Day 5

Virtual Machine
 About Virtual Machine Files
• A virtual machine consists of a set of related files.

Configuration file VM_name.vmx

Swap files VM_name.vswp
VM vmx-VM_name.vswp
folder BIOS file VM_name.nvram
Log files vmware.log
Template file VM_name.vmtx
Raw device map file VM_name-rdm.vmdk
Disk descriptor file VM_name.vmdk
Disk data file VM_name-flat.vmdk
Suspend state file VM_name.vmss
Snapshot data file VM_name.vmsd
Snapshot state file VM_name.vmsn
Snapshot disk file VM_name-delta.vmdk
About Virtual Machine Virtual Hardware
2 IDE Up to 3 Up to 32 VMCI AHCI
Parallel Ports Serial/Com ports Controller Controller
Controller
Devices 1 USB
Controller
20 Devices
Up to 10

NICs 1 Floppy Controller

2 Devices
Hardware Virtual Machine
3D
Up to 4 SCSI
Adapters

Up to
4 TB of RAM
15 Devices
per Adapter
Up to 128 vCPUs
 Virtual Hardware Versions
• The virtual hardware
version determines the
operating system
functions that a virtual
machine supports. Do not
use a version that is higher
than supported by the
VMware product.
 CPU and Memory
• You can add, change, or configure CPU and memory resources to improve
virtual machine performance.
• The maximum number of vCPUs that you can assign to a virtual machine
depends on:
o The number of logical CPUs on the host
o The host license
o The type of installed guest operating system
 Thick-Provisioned Virtual Disks
Thick provisioning uses all the defined disk
space at the creation of the virtual disk:
o Virtual machine disks consume all the capacity, as
defined at creation, regardless of the amount of Host
data in the guest operating system file system.
• Eager zeroed or lazy zeroed:
o Every block in an eager zeroed thick-provisioned
Thick Thin Thin
disk is prefilled with a zero.
o Every block in a lazy zeroed thick-provisioned
disk is filled with a zero when data is written to the
Virtual
block. Disks

Datastores
 Thin-Provisioned Virtual Disks
Thin provisioning enables virtual machines to
use storage space as needed:
o Virtual machine disks consume only
the capacity needed to hold the Host
current files.
o A virtual machine sees the full
allocated disk size at all times.
o You can mix thick and thin formats. Thick Thin Thin
o Full reporting and alerts help
manage allocations and capacity.
Virtual
• More efficient use of storage: Disks
o Virtual disk allocation 140 GB
o Available datastore capacity 100 GB
o Used storage capacity 80 GB

Datastores
 Network Virtual Machine Configuration
• ESXi networking features:
o Provide communication between virtual machines on the same host, between virtual machines on different hosts, and
between virtual and physical machines
o Enable management of ESXi hosts
o Enable communication between VMkernel services (NFS, iSCSI, or VMware vSphere® vMotion®) and the physical
network
When you configure networking for a virtual machine, you select or change a network adapter type, a
network connection, and whether to connect to the network when the virtual machine powers on.
 Network Adapters
• When you configure a virtual machine, you can add network
adapters (NICs) and specify the adapter type. Whenever possible, select
VMXNET3.
• Supported network adapter types:
o Flexible: Can function as either a Vlance or VMXNET adapter.
o E1000-E1000E: High-performance adapter available for only some guest operating systems.
o VMXNET, VMXNET2, and VMXNET3 are VMware drivers that are available only with VMware
Tools.
o SR-IOV passthrough: Representation of a virtual function on a physical NIC with SR-IOV support:
• Limited guest operating system support
 Miscellaneous Devices
• A virtual machine must have a vCPU and virtual memory. The addition of other virtual devices makes the
virtual machine more useful.
• CD/DVD drive:
o Connect to CD, DVD, or ISO image.
• USB 3.0:
o Smart-card readers
• Floppy drive:
o Connect a virtual machine to
a floppy drive or a floppy image.
• Generic SCSI devices:
o A virtual machine can be
connected to additional SCSI
adapters.
vGPUs:
o Enable a virtual machine to use
GPUs on the physical host for
high-computation activities.
 Virtual Machine Console
The virtual machine console provides the mouse, keyboard, and screen features to
control the virtual machine.
 VMware OVF & OVA
o OVF is a file format that supports exchange of virtual appliances across products and
platforms. OVA is a single file distribution of the same file package.
o The OVF and OVA formats offer the following advantages:
o OVF and OVA files are compressed, allowing for faster downloads.
o The vSphere Web Client validates an OVF or OVA file before importing it and ensures
that it is compatible with the intended destination server. If the appliance is
incompatible with the selected host, it cannot be imported and an error message
appears.
o OVF and OVA can encapsulate multi-tiered applications and more than one virtual machine.
 Deploying OVF Templates
• You can deploy any virtual machine or a virtual appliance stored in OVF.
• Virtual appliances are:
o Preconfigured virtual machines
o Usually designed for a single purpose, for example, a safe browser or firewall
o Available from the VMware Solution Exchange
 VMware Tools
VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhance the performance of the
virtual machine’s guest operating system.

