One of the advantages which virtual machines has over physical machines is migration, which is easy and fully restored. For migration, Compute resources and storage resources are grouped ,in which both can be moved to new ESXi or if the storage is already shared between ESXi’s only compute resources can be moved. Since its a set of configuration files, the movement and restoration is faster compared to physical machine migration

A dedicated switch with VMotion service needs to be enabled for migration .Systems cannot be migration with general VMKernel adapters.

In this lab, we migrate storage of a VM,then compute resouce and finally both resources and power on VM’s and check the connectivity by Pinging Gateways of VM after migration.

Task1:Migrate Virtual Machine files from local storage to the shared storage

Step1: Click VMs and templates>VM2-1 >Power on

Step2: Summary tab of VM2-1 and verify the storage – Local 02-1

Step3: RIght click VM2-1 and click Migrate

Step4: Migration window, select storage only and click next

Step5: Select Shared Iscsi VMFS storage to move the VM

Step6: Review and finish

Step7: verify datastore in summary tab of VM2-1

Task2:Create a Virtual Switch and a VMKernel Port group for Vsphere Vmotion Migration

Step1: Create a VMKernel adapter by selecting ESXI>Virtual Switches>Add host networking

Step2: Select the new switch

Step3: Select the dedicated adapter for VMotion

Step4: Edit the properties of port by naming it as Vmotion and enable Vmotion service

Step5: Provide the IP address for port as 172.20.12.51 with prefix length 24 and gateway as 172.20.12.10

Step6: Review and finish

Step7: Verify the switch in details pane

Step8: repeat the task for ESXi2 with IP address as 172.20.12.52

Task3: Perform a Vsphere VMotion Migration of Virtual Machine on a Shared DataStore

Step1: Rightclick VM1-2 and select edit settings

Step2: Select the CD/DVD Drive as Client Device. and make sure network adapter is storage (Repeat for all virtual machines)

Step3: Login to CLient

Step4: open CMD>Ipconfig

Step5: Ping the gateway

Step6:RIghtclick VM1-2 and migrate

Step7: Select computer resource only

Step8: Select ESXi 2 as new resource

Step9: Select the storage network adapter

Step10: Select the default vmotion with priority

Step11: Drag VM2-1 to ESXi1

Step12: Select computer resource only

Step13: Select ESXi1

Step14: Select storage adapter as new network adapter under esxi2

Step15: Verify the migration in hosts and clusters tab

Task4:Perform a compute resource and storage migration

Step1: Select VMFrom-lab and click migrate

Step2: Select both compute and storage resource

Step3: Select ESXi1

Step4: Select local storage of 1 which is LOCAL01-2

Step5: Select the new network adapter storage

Step6: Check the task pane for status update

Step7:Verify all the virtual machines and status in hosts and clusters

Trouble shooting: Since here we are configuring a new VMKernel adapter for vmotion, issues may arise related to it . One of it i faced was

1.vmotion failed because the destination host didn’t receive data ….timeout

Solution: redo the migration with adapters selected accurately as per ESXi (in my case Storage is name for ESXI1 and VStorage for ESXi2 ) change wasn’t done first time since both are through same network adapter of ESXi but it didn’t allow to migrate

Critical Thinking:

Migrating machines is a huge advantage , since as the business grows , the capacity of ESXi or hardware needs to be expanded, if Physical hardware is not extendable, a new set of Hardware can be purchased and wanted resources can be migrated to the new hardware esxi .

If there is a business growth or decline, VM’s can be easily managed by moving the resources and hardware changes can be made parallel without effecting the Availability of resources.

