1. © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved New Alternatives for Deploying VMware vSphere Module 8

2. 8-2 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A You Are Here VMware vSphere: What’s New Course IntroductionIntroducing vSphere 5.0Virtual Machine ManagementNetwork ManagementStorage ManagementScalabilityHigh AvailabilityNew Alternatives for Deploying vSphere

3. 8-3 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Importance The VMware vCenter Server™ Appliance allows organizations that do not implement the Windows operating system to be able to use the enterprise features. Understanding the new options in deploying VMware ESXi™ hosts gives the user the ability to select deployment options that best fit the enterprise.

4. 8-4 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Module Lessons Lesson 1:Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance Lesson 2:Using Image Builder Lesson 3:Using Auto Deploy

5. 8-5 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Lesson 1: Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance

6. 8-6 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Learner Objectives After this lesson, you should be able to do the following:  Import the vCenter Server Appliance into an existing infrastructure.  Configure the vCenter Server Appliance.  Use the vCenter Server Appliance.

7. 8-7 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A vCenter Server Appliance Features The vCenter Server Appliance features include:  A 64-bit, Open Virtualization Format packaged application running on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11  An embedded database, IBM DB2 Express C, available for: Evaluating the appliance Running five VMware ESXi™ servers or 50 virtual machines  Support for an external Oracle or IBM DB2 database  Support for the VMware vSphere® Web Client  Support for Active Directory and Network Information Service authentication services

8. 8-8 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A vCenter Server Appliance Benefits Benefits of using the vCenter Server Appliance:  Simplified deployment and configuration: Import the appliance to an ESXi host. Configure the network and time zone settings. Use the Web interface to configure the appliance.  Elimination of the Windows operating system dependency and associated licensing costs  No change to the user experience when connecting to the appliance with the VMware vSphere® Client™

9. 8-9 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A vCenter Server Appliance Features Not Supported Features that are not supported by the vCenter Server Appliance include:  vCenter Linked Mode  VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat™  Microsoft SQL Server  IPv6

10. 8-10 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Importing the vCenter Server Appliance Import the appliance on an ESXi host that is part of the virtual infrastructure.

11. 8-11 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Starting the vCenter Server Appliance After the appliance boots, the appliance’s main screen appears. The quick-start guide tells you how to configure the appliance. But first configure the network and the time zone.

12. 8-12 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Configuring the vCenter Server Appliance Network To set up the network, select Configure Network. Then enter the network settings.

13. 8-13 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Configuring the vCenter Server Appliance Time Zone To configure the time zone, select Set Timezone. Then select the appropriate location.

14. 8-14 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Connecting to the vCenter Server Appliance Web Interface Open a Web browser and go to https:// :5480. Log in as user root with the default password vmware.

15. 8-15 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Configuring the vCenter Server Appliance To complete the configuration: 1. Accept the end-user license agreement. 2. Enter database connection information. 3. Start VMware vCenter Server™. The default database, DB2 Express C, is used.

16. 8-16 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Lab 7 In this lab, you will work with the vCenter Server Appliance. 1. Use a Web browser to configure the vCenter Server Appliance. 2. Use the vSphere Client to connect to the vCenter Server Appliance. 3. Add objects to the vCenter Server inventory.

17. 8-17 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Review of Learner Objectives You should be able to do the following:  Import the vCenter Server Appliance into an existing infrastructure.  Configure the vCenter Server Appliance.  Use the vCenter Server Appliance.

18. 8-18 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Lesson 2: Using Image Builder

19. 8-19 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Learner Objectives After this lesson, you should be able to do the following:  Identify the components of an ESXi image.  Describe the Image Builder architecture.  Use Image Builder to create an ESXi image.

20. 8-20 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A What Is an ESXi Image? core hypervisor CIM providers plug-in components drivers An ESXi image is a software bundle that consists of four main components.

