What VMware’s View 3 VDI offers and how to Install it

Introduction

VMware recently announced their latest version of their enterprise VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) solution called “View” (version 3). VMware’s View 3 is a “new and improved” version of their previous solution, which was just called “VDI” or “VDM” (virtual desktop manager). In this article, I will cover what VMware’s new View 3 offers, how it can help you, and how to install it.

Whether you have completed the virtualization of your server infrastructure, or not, desktop virtualization is a popular type of virtualization that you should consider. VMware has recently updated their enterprise desktop virtualization solution with new features and a new name – “VMware View 3”.

I have worked in an enterprise business where we tested and later implemented VMware’s VDI solution (prior to View). I can tell you that we had a number of issues which we felt still needed to be addressed. I am impressed that VMware’s new View 3 really addresses the major issues we had. Some of the major issues we encountered included; support of Terminal Services, Citrix, Thin client printing, offline desktops, and much more. Let’s find out what VMware’s View can do.

What does VMware’s new View 3 do for you?

In its most basic form, all desktop virtualization packages work like this:

• End user desktop PCs are replaced with virtualized guest operating systems, running inside virtual hosts, such as VMware ESX Server
• End users then use a hardware or software thin client device to connect to those desktops. Typically, a protocol like RDP is used.
• While you can manually have an end user to virtual guest mapping, this does not scale beyond a handful of users. A VDI “broker” is what comes in and automatically maps the correct user (no matter where they connect from) to their correct virtual desktop system running “in the cloud”. These VDI brokers go on to provide many more features such as dynamic creation of virtual desktop systems for end users, connection over the Web, universal printing support.

Previously, VMware’s VDI solution offered a desktop broker called “VDM”. This broker is still a critical piece of View but it offers so much more. VMware’s View 3 offers you:

• Universal Client and universal web interface – a single client can be used whether you are accessing a Physical PC, Terminal Services, Application Virtualization Apps (using ThinApp), or a VDI Virtual Desktop
• Reduce Costs of Desktop Management – just as you reduce IT costs and speed response to business needs with server virtualization, desktop virtualization will do the same
• Disaster Recovery for Desktop systems – rarely do businesses find that disaster recovery for desktop PCs is cost effective. However, with desktop virtualization, due to the low cost of storing virtual desktops and using universal thin client devices, disaster recovery for desktops suddenly becomes viable. Automation of Virtual Desktop Provisioning
• Virtual Printing and a universal print driver provided by ThinPrint. In fact, ThinPrint even has an enhanced version of this called the “.Print Engine for VMware View Environments”
• ThinApp, application virtualization
• Offline Desktop – a truly amazing experimental feature where you can take your virtual desktop offline and re-sync it later
• Thin Client Support
• Single Virtual Disk Image for clients to share (as Brian Madden details in his article: A deeper look at VMware's upcoming "View Composer" VDI disk image technology) with the new View Composer.

Overall, VMware claims that View will reduce storage and desktop management costs by 90% and that desktop provisioning time can be cut down to just 15 seconds

What components make up VMware View?

So what does a sample VMware View infrastructure look like? Here is VMware’s vision:

Figure 1: Sample VMware View Infrastructure

As you can see in the diagram, a VMware View infrastructure is made up of the following components:

• Clients connecting to view with either View Client, View Portal (web) or Thin client device
• View Connection Server – the “VDI Broker” – running Windows Server 2003
• A View Administrator, accessing the View Connection Server via a web browser
• Microsoft AD Serve, only used to authenticate users
• Virtual Center Server, managing the ESX Hosts
• ESX Host systems, running the guest VMs which are the View Clients (or virtual desktops)
• Guest VMs which are the VM desktops that the client machines are eventually connected to and which are running special VMware View software called the View Agent.

How do you Evaluate and Install VMware View?

Based on the list of the infrastructure that makes up the VMware View (above), you can imagine what will need to be done to get VMware View running in your environment. Assuming that you already have a Microsoft Active Directory running and your own domain controller, here is a list of the, very simplified, steps you would take:

1. Download a 60 day evaluation license and software kit for VMware View 3. This kit includes:
   a) VMware Virtual Infrastructure Suite (ESX Server & vCenter)
   b) VMware View Manager
   c) VMware View Composer
   d) VMware ThinApp
   e) Offline Desktop (experimental)
2. Of course, the installation and evaluation of VMware View is easier if you already have VMware’s vCenter and ESX Server installed in your datacenter. Assuming you do not, you will need the following:
   a) ESX Server (make sure it matches the HCL) - unless you already have ESX running
   b) vCenter Server (or could be a virtual machine inside your ESX host)
   c) Windows 2003 Server that will serve as the VMware View Manager (I also believe that this could be a virtual machine inside your ESX host)
   d) Client PC running the View Client (or other type of client)
3. Install the ESX host and vCenter Server
4. Install VMware View Manager on the Windows 2003 Server
5. Configure the VMware View Manager (see the View Manager Administration Guide)
6. Create a new VM inside the ESX host and install the View Agent inside the VM.
7. Connect to the new virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) using the Client PC running the View Client. The client will learn what VM guest it needs to connect to based on the rules configured on the View Manager.

Again, this is a simplified look at how View 3 is installed. For detailed information on requirements, configuring view manager, and deploying virtual desktops, please read the VMware View Manager Administration Guide.

Summary

VMware View 3 is the latest version of VMware’s VDI Solution. View has many valuable updates over the previous version including thin client provisioning, universal printing, application virtualization, offline desktop, and more. I encourage you to take the steps listed out in the “how do you evaluate and install VMware View” section to get started learning more about VMware View, first hand.

A First Look at the New VMware Server 2.0 RC1 (and How it Compares to ESXi)

Introduction

For many years, VMware Server has been VMware's sole FREE virtualization offering. VMware Server runs on top of the Windows or Linux operating system and is an excellent platform for server virtualization. Recently, it was announced that VMware ESXi Server will now be offered at no cost. Now, if you are looking for a powerful but free virtualization platform for your SMB (from VMware), you have a choice between VMware Server and VMware ESXi. With the release of VMware Server 2.0, there are many few features offered with VMware Server. In this article, let's find out what VMware Server has to offer and how VMware Server compares to ESXi.

What is VMware Server?