In this lab, we re-name and configure virtual machines which includes memory,CPU and Harddisk modifications

Task1:Increase the size of VMDK

STep1: RIghtclick the Hot-Clone virtual machine >Edit settings

Step2:Increase the size of harddisk to 12GB

Step3: Open console and click on manage on computer

STep4: Click diskmanagement and refresh

Step5:right click C drive to extend volume (include unallocated 2GB )

Step6: select the amount of GB to extend

Step7:New volume of C will increase to 12GB

Task2: Adjust Memory allocation on a virtual machine

Step1:RIghtclick HotCLone>Power>ShutdownGuestOS

Step2: Increase memory to 2048

Step3: Verify in the VMHardware pane

Task3: Rename a virtual machine in VCenter Server Inventory

Step1: Rightclick on Hot-Clone VM and click rename to VM2-3

Step2:Verify the new name and navigate to datastore tab to find which datastore it is attached to

Task4:Add and remove a raw lun in a virtual machine

Step1: Select edit settings of VM and click new device as RDM(Raw device mapping)

Step2:Select target Lun’s any of the displayed

Step3:Select the Compatibility mode as virtual

Step4: Open disk management similar to above task(COmputer>Manage), Initialize disk window pops up showing the LUN memory added.

Step5: The disk is attached and is offline ,verify in the task bar.

Step5: Poweroff the virtual machine guestOS> VM>Editsettings>shutdownguestOS

Step6: Harddisk2 can be deleted and select delete files from datastore to delete the LUN from Machine

Troubleshooting:

Direct, no issues in execution.

Critical Thinking:

VM management lab which teaches configuration of VM’s change and things like naming and copy and resource management of resources, like naming is not reflect in datastores which makes trouble shooting difficult. A table with original names and updating it when there is a rename would avoid future issues for debugging.

Templates can be considered as mastercopy of a Virtual Machine. Clone is a copy of virtual machine. In this lab, we create a template from Virtual machine, customize and how to clone in to a VM from Virtual machine.

BY End of lab, we will obtain:

Task1:Create a Virtual Machine template

Step1: Navigate to templates and VM’s tab and select virtualmachine and make sure its turned off , then click on Template>Convert to Template

Step2: Click yes to confirm

and move the template to templates folder.

Step3:Rename it to VM-Template

Task2:Create Customization Specifications

Step1: Home>Policies and Profiles

Step2:Customization Specification>New and select Operating System

Step3:Provide details for registering the copy

Step4:Select use the virtual machine name as computer name

Step5: Set Administrative password.

Step6:TimeZone

Step7:If any commands needs to be ran for first time, like if any thing needs to be updated based on user details

Step8:Since we donot have any domain , leave it in Workgroup

Step9: Review and launch

Task3:Deploy a virtual machine from Template

Step1: RIghtclick the template and click New VM from this template

Step2:In the customization Window popped up , select the location as LABVMs and name as VM2-2

Step3: Select the ESXi host , in my case its second.

Step4:Select the storage of VM and format type. Select Shared ISCSI-VMFS

Step5: Select Clone options as Customize the OS and Power on after creation

Step6: Since customize the OS is selected Custom Specification created in Task2 needs to be selected

Step7: Repeat this task steps to create VM1-2

Step8: Connect to VM1-2 and VM2-2

Step9: Verify whether the VM tools are installed.

Step10:Set the static IP for VM’s as per STorage switch range (172.20.11.X)

Step11: Select this as Work Network

Task4:Create Content Library

Step1: Home>Content Libraries>Create

Step2:Name as VM_Library and select Vcenter server

Step3:Select Local COntent library and publish externally

Step4: Select Shared-iSCSI storage

Step5:Review and launch

Task5: Clone a VMTemplate to a template in a Content Library

Step1: Rightclick template and Clone to library

Step2:Select CLone as template created in above task

Step3: Check the status bar

Task6:Deploy a virtual machine from VMTemplate in the content Library

Step1:Home>Content Library>Templates tab>Rightclick and New VM from template

Step2: Select the location as LabVm’s and name as VMFromLib

Step3:Select resource as ESXI2 and next

Step4:Select STorage as Local02-2 and type as thin provision

Step5:Select adapter as storage

Step6: Review and finish

Step7:Poweron and login

Check VMware tools are running

Set static Ip and set as work network

Task7:Clone a powered on virtual machine

Step1: Select VM2-1 which is powered on and rightclick for cloning

Step2: Name it as Hotclone and location as LabVMs

Step3:Select ESXi2 as host resource

Step4: Select storage as Shared-iscsi-storage

Step5:Select the customization sepcifications doc created in task2

Step6:Review and finish

Step7:Open VM Console for HotCLone

Set IP in STorage range (172.20.11.x) and Homenetwork

verify whether VMware tools are running

Troubleshooting:

1.When creating a VM from Template it thrown an error stating Customization of windows 7_66 is not supported.