21. 8-21 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A VMware Infrastructure Bundles VMware® infrastructure bundles (VIBs) are software packages that are added to an ESXi image. A VIB is a software packaging format used for ESXi. A VIB is used to package any of the following ESXi image components:  ESXi base image  Drivers  CIM providers  Plug-ins and other components A VIB specifies any relationships with other VIBs:  VIBs that the VIB depends on  VIBs that the VIB conflicts with

22. 8-22 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A ESXi Image Deployment ? standard ESXi ISO base providers base drivers missing CIM provider missing driver missing vendor plug-in The challenge of using a standard ESXi image is that the image might be missing desired functionality.

23. 8-23 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A What Is Image Builder? Image Builder is a set of command-line utilities that are used to create and manage image profiles.  An image profile is a group of VIBs that are used to create an ESXi image. Image Builder allows the administrator to build customized ESXi boot images:  Used for booting disk-based ESXi installations  Used by VMware vSphere® Auto Deploy to boot an ESXi host in memory Image Builder is based on VMware vSphere® PowerCLI.  The Image Builder cmdlets are included with the vSphere PowerCLI tools.

24. 8-24 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A image profile Image Builder Architecture software depot OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs VIB:  ESXi software package: Provided by VMware and its partners Image profile:  Defines an ESXi image  Consists of one or more VIBs Software depot:  Logical grouping of VIBs and image profiles  Can be online or offline Software channel:  Used to group different types of VIBs at a software depot security VIBs software channels

25. 8-25 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Building an ESXi Image: Step 1 Windows host with vSphere PowerCLI and Image Builder snap-in Image Builder Start the vSphere PowerCLI session.  Verify that the execution policy is set to unrestricted. Cmdlet: Get-ExecutionPolicy  Connect to your vCenter Server. Cmdlet: Connect-VIServer

26. 8-26 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Building an ESXi Image: Step 2 software depot OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs image profile driver VIBs Windows host with vSphere PowerCLI and Image Builder snap-in Image Builder Connect to a software depot.  Add a software depot to Image Builder. Cmdlet: Add-EsxSoftwareDepot  Verify that the software depot can be read. Cmdlet: Get-EsxImageProfile

27. 8-27 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Building an ESXi Image: Step 3 software depot OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs image profile driver VIBs Windows host with vSphere PowerCLI and Image Builder snap-in Image Builder Clone and modify an image profile.  Clone an image profile. Cmdlet: New-EsxImageProfile  Modify an image profile. Cmdlets: Add-EsxSoftwarePackage Remove-EsxSoftwarePackage Start by cloning the default ESXi image provided by VMware and then customize it.

28. 8-28 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Windows host with vSphere PowerCLI and Image Builder snap-in Using Image Builder to Build an Image: Step 4 ISO image PXE-bootable Image software depot OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs image profile driver VIBs Generate a new ESXi image.  Cmdlet: Export-ESXImageProfile Image Builder

29. 8-29 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Review of Learner Objectives You should be able to do the following:  Identify the components of an ESXi image.  Describe the Image Builder architecture.  Use Image Builder to create an ESXi image.

30. 8-30 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Lesson 3: Using Auto Deploy

31. 8-31 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Learner Objectives After this lesson, you should be able to do the following:  Describe how Auto Deploy works.  Use Auto Deploy to deploy stateless ESXi hosts.

32. 8-32 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A What Is Auto Deploy? Auto Deploy is:  A new method introduced in vSphere 5.0 for deploying ESXi hosts: The ESXi host’s state and configuration run entirely in memory. When the ESXi host is shut down, the state information is cleared from memory.  Based on PXE boot  Works with Image Builder, vCenter Server, and Host Profiles Benefits of Auto Deploy:  Large numbers of ESXi hosts can be deployed quickly and easily.  A standard ESXi image can be shared across many hosts.  The host image is decoupled from the physical server: Simplifies host recovery  A boot disk is not necessary.