For those who do not know, VMware Server is VMware’s free server virtualization product that runs inside Windows or Linux. VMware Server’s main competition is Microsoft Virtual Server. However, with VMware ESXi Server now being free, customers now have a greater choice of free server virtualization products (we will talk about how VMware Server & ESXi compare in an upcoming paragraph).

With VMware Server, you can run multiple guest operating systems inside your host operating system. There are many combinations of how this can be done. For example, you could run Linux inside Windows Server or Windows Vista inside Linux.

Now let’s find out about the latest version of VMware Server…What’s new in VMware Server 2.0 RC1?

VMware Server 2.0 RC1 was very recently released and, as you would expect with a new major revision, there are many new features. Here are some of those features:

• Enhanced VMware Infrastructure (VI) Web Access management interface: VMware has replaced the version 1.x “VMware Console” application with a new web-based interface. To me, this is good and bad. The older application console was very nice. It always worked, it was easy to use, and it was consistent. With the new web interface, you could have web browser issues, DNS lookup issues, Java issues, or you could have difficulty understanding where to click. I know that most every application is going to a web-based interface because it does have benefits but there are pros and cons to each. We will take a look at that new web-based interface in the next section.

Figure 1: New VMware Infrastructure Web Access Management Interface

• Independent virtual machine console: To me, this is one of the best features. Instead of having to open the virtual machine console in your web browser (inside the VI Web Access interface), you can have a separate desktop icon for each of your guest VMs. You could also use this to administer VMs on other VMware Servers, across the network. Once you launch the console, you have control over the guest’s virtual devices. Here is what it looks like, once launched:

Figure 2: New standalone console

• Support for USB 2.0 devices
• Remote Client devices

Not only can you connect virtual ISO files and physical drives from the VMware Server but you can also connect virtual and physical CD devices that are on a client system, managing a VM guest remotely. Thus, using the VMware client, you could connect your local CD drive to any server that you happen to be managing.

Figure 3: Ability to access client and server CD devices

• Ability to add new SCSI disks on the fly without shutting down the guest VM
• Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) support

Previously, if you took a VM snapshot, it was possible that the data from an open application may not be valid. Now, with support for Microsoft’s volume shadow copy service (VSS), VMware will actually communicate with the Guest Windows OS and take a VSS snapshot of the virtual disk, inside the guest to ensure that all data is intact when a snapshot is restored.

• Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI)

This new interface speeds up virtual machine to host and VM to VM communication.

• Automatic Startup of VMs
• Support for Firefox 3 as a web browser
• Link to Virtual Appliance Marketplace

With this link, you can quickly and easily download virtual appliance from the Internet and import them into VMware Server. In fact, the link should take you to a VMware Server only appliance download section.

Figure 4: Link to the virtual appliance marketplace

• 64-bit Guest OS Support
• Increase Scalability

Support for up to 8 GB of RAM (up from 3.6 GB in Server 1.0) per virtual machine, 10 virtual network interface cards and up to two virtual SMP (vSMP) processors per virtual machine.

What does the new VMware Server 2.0 interface look like?

The new management interface for VMware Server 2.0 is certainly different than version 1.0 and it takes some getting used to. Let’s take a look:

Figure 5: Inventory Screen in the new VMware Server 2.0 RC1 management interface

In Figure 5, above, you can see the new VMware Server 2.0 RC1 management interface. I pointed out a couple of areas that I noticed as being different. The first arrow points to the Datastores section. VMware Server 2.0 now uses datastores as a common store for virtual machines and images. The next arrow points to VMware Tips section. This area is designed to upsell you to the VMwware Infrastructure Suite.

Figure 6: Virtual Machines Gust Configuration

In Figure 6, above, you can see the guest VM status & configuration screen. If you click on a virtual guest machine, you will be able to configure its devices, see its resource utilization, view a quick status screen, and issue quick commands for that server.

Is VMware Server ready for “prime time”?

So VMware Server 2.0 offers some great features but it is ready to be used in production? Well, there is a centralized management application for multiple VMware Server systems called VMware Virtual Center for VMware Server. Did you know that you can even purchase support for VMware Server? This makes VMware server a production-ready virtualization platform. But, is it the best virtualization platform? Now that VMware ESXi Server is free, you have an alternative. We will find out what the new VMware Server 2.0 looks like, then move on to how it compares with VMware ESXi Server.

How does VMware Server 2.0 RC1 compare to VMware ESXi Server?

You should keep the differences between VMware Server and VMware ESXi Server in mind. Now that these are both free you have a choice between them but these are also very different products. Let’s list out the unique qualities of each:

VMware Server 2.0

• Runs on top of your current Windows or Linux OS. That means that you can keep all your existing apps and run VMware Server along with everything else you are doing.
• While still having good performance, VMware Server’s performance is not as strong as ESXi because the Server runs inside your OS.
• Can run on any hardware that your current Windows or Linux host OS supports.
• Ideal for desktop virtualization and server virtualization for the SMB. Ideal for those who do not want have to go through the trouble of using a whole new OS for virtualization.

VMware ESXi Server

• Runs on the bare metal server hardware. That means that you have to wipe out all of your apps and data on a machine and install ESXi.
• Greater performance because it runs directly on hardware.
• Able to run only on certain hardware.
• Ideal for medium & large enterprise virtualization.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned about the new VMware Server 2.0 RC1 virtualization platform. We discussed the many valuable features of VMware Server 2.0 and you got to see the new management and console applications. Finally, we learned the difference between VMware Server and ESXi Server. VMware Server 2.0 is a significant upgrade from previous versions and an excellent desktop or SMB Server virtualization solution.

Configuring a Virtual Machine Using VMware

Introduction

This article shows how to use VMware ESX Server, the VMware Infrastructure Client (VIC) and the VirtualCenter management console to create a new VM running a host operating system of Windows XP Professional SP 3. We will look at how to plan and prepare for the deployment of an XP ISO file, as well as to show the steps needed to configure a VM for use on your network.

Preparation

To configure a VM, you need to be using a running version of ESX, or you can download and use VMware Server from the VMware Web site. VMware while not extremely difficult to use, can be very confusing to those first learning it. If you are new to VMware, it is highly recommended that you visit the links section and connect to the VMware Web site documentation and download a version that you can work with on your desktop. For those running production systems and/or ESX server, to prepare for a VM install, you need to follow most of the same steps you would when installing an operating system on a physical system – you need to check the host operating systems minimum hardware requirements as an example.

