vSphere Virtualization Overview Flashcards
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “Operating System”
Software designed to allocate physical resources to applications
Ex) Microsoft Windows, Linux
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “Application”
Software that runs on an operating system, consuming physical resources
Ex) Microsoft Office, Chrome
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “Hypervisor”
Specialized operating system designed to run VMs
Ex) ESXi, Workstation, Fusion
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “Virtual Machine”
Specialized application that abstracts hardware resources into software; is a software representation of a physical computer and its components
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “Guest”
The operating system that runs in a VM (also called the guest operating system)
Ex) Microsoft Windows, Linux
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “Host”
Physical computer that provides resources to the ESXi hypervisor
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “vSphere”
Server virtualization product of VMware that combines the ESXi hypervisor and the VCenter Server management platform; ESXi is the hypervisor on which you run virtual machines (VMs); vCenter is the central administration platform for ESXi hosts, virtual machines, storage and networking
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “Cluster”
Group of ESXi hosts whose resources are shared by VMs
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “vSphere vMotion”
Feature that supports the migration of powered-on VMs from host to host without service interruption
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “vSphere HA”
Cluster feature that protects against host hardware failures by restarting VMs on hosts that are running normally
Virtualization Terminology:
Define “DRS”
Cluster feature that uses vSphere vMotion to place VMs on hosts and ensure that each VM receives the resources that it needs
What are examples of challenges faced by non-virtualized Data Centers?
1) The model is not flexible and can be inefficient
2) the planning and cost of proper infrastructure (square footage, rack space, power, cooling, cabling and server provisioning)
3) one-to-one relationship between physical computer and the software it runs, resulting in most computers being vastly under utilized
4) Cost of the space and power required to house, run and keep computer systems cool can be expensive
5) Provisioning physical servers is a time-consuming process, time must be allotted to procure new hardware, place it in the data center, install an operating system, and patch an operating system
6) installing and configuring an operating system can take weeks because the process includes a myriad of other tasks to integrate the system into the current infrastructure, for example, configuring firewall rules, enabling switch ports and provisioning storage
What are benefits of data center virtualization?
1) virtualization enables you to run more workloads on a single server by consolidating the environment so that your applications run on virtual machines
2) Converting to a virtualized data center reduces the required data center square footage, rack space, power, cooling, cabling, storage and network components by reducing the number of physical machines
3) physical machines can be converted to virtualized machines (VMs) thus consolidating several machines onto a single host server
4) time to provision a virtual machine is a matter of seconds rather than weeks for a physical machine
What are the components of a virtual machine (VM)?
guest operating system (OS), VMware tools, virtual resources that include: CPU, network adapters, disks and controllers, and GPUs
What are some constraints regarding physical machines?
1) difficult to move or copy
2) bound to a specific set of hardware components
3) often have a short life cycle
4) require personal contact to upgrade hardware
What are some benefits of virtual machines (VMs)?
1) easy to move or copy
2) independent of physical hardware because VMs are encapsulated into files
3) isolated from other VMs running on the same physical hardware
4) insulated from physical hardware changes
What is virtualization?
the process of creating a software-based representation of a physical unit, such as a server, desktop, network, or storage device. Virtualization is the single most effective way to reduce IT expenses while boosting efficiency and agility for all business sizes
What is a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC)?
in a software defined data center (SDDC), all infrastructure is virtualized, and the control of the data center is automated by software. vSphere is the foundation of the SDDC. A software-defined data center (SDDC) is deployed with isolated computing, storage, networking, and security resources that are most efficient, more manageable, and more scalable than the traditional, hardware-based data center
What is vSphere+?
VMware vSphere+ is a subscription-based offering that brings the benefits of cloud to on-premises workloads. vSphere+ consists of on-premises and cloud components that interact with each other. vSphere+ lets you centrally manage your on-premises workloads from a cloud console, with access to cloud services.
What are the on-premises components of vSphere+?
vCenter instances and ESXi hosts
cloud gateway that connects vCenter instances to the VMware Cloud Console
What are the cloud components of vSphere+?
- VMware Cloud Console, where you can centrally manage on-premises infrastructure and access cloud services
- Cloud services for admins (or IT operations) and developers (or DevOps) that augment and enhance on-premises capabilities
What are some cloud services available through vSphere+?
Admin Services
- Inventory management
- Events and alerts management
- VM provisioning
- Lifecycle management
- Configuration management
Developer Services
- Tanzu Kubernetes Grid
- Tanzu integrated services
Add-On Services
- Disaster recovery
List the 4 vSphere user interfaces:
1) vSphere Client - is an HTML5-based client You manage the vSphere environment with the vSphere Client by connecting to vCenter Server and managing the vCenter Server object inventory. You access the vSphere Client from a supported browser at https://<vCenter_FQDN_or_IP_Address>/ui.</vCenter_FQDN_or_IP_Address>
2) VMware PowerCLI - is a command-line and scripting tool that is built on Windows PowerShell. The tool provides a PowerShell interface to the vSphere API. PowerCLI provides more than 700 cmdlets for managing and automating vSphere.
3) VMware Host Client - is an HTML5-based user interface that you can use to manage individual ESXi hosts directly when vCenter Server is unavailable. VMware Host Client is provided from ESXi. You access it from a supported browser at https://<ESXi_FQDN_or_IP_Address>/ui.</ESXi_FQDN_or_IP_Address>
4) vSphere ESXi Shell - provides a command-line interface for running essential maintenance commands. You use the vSphere ESXi Shell mainly for troubleshooting purposes. From the vSphere ESXi Shell, you can run ESXCLI commands. You can use the ESXCLI command set lets you remotely manage ESXi hosts. ESXCLI commands can be run against a vCenter system and target any ESXi system.
What are the 4 types of storage supported by vSphere?
1) VMFS - VMware Virtual Machine File System, is a clustered file system that provides storage virtualization optimized for virtual machines. Multiple ESXi hosts can read and write to the same VMFS datastore simulataneously
2) NFS - Network File Sytem, is a file sharing protocol that ESXi hosts use to communicate with a network-attached storage (NAS) device
3) vSAN - virtual Storage Area Network, is a software-defined storage solution that provides shared storage for virtual machines. vSAN virtualizes local physical storage in the form of HDD or SSD devices on ESXi hosts in a cluster, turning them into a unified datastore
4) vSphere Virtual Volumes - the datastore virtualizes SAN and NAS devices by abstracting physical hardware resources to logical pools of capacity. Storage arrays or servers are designed to manage all aspects of vSphere Virtual Volumes datastores and ESXi hosts have no direct access to a vSphere Virtual Volumes storage