Solution: As per VM Ware knowledge base, VMware tools needs to be installed and template needs to be recreated

2. STorage issue while creating the VM’s

Solution: Add storage to iSCSI Target as per pre-requisite lab.

Critical Thinking:

Templates help in saving the image of VM and easy cloning of architecture. For instance, In a case where standard requisites like VMWaretools , Chrome and basic apps are needed, it is better to create a template with all these needs and later clone when needed which will save time. If we need to replicate the same architecture for testing or development, this helps to create same environment.

Since we are combining with specifications with little bit of customization we can relaunch the same template in different environments.

NFS is network file system , a storage type where files are accessed over TCP/IP network similar to direct attached system. This is file level storage which is why it cannot be used as bootable storage and, as discussed in earlier lab RDM (Raw device mapping ) feature is not supported. However, Vmotion, HA features can be accessed using NFS Storage.

Prerequisites: Create a NFS Server and folder as per pre-requisite lab

In this lab, configure NFS Storage and access it.

Task1: Configure access to NFS DataStores

Step1:Rightclick datacenter and click create new datastore

Step2:Select type as NFS

Step3:Version as 3

Step4: Provide details for Name = NFS-Data Folder /NFSData and server as 172.20.10.10 and next

Step5: Select both the ESXi’s so that both can access the NFS Data

Step6: Review and submit

Task2: View storage information

Type ,space utilization can be viewed in Summary tab as below

Trouble shooting: Direct lab

Critical Thinking: NFS is best way to store common data files for example even basic applications that needs to be installed or monitoring work docs of a company, Instead of linking to each and every system , in VMWare access is given to ESXi and all the systems inherit the same access which becomes easier to manage .

VMFS and NFS are the mostly used two type of datastores that can be created in VMWare. VMFS is VMWares exclusive. virtual disks are stored by ESXi in datastores. They store information related to the virtual machine and snapshots of them. Since functionalities like RDM are not supported in NFS, VMFS is preferred. The maximum size of VMFS is 64TB. Currently VMFS 6 and 5 are being used .

If the ISCSI storage is attached and as per required , this lab can be completed with out any hiccups.

In this lab, we create,rename,delete,extend a VMFS data store. Finally, create a shared iSCSI VMFS Datastore.

Task1:Rename VMFS DataStore

Step1: Login and navigate to Datastore tab, right click on datastore and select rename

Step2:Rename all the datastores, as per how they are utilized, if used by ESXi 1 name it as Local01-x(x is the number of data store) and similarly, local01-X and verify

Task2:Create VMFS Datastore for ESXi Host

Step1: select ESXi >Storage>newdatastore

Step2: Provide name as VMFS-2 and select the LUN Associated

Step3: select VMFS6 version and next

Step4: Select 10 GB space for this datastore from LUN.

Step5: Review and submit

Step6: Rightclick datacenter>storage>datastore

Step7:Click next on location window and select VMFS Type and next

Step8: Name the VMFS as VMFS-3 and select the lun by setting the host as ESXi2:172.20.10.52

Step9: Select the partition and set Data store size as 20GB and submit

Step10:Review and submit

Task3: Expand a VMFS Datastore to consume unused space on a LUN

Step1: navigate to datastore tab and expand the tree, right click vmfs-2 and select increase datastore capacity

Step2:Select the lun from which data needs to be added

Step3:How much data needs to be added, in my case 10GB

Step4: Review and finish

Task4: Remove a Datastore

Step1: Rightclick the datastore vmfs-3 and click delete

Step2:COnfirm the deletion

Task5: Extend a VMFS DataStore

Step1: Navigate to configure tab of datastore and click increase

Step2:Select the LUN that needs to be added

Step3: Select all the remaining by sliding the bar to extreme right

Step4: Refresh and verify new capacity

Step5: Navigate to device backing to look at LUNS associated to this

STep6:Rename vmfs-2 as Shared VMFS datastore

Task6: Create a second shared VMFS Datastore using iSCSI

Navigate to Datastore>Create datastore>shared-iSCSI-Datastore> select first esxi as hostname>select maximum capacity and submit

Troubleshooting: If the LUNS are created properly as per pre-requisites , it would be a direct lab.

