VMware Tutorial

VMware is the technology that organizations use to run multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical server. It is well known for its VMware vSphere hypervisor.

VMware Hypervisor enables virtualization for any architecture. 

In this VMware tutorial, we will start with the basics and learn the major VMware concepts. Now, let’s have a look at the components of this tutorial.

Table of Contents

• What is VMware?
• Advanced Features of VMware
• Physical Topology of Virtual Infrastructure (VI) Datacenter
• Virtual Datacenter Architecture
• VMware Infrastructure
• Network Architecture
• Networking with vSphere Distributed Switches(VDS)
• VMware vCenter Server Architecture
• Features of vCenter Server
• Advantages of vCenter Server
• Communication Between vCenter Server and ESX
• Accessing the Virtual Datacenter
• AI Capabilities of VMware
• VMware Use Cases
• Conclusion
• FAQs

What is VMware?

VMware is a cloud computing and virtualization software. The foundation of VMware's virtualization technologies is its bare-metal hypervisor, ESX/ESXi, running on x86 architecture. A hypervisor is set up on the server (physical) to allow several virtual machines to run on the same VMware server. All virtual machines can run their own operating system (OS).

Multiple virtual machines on the same physical server share common resources, such as RAM and network resources.

VMware software is now widely used for virtualized storage and networking, cloud management services, private data centers, and desktop software. VMware also launched the VMware ESX Server and VMware GSX Server. Mostly, VMware virtualization software is for commercial use.

VMware ESXi Server

This is an organization-level software product that offers more functionality than the freeware VMware Server while reducing system overhead. But the service console in VMware ESX Server has been replaced with a BusyBox installation that requires less disk space.

VMware ESX Server

This is similar to the VMware ESXi server, where VMware ESX is combined with VMware vCenter to provide additional solutions that improve the consistency and manageability of server implementations. VMware vSphere and VMware Server are among the most important server virtualization software.

VMware vSphere

vSphere is VMware's best-known product. vSphere is the integration of the well-known, commonly used vCenter and ESXi hypervisor suite for applications. VMware Server is open-source (Freeware) software that can run on any operating system, including Ubuntu, Linux, and Windows.Windows.

Advanced Features of VMware

Let’s run through the advanced features of VMware.

• vMotion – VMware vMotion allows real-time migration of virtual machines from one physical server to another without downtime.
• High availability – it automatically restarts virtual machines on another host if a server failure occurs.
• Fault tolerance – it creates a real-time shadow copy of a virtual machine. It provides continuous availability during hardware failures.
• VMware NSX – it provides software-defined networking and advanced security capabilities.
• Hybrid cloud integration – VMware seamlessly integrates with major cloud platforms, including AWS, GCP, and Azure.

To see how these concepts actually connect in a real-world enterprise setup, take a look at our hands-on VMware training course.

Physical Topology of Virtual Infrastructure (VI) Datacenter

A classic VMware vSphere data center contains (physical) building blocks like IP networks, desktop clients, storage networks and arrays, a management server, and x86 virtualization servers. The vSphere data center topology components are listed below:

IP networks: Any compute server can have one or more physical network adapters, which provide reliable networking and high bandwidth across the entire VMware vSphere data center.

Management clientManagement clients: They provide many interfaces for accessing virtual machines and managing data centers. Use either the vSphere Command-Line Interface (vSphere CLI) or the vSphere Web Client to access a web browser.

Compute servers: The x86 servers run ESXi on bare metal. Compute servers provide resources for virtual machines to run. In the virtual environment, each computing server is called a standalone host.

The number of connection groups that all x86 servers can connect to the same storage subsystems and network. A cluster (a grouping of similarly configured servers that creates a cumulative set of resources in the virtual environment) is formed.

Storage networks and arrays: NAS arrays, Fiber Channel SAN arrays, and iSCSI SAN arrays are the most frequently used storage technologies. VMware vSphere supports these techniques to meet data center storage requirements.