33. 8-33 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Where Are the Configuration and State Information Stored? boot disk Image state: ESXi base, drivers, CIM providers … Configuration state: networking, storage, date/time, firewall, admin password … Running state: VM inventory, vSphere HA state, license, vSphere DPM configuration Event recording: log files, core dump Because there is no boot disk, all information on the state of the host is stored in or managed by vCenter Server. vCenter Server image profile host profile vCenter Server add-in components

34. 8-34 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Auto Deploy Architecture host profiles and answer files image profiles VIBs and image profiles public depot fetch of predefined image profiles and VIBs HTTP fetch of images/VIBs and host profiles host profile engine ESXi host rules engine Auto Deploy server Image Builder PowerCLI host profile UI Auto Deploy PowerCLI

35. 8-35 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Rules Engine Basics Auto Deploy contains a rules engine that determines which ESXi image and host profiles can be used on selected hosts. The rules engine maps software images and host profiles to hosts, based on the attributes of the host:  For example, rules can be based on IP or MAC address.  The -AllHosts option can be used for every host. For new hosts, the Auto Deploy server checks with the rules engine before serving image and host profiles to a host. vSphere PowerCLI cmdlets are used to set, evaluate, and update image profile and host profile rules. The rules engine includes rules and rule sets.

36. 8-36 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Software Configuration Install Auto Deploy and register it with a vCenter Server instance:  Can be installed on the vCenter Server system  Included with the vCenter Server Appliance The installation binary is included with the vCenter Server installation media. Install vSphere PowerCLI on a server that can reach the vCenter Server system and the Auto Deploy server. The user can set up an online or offline software depot:  An online depot is a URL where the image is stored.  An offline depot is a local zipped file that contains the image.  Both are configured and maintained using Image Builder.

37. 8-37 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A PXE Boot Infrastructure Setup Auto Deploy requires a PXE boot infrastructure.  The ESXi host must get its IP address from a DHCP server.  The DHCP server must be configured to direct the ESXi host to a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server: To download the preboot execution environment (PXE) file  The following DHCP services can be used: The organization’s current DHCP server A new DHCP server installed for Auto Deploy use The DHCP service included with the vCenter Server Appliance  A TFTP server must be accessible from the DHCP server and the vCenter Server instance. TFTP services are included with the vCenter Server Appliance.

38. 8-38 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Initial Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 1 The ESXi host boots from the PXE boot server. vCenter Server Host Profile host profile TFTP DHCP Auto Deploy “waiter” rules engine ESXi host gPXE image DHCP request OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile

39. 8-39 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Initial Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 2 The ESXi host contacts the Auto Deploy server. vCenter Server Host Profile host profile Auto Deploy “waiter” rules engine ESXi host HTTP boot request cluster Acluster B OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile

40. 8-40 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Initial Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 3 The host’s image profile, host profile, and cluster are determined. vCenter Server Host Profile host profile Auto Deploy “waiter” rules engine ESXi host cluster Acluster B image profile X host profile 1 cluster B OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile

41. 8-41 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Auto Deploy Initial Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 4 The image is pushed to the host and the host profile is applied. OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile vCenter Server Host Profile host profile ESXi host cluster Acluster B ESXi image (VIBs) “waiter” rules engine image profile, host profile, cluster info

42. 8-42 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Initial Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 5 The host is placed in the appropriate cluster, if specified by a rule. The ESXi image and information on the image profile, host profile, and cluster to use are held on the Auto Deploy server. ESXi host cluster Acluster B OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile “waiter” rules engine ESXi image Auto Deploy image profile, host profile, cluster info vCenter Server Host Profile host profile

43. 8-43 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Subsequent Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 1 The autodeployed host is rebooted, and the PXE boot sequence starts. ESXi host TFTPDHCP gPXE image DHCP Request OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile “waiter” rules engine ESXi image Auto Deploy image profile, host profile, cluster info vCenter Server Host Profile host profile

44. 8-44 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile “waiter” rules engine ESXi image Auto Deploy image profile, host profile, cluster info Subsequent Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 2 The Auto Deploy server is contacted by the ESXi host. ESXi host HTTP boot request cluster Acluster B vCenter Server Host Profile host profile