Critical Thinking:

Datastores can be created from different ways like from ESXi and from Datastores tab, This lab clearly explains on how we can manage datastore by creating, deleting renaming and even increasing. It was concise and direct. A LUN is a logical unit number associated to storage can be considered as a disk partitioned in to different sections luns. we can extend by adding luns to datastore.

iSCSI (internet small computer system interface) is a transport layer protocol where packets are transferred over TCP/IP Network. It transports block level data .

Prerequisites : Apart from previous seven labs, Server needs to be configured with iSCSI role and feature, Create iSCSI target folder on server for both the ESXi’s (Refer to pre-requisite blog screenshots)

In this lab, We configure the iSCSi adapter on Vstorage switch of each ESXI (172.20.11.51 and 172.20.11.52) and connect it to ISCSI Target server.

Task1:Add a VMKernal port group to a standard switch

Step1: Add host networking adapter on ESXI>configure>networking>VMKernel adapters

Step2:Select VMKernel Adapter and click next

Step3: Select the existing dedicated switch to storage. In My case VSwitch3.

Step4: Assign Name to the switch and additional settings are not required for now.

Step5: Set static IP Address 172.20.11.52 for ESXi2 and 172.20.11.51 for ESXi1 and mask with prefix length 24 . This is the set of initiators added to access list of iSCSI virtual disk(refer to pre-requisites blog)

Step6: Review and submit

Task2:Configure iSCSI Adapter and connect it to storage

Step1: Add host networking adapter on ESXI>configure>Storage>Storage adapters

Step2:Check status in properties (it should be enabled) then click edit beside general.

Step3: Verify the name to confirm the ESXi connection

Step4: In Adapterdetails pan >Network port binding tab>add>IPStorage(Network VMKernel adapter created in task 1)

Step5:Click Targets tab and provide the iSCSI server taget address 172.20.11.10 for both ESXis

Step6: Rescan the storage to establish connection (refreshing the connections)

Step7:In the devices tab a LUN is assigned and the details are :LUN NUmber: 0; Capacity:66.36GB,Operational State: Attached, Hardware Acceleration Notsupported

Since both are connected to same Storage folder of server LUN details remain same for both ESXi hosts.

TroubleShooting: The LUN is created only if the network adapter is assigned an IP address which is allowed to access the server target . It is direct lab without any roadblocks if pre-requisites are verified.

Critical Thinking: This lab gives the basic idea of how storage can be connected to ESXi hosts and adapter configuration. Since the details are concise, lab looks simple and easy.In Small and medium scale businesses, they use iSCSI pools and access them in virtual environment over internet as it is fast and inexpensive compared to other methods.

References:

https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/iSCSI

Switches provide connectivity between VM’s on same host or different hosts. iSCSI, NFS storage and vMotion migration are accessed by using switches. They are also used for Remote host management to access the VMkernel . In virtual environment, more than one networks can exist on single switch. Even if you have less adapters connected to ESXi hosts multiple functionalities can be grouped and assigned to virtual machines .

There are two types of switches : Standard used for single hosts and Distributed switch where up to 2000 hosts can be connected.

In this lab, We view the current switch , create a standard switch and assign this new switch(Vstorage) to existing Virtual machines.

Note: Repeat the same task for both the ESXi Hosts.

Task1: View the standard switch configuration

Step1: click on Hosts and Clusters, and in configure tab ,networking category has virtual switch features.

The below details can be obtained from the switch summary :

What is the Name of default standard switch? – VSwitch0 which is a default switch

which physical adapter is the default standard switch connected to? – It is connected to management network switch connected to host ESXi VMNIC0

Which network is your Virtual machine connected to?

VMnetwork connected to ESXi host .

Which networks are connected to the default standard switch? – VMNetwork and management network associated to ESXi Host are connected to default standard switch

Task2: Create a standard switch with a virtual machine port group

Step1: on the configure tab of ESXi host, on network at virtual switches(similar to task1) click create network adapter and select standard switch

Step2:select new switch

Step3: this pops up different network adapters which are attached to ESXi host but not assigned .select one of them

Step4:Name the Virtual switch

Step5:Review and submit

Task3: Attach your Virtual machines to new machine port

Step1: select VM under VM and templates

Step2: Actions>edit settings and Select Network Adapter to change it to production ,click ok.

