VMware vSphere 4 Implementation by Mike Laverick

VMware vSphere 4 Implementation by Mike Laverick http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/ (expected release: Mid Feb 2009)

It was spring 2009 when I was asked if I was interested in doing the technical editing of an upcoming vSphere book from Mike Laverick. I have always known Mike as a professional or even expert on VMware (even after 2 nights out with him in Cannes) and thought of it as a big honor to be asked for this job. Working with Mike has been very nice and I learned a lot from and was also very pleased to be able to make some real contributions. Today I received a copy of his finished book in the mail and it looks really good. Well, enough chitchat, what is this book about?

Mike first takes you through the installation of ESX 4, ESX 4i and vCenter Server and explains the difference with ESX3 and Virtual Center 2.x. Apart from the obvious installation steps, he shows you how to install management agents, configure a SAN-based boot configuration and gives you a peek into configuring vCenter Mobile Access (still a technology preview).

The networking section of course talks about standard and distributed vSwitches and how to create them. But Mike also realizes that things can go wrong and takes you through the steps on how to migrate back to a standard vSwitch using the wizard or the command line if things went real bad. The book also shows you how to work with IPv6 configurations and talks you through using IPv6 on Windows 2003, Windows 2008, vCenter and ESX.

Chapter 6 on storage walks you through configuring your HBA’s, FC, iSCSI and NFS. You can also learn how to use the Lefthand VSA appliance to simulate iSCSI storage for your home lab.

Configuring and managing every aspect of your virtual machines include advanced settings and working with templates is covered in chapters 7 and 8. Like in the previous chapters Mike again takes you to places you can’t find in every book. Resizing your VMDK for example, is something you can read in most books, but “VMware vSphere 4 Implementation” shows you how to use resize your Windows partitions inside the VMDK using Dell’s ExPart utility and QTParted from the knopix live CD.

The next chapters handle permission control in your VI environment and, very important, Resource Monitoring and Resource Management followed by all you ever wanted to know on VMotion, Storage VMotion and cold migrations.

Chapter 17 teaches you about Advanced Configuration tools like host profiles, the vSphere CLI and for example how to configure iSCSI without using the GUI and how to perform automated scripted installs using the Ultimate Deployment Appliance.

The last few chapters of “VMware vSphere 4 Implementation” explain how to backup your VMs and how to perform good patch management on your ESX hosts. There is just one thing you would have expected to find in every book but haven’t seen me mention yet: Upgrading from VI 3.5 to vSphere 4. Well, that’s chapter 20 and with that the book is a very complete work on how to implement vSphere 4 in your environment.

“VMware vSphere 4 Implementation” by Mike Laverick can be pre-ordered at a number of online bookstores:

Product Details
Pub. Date: February 05, 2010
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies, The
Format: Paperback, 704pp
ISBN-13: 9780071664523
ISBN: 0071664521

2 thoughts on “VMware vSphere 4 Implementation by Mike Laverick

  1. Gabe,

    Thanks for the quick preview. I have been waiting on this book to come out! Would you happen to know if the book comes with a digital copy? As a kindle owner I like to carry all of my VMware material with me. :)

  2. Gabe,

    Thanks for the quick preview. I have been waiting on this book to come out! Would you happen to know if the book comes with a digital copy? As a kindle owner I like to carry all of my VMware material with me. :)

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