Data sharing between servers in a group can be enabled by connecting them via storage area networks. Aggregation provides more flexibility to virtual machines.

vCenter Server: The vCenter Server is a single point of control for the data center. It provides essential data center services, such as configuration, access control, and performance monitoring. 

It aggregates resources from individual computing servers and shares them with virtual machines across the entire data center.

vCenter Server manages all tasks, from compute servers to virtual machines. The computing servers handle resource allocation to virtual machines. The system administrator sets policies that determine which resources are assigned.

When vCenter Server is unreachable, still computing servers continue to function. For example, if the network is not severed, servers can be managed individually and continue to run the assigned virtual machines. After the connection is restored, the server functions within the network as usual.

Virtual Datacenter Architecture

The whole IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, and storage, is virtualized by VMware vSphere. These resources are accumulated and presented in a uniform set (elements) in the virtual environment.

The IT resources can be managed with VMware vSphere. Dynamic provisioning and shared utilities are resources for various business projects.

In Virtual Datacenter Architecture, vSphere is used to configure, manage, and view the key elements. The key elements in a virtual data center are:

Hosts, resource pools, and clusters are regarded as memory and computing resources.

• Host: The virtual presentation of memory resources and the calculation of physical machines (PMs) running ESX/ESXi is called a Host.
• Cluster: When more than two PMs are connected to manage and operate as a single entity, it is called a cluster (the collaboration of computing and memory resources). You can dynamically add to or remove machines from a cluster.
• Hierarchy of resource pools: The partitioning of hosts and clusters into computing and memory resources is called a resource pool.
• Datastores: The virtual representation of integrated physical storage resources in the data center.

These physical storage resources are:

• F-SAN (File Storage Area Network) disk arrays
• SAN (Storage Area Network) disk arrays
• NAS (Network Area Storage) arrays
• SAS (Statistical Analysis System) disks on the server.

The virtual machines are connected via the physical networks in the virtual environment,t outside the virtual data center. Virtual machines are assigned to a particular cluster, resource pool, or host to create datastores.

When a virtual machine is powered on, the workload increases and resources are dynamically consumed. It dynamically reallocates resources as the workload decreases. New virtual machines can be created in a fraction of a second, as it is much faster and easier than physical machines. An appropriate operating system and applications must be installed to configure the virtual machine to handle the workload.

Resources are allocated to virtual machines based on the principles set by the system administrator. Resources can be reserved for a particular virtual machine to guarantee its performance. Principles are given priority when allocating resources to each virtual machine.

VMware Infrastructure

VMware Infrastructure is a virtualization suite that provides a comprehensive view of application availability, virtualization, resource optimization, management, and operational automation. 

It integrates and virtualizes the hardware resources among two or more systems. In the virtual environment, it provides virtual resource pools to the data center.

In addition, VMware Infrastructure has a distributed architecture that provides excellent features such as high availability, consolidated backup, and fine-grained, policy-driven, and resource-optimized allocation across the entire virtual data center. 

To establish an IT enterprise, these distributed architecture services play a major role in meeting service-level agreements and delivering production services cost-effectively.

• VMware ESX Server – The production-proven, robust virtualization layer runs on physical servers, abstracting storage, memory, processor, and networking resources across multiple virtual machines (VMs).
• VirtualCenter Management Server (VirtualCenter Server) - the central point for managing and configuring virtual environments.
• VMware High Availability– Provides features that are cost-effective, easy-to-use, and highly available to run applications on virtual machines.
• Virtual Infrastructure Client (VI Client) – VirtualCenter Server or individual ESX Servers can be connected to remotely from any Windows PC, and the client uses an interface to connect.
• Virtual Infrastructure Web Access – A virtual machine uses a web interface to manage and access remote consoles.
• VMware Virtual Machine File System – ESX Server virtual machines use a high-performance file system.
• VMware Virtual Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) – The SMP feature enables a single virtual machine to run on multiple physical processors in parallel.
• VMware Virtual Motion – To run virtual machines from one physical server to another, use the VMotion feature, which enables live migration with complete transaction integrity, zero downtime, and continuous service availability.
• VMware Backup – Consolidated Backup is easy to use. Backup can be simplified, reducing the overload on ESX Servers. Virtual machines have a centralized agent-free backup facility.
• VMware Infrastructure SDK – provides third-party access to VMware Infrastructure and a standard interface for VMware.
• Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) – To allocate resources for virtual machines, a collection of hardware, and balance the computing capacity dynamically, DRS is used.

