Table of Contents VSSI VMware vcenter Infrastructure...1

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1 Table of Contents VSSI VMware vcenter Infrastructure...1 Document version...1 Glossary...1 VMware vsphere Infrastructure...1 Connect to vsphere Server using the vsphere Client...2 VMware vsphere home window...3 Who am I?...5 Inventory...6 Search...6 VMs and Templates...7 Hosts and Clusters...9 Datastores and Datastore Cluters...10 Networking...12 Administration...15 Roles...16 Sessions...16 Licensing...17 System Logs...17 vcenter Service Status...17 vcenter Server Settings...18 vcenter Solutions Manager...19 Storage Providers...20 Management...21 Scheduled Tasks...21 Events...22 Maps...23 Host Profiles...24 VM Storage Profiles...25 Customization Specifications Manager...26 Alarms...27 Status of the host hardware...28 Appendix I: vsphere business benefits and base for an enterprise cloud platform...29 Appendix II: vsphere Optional Features...31 vsphere services for virtualization and architecture...31 Open Architecture...31 Infrastructure Services...31 Application Services...32 References...33 i

2 VSSI VMware vcenter Infrastructure Document version Release (working draft) Date 2013/07/03 See also EDMS Document version may differ. Glossary You may need check the VSSI Centralized General Glossary VMware vsphere Infrastructure The next graphic shows the general VMware vsphere Infrastructure. The VMware vsphere Infrastructure is composed mainly by a set of hosts, in which the hypervisors (VMware ESXi) will be installed and the virtual machines running, and a centralized management server (VMware vcenter Server), which provides centralized management and allows administrator to configure and monitor ESXi hosts, provision also a platform to manage storage, networking and much more. This server can be located in a VM running in one of the hypervisors or in an external server, and it is going to store the configurations of virtual datacenters, virtual clusters and advanced networking (across different hosts). For this, a in a database is going to be used and it can be stored in the same server or in an external server (Oracle Database Server or SQL Server, being this last option the included and default option, through a local database server). To manage this infrastructure or initially some configurations of the hypervisors, a client software, the VMware vcenter Client must be used. VSSI VMware vcenter Infrastructure 1

3 Connect to vsphere Server using the vsphere Client The first step is starting a connection with the VMware vsphere Server using the VMware vsphere Client. An icon in the desktop or in Star menu should be available. VMware vsphere Infrastructure 2

4 In the previous dialog, we must put the name or IP of the server (in this case, "vssi-vcs-lhc0") and our NICE username and password. We also can select using the current Windows session credentials in the button of the dialog window. VMware vsphere home window The vsphere Client home window is the last one you used, but initially is the home window: Connect to vsphere Server using the vsphere Client 3

5 From this window we can access all the features available. These features will change depending on the user privileges we have. Also, if there are some plugins installed, will be in the button of the central area, in the section "Solutions and Applications": VMware vsphere home window 4

6 In any point we could be, pressing the "Home" button we will return to this section: Who am I? In vsphere we could find the answer to this millenary and existential question. Just look the button of the Window, in the right side (and it is always shown): Who am I? 5

7 It could be very useful when we have different users and roles to connect to a server and even we have more than a concurrent session opened from our desktop. Inventory In the vsphere Client home panel, the top part is the related to Inventory elements. This is what se can see in the next screenshot: Search Using the button search, we can search anything that we can access with our privileges using the inventory. For example, this user can, at least, see the ssm-ps0 virtual machine. Inventory 6

8 In the next picture, we can see the same datacenter but connected as other user. As you can see, we can see two machines instead one: the previous user cannot see the second one, ssm-test, because this user has no read privileges. VMs and Templates Here is where an operator user (or similar) should work usually. Search 7

9 Here we can see the same problem of vsphere Client. It seems we can create a datacenter (as operator user), but it could not be done, as can be seen in the next picture. VMs and Templates 8

10 Hosts and Clusters This view should be used only by users with administration privileges or administrators (other users will see more elements than they can use). Hosts and Clusters 9

11 Datastores and Datastore Cluters In this screen we can see the datacenter and the connected datastores to this datacenter. Datastores and Datastore Cluters 10

12 In the next picture, we can see the same datacenter but connected as other user. As you can see, we cannot see the datastores, only the datacenter. Datastores and Datastore Cluters 11