There are a few general items that you need to be aware of when configuring a new VM with VMware. First, when considering a new VM, you need to be aware of your total resources. VMware works off of resource pools and the theory of using slicing. When you create a new VM, resource must be taken for it therefore you must know how much you need and how much you have. For example, in this article we will create a new Windows XP Professional VM. Hypothetically speaking, if we needed this new VM for software testing and the minimum hardware requirements are now maximized, you may run out of resources very quickly. Secondly, you must consider how you will install the host operating system. Since you still need installation media such as CDs, DVDs or an ISO file, it needs to be accessible to the VMware infrastructure and you need to configure it within your new VM. Lastly, you should have a connection to the Internet via your VMware infrastructure to run Windows (or Microsoft) update to patch and repair your guest operating system. Now that you know a few general guidelines, let’s set up prepare to create a VM. Log into the VirtualCenter with the VIC as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Viewing the VIC (VMware Infrastructure Client)

Once logged in, you can then create a Virtual Machine (VM). To create a VM you will need to be logged on with administrative privileges. Now that you are logged in as an administrator you need to do preparation work to get your VM ready to create and then install. First, you need not only the files for the host operating system but for further preparation you may need extra drivers as well. Both the host system files and the drivers will need to be accessible to the VM once it’s created so either have the data ready via CD, DVD or Floppy media. Also make sure that your disks are usable and not damaged.

If you are running a SAN (as in this lab example), then you can use a VMFS based LUN to store your data on. If you do, then you can switch to the ‘Datastores’ view in your VirtualCenter as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Viewing your Datastore

In this article, we will look at using an ISO file stored on a LUN from an attached SAN over Fiber as the guest operating system. Magic ISO Maker and other online tools can help you take a normal installation disk and create an ISO file out of it, or you can also get ISO files from MSDN and Technet.

Now, we will need to upload the needed ISO file on to a datastore. From a LUN that you have available space on (which can be seen in the General section of the VirtualCenter Datastores view) open the Datastore Browser by selecting ‘Browse Datastore…’ In this example we will also upload a set of SCSI drivers we will need for the installation as well. Once the Datastore Browser is opened, upload the ISO file as seen in Figure 3,

Figure 3: Upload the ISO with the Datastore BrowserCreating a Virtual Machine

In this example we will create a Virtual Machine with ESX server. Now that your installation files (and needed drivers) are uploaded then next task is to create a VM to install Windows XP into. To do that we need to create a VM with the needed resources from the resource pool. To create a VM, you first need to create the container that the host system will sit in. Since VMware is essentially the sharing of resources, you will have to configure each one of those resources in order for your install to take place. For example, you will need to configure a way for the VM to find the ISO file on the LUN. To do this, you must fist create a VM. Then, once the VM is created, you will need to map the VM to the LUN to find the ISO file to run the install from. The easiest way to do this is with the Virtual Machine Wizard. To use this Wizard, you can go to File New Virtual Machine…

Once selected, you will invoke the New Virtual Machine Wizard as seen in Figure 4. Now, you can select the needed resources for the VM. When you launch the Wizard, you will go through a series of windows that allow you to select the type of VM you want, the name and location of it (It can reside on one of multiple servers if running VMware is running in a cluster), the datastore where the VM and its associated files will reside, the selection of the name and type of guest operating system as well as for resources such as CPU, Memory (as seen here), the network location and the Virtual Disk Capacity (or size).

Figure 4: Viewing the Virtual Machine Wizard

Once you get to the last screen (Ready to Complete), take note of the small check box you can select on the bottom left side of the dialog box as seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Edit the Virtual Machine Settings

Once you have selected all of the resources you need and have configured your VM with the appropriate settings, now its time to click Finish. You can also edit the VM after it’s created but since we selected to Edit the VM settings before the VM finishes creating you can see in Figure 6 that the Hardware is still listed as ‘adding’.

Figure 6: Configuring the VM Hardware

In Figure 7, you can see the different options available to you when configure a VM’s hardware. Now that we have to install a guest operating system into this VM, we need to configure a way for a CD, DVD or an ISO on a LUN to be accessible to begin the installation.

Figure 7: Configure a Datastore ISO File

Once you have finished configuration your hardware, next you can click Finish and your VM will be created and your ISO file attached to being the installation. Take note to select the check box on the ‘Connect at power on’ option in the Device Status section of the New CD/DVD hardware section where you connected your ISO. You need to select ‘connect’ because if you do not then when you ‘power on’ the VM, the file will not be available thus the installation will not start.

Once back in VirtualCenter, taken note of the task pane on the bottom of the screen. Your VM will be started and your progress shown. Sometimes it takes up to a minute for a VM to be created depending on what your selections are, what host its being added to if in a cluster, how many resources are available and how much load is currently on any given system. Once created, you will now be able to right click the VM in the console (if still in Datastore View, switch to Hosts and Clusters) and then ‘power on’ the VM. Here, you can also select ‘Edit Settings’ or many other options. Now, you should switch to the Console tab as seen in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Viewing an Installation on the VMs Console in VirtualCenter

Now, you can start your installation of Windows XP and hopefully not need the drivers listed. With XP (and why this was chosen for this particular article) its likely you will need extra SCSI drivers so if you do, the process is no different then if you were installing most any other Windows operating system – during the installation, press F6 to install advanced SCSI and/or RAID drivers and when given an option, load them off the LUN, a flp file, a CD/DVD or any other form of media you can connect. You may also have to go into the BIOS of the system and change the boot order as well to get the media connected to the installation program. Once the drivers are installed, you will install XP (and update it at Windows update) as if you were installing it on a physical machine on your companies network.

Lastly, it’s always recommended to patch Windows systems. Even though this current ISO was directly downloaded from MSDN with the Service Pack slipstreamed, running an update online still produced needed patches and hotfixes.

You should also install VMware tools as seen in figure 9 as this will also make it much easier to manage your VM within the VirtualCenter. One of the biggest differences is how you switch between working in the VirtualCenter and/or working within a VM. Without the VMware tools installed, you need to press ctrl+alt to switch between. With the toolset installed, you can operate seamlessly between both without having to do any keystroke combinations to disconnect once connected to a VM.

Figure 9:Installing VMware Tools

Summary

In this article we looked at how to create a VM with VMware ESX server, install a guest operating system (Windows XP) and configure needed resources, tools and settings.