Network Architecture

In this architecture, VMware vSphere VMs in the data center are connected to a group of virtual networking elements within a virtual environment, similar to physical network elements in the physical environment.

Every virtual machine has several virtual NICs. The application program and operating system interact with a virtual NIC. The virtual machine communicates via a device driver, either via VMware or a widely available driver optimized for the virtual environment.

In both cases, interaction in the operating system occurs in the same way as with a physical device. The virtual NIC has one IP address and its own MAC ID. The virtual machine has the same Ethernet protocol as a physical NIC. Agents outside the virtual machine cannot detect its communication.

A virtual vSphere Standard switch functions like a two-layer physical switch. Every server will have its own virtual switch. The vSphere Distributed Switch topology contains a single virtual switch connected to several servers. A Virtual switch has port groups on one side connected to VMs, and on the other side to physical Ethernet adapters.

A virtual switch can connect links to one or more physical Ethernet adapters. When NIC teaming is enabled, two or more physical adapters provide a passive failover network. In such a situation, an outage occurs, or traffic is shared.

The unique concept of the virtual environment is the port group. It is a method for defining the rules governing network connectivity. A switch can have multiple port groups.

By configuring port groups, we can enhance traffic management, improve performance, implement network segmentation, achieve high availability, and strengthen network security.

Networking with vSphere Distributed Switches (VDS)

A VDS acts as a single virtual switch across many associated hosts, with traffic traversing one or more of them. This VDVDS capability enables VMs to maintain a consistent work configuration.n.

The virtual machines can use every VDS as a network. To route traffic internally between an external network and virtual machines, VDS uses Ethernet adapters.

A VDS can have multiple distributed ports assigned to it. Distributed port groups share common configurations to provide a stable point for VMs connected to the network.

The Network resource pools determine the priority order for various network traffic types. When this is enabled, the VDS traffic is divided into network resource pools as listed below:

• FT traffic
• Management traffic
• vMotion traffic
• NFS
• iSCSI traffic.

Storage Architecture

The guest operating systems (OS) and the applications within virtual machines appear– the virtual SCSI controller is connected to more than two virtual SCSI disks in the storage subsystem. A virtual SCSI controller is a type of SCSI controller that a VM can access. These controllers include VMware Paravirtual, BusLogic Parallel, LSI Logic SAS, and LSI Logic Parallel.

The datastore elements support virtual SCSI disks in the datacenter. The storage space for virtual machines among several physical hosts (clients) is provided by the datastore. The datastore acts similarly to a storage appliance. The datastore cluster is a combination of multiple datastores, either as a load-balanced pool or as a single logical unit.

The technique of assigning storage space to a virtual machine (VM) is called abstraction. The complexity of installing the guest VM depends on the physical storage technology. The guest VM is not disclosed to NAS, iSCSI SAN, Fiber Channel SAN (F-SAN), and direct-attached storage.

The datastore is a physical storage system, and the virtual machine file store (VMFS) is a storage device. Network-attached storage (NAS) datastores are network file systems (NFS) with volumes (storage space) similar to VMFS volumes. Datastores can be expanded to one or more physical storage subsystems.