13 Also, as an important detail, a limited user (operator user or view-only for example) cannot add a datastore, but vsphere Client shows anyway the option, although it could not be completed. Networking Here the network virtual infrastructure could be seen: Networking 12

14 As habitual in vsphere, a basic user cannot see the all the features Networking 13

15 Also, only an administrative user can see the next window networking configuration But the place where an administrative user can configure the network is the Host and Clusters section, in "Inventory". To see the virtual switches or add/edit networks, we must go to the Configuration tab, Hardware section; there we can see the Networking button: To see the physical network adapters, we must press the "Network adapters" button: Networking 14

16 To configure the DNS and Routing, in the Software section, we must press "DNS and Routing": Administration The administration section of the vsphere panel, by default, is like the next screenshot: Administration 15

17 Roles Different at different levels could be defined. Take in account that some roles only have sense in some determined level. All the permissions defined at some level will be inherited in other lower levels. At these levels, some permissions could make sense. It is recommended to check the "VSSI User Roles and Privileges" document. Sessions Here we can see the connected users and opened sessions in vsphere. Roles 16

18 Licensing The introduced licenses are shown here. Also, new licenses could be added. System Logs The System Logs (SysLogs) show detailed technical information. This is not planned that a normal user or operator could use this information, in fact, only an administrative user could see it: SysLogs" src="/opt/twiki/prod/pub//main/vssivmwarevcenterinfrastructure/25-vsphere_client-admn-04-syslogs_adm.png" title="vsphere Client, Administration: SysLogs" height="691" /> A non-administrative user will see the next window: SysLogs for a non-administrative user" src="/opt/twiki/prod/pub//main/vssivmwarevcenterinfrastructure/26-vsphere_client-admn-04-syslogs.png" title="vsphere Client, Administration: SysLogs for a non-administrative user" height="436" /> vcenter Service Status The status of vcenter could be checked in the vcenter Service Status Licensing 17

19 vcenter Server Settings Here the vcenter Server Settings (not VM or Hypervisor settings) could be adjusted. vcenter Service Status 18

20 vcenter Solutions Manager vcenter Solutions Manager is a view in the vsphere client that allow us to monitor and interact with the registered solutions (developed according the vsphere Solutions SDK for vsphere API) using the vcenter Server instance. vcenter Server Settings 19

21 A solution could be installed to add functionality from third-party technologies to the standard functions of vcenter Server. These solutions are often delivered as OVF packages and can be installed and deployed directly from the vsphere client. Storage Providers The Storage Providers could be managed using this console. vcenter Solutions Manager 20

22 Management The management section is the following one: Scheduled Tasks In Management, Scheduled Tasks we can see the scheduled tasks and create a new one if we need to do it. Storage Providers 21

23 Events vsphere Events and vsphere Alarms must be used instead of SysLogs by normal non-administrative. Scheduled Tasks 22

24 Maps Maps shows to us a structure of our vsphere Infrastructure, according our view permissions. A non-administrative user could see something like the next screenshot: But an administrative user will have a different view of the same Infrastructure: Maps 23

25 Host Profiles To capture the configuration of a specific host, we can use host profiles. With this profile, we can configure other host of to ensure if some requirements set by the profile are being accomplished in some host. Host Profiles 24

26 VM Storage Profiles To define the storage capabilities required by the virtual machine and its virtual disks we use VM Storage Profiles. VM Storage Profiles 25

27 Using Storage Profiles, different VM storage profiles could be assigned to the VM files and the vdisks depending on their storage needs. Once assigned to a VM or a vdisk, the VM Storage Profile performs a compliance check to verify whether the VM or vdisk uses the storage capacities defined in the profile. Those storage capabilities indicate the storage characteristics provided by a datastore, and can be capacity, performance, availability and so on. Customization Specifications Manager You can customize the menu doing right click, as shown in the next picture: Customization Specifications Manager 26

28 Alarms vsphere Alarms and vsphere Events must be used instead of SysLogs by normal non-administrative. We can see an alarm icon in in every window of vsphere if some alarm is running: If we do double click in the icon, the alarm problem could be seen: Alarms 27

29 Status of the host hardware VSSIVMwarevCenterInfrastructure < Main < TWiki To see the hardware status of the hosts, we must go to the tab "Hardware Status" in "Hosts and Clusters". There we can see sensors status, alerts and warnings and system eventlog. Some sensing data could be classified with a tag, like Memory, Power, etc. This tags could be deployed to see in detail the gathered elements (individual sensors), as you can see in the next picture. A non-administrative user (with read permissions in the hosts) could see the status too: Status of the host hardware 28