Overview of VMware ESX / VMware Infrastructure Advanced Features

Introduction

VMware ESX Server and the various VMware Infrastructure Suite (of which ESX Server is a part of) offer many advanced features. While there are many advanced features of ESX Server, itself, many advanced features that most people associate with ESX Server, are typically optional add-ons (products) that are purchased either individually, or more typically, as part of the VMware Infrastructure Suite (or the “VI Suite”). In this article, you will learn what these advanced features are, how they can help you, and how they are packaged and purchased when you consider VMware ESX Server and the VI Suite. As there are so many advanced features, I have chosen the top 10 advanced features of ESX to cover.

#1 ESX Server & ESXi Server

Even if all that you purchase is the most basic VMware ESXi virtualization package at a cost of $495, you still gain a number of advanced features. Of course, virtualization, in general, offers many benefits, no matter the virtualization package you choose. For example - hardware independence, better utilization of hardware, ease of management, fewer data center infrastructure resources required, and much more. While I cannot go into everything that ESX Server (itself) offers, here are the major advanced features:

• Hardware level virtualization – no based operating system license is needed, ESXi installs right on your hardware (bare metal installation).
• VMFS file system – see advanced feature #2, below.
• SAN Support – connectivity to iSCSI and Fibre Channel (FC) SAN storage, including features like boot from SAN
• Local SATA storage support.
• 64 bit guest OS support.
• Network Virtualization – virtual switches, virtual NICs, QoS & port configuration policies, and VLAN.
• Enhanced virtual machine performance – virtual machines may perform, in some cases, even better in a VM than on a physical server because of features like transparent page sharing and nested page table.
• Virtual SMP – see advanced feature #4, below.
• Support for up to 64GB of RAM for VMs, up to 32 logical CPUs and 256GB of RAM on the host.

#2 VMFS

VMware’s VMFS was created just for VMware virtualization. Thus, it is the highest performance file system available to use in virtualizing your enterprise. While VMFS is included with any edition or package of ESX Server or VI that you choose, VMFS is still listed as a separate product by VMware. This is because it is so unique.

VMFS is a high performance cluster file system allowing multiple systems to access the file system at the same time. VMFS is what gives you a solid platform to perform VMotion and VMHA. With VMFS you can dynamically increase a volume, support distributed journaling, and the addition of a virtual disk on the fly.

#3 Virtual SMP

VMware’s Virtual SMP (or VSMP) is the feature that allows a VMware ESX Server to utilize up to 4 physical processors on the host system, simultaneously. Additionally, with VSMP, processing tasks will be balanced among the various CPUs.

#4 VM High Availability (VMHA)

One of the most amazing capabilities of VMware ESX is VMHA. With 2 ESX Servers, a SAN for shared storage, Virtual Center, and a VMHA license, if a single ESX Server fails, the virtual guests on that server will move over to the other server and restart, within seconds. This feature works regardless of the operating system used or if the applications support it.

#5 VMotion & Storage VMotion

With VMotion, VM guests are able to move from one ESX Server to another with no downtime for the users. VMotion is what makes DRS possible. VMotion also makes maintenance of an ESX server possible, again, without any downtime for the users of those virtual guests. What is required is a shared SAN storage system between the ESX Servers and a VMotion license.

Storage VMotion (or SVMotion) is similar to VMotion in the sense that "something" related to the VM is moved and there is no downtime to the VM guest and end users. However, with SVMotion the VM Guest stays on the server that it resides on but the virtual disk for that VM is what moves. Thus, you could move a VM guest's virtual disks from one ESX server’s local datastore to a shared SAN datastore (or vice versa) with no downtime for the end users of that VM guest. There are a number of restrictions on this. To read more technical details on how it works, please see the VMware ESX Server 3.5 Administrators Guide.

#6 VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)

VMware Consolidated Backup (or VCB) is a group of Windows command line utilities, installed on a Windows system, that has SAN connectivity to the ESX Server VMFS file system. With VCB, you can perform file level or image level backups and restores of the VM guests, back to the VCB server. From there, you will have to find a way to get those VCB backup files off of the VCB server and integrated into your normal backup process. Many backup vendors integrate with VCB to make that task easier.

#7 VMware Update Manager

VMware Update Manager is a relatively new feature that ties into Virtual Center & ESX Server. With Update Manager, you can perform ESX Server updates and Windows and Linux operating system updates of your VM guests. To perform ESX Server updates, you can even use VMotion and upgrade an ESX Server without ever causing any downtime to the VM guests running on it. Overall, Update Manager is there to patch your host and guest systems to prevent security vulnerabilities from being exploited.

#8 VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)

VMware’s Distributed Resource Scheduler (or DRS) is one of the other truly amazing advanced features of ESX Server and the VI Suite. DRS is essentially a load-balancing and resource scheduling system for all of your ESX Servers. If set to fully automatic, DRS can recognize the best allocation of resource across all ESX Server and dynamically move VM guests from one ESX Server to another, using VMotion, without any downtime to the end users. This can be used both for initial placement of VM guests and for “continuous optimization” (as VMware calls it). Additionally, this can be used for ESX Server maintenance.

#9 VMware’s Virtual Center (VC) & Infrastructure Client (VI Client)

I prefer to list the VMware Infrastructure client & Virtual Center as one of the advanced features of ESX Server & the VI Suite. Virtual Center is a required piece of many of the advanced ESX Server features. Also, VC has many advanced features in its own right. When tied with VC, the VI Client is really the interface that a VMware administrator uses to configure, optimize, and administer all of you ESX Server systems.

With the VI Client, you gain performance information, security & role administration, and template-based rollout of new VM guests for the entire virtual infrastructure. If you have more than 1 ESX Server, you need VMware Virtual Center.

#10 VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM)

Recently announced for sale and expected to be shipping in 30 days, VMware’s Site Recovery Manager is a huge disaster recovery feature. If you have two data centers (primary/protected and a secondary/recovery), VMware ESX Servers at each site, and a SRM supported SAN at each site, you can use SRM to plan, test, and recover your entire VMware virtual infrastructure.

VMware ESX Server vs. the VMware Infrastructure Suite

VMware ESX Server is packaged and purchased in 4 different packages.

