Learn virtualization skills by building your own virtual machine Virtualization Essentials, Second Edition provides new and aspiring IT professionals with immersive training in working with virtualization environments. Clear, straightforward discussion simplifies complex concepts, and the hands-on tutorial approach helps you quickly get up to speed on the fundamentals. You'll begin by learning what virtualization is and how it works within the computing environment, then you'll dive right into building your own virtual machine. You'll learn how to set up the CPU, memory, storage, networking, and more as you master the skills that put you in-demand on the job market. Each chapter focuses on a specific goal, and concludes with review questions that test your understanding as well as suggested exercises that help you reinforce what you've learned. As more and more companies are leveraging virtualization, it's imperative that IT professionals have the skills and knowledge to interface with virtualization-centric infrastructures. This book takes a learning-by-doing approach to give you hands-on training and a core understanding of virtualization. Understand how virtualization works Create a virtual machine by scratch and migration Configure and manage basic components and supporting devices Develop the necessary skill set to work in today's virtual world Virtualization was initially used to build test labs, but its use has expanded to become best practice for a tremendous variety of IT solutions including high availability, business continuity, dynamic IT, and more. Cloud computing and DevOps rely on virtualization technologies, and the exponential spread of these and similar applications make virtualization proficiency a major value-add for any IT professional. Virtualization Essentials, Second Edition provides accessible, user-friendly, informative virtualization training for the forward-looking pro.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xvii Chapter 1 Understanding Virtualization 1 Describing Virtualization 1 Microsoft Windows Drives Server Growth 3 Explaining Moore’s Law 6 Understanding the Importance of Virtualization 9 Examining Today’s Trends 12 Virtualization and Cloud Computing 14 Understanding Virtualization Software Operation 15 Virtualizing Servers 16 Virtualizing Desktops 17 Virtualizing Applications 18 Chapter 2 Understanding Hypervisors 21 Describing a Hypervisor 21 Exploring the History of Hypervisors 22 Understanding Type 1 Hypervisors 23 Understanding Type 2 Hypervisors 25 Understanding the Role of a Hypervisor 26 Holodecks and Traffic Cops 26 Resource Allocation 27 Comparing Today’s Hypervisors 29 VMware ESX 29 Citrix Xen 31 Microsoft Hyper-V 33 Other Solutions 34 Chapter 3 Understanding Virtual Machines 37 Describing a Virtual Machine 37 Examining CPUs in a Virtual Machine 40 Examining Memory in a Virtual Machine 41 Examining Network Resources in a Virtual Machine 42 Examining Storage in a Virtual Machine 43 Understanding How a Virtual Machine Works 45 Working with Virtual Machines 47 Understanding Virtual Machine Clones 48 Understanding Templates 49 Understanding Snapshots 50 Understanding OVF 51 Understanding Containers 52 Chapter 4 Creating a Virtual Machine 55 Performing P2V Conversions 55 Investigating the Physical-to-Virtual Process 56 Hot and Cold Cloning 57 Loading Your Environment 58 Loading VMware Workstation Player 59 Exploring VMware Workstation Player 65 Loading VirtualBox 68 Building a New Virtual Machine 73 Thinking about VM Configuration 74 Creating a First VM 75 Chapter 5 Installing Windows on a Virtual Machine 81 Loading Windows into a Virtual Machine 81 Installing Windows 10 82 Installing VMware Tools 93 Understanding Configuration Options 97 Optimizing a New Virtual Machine 103 Chapter 6 Installing Linux on a Virtual Machine 107 Loading Linux into a Virtual Machine 107 Exploring Oracle VM VirtualBox 108 Installing Linux into a Virtual Machine 111 Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions 123 Understanding Configuration Options 125 Optimizing a New Linux Virtual Machine 129 Chapter 7 Managing CPUs for a Virtual Machine 133 Understanding CPU Virtualization 133 Configuring VM CPU Options 137 Tuning Practices for VM CPUs 138 Choosing Multiple vCPUs vs a Single vCPU 139 Hyper-Threading 140 Working with Intel and AMD Servers 141 Chapter 8 Managing Memory for a Virtual Machine 143 Understanding Memory Virtualization 143 Configuring VM Memory Options 146 Tuning Practices for VM Memory 148 Calculating Memory Overhead 148 Memory Optimizations 150 Chapter 9 Managing Storage for a Virtual Machine 157 Understanding Storage Virtualization 157 Configuring VM Storage Options 162 Tuning Practices for VM Storage 169 Chapter 10 Managing Networking for a Virtual Machine 177 Understanding Network Virtualization 177 Configuring VM Network Options 187 Tuning Practices for Virtual Networks 192 Chapter 11 Copying a Virtual Machine 197 Cloning a Virtual Machine 197 Working with Templates 207 Saving a Virtual Machine State 212 Creating a Snapshot 214 Merging Snapshots 218 Chapter 12 Managing Additional Devices in Virtual Machines 221 Using Virtual Machine Tools 222 Understanding Virtual Devices 224 Configuring a CD/DVD Drive 224 Configuring a Floppy Disk Drive 225 Configuring a Sound Card 229 Configuring USB Devices 230 Configuring Graphic Displays 232 Configuring Other Devices 233 Chapter 13 Understanding Availability 239 Increasing Availability 239 Protecting a Virtual Machine 242 Protecting Multiple Virtual Machines 246 Protecting Data Centers 251 Chapter 14 Understanding Applications in a Virtual Machine 255 Examining Virtual Infrastructure Performance Capabilities 255 Deploying Applications in a Virtual Environment 260 Understanding Virtual Appliances and vApps 269 Open Stack and Containers 271 Appendix Answers to Additional Exercises 275 Glossary 287 Index 293