30 Appendix I: vsphere business benefits and base for an enterprise cloud platform A virtual platform is useful for almost all kind of organizations. Also, this virtual infrastructure it could be used as a base for a cloud computing platform (the VMware vcloud, OpenStack or another). A deployment of this infrastructure could be represented in the next VMware diagram [5]: Appendix I: vsphere business benefits and base for an enterprise cloud platform 29

31 vsphere allow to transform IT infrastructure into a private cloud, delivering IT infrastructure as an easily accessible service. It allows to [1]: Reduce costs and increase IT efficiency, reducing capital and operational expenses and minimizing potential lost revenue due to downtime, outages and failures. Increase application availability and control, automating the enforcement of service-level agreements to ensure availability, security and scalability of enterprise applications. Appendix I: vsphere business benefits and base for an enterprise cloud platform 30

32 vsphere is comprised of a number of features to transform industry standard hardware into a shared, mainframe-like resilient environment with built-in service level controls for all applications: Infrastructure services to virtualize server, storage and network resources, and aggregate and allocate them precisely on demand to applications based on business priority. Application services to provide built-in service level controls for availability, security and scalability to all applications running on the vsphere platform, regardless of application type or operating system. Appendix II: vsphere Optional Features On this section the vsphere services for virtualization and infrastructure for cloud computing will be analysed more on detail. Remember the most relevant sub-products (building these services) for VSSI project have a specific analysis collected on independent documents available at EDMS. vsphere services for virtualization and architecture Open Architecture According VMware, they have embraced an open, standards-based approach to virtualization that allows customers to leverage existing tools and infrastructure while adopting new generation applications. vsphere also includes a comprehensive set of APIs for building tools and solutions that enhance and extend storage, networking, security and management capabilities. Infrastructure Services Compute: vsphere provides a virtualization layer that enables organizations to create multicore virtual machines and virtual machine clusters that span across hardware platforms. According VMware, vsphere can boost application performance by nearly 50% with dynamic, automated, policy-based resource allocation. Furthermore, according VMware, vsphere also helps customers cut IT power usage by up to 55% with distributed power-management capabilities that continuously and automatically optimize the power consumption of underlying server hardware. Appendix II: vsphere Optional Features 31

33 Storage: according VMware, by enabling administrators to defer storage purchases until they are really required, vsphere helps to reduce storage expenditures by up to 5%. vsphere also enables on-demand expansion of virtual machine storage capacity. Network: vsphere brings visibility, control and scalability to virtual machine networks. Administrators can move beyond per-host network configurations and maintain continuous enforcement of network policies for virtual machines as they live-migrate from one server to another. Application Services Availability: vsphere helps IT organizations ensure business continuity and prevent data loss with always-on IT capabilities such as automated failover, zero-downtime maintenance, virtual machine fault tolerance and cost-effective data protection. Security: IT security is inherently more complex in virtual environments. VMware say that vsphere simplifies security and compliance by helping to enforce policies at the application level within logical zones in a shared environment while maintaining network segmentation of users and sensitive data. Scalability: vsphere makes it possible to achieve cloud-scale capacity with central management for thousands of virtual machines and hundreds of hosts. According VMware, vsphere also delivers record-breaking performance for business-critical applications from Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and other leading software providers. Some of these vsphere services included (depending on version) are: vsphere ESXi vsphere DRS vsphere vmotion vsphere High Availability (HA) vsphere Fault Tolerance (FT) vsphere Distributed Switch NEW: vsphere Storage DRS NEW: vsphere Profile-Driven Storage VSSIVMwarevCenterInfrastructure < Main < TWiki You could see more info at [6] or see the detailed classification in the next graph: Infrastructure Services 32

34 References 1. "Introducing vcenter Solutions Manager": 2. "Open Virtualization Format" (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia): [last access on ] 3. OVF Whitepaper (VMware): "vsphere Enterprise Diagram V1" (Wikipedia. Source: Hany R. Michal, from [uploaded on , last visit: ] 6. "VMware vsphere for Enterprise. BUILD YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE ON THE MOST TRUSTED PLATFORM, features" (VMWare Corporation): [last visit: ] This topic: Main > VSSIVMwarevCenterInfrastructure Topic revision: r BreoCosta Copyright & by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors. Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback Application Services 33