VMFS supports raw device mapping (RDM). RDM grants a VM direct access to a LUN on the Fiber Channel or iSCSI (physical storage subsystem) only. RDM supports two methods of applications, and they are as follows:

• SAN snapshot
• Microsoft Clustering Services (MSCS)

VMware vCenter Server Architecture

The three main components of vCenter Server architecture are as follows:

vSphere Web Client

• vCenter Server Database
• vCenter Single Sign-On

vSphere Web Client is a web application that serves as the user interface. The administrator can manage inventory objects and the installation in a vSphere prototype, and virtual machines can access the console. VMware software recently launched an HTML5-based vSphere Web Client in its latest version (vSphere 6.5).

• The vCenter Server Database: It stores and manages data for resource pools and inventory items. Each instance of vCenter Server will have its own database.
• vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO): SSO is a security token and authentication broker that allows users to log in once to access the vSphere infrastructure, eliminating the need for further authentication.

Key Features of vCenter Server

Key features of the vCenter Server are listed below:

1. Multi-hypervisor management: vCenter Server provides unified management for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware hosts.

2. VMware Host Profiles: The VMware Host Profiles tool is used to configure ESX and ESXi hosts. To create a standard configuration, vSphere uses Host outlines, which serve as blueprints for all hosts. VMware Host Profiles automate the configuration across all the clusters.

3. Automatic VM restart: To unite Virtual machines and their hosts into a cluster, VMware vCenter Server requires vSphere. If a server fails, vSphere HA will instantly restart the Virtual Machines on the host within the same cluster.

4. Patch management: Patches on ESXi hosts, Microsoft VMs, and Linux VMs are automatically scanned by vSphere Update Manager (VUM).

5. vRealize Orchestrator (vRO): To automate tasks using workflows, the server (vCenter) integrates with vCloud Suite and vRealize Suite.

vRealize Log Insight for vCenter Server is a log management software that helps identify and troubleshoot issues, customize dashboards, verify system compliance, and enable administrators to analyze system log data.

6. vCenter Server Linked Mode: The administrator uses “Linked Mode” to connect several vCenter Server systems. The “Linked Mode” feature allows the administrator to view their deployment (vSphere). The central server allows VMs to share data. This feature instantly duplicates the resources created by the administrator, including policies, roles, and permissions, across the vCenter Server.

7. Application programming interfaces (APIs): These make use of APIs to integrate and interact with a third-party application (software).

Advantages of vCenter Server

The enabled administrator will constantly monitor the performance. The vCenter Server assigns Vs and blocks unauthorized access. Some other benefits include simplifying integration with third-party products, minimizing the effects of system failures, and automating workflows.s.

A server (vCenter) can manage multiple virtual machines on its own. The number increases when multiple instances are connected. However, the server's (vCenter's) capacity is huge, which can be a drawback. Therefore, the server (vCenter) database can store all the data. 

When the number of virtual machines on a particular instance exceeds the database's limits, the risk of exceeding them increases. This leads to the purchase of vCenter Server (in addition to the existing server).

Communication Between vCenter Server and ESX

vCenter Server interacts with the ESX/ESXi host via the VMware vSphere API. When the first host is added to vCenter Server, it installs a vCenter Server agent on the client. Then the client agent shows its interaction with the server agent.

The functions of the vCenter Server agent are as follows:

• vCenter Server makes decisions about resource allocation and relays messages from the DRS engine.
• The virtual machine will pass configuration change and equipment commands to the host agent.
• Passing commands like host configuration changes the host agent.
• The server agent's alarms collect the overall performance and failure conditions from the host agent (client) and send them to the Server (vCenter).
• The vCenter Server agent allows you to manage ESX/ESXi hosts with new versions.

Accessing the Virtual Datacenter

Users can access the web via Windows Terminal Services or a web browser. The VMware vSphere data center can be accessed via the vSphere Client. In special cases, only the physical administrators have the right to access the host. All functions that are performed on the vCenter Server can also be performed on the host.

vCenter Server is accessed via the VMware API by the vSphere Client. A session will be initiated in vCenter Server after user authentication. Then, the users can see all the resources assigned to them on a virtual machine.

