monthly, or perhaps annually. Some of the recipes can also be associated with and aid in design, architecture, and planning although I would not say these are not the main areas of focus. The majority of the text is operational in nature.The recipes are organized by chapter and while going from one to the next, there may be a correlation, but often there is not. It should be clear at this point it reads like a cookbook, and not a mystery novel (although for review purposes I did read it cover to cover). Find the vCenter how-to recipe you need via the Table of Contents or the index and follow it. Expect no more and no less.Speaking of the Table of Contents… Chapter 1: vCenter Basic Tasks and Features Chapter 2: Increasing Environment Availability Chapter 3: Increasing Environment Scalability Chapter 4: Improving Environment Efficiency Chapter 5: Optimizing Resource Usage Chapter 6: Basic Administrative Tasks Chapter 7: Improving Environment ManageabilityIt’s a desktop reference (or handheld I suppose depending on your preferred consumption model) which walks you through vSphere packaging and licensing on one page, and NUMA architecture on the next. The focus is vCenter Server and perhaps more accurately vSphere management. Fortunately that means there is quite a bit of ESXi coverage as well with management inroads from vCenter, PowerShell, and esxcli. Both Windows and appliance vCenter Server editions are included as well as equally fair coverage of both vSphere legacy client and vSphere web client.Bottom line: It’s a good book but it would have been better had it been released at least a year or two earlier. Without vSphere 6 coverage, there’s not a lot of mileage left on the odometer. In fairness I will state that many of the recipes will translate identically or closely to vSphere 6, but not all of them. To provide a few examples, VM templates and their best operational practices haven’t changed that much. On the other hand, there are significant differences between FT capabilities and limitations between vSphere 5 and vSphere 6. From a technical perspective, I found it pretty spot on which means the author and/or the reviewers did a fine job.Thank you PACKT Publishing for the book and the opportunity.

Mike nelson Jul 04, 2015

I am a virtualization professional with over 2 decades of IT experience and have been using vCenter since it's inception. I found this book to be a rather good reference for anyone who directly administrates vSphere and works with vCenter. I also found it to be an great reference for the I.T. Generalist, who wears many hats and needs this type of "go-to" reference to assist them in their daily work, which can become very complex. i found the "recipes" quite useful for the novice and quite possibly even a quick refresher for the intermediate user. the books chapters are organized well, and the highlighting of relevant reference material from VMware is a nice add. one recommendation is that the book should have included vSphere 4.x information as well for legacy environments, and a lead-in to the possible new edition for the vSphere 6.x version as well.Overall, I would recommend this book and it has found a spot in my reference library. Nice work Konstantin!

VMware vCenter Cookbook: Over 65 hands-on recipes to help you efficiently manage your vSphere environment with VMware vCenter

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