Step3: Open Network and sharing center and set IP address as 172.20.11.30 and gateway and DNS as 172.20.11.10 in VM1-1 and VM2-1

Step4: open Cmd and ping the server from both the VM’s

TroubleShooting:

While creating new standard switch, Failover group should be changed to all or unused if the adapter is newly connected to ESXi host.

Critical Thinking:

Standard switches help us to maintain storage systems separately or in same ESXi but partitioned to make it more secure. Since multiple type of adapters and various networks can be hosted on single switch it needs to be carefully configured and managed to avoid overlapping of networks.

Grouping the resources helps in terms of security and management . This lab helps in categorizing different resources linked to Vcenter Server

Task1: Create a host and Cluster Folder

Step1: Right click data center > new folder>new host and cluster folder

Step2: Title for the folder as Labservers and click OK

Step3:Move the ESXi hosts to this folder

Task2: Create Virtual Machine and Template Folders

Step1: Home>VM’s and Templates

Step2: Rightclick datacenter> Newfolder>New VM and Template Folder

Step3:Name it as LabVMs

Step4: Create another folder similar to step2 and name it as Templates

Troubleshooting:

Just a simple rightclick and naming of folders will cannot cause issues.

However, few questions were asked at the end of lab:

What is the difference between Menu Commands in the dropdown menus of LabVM’s and Lab Server Folder?

Solution : Both the folders are different types LabVm’s is virtualmachine and template folder which gives you options related to virtual machines and templates like creating VM and subfolders under VM’s and templates section.

LabServer is host and cluster type with options such as adding hots and creating clusters .Subfolders can also be created for further categorization.

Critical Thinking: Categorization helps in easy administration. Consider companies which work in different sectors, this would ease administrative jobs which allows us to update the hosts under them at the same time.

Virtual machine encapsulates OS and applications resulting in a complete server or computer which can be accessed via VCSA. Section of hardware resources are allocated to Virtual machines . The resources are virtually separated in such a way that one VM doesn’t effect other VM resources.(A malicious attack to an app doesn’t impact other VM’s running on the same Host) .This helps in better management of resources and direct management.

Each VM includes set of files like configuration, boot ,data and memory ..etc which makes it easy to migrate VM’s since it is just a folder. CPU,Memory,Storage and network adapters can be added or removed from VM similar to physical system.

In this lab, we create VM and install Windows 7 in both the ESXi’s

Note: Repeat the tasks for both the ESXi’s

Deploy VM’s on ESXi Host

Task1: Create a Virtual Machine

Step1: Login to ESXi 1 “172.20.10.51” with root and Lab Password

Step2: Select Virtual machines on left menu and click create

Step3: Provide details of VM like the OS for setting the minimum hardware resource recommendations.

Step4: ESXi storage on which VM host reside needs to be selected.

Step5: Hardware of VM can be customized and OS iso is selected in CD/DVD drive.

Step6: Finish to review.

Task2: Install Guest OS and disable Windows updates.

Start VM to install the OS and follow direct steps for basic installation process.Disable updates.

Task3: Install VMWare Tools

Step1: Select the Tools file on ESXi CD/DVD adapter.

Step2: ensure that CD/DVD option of VM is set as host device and run the installation file

Install VMWare tools with default options and restart

Task4: Install Files

Similar to task 3 expand the CD/DVD and select host client on VM and Class-vsphere iso on ESXi. copy two files cpubusy.pl and iometer.exe to desktop.

Troubleshooting:

1. Hardware Virtualization needs to be enabled on ESXi hosts to install VM’s if not error would be

Solution: Bring down ESXi and enable Hardware virtualization under CPU.

2.Double check ISO images before installing .If not available download to your local system and upload to local datastore allocated .

Critical Thinking:

This lab gives basic idea of how to work with the virtual machines and customize them. Various options available to upload the data and about connecting adapters . Research about VMFolder would be much more helpful.