• VMware Tools benefits: VMware Tools features:

o Device drivers: o Shared folders between host and
• SVGA display guest file systems
• VMXNET/VMXNET3 o Copying and pasting text, graphics,
• Balloon driver for memory and files between the virtual
management machine and the host or client
• Sync driver for quiescing I/O desktop
o Increased graphics performance o Time synchronization
o Improved mouse performance o Ability to shut down the virtual
machine
 Removing a Virtual Machine
• You can remove a virtual machine in two ways:
o Remove from the inventory:
• This type of removal unregisters the virtual machine.
• The virtual machine’s files remain on the disk.
• The virtual machine can later be registered (added) to the inventory.
o Delete from disk:
• All virtual machine files are permanently deleted from the virtual machine datastore.
Resource Pools
 Shares, Limits, and Reservations
• A virtual machine powers on only if its reservation can be guaranteed.

Available Capacity Limit

Shares are used to

compete in this range.

Reservation

0 MHz/MB
 About Resource Pools
• A resource pool is a logical abstraction of hierarchically managed CPU and memory
resources.

Root Resource
Pool

Sibling
Resource Pools
Parent
Resource Pool

Child
Resource Pool
 Resource Pool Attributes
• You can create a child resource pool of
any VMware ESXi™ host, resource
pool, or VMware vSphere® Distributed
Resource Scheduler™ cluster.
o Shares: Low, Normal, High, Custom
o Reservations: In MHz or GHz, MB or GB
o Limits:
• In MHz or GHz, MB or GB.
• Unlimited access, by default, up to
maximum amount of resource accessible.
o Reservation type:
• Expandable selected: Virtual machines and
subpools can draw from this pool’s parent.
• Expandable deselected: Virtual machines
and subpools can draw only from this pool,
even if its parent has free resources.
 Reasons to Use Resource Pools
• Use of resource pools can provide these benefits:
o Flexible hierarchical organization
o Isolation between pools and sharing in pools
o Access control and delegation
o Separation of resources from hardware
o Management of sets of virtual machines running a multitier service
o Ability to prioritize virtual machine workloads
 Resource Pool Case Study
• Company X’s IT department has two internal customers:
o The Finance Department supplies two-thirds of the budget.
o The Engineering Department supplies one-third of the budget.

• Each internal customer has both production and test/dev virtual machines.
• You must control the resource consumption of the test/dev virtual machines.
• You must also ensure the entitled resources of the Finance Department.
 Resource Pool Example
• This example shows where resource attributes are set on a resource pool.

Engineering Pool
CPU Shares: 1000
Reservation: 1,000 MHz
Limit: 4,000 MHz
Expandable Reservation: Yes

Eng-Test VM Eng-Prod VM
CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000
Reservation: 0 MHz Reservation: 250 MHz
Limit: 4000 MHz Limit: 4000 MHz
 Resource Pools Example: CPU Shares
• In this example, the Finance resource pool has twice as many CPU shares as the
Engineering resource pool. It is entitled to twice as many CPU resources as the
Engineering resource pool.

