Virtualization Essentials

Learn the fundamental concepts and skills by building your own virtual machine

Virtualization is more important than ever, it's how the Cloud works! As virtualization continues to expand, millions of companies all over the world are leveraging virtualization. IT professionals need a solid understanding of virtualization concepts and software to compete in today's job market.

The updated new edition of Virtualization Essentials teaches you the core concepts and skills necessary to work with virtualization environments. Designed for new and aspiring IT professionals alike, this practical guide offers an applied, real-world approach to help you develop the necessary skill set to work in Cloud computing, the DevOps space, and the rest of the virtual world.

Virtualization Essentials simplifies complex concepts to ensure that you fully understand what virtualization is and how it works within the computing environment. Step by step, you’ll learn how to build your own virtual machine, both by scratch and by migrating from physical to virtual. Each user-friendly chapter contains an overview of the topic, a discussion of key concepts, hands-on tutorials, end-of-chapter exercises, review questions, and more.

• Configure and manage a virtual machine’s CPU, memory, storage, and networking
• Distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors
• Compare the leading hypervisor products in today’s market
• Configure additional devices for a virtual machine
• Make considerations for availability
• Understand how cloud computing leverages virtualization

Virtualization Essentials is an invaluable ‘learn-by-doing’ resource for new and aspiring IT professionals looking to gain a solid foundation in virtualization. It is also an excellent reference for more experienced IT admins responsible for managing on-premise and remote computers and workstations.

About the Author

Matthew Portnoy is an information technology professional and Sales Engineering Manager at Splunk. He specializes in data management and virtualization. He has over 30 years’ experience in the IT industry and is a former Staff System Engineer at VMware.

Introduction xv

Chapter 1 Understanding Virtualization 1

Describing Virtualization 1

Microsoft Windows Drives Server Growth 3

Explaining Moore’s Law 7

Understanding the Importance of Virtualization 10

Examining Today’s Trends 12

Virtualization and Cloud Computing 15

Hyperconverged Infrastructure 16

Understanding Virtualization Software Operation 17

Virtualizing Servers 17

Virtualizing Desktops 18

Virtualizing Applications 19

Chapter 2 Understanding Hypervisors 23

Describing a Hypervisor 23

Exploring the History of Hypervisors 24

Understanding Type 1 Hypervisors 25

Understanding Type 2 Hypervisors 27

Understanding the Role of a Hypervisor 28

Holodecks and Traffic Cops 28

Resource Allocation 30

Comparing Today’s Hypervisors 31

VMware ESX 31

Citrix Hypervisor (Xen) 33

Microsoft Hyper- V 35

Other Solutions 36

Chapter 3 Understanding Virtual Machines 39

Describing a Virtual Machine 39

Examining CPUs in a Virtual Machine 42

Examining Memory in a Virtual Machine 43

Examining Network Resources in a Virtual Machine 44

Examining Storage in a Virtual Machine 45

Understanding How a Virtual Machine Works 47

Working with Virtual Machines 49

Understanding Virtual Machine Clones 50

Understanding Templates 51

Understanding Snapshots 52

Understanding OVF 53

Understanding Containers 54

Chapter 4 Creating a Virtual Machine 57

Performing P2V Conversions 57

Investigating the Physical- to- Virtual Process 58

Hot and Cold Cloning 59

Loading Your Environment 60

Loading VMware Workstation Player 61

Exploring VMware Workstation Player 66

Loading VirtualBox 70

Building a New Virtual Machine 75

Thinking About VM Configuration 76

Creating a First VM 77

Chapter 5 Installing Windows on a Virtual Machine 83

Loading Windows into a Virtual Machine 83

Installing Windows 11 84

Installing VMware Tools 97

Understanding Configuration Options 102

Optimizing a New Virtual Machine 107

Chapter 6 Installing Linux on a Virtual Machine 111

Loading Linux into a Virtual Machine 111

Exploring Oracle VM VirtualBox 112

Installing Linux into a Virtual Machine 115

Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions 126

Understanding Configuration Options 129

Optimizing a New Linux Virtual Machine 135

Chapter 7 Managing CPUs for a Virtual Machine 139

Understanding CPU Virtualization 139

Configuring VM CPU Options 143

Tuning Practices for VM CPUs 145

Choosing Multiple vCPUs vs a Single vCPU 145

Hyperthreading 146

Working with Intel and AMD Servers 147

Chapter 8 Managing Memory for a Virtual Machine 151

Understanding Memory Virtualization 151

Configuring VM Memory Options 154

Tuning Practices for VM Memory 156

Calculating Memory Overhead 157

Memory Optimizations 158

Chapter 9 Managing Storage for a Virtual Machine 165

Understanding Storage Virtualization 165

Configuring VM Storage Options 171

Tuning VM Storage 179

Chapter 10 Managing Networking for a Virtual Machine 187

Understanding Network Virtualization 187

Configuring VM Network Options 198

Tuning Practices for Virtual Networks 203

Chapter 11 Copying a Virtual Machine 207

Cloning a Virtual Machine 207

Working with Templates 217

Saving a Virtual Machine State 221

Creating a Snapshot 224

Merging Snapshots 228

Chapter 12 Managing Additional Devices in Virtual Machines 231

Using Virtual Machine Tools 231

Understanding Virtual Devices 234

Configuring a CD/DVD Drive 234

Configuring a Floppy Disk Drive 235

Configuring a Sound Card 239

Configuring USB Devices 240

Configuring Graphic Displays 242

Configuring Other Devices 243

Chapter 13 Understanding Availability 249

Increasing Availability 249

Protecting a Virtual Machine 252

Protecting Multiple Virtual Machines 256

Protecting Data Centers 261

Chapter 14 Understanding Applications in a Virtual Machine 265

Examining Virtual Infrastructure Performance Capabilities 265

Deploying Applications in a Virtual Environment 270

Understanding Virtual Appliances and vApps 279

Open Stack and Containers 281

Cloud and the Future of Virtualization 282

Appendix: Answers to Additional Exercises 285

Glossary 295

Index 301

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