1. VMware ESXi – the slimmed down (yet fully functional) version of ESX server that has no service console. By buying ESXi, you get VMFS and virtual SMP only.
2. VMware Infrastructure Foundation – (previously called the starter kit, the Foundation package includes ESX or ESXi, VMFS, Virtual SMP, Virtual Center agent, Consolidated backup, and update manager.
3. VMware Infrastructure Standard – includes ESX or ESXi, VMFS, Virtual SMP, Virtual center agent, consolidated backup, update manager, and VMware HA.
4. VMware Infrastructure Enterprise – includes ESX or ESXi, VMFS, Virtual SMP, Virtual center agent, consolidated backup, update manager, VMware HA, VMotion, Storage VMotion, and DRS.

You should note that Virtual Center is required for some of the more advanced features and it is purchased separately. Also, there are varying levels of support available for these products. As the length and the priority of your support package increase, so does the cost.

Conclusion

In this article, I covered 10 of the many advanced features of VMware ESX Server & the VMware Infrastructure Suite. You learned what these advanced features are, how they can help you, and how they are packaged & purchased. VMware ESX is certainly the most feature-rich virtualization product available today and, after reading this article, you should have a good understanding of what these advanced features are and the power that they bring to your datacenter.

What is Storage VMotion (SVMotion) and How do you perform a SVMotion using the VI Plugin?

Introduction

In my recent VirtualizationAdmin.com article Overview of VMware ESX / VMware Infrastructure Advanced Features, one of the many features I covered was VMware's Storage VMotion (aka SVMotion). I covered how Storage VMotion is similar to VMotion in the sense that "something" related to the VM is moved and there is no downtime to the VM guest and end users. However, with SVMotion the VM Guest stays on the server that it resides on but the virtual disk for that VM is what moves. Thus, you could move a VM guest's virtual disks from one ESX server's local datastore to a shared SAN datastore (or vice versa) with no downtime for the end users of that VM guest.

There are a number of restrictions on this. To read more technical details on how it works, please see the VMware ESX Server 3.5 Administrators Guide.

Additionally, there are at least 3 ways to perform a SVMotion – from the remote command line, interactively from the command line, and with the SVMotion VI Client Plugin (to see these in video form, checkout SVMotion - watch it happen here (in 3 ways). By far, the easiest way to perform a SVMotion is to use the free VI Client Plugin and that is what we will demonstrate in this article.

Image Source: VMware SVMotion

How do I obtain and install the VI Client Plugin?

The free VI Client Plugin was generously created by Andrew Kutz and it provides a wonderfully needed GUI for SVMotion. I still cannot believe that VMware released and heavily touts this feature but offers no GUI interface for it.

The first step would be for you to download the SVMotion from here: SVMotion VI-Client Plugin.

It is a simple Windows MSI installer and there are no questions asked during the installation (that is the kind I like, that is, as long as I trust the app). When you are done installing it, you will see this window:

Figure 1: SVMotion VI-Client Plugin Installation Complete

After you close this window, open the VI Client (if it was already open then you should close it and reopen it).

Next, Go to the Plugins Option, then Manage Plugins, on the VI Client Toolbar, like this:

Figure 2: Go to the Plugins Option, then Mange-Plugins, on the VI-Client Toolbar

Click on the Installed tab of the Plugins Manager and check the checkbox to Enable the new SVMotion Plugin, as you see below.

Figure 3: Enabling the SVMotion Plugin

Now that the SVMotion Plugin is installed and enabled, if you right-click on a Cluster, an ESX Server, or a VM guest, all the way at the bottom, you should see Migrate Storage. This tells you that SVMotion is ready to happen when you are ready to test it.

Note:
You need to have VMotion configured and working for SVMotion to work. Additionally, there are a ton of caveats about SVMotion in the ESX 3.5 administrator’s guide (page 245) that could cause SVMotion not to work. One final reminder, SVMotion works to move the storage for a VM from a local datastore on an ESX server to a shared datastore (a SAN) and back – SVMotion will not move a VM at all – only the storage for a VM.

How to move the storage for a VMware ESX Guest VM using the SVMotion Plugin (with no downtime)

Now that you have the SVMotion GUI, actually moving the storage of a VMware ESX Server Guest VM, with no downtime for the end users, is quite easy. To do it, in the VI Client, right-click on a cluster, ESX server, or guest VM. Go down to Migrate Storage and you should see a window like this:

Figure 4: Preparing to use VMware ESX Server SVMotion

Depending on what you clicked on (cluster, host, or VM) and how much storage you have, you may have very little in the window or you may have a lot.

In my case, my test VM called “David D Test” is located on the local storage of an ESX Server (called “storage 6b”) connected to an iSCSI and a FC SAN. To move my Virtual machine’s storage (including the VMX files and VMDK files) from the local storage to the shared iSCSI SAN (called “storage”), all I have to do is to drag the VM from where it is to the new storage, like this:

Figure 5: Moving Storage with SVMotion

Then, I click Apply.

Down in my task window, I see the “Relocate Virtual Machine Storage”, like this:

Figure 6: Relocating Virtual Machine Storage

When the process is done, I see “Completed” in the task window and I see that my storage for this VM has moved from the local storage to the shared iSCSI SAN storage. I can see this in the datastore section of the VM resources, below:

Figure 7: Storage for the VM has moved

And, of course, the most amazing thing about all of this is that the virtual guest operating system was powered on this entire time. As you can see from the graphic above, the status still says “powered on”. Because of this and because of how SVMotion works, there was never any downtime for the end users who may have been accessing this virtual guest.

This feature is great for maintenance of server hardware, ESX Server maintenance, maintenance of disk arrays, rearranging storage, and many more applications. Of course, for some of those applications (like maintenance of server hardware) you would also have to perform a VMotion and move the running guest OS to another physical server.

Conclusion

In this article, I provided an overview of VMware’s Storage VMotion, where to find an indispensible SVMotion plugin for the VI Client, and a step by step demonstration of how SVMotion works to move a VMware ESX Guest VM’s storage, from one datastore to another, without any downtime to the end users. In my opinion, SVMotion is an amazing product and its application and adaptation will just continue to grow and grow - making the life of virtualization admins like us easier and easier (I hope).

How to schedule tasks with the VMware Infrastructure Client and ESX Server

Introduction

In the VMware Infrastructure Client (VI Client), you will notice a Scheduled Tasks button on the main toolbar. That button looks like this:

Figure 1: Scheduled Tasks Toolbar Button

If you click on this button, by default, you will see that you can only create new scheduled tasks and you won’t have any scheduled tasks already created. VMware ESX VI Client Scheduled Tasks are a powerful feature of the VI Client, albeit a feature that doesn’t get a lot of recognition.