Two ESXi’s are installed in previous labs and Virtual machines can be created over them directly but how to manage Esxi and their VMhosts? In business generally, we tend to use more so managing from one place is a necessity. The answer to this problem is the VCenterServer appliance(VCSA). This can be hosted on ESXi or on Server based on requirement installation iso file needs to be choosed. It includes services like Vsphere client, webclient to interact with Vmhosts , syslog collected, update manager and many more.

In this lab, we deploy the VcenterServer Appliance on ESXi Host ,configure it by adding Esxi hosts and take a backup of them.

Note: As a prerequisite, we have created a virtual machine with Server 2019 installed to access the ESXi Hosts and VCSA. Set the network of Server in same range as ESXi’s.

Deploy VCenter Server on ESXi Service:

Task1: Deploy VcenterServer Appliance:

Step1: Select the ISO based on requirement (On ESXI- VCSA VIM for installing on server) in cd/dvd options of VM.

Step2:Open the drive connected to access the files inside VCSA

Step3: To run installed go to below mentioned path: Drive>VMWare VCSA>VCSA-UI-Installer>Win32>Installer, if deployed on other operating systems like IOS choose Ios instead of Win32

Step4: Running the installer gives you below options. Since, we are installing for the first time ,click install

Step5: Accept the Licence agreement

Step6: This is important since it decides the features we would like to install with appliance,Select Embeded platform service controller for entire features.

Step7: Select the IP Address of ESXi and provide credentials of ESXi host

upon successful authentication to ESXi, certificate warning is prompted.

Step8: Select the name of the VM and password. This name refers to Virtual machine created on ESXi host with VCSA.

Step9: Size of deployment and pre-requisites of ESXi hosts capacity is displayed in table, Select Tiny and default for our labs.

Step10: Choose the location (VMFS) storage to install the VCSA and check the enable thin disk mode box.

Step11: Set the Network configurations like IP Address,Mask,Gateway and DNS for VCSA.

First phase of installation is ran where pre-requisites are also verified.

Task2: Complete Setup of VcenterServer

Step1: click Next for Stage 2 installation

Step2: Synchronize time with NTP Server, which can be an ESXi Host or Server from where the time needs to be synced.

Step3: Set the credentials for logging in to WebClient

Step4: Uncheck this for reducing the prompts while using application

Step5: Finish the Appliance setup and review.

Process:

Task3: Access and Configure VCSA

Since we do not have any Licenses to configure we skip the initial steps to SSO configuration

Step1: Access the link 172.20.10.195 which is set for VCSA to use Client or WebClient.

Step2: Choose Webclient and Home>Administration>Single-Sign-on>Configuration to change password settings

Step3:Create DataCenter by rightclicking the VcenterServer

Task4: Add ESXi Hosts (Repeat for both ESXi Hosts)

Step1: Provide the IP address or host name of ESXi

Step2: Provide credentials of ESXi host

upon successful authentication

Step3:VM’s hosted on ESXi are displayed to verify

Step4: License needs to be selected.

Step5: Disable lockdown mode for easy access (Access to ESXi host with DCUI is disabled if lockdown mode is enabled)

Step6: Select Location to store the ESXi Hosts

Review:

Task5: Configure ESXi hosts as NTP Clients

Step1: Select the ESXi host which needs to be set as NTP Client

Step2: Select Configure > Time Configuration and edit

Step3: Use as NTP Client and provide the NTP Server address which is 172.20.10.10 and start the service.

Task6: Backup VCenter Server Appliance

Step1: Login to 172.20.10.195:5480 using root and lab password and select Backup Now option .

Step2: Provide the details of the FTP Location where backup can be taken

Step3: Upon Successful completion of Backup confirmation page is displayed.

Access the Server to check the files generated after backup

TroubleShooting:

Critical Thinking:

The lab helps in configuring and exploring the VCSA Module. In business use ,

1. Management of ESXi hosts and their VM’s is easily administrated with VCSA (backup,update,firewall and other services).
2. Configuring ESXi hosts as NTP Clients and VCSA is important since the logs generated in each system are with system configured time stamps, Syncing would simplify debugging.
3. Backup can help to restore in case of Failure by running through the same module.