Standalone Host: Srv001

(Root Resource Pool)

Engineering
Engineering Pool
pool Finance Pool
Engineering pool
CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000

Eng-Test VM Eng-Prod VM Fin-Test VM Fin-Prod VM

CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000 CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000
Resource Pools Example: CPU Contention
Srv01
All VMs below are running
on the same physical CPU.

Engineering
Engineering Pool
pool Finance Pool
Engineering pool
CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000
-%33 of Physical CPU -67% of Physical CPU

Eng-Test VM Eng-Prod VM Fin-Test VM Fin-Prod VM

CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000 CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000

11% Engineering ~33%

22%

Eng-test gets ~33% of Engineering’s CPU

allocation: approximately 11% of the physical
Finance ~67%
CPU.
45% 22%
 Expandable Reservation
Root Resource Pool
• Borrowing resources
Total CPU: 10,200 MHz
Total Memory: 3,000 MB occurs recursively from the
ancestors of the current
Retail Pool resource pool:
Reservation: 3,000 MHz o The Expandable Reservation option
Expandable Reservation: Yes must be enabled.
o This option offers more flexibility
but less protection.
eCommerce Apps eCommerce Web
Pool Pool • Expanded reservations are
Reservation: 1,200 Reservation:
MHz 1,000 MHz not released until the
Expandable? Yes Expandable? No
virtual machine that caused
the expansion is shut down
or its reservation is
A mismanaged or mis-sized expandable reservation reduced.
might claim all unreserved capacity.
vApp
 Managing Virtual Machines with a vApp
• A vApp is an object in the vCenter Server inventory:
o A vApp is a container for one or more virtual machines.
o A vApp can be used to package and manage multitiered applications.
 vApp Characteristics
• You can configure
several vApp settings
by right-clicking the
vApp:
o CPU and memory allocation
o IP allocation policy

• You can also configure

the virtual machine
startup and shutdown
order.
 Exporting and Deploying vApps
• Exporting the vApp as an OVF • Deploying the OVF template:
template: • Deploy multitier vApps.
• Share with others. • Deploy OVF from VMware Virtual
• Use for archive purposes. Appliance Marketplace.
Content Library
 About the Content Library
• A content library is a repository of OVF templates and other files that can be shared
and synchronized across vCenter Server systems.
 Benefits of Content Libraries

Sharing and Consistency

Storage Efficiency

Metadata

Secure Subscription
 Library Subscription Types
• Three types of content library are available: local, published, and subscribed .

Published
Local Subscribed
Local library that makes
Library of content that Library that syncs with a
content available for
you control published library
subscription

On-Demand
Automatic
Automatic >>>>
On-Demand >>>>
>>>>
>>>>
Metadata

Library Content • Immediately download all library content

Download library content only when needed
Saves storage backing space. Only metadata is retrieved. Content is downloaded as needed when
creating virtual machines or synchronizing content
 Publish and Subscribe
• Interactions between the publisher and subscriber can include connectivity, security,
an actionable files.

vCenter Server vCenter Server

Templates
Other

Transfer Service Transfer Service

Content Library Service Content Library Service

Subscribe using URL.

Subscription URL

Password (Optional)
 Synchronization and Versioning

• Synchronization is used to resolve versioning discrepancies between the publisher

and the subscribing content libraries.

vCenter Server vCenter Server

HTTP/NFC

Transfer Service Transfer Service

Content Library Service VCSP Content Library Service

VMware Content Subscription Protocol

Content Library Requirements and Limitations

Single storage backing and datastore (64 TB maximum).

Maximum 256 library Items.

Maximum 10 simultaneous synchronizations.

Synchronization occurs once every 24 hours.

License to scale based on content library usage.