With the VI Client Task Scheduling feature, you can schedule the following tasks:

• Change the power state of a virtual machine
• Clone a virtual machine
• Deploy a virtual machine
• Move a virtual machine with VMotion
• Relocate a virtual machine
• Create a virtual machine
• Make a snapshot of a virtual machine
• Add a host

Here is what it looks like:

Figure 2: Selecting a Task to Schedule

Now, for some of these types of tasks that can be scheduled, I have trouble coming up with a scenario where you would want to perform that task when you weren’t around. For example, I am not sure why you would want to add a VMware ESX host system to Virtual Center when you weren’t around. On the other hand, there are many that I can see some great application for. Let’s look at those…

How Scheduled VMware VI Client Tasks can help you

Here are a few examples of how the VMware VI Client scheduled tasks feature can help you:

• Change the power state of a virtual machine – say that you wanted to create scheduled tasks that would power off a VM at night and power on that VM in the morning. Perhaps there is a security reason for doing this or perhaps it just helps to reboot the VM for the stability of the underlying applications. Either way, the VI Client Scheduled Task feature can do this for you.
• Make a Snapshot of a Virtual Machine – perhaps you run a process in a VM every night that, due to poor programming, can have unexpected results that cause you to have to restore data. With the VI Client scheduled tasks feature, you could schedule a snapshot to run automatically each night before that process ran. By doing that, you have created a VM snapshot automatically using the VI client scheduled tasks feature.
• Move a virtual machine with VMotion - using the VI Client scheduled tasks feature, you could create a task that you run daily and move a virtual machine from one host to another – amazing! Perhaps you need to reboot a VMware ESX server each night and this schedule tasks could alleviate any downtime for that server.

Those are just a few of the types of scheduled tasks that you can perform with the VI Client. Now let’s look at, step by step, how to create and test a scheduled task to take a snapshot of a VMware ESX Server Guest VM at a certain time.

How to create a scheduled tasks to take a snapshot of a VMware ESX Server guest VM

With the VI Client, creating a scheduled task to take a snapshot of an ESX Server guest VM at a certain time is easy. Simple click on the Scheduled Tasks button on the main VI Client Toolbar, then click New to create a new scheduled task (as in Figure 3).

Figure 3: Creating a new scheduled task

This will bring up the Schedule a Task window, as you see in Figure 2, above. At that point, you should choose the Make a Snapshot of a virtual machine option, and click OK.

Figure 4: Choosing the snapshot scheduled task

Next, a new window will come up where you will choose the VM guest that you want to make a snapshot of, like this:

Figure 5: Choosing which VM (Virtual Machine) to take a scheduled snapshot of

After clicking Next, you will be asked to provide a name for the snapshot (because we are scheduling to take a snapshot), enter notes about the snapshot, and provide any options related to the snapshot (as in Figure 6).

Figure 6: Naming the snapshot and providing snapshot options

After clicking Next, you will be asked to name the scheduled task, provide a description, then set the frequency for the task.

Figure 7: Naming and setting the frequency for the scheduled task

Notice how you can set the scheduled task to just run once, only after startup, hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. There is a lot of flexibility in this that allows you to configure scheduled tasks and then not have to worry about them.

In our case, I chose to run the scheduled task just once and I set it to run in 2 minutes.

Figure 8: Final verification of scheduled task

I was given the option to verify the scheduled task one last time, then I clicked Finish.

I saw that the scheduled task was added to the list of scheduled tasks and very quickly the scheduled task started. I saw the progress down in the recent task list (see Figure 9, below).

Figure 9: Scheduled Task Started

The snapshot only took a few seconds and the task showed completed in the recent tasks list.

To verify it, I also went to the Events section of the VI client and saw that the task had compelted there as well.

Figure 10: VI Client Events showing the scheduled task completed

For one last point of verification, I went to the Snapshot Manager for the VM guest and I verified that the snapshot called “Scheduled Snapshot of VM” has indeed taken place (see below).

Figure 11: Snapshot manager for VM guest

And with that, we have demonstrated, step by step, how the scheduled task function of the VI Client can be used to create a scheduled task to take a snapshot of a VMware ESX Server Guest VM on a schedule.

Conclusion

In conclusion, automated task scheduled in your VMware Infrastructure can be very convenient and can save you a lot of time. In this article, I provided an overview of what task scheduling in the VMware Infrastructure client can do for you, scenarios where you would want to schedule tasks, and how to schedule tasks using the VI Client, step by step.

Understanding VMware ESX Server Security Profiles

Introduction

VMware ESX Server's built-in software firewall is called the "security profile" for the host server. To be clear, this firewall is the firewall for the entire host - including the service console (if it is not an ESXi server) but not the virtual guests running on the host. Personally, I wish that it was just called the "firewall", but the term "security profile" has "grown on me". I hope that after you read this article it will stick in your mind as well. Let's learn how it works, how to configure it in the GUI & CLI, and why it is important to you as a VMware Admin.

How does the VMware ESX Server Security Profile work?

As the VMware ESX Server security profile is the software firewall of the ESX Server its job is to monitor both inbound and outbound TCP & UDP ports to and from the ESX server. This is done in order to protect the server from network attack.

By default, only specific inbound connections are allowed to a VMware ESX Server. Specifically, (on an ESX 3.5 Server) only SSH and ports related to the VMware Infrastructure & Virtual Center management services are allowed inbound. If you want to access the server with any other applications, inbound, you will have to open that specific port.

Why is the VMware ESX Server Security Profile so important to you as an ESX Server Admin?

The VMware ESX Server Security Profile is important to you, as an ESX Server Admin for a few reasons:

• So that you can understand how your ESX Server is protected from attack and so that you can properly secure your server.
• If there are ESX services that you want to enable, such as FTP or NTP, you will need to open security profile ports.
• If you install any 3rd party applications on the server, you may need to open ports.

How do I configure Security Profiles in the VMware ESX Server VI Client?

To configure security profiles in the VMware Infrastructure Client (VI Client), open the client, log in, and click on an ESX Server, as you see in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Accessing the VMware ESX Server Security Profile

Next, you would click on the Configuration tab, then on Security Profile (under Software), as you see in Figure 1.