The process starts with the vSphere Client, which obtains the VM's location from vCenter Server via the VMware API to access the VM console. Then vCenter Server connects to the correct host and grants access to the virtual machine (VM) console. A host running ESXi can’t be accessed via vSphere Web Client.

First Time Use

The vSphere Client guides users through a step-by-step process to set up their own virtual environment, covering various virtualization techniques. This guidance content is present in the vSphere Client Graphical User Interface (GUI). The assistance or guidance can be enabled or disabled based on users’ experience with VMs.

Web Access

Users can access the web browser via the Apache Tomcat Server installed on the vCenter Server. The Apache Tomcat Server acts as a mediator between the vCenter Server and the browser via the VMware API. 

vCenter Server creates bookmarks for users to access the virtual machine (VM) console in a web browser. The bookmark points to the vSphere for Web Access.

vSphere Web Access for a virtual machine (VM) at a physical location redirects the Web browser to ESX/ESXi. If the user knows the VM's IP address, they can access the virtual console using standard tools. By default, web access on the ESX host is disabled.

VMware Tools

To enhance the performance of the virtual machine, VMware tools are used to improve its management and guest operating system. The following are some of the features of VMware Tools that are available when installed:

To automate the guest operating system, operation scripting is used.

Operating systems that support Aero have significantly faster (graphics) performance. Example – Windows Aero

If you install the OS on another virtual machine and reboot it, you need to install VMware Tools, as not all features are supported on all guest OSs. But use the control panel to configure other options to optimize your guest OS in the virtual environment. The guest OS can also run without VMware Tools, but there is a chance of losing important functionalities.

AI Capabilities of VMware

Let’s discuss the key AI capabilities of VMware.

• AIOps (AI-driven IT operations) – VMware Aria Operations uses ML models to monitor IT infrastructure performance and detect anomalies.
• VMware carbon black – It leverages AI and behavioral analytics to detect and prevent cyberattacks.
• VMware vRealize Automation – It automates infrastructure provisioning and lifecycle management through policy-based automation.
• VMware Tanzu – It helps you deploy applications in containerized and cloud-native environments.

VMware Use Cases

Organizations widely use VMware for virtualization, cloud computing, IT infrastructure management, and more.

• Improved Availability: Accuris Company has leveraged VMware Cloud Foundation to improve the scalability and availability of saas applications. The company reduced recovery time from days to hours by using VMware Live Recovery Cloud.
• Enhanced Reliability: NIRS, a Korean e-government service company, used VMware to reduce critical system failure time significantly and improve reliability. The platform helped the company migrate huge workloads to the private cloud.
• Boosted Productivity: Purdue University used VMware Tanzu Greenplum to deliver an enhanced learning experience for students. This tool helped the university analyze data to map student behavior and contact patterns.

Conclusion

We hope that this article has provided you with comprehensive knowledge of the VMware platform. It must have helped you establish a concrete foundation in VMware virtualization.

If you want to explore more about VMware, you can step into MindMajix, where you can take a VMware course. By the end of the training, you will gain strong expertise in VMware and virtualization concepts.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is learning VMware worth it?

Yes, you can learn VMware easily. If you have developed a strong understanding of virtualization concepts and operating systems, it will help you learn VMware quickly.

2. How long will it take to learn VMware?

You can learn VMware in 2-3 weeks. You need to continue hands-on practices even after the training; it will help you gain mastery over the VMware platform.

3. How much do VMware engineers make?

VMware engineers in India can make between 4 LPA and 10 LPA, according to Glassdoor. In the USA, they can make between 21.5k USD and 160k USD, according to ZipRecruiter.

4. What is the use of VMware Horizon?

It helps you deliver virtual desktops and applications. As a result, you can easily access remote devices, centrally manage desktops, and enhance security.