Preface

With more and more data centers being virtualized using its technologies, VMware is still the undisputed leader in providing virtualization solutions ranging from server virtualization to storage and network virtualization. Despite the efforts from Citrix and Microsoft, VMware's vSphere product line is still the most feature-rich and futuristic in the virtualization industry. Knowing how to install and configure the latest vSphere components is important to give yourself a head start towards virtualization using VMware. This book covers the installation and upgrade of the vSphere environment and also the administration tasks that one would commonly need to handle when managing a VMware infrastructure.

VMware vSphere 5.5 Cookbook is a task-oriented, fast-paced, practical guide to installing and configuring vSphere 5.5 components. It will take you through all of the steps required to accomplish various configuration tasks with less reading. Most of the tasks are accompanied with relevant screenshots and flowcharts with the intention to provide visual guidance as well. The book concentrates more on the actual task rather than the theory around it, making it easier to understand what is really needed to achieve the task. However, most of the concepts have been well described to help you understand the background and working.

The main highlight of this book is the use of the vSphere 5.5 Web Client to accomplish most tasks. Although a few tasks cannot be accomplished using the new Web Client with the current vSphere version, VMware will be integrating them into the Web Client in its future product releases. The other highlights include chapters covering vSphere Host Profiles, vSphere Auto Deploy, ESXi Image Builder, and VMware Update Manager. This book also covers command-line methods for important tasks.