From here, you can see (on the left) what security profile (firewall) ports are opened on your server (both inbound and outbound). For example, on this server, you can see that SSH and CIM services (used for the VI Client and Virtual Center) are all opened, inbound. Outbound, SSH, Virtual center, VMware License server, iSCSI, NTP, and VCB are all open.

Figure 2: Viewing Security Profile Status and Configuring Security Profile Properties

So how do you change what ports are open, inbound and outbound? The answer is to click on the Properties for the security profile, as you see in Figure 2, above.

Once you click on the security profile properties, you will get a new window that looks like this:

Figure 3: Configuring Security Profile Properties

From the Security Profile properties window, you can enable the preconfigured applications & ports.

Let’s say that we wanted to enable SNMP services inbound and outbound. To do this, just check the checkbox next to that service. In our case, I enabled the SNMP Server port, allowing UDP traffic on port 161 inbound and UDP traffic on port 161. Notice that SNMP is not connected to a particular daemon, as the SSH server is. To apply changes, click OK.

There are times when you need to open a port in the firewall for various applications. For example, if you want to use iSCSI.

If a port is connected to a daemon and you select that port, you can click on the Option button for that port and see the services associated with it, like this:

Figure 4: Daemon / Service Properties

As I did not want to make any changes to the service, I just clicked OK.

Notice that you are limited to the preconfigured applications and whatever their specific inbound or outbound port that is preconfigured for that application. Plus, from the GUI interface, you cannot add any new ports or applications.

How do I configure the ESX Server security profile from the command line (CLI)?

To configure the security profile from the command line, use the esxcfg-firewall command. You would first, of course, have to SSH to the ESX Server and log in first before you can use this command.

The command syntax is simple. To see all the command options, just type the esxcfg-firewall command by itself, and press enter (see Figure 5, below).

Figure 5: esxcfg-firewall command syntax

To view open ports, use the esxcfg-firewall -q command line option.

To open a specific port, you would type a command similar to this:

[root@ESX3 root]# esxcfg-firewall -o 1000,tcp,in,test

However, don’t expect your CLI change to show up in the GUI interface.

You can also configure a port range, like this:

[root@ESX3 root]# esxcfg-firewall -o 1000:1050,tcp,in,test

Conclusion

In this article, you learned about VMware ESX Server’s built in software firewall - the “security profile”. You found out about how the security profile is the firewall for the entire host – including the service console (if it is not an ESXi server) but not the virtual guests running on the host. After that, we covered how the security profile works, how to configure it in the GUI & CLI, and why it is important to you, as a VMware Admin.

How does VMware ESXi Server compare to ESX Server?

Introduction

Most of you are familiar with VMware ESX Server as it has been around for so many years. ESX Server offers the "service console" built in and it is a rather large installation (in comparison to ESXi). The latest version of ESXi is "thinner" and lacks the service console. You should note that ESXi is NOT a replacement for the traditional ESX Server but, instead, an alternate version available. In my opinion, neither of these versions is "better" than another. Instead, these two versions are just "different" from one another. Let us learn how these two differ and help you determine which one is best for you.

What are the 10 major differences between VMware ESX Server and ESXi Server?

1. VMware ESXi Server has no service console: The traditional (full) ESX Server has a special built-in virtual machine called the “service console”. This service console is really a modified version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that is installed and running in every ESX Server by default. The service console has special access to the VMware-proprietary VMFS file system. 3rd party applications can be installed in the service console and Linux-based utilities can be run in the service console. Additionally, VMware includes a number of ESX-related tools in the service console, most of which start with “esxcfg-“ and they are run by accessing the service console with SSH.

As VMware ESXi Server has no service console, there is no SSH access to the server and there are no 3rd party applications that can be installed on the server. However, there are also benefits to NOT having these features (discussed more below).

2. VMware ESXi Server uses RCLI instead of service console utilities: As ESXi doesn’t have any CLI with VMware-related or Linux utilities, VMware needed to provide a CLI interface to ESXi. What VMware came up with is the Remote Command line Interface (RCLI). This is an application that you typically install as a VM and it is used to perform scheduled or ad hock scripting on the VMware Infrastructure. The ESXi RCLI is its own command line where ESX server service console scripting would be made up of mostly Linux utilities.

3. VMware ESXi Server is extremely thin = fast installation + faster boot: Because the service console has been removed from ESXi, the footprint in memory has been reduced to just 32MB. In my opinion, it is truly amazing that you can run a hypervisor, allowing you to run virtual machines on your server, with just 32MB of RAM overhead. In comparison, the full ESX Server on disk footprint is about 2GB.

Because the hypervisor is so small, the installation happens in about 10 minutes (or so) and the server boots up in 1-2 minutes. This is quite different from the full ESX server installation and boot, both of which are longer.

4. VMware ESXi Server can be purchased as an embedded hypervisor on hardware: While ESXi is so small that it can be easily installed and can even be booted from a USB Flash disk, what is truly unique about ESXi is that it is being sold by hardware vendors as a built-in hypervisor. That means that, say, you buy a Dell server, ESXi can be built inside the server (embedded) on a flash chip, on the motherboard. There is no installation of ESXi on disk.

5. VMware ESXi Server’s service console (firewall) is configured differently: As there is no service console to protect with the ESX Server security profile (software firewall), the security profile configuration in ESXi is very simplistic. The ESXi security profile configuration consists of a couple of services that you can either enable or not enable with inbound access. Here is a comparison between the two:

Figure 1: ESXi Security Profile – only 2 services

Figure 2: VMware ESX Server (full) Security Profile

6. VMware ESXi Server has a “yellow firmware console”: Instead of the full ESX Server “service console” boot (which looks like a Linux server booting), ESXi has a tiny “Direct Console User Interface (DCUI)”. Unofficially, I like to call this the “yellow firmware console”. In this ESXi console, all that you can configure are some very basic ESXi server options such as the root user password, network settings, and a couple other items. In the graphic below, you can see why I call it “yellow”:

Figure 3: ESXi yellow firmware console / DCUI

Because this tiny firmware console (did I mention that it’s yellow?) has so few features, the server is virtually “stateless”. A new server can be configured in seconds because there is almost nothing to configure.