45. 8-45 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A vCenter Server Host Profile host profile “waiter” rules engine ESXi image Auto Deploy image profile, host profile, cluster info Subsequent Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 3 The ESXi image is downloaded from the Auto Deploy server to the host. The host profile is downloaded from vCenter Server to the host. ESXi host TFTPDHCP ESXi image (VIBs) OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile

46. 8-46 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Subsequent Boot of an Autodeployed ESXi Host: Step 4 The host is placed into the appropriate cluster. ESXi host cluster Acluster B OEM VIBs ESXi VIBs driver VIBs image profile “waiter” rules engine ESXi image Auto Deploy image profile, host profile, cluster info vCenter Server Host Profile host profile

47. 8-47 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Managing Your Auto Deploy Environment If you change a rule set:  Unprovisioned hosts boot automatically according to the new rules.  For all other hosts, Auto Deploy applies new rules only when you test a host’s rule compliance and perform remediation. If vCenter Server becomes unavailable:  Host deployment continues to work because the Auto Deploy server retains the state information. Hosts must be part of a VMware vSphere® High Availability cluster.  The host contacts the Auto Deploy server to determine which image and host profile to use. If Auto Deploy becomes unavailable:  You will be unable to boot or reboot a host.  Recommendation: Install Auto Deploy in a virtual machine and use vSphere HA to keep it available.

48. 8-48 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Using Auto Deploy with Update Manager to Upgrade Hosts VMware vSphere® Update Manager supports ESXi 5.0 hosts that use Auto Deploy to boot. Update Manager can patch hosts but cannot update the ESXi image used to boot the host. Update Manager can remediate only patches that do not require a reboot (live-install).  Patches requiring reboot cannot be installed. Workflow for patching includes the following steps:  Update the image that Auto Deploy uses with patches manually. If a reboot is possible, it is all that is required to update the host.  If a reboot cannot be performed, create a baseline in Update Manager and remediate the host.

49. 8-49 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Lab 8 In this lab, you will configure Auto Deploy to boot ESXi hosts. 1. Install Auto Deploy. 2. Configure the DHCP server and TFTP server for Auto Deploy. 3. Use vSphere PowerCLI to configure Auto Deploy. 4. (For vClass users only) Configure the ESXi host to boot from the network. 5. (For non-vClass users) Configure the ESXi host to boot from the network. 6. View the autodeployed host in the vCenter Server inventory. 7. (Optional) Apply a host profile to the autodeployed host. 8. (Optional) Define a rule to apply the host profile to an autodeployed host when it boots.

50. 8-50 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Lab 9 In this lab, you will configure Auto Deploy to boot ESXi hosts. 1. Prepare for the lab. 2. Start the Auto Deploy service. 3. Configure the DHCP service. 4. Configure the TFTP service. 5. Use vSphere PowerCLI to configure Auto Deploy. 6. (For vClass users only) Configure the ESXi host to boot from the network. 7. (For non-vClass users) Configure the ESXi host to boot from the network. 8. View the autodeployed host in the vCenter Server inventory. 9. (Optional) Apply a host profile to the autodeployed host. 10. (Optional) Define a rule to apply the host profile to an autodeployed host when it boots.

51. 8-51 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Lab 10 (Optional) In this lab, you will use Image Builder to export an image profile.  Export an image profile to an ISO image.

52. 8-52 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Review of Learner Objectives You should be able to do the following:  Describe how Auto Deploy works.  Use Auto Deploy to deploy stateless ESXi hosts.

53. 8-53 © 2011 VMware Inc. All rights reserved VMware vSphere: What’s New – Revision A Key Points  The vCenter Server Appliance provides the user with a Linux-based solution for managing the virtual infrastructure.  Image Builder allows the administrator to create customized ESXi boot images.  Auto Deploy is a new method for deploying ESXi hosts, where the ESXi host’s state and configuration run entirely in memory. Questions?