7. VMware ESXi Server has server health status built in: With ESXi some hardware monitoring features are built into the hypervisor. With ESX Server, this is not yet built in. Instead, you must install hardware monitoring software in the service console. For more information on ESXi server health status and how to install vendor-specific utilities to provide similar information on ESX Servers, please see my article: Obtaining server health status in VMware ESX and VMware ESXi.

Figure 4:ESXi Health Status

8. Some networking features are configured through the service console are not available or are experimental: As ESXi is relatively new and as ESX server has the option to install code for advanced ESX Server features, not all features available in the full ESX Server are also available in ESXi. In fact, I have had issues getting VMware High Availability (VMHA) to work in ESXi. VMHA was not officially supported on ESXi until some recent patches came out for ESXi. Still, even after the patches, I had difficulties with ESXi and VMHA.

There are other ESX Server features that are “experimental” on ESXi. For the full list visit: Differences in Supported Networking Features Between ESX Server 3.5 and ESX Server 3i

9. VMware ESXi Server requires fewer patches and less rebooting: Because the full ESX server essentially has a modified Linux system as the service console, there are many patches that have to be deployed to keep it secure. With ESXi, on the contrary, the server has very few patches that need to be applied. Because ESXi has no service console and it is considered more secure and more reliable. Security, Reliability, and Maintainability, are all major factor when considering a hypervisor.

10. You can buy VMware ESXi Server for as little as $495: With the full version of ESX Server, the least expensive purchase option is the Foundation (Starter) kit for about $1,500, while you can purchase ESXi only (with no support) for $495. On the other hand, if you do get the Foundation kit, you not only get the full ESX Server but also ESXi and a number of VMware Infrastructure Suite options. Still, obtaining ESXi for under $500 allows a server to do so much more than it ever could before.

Which version of VMware ESX Server is best for you?

I am not here to sell you on VMware, on ESX Server, or ESXi Server, what I am here to do is to inform you of the drastic differences between these two versions of “ESX Server”. In my opinion, ESX Server (full) must be used if you have 3rd party apps or if you just want to have access to the “Linux-style” service console.

On the other hand, if you are willing to give up those two benefits, with ESXi, you will get an ESXi Server that boots faster, has fewer patches to deploy, and is more reliable. ESXi is also the least expensive option.

I recommend testing both VMware ESX Server and ESXi server. Both are available for a free evaluation download from VMware Inc.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned about VMware ESX Server the differences between ESXi and ESX Server. Additionally, you learned about how to make the right choice for you. Both of these hypervisors from VMware can be evaluated at no cost.

Using VMware: Understanding the Virtual Switch

Introduction

In this article we will explore the VMware ‘Virtual Switch’. The Virtual Switch is nothing more than a logical switching fabric built into your VMware infrastructure (ESX) so that you can network your Virtual Machines (VMs) however you need them. In the following sections we will cover the basics of the Virtual Switch, terminology used, its use, configuration and management. To view the Virtual Switch, you will need to be using VMware, the VIC and have access to VirtualCenter.

Understanding the Virtual Switch

VMware infrastructure networking components are not easy to comprehend without a little background information and understanding of ‘networking’ in general. First, networking is the connection to and from shared resources, systems and services anywhere you can gain permitted access. In a ‘logical’ or ‘virtual’ environment, this theory is identical with one exception – you must know the difference between a physical and logical adapter and how they all link together through the virtual (logical) switching fabric hosted by VMware. Figure 1 shows the basics of VMware virtual connectivity.

Figure 1: Viewing the Virtual Infrastructure

The VMware Infrastructure complies with a modular design so that all resources can be shared and assigned as needed. Virtual and physical networking components are designed identically the same way. If you need to share some of your physical or logical resources, you simply need to have them available and then configure them for use. This helps to create the most flexibility and if done correctly, the most efficiency. Here in Figure 1 you can see that VMs can be connected to each other through a virtual switch component, and then to physical NICs as needed. In Figure 1 you will also find that the management network is separate (and isolated) from the rest of the network thus increasing security for the management of your infrastructure.

The essential virtual networking components provided by ESX are virtual Ethernet adapters, used by individual virtual machines (VMs) and virtual switches that are used to connect each VM to either each other or to the ESX service console. To configure this functionality, you need to first log into VMware VirtualCenter and browse to the server you want to configure. Once selected, you can choose the configuration tab as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Viewing the Configuration tab in VirtualCenter

In Figure 3 we see that you can when you select Network Adapters from the Hardware menu, you can see the devices present, the speed in which they run at as well as for which switch they are connected to.

Figure 3: Viewing the Network Adapter Properties

Once your physical NICs are in place, we only need to add virtual NICs from your VMs to your Virtual Switch.

Configuring the Virtual Switch

The Virtual Switch is not difficult to configure if you know what your options are. If you understand the concepts of logical vs. physical, now all you need to do is configure them. Obviously, if you have already deployed your ESX server, you likely have a NIC or two installed in it. These are your physical NICs. Inside the ESX environment, you can configure the properties of the logical aspects of the switch to connect your VMs to its own network as well as the outside environment which is usually your local LAN connected to your WAN or Internet. That being said, all you need to do now is configure your VMs, then the network adapters for each of them inside the Virtual Switch. Figure 4 shows the Virtual Switch properties.

Figure 4: Viewing the Virtual Switch Properties

In Figure 5 you can configure your virtual NICs properties. For example, if you needed to configure the speed and duplex of your vmnic, all you would have to so is click on Edit and then select the speed and duplex desired.

Figure 5: Setting the Speed and Duplex on the Virtual NIC

You can also configure the number of ports used in the switch. Ports enable you to create a virtual NIC based connection from a VM to a Virtual Switch. Figure 6 shows the configuration of the ports on the General tab of the Virtual Switches properties.

Figure 6: Configuring the amount of Available Ports

If you need to, you can always click on the Add… link on the Configuration tab in the service console – this way you can invoke the Add Network Wizard as seen in Figure 7. You can add either a VM connection, a new VMKernel or a Service Console connection.

Figure 7: Using the Add Network Wizard

If you choose to add a VM based network, in Figure 8 you can select which physical NIC you would like to connect to and in the preview pane you can start to see your network map being build.

Figure 8: Starting to create a Network

Summary

In this article we discussed the components of VMware based physical and logical networking. As mentioned, the Virtual Switch is not difficult to configure if you know what your options are. Make sure you explore the VirtualCenter virtual networking options and learn how to configure the virtual aspects of NICs, switches and then in future articles we will also look at Teaming.