Virtualization from ground up

Hello,

I am now at the point where the president of the company has asked me to create a handbook on the deployment of VDI's. To give a little bit of a background on me. I am 20 and have around 3 years exp in I.T professionally. I have done the A+ and CCNA Recently. Never took a class in Microsoft and my duties at my job at to make sure all systems are operating right and from time to time go to customers and set up their VDI desktops, make sure printing, software and speed is good and showing them how to use them. The actual virtualization process is done at the data center by the engineer, which I just basically report to on how performance is or of any issues. My question is If I Wanted to really right handbook I would want to know the process from ground up and maybe even do it as a lab myself. I know how to do the deployment in reference to setting up clients but not to much the technical side. Do you guys recommend any books or any path to start up like little by little to learn virtualization in all... there are so many terms like Hyper-V, vmwaree ESX, Citrix Xen Desktop... Xen App... I really don't know how they integrate into each other and thats what I want to know. Also if it's possible to do a home lab on these things to get one working and like that I can learn on my own.

Thanks

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Comments

MentholMoose

How do you prefer to learn these things? If you like reading, buy a book. These two are fantastic and don't assume the reader has extensive prior knowledge of virtualization:
Amazon.com: Mastering VMware vSphere 4
Amazon.com: Mastering Microsoft Virtualization

Mastering Microsoft Virtualization even includes chapters on Microsoft VDI, though I'd guess you are using VMware View or Citrix XenDesktop.

Another way to learn is by watching training videos from companies like CBT Nuggets and Train Signal. There are a wide variety of videos available, including videos for products like XenDesktop and View which haven't had books published about them.

A similar option is official training courses. Most vendors design courses that are provided by companies like Global Knowledge. Usually these are expensive, so you'd probably need to ask your employer to pay for it. Vendors also provide online self-paced training, which is usually cheaper (though still not cheap). They often provide a few for free, though, for example:
http://www.techexams.net/forums/citrix-certifications/63148-free-citrix-training.html

Yet another way to learn is from vendor documentation. This will be difficult if you don't know the fundamentals, so I'd recommend reading a book to get started. Once you have an understanding of virtualization, you can look into documentation for products (like VDI) that use it.

As far as setting up a lab at home, it is certainly possible. I'd recommend starting to learn first so you will have a better understanding of what you need to build a suitable lab. The books I linked have labs you can do on your own, and you can look to vendor documentation for further help. Vendors usually have evaluation or quick start guides for their products, for example:
Evaluating XenDesktop 5

Darian929

thank you very much Menthol. Yea I'd like to start reading up the thing about the different softwares is I dont know which one is responsible for what and what goes installed on the server and what enables one another.

QHalo

I just started reading the Scott Lowe book today. I'm already through 100 pages of it. It's very easy and well written.

Darian929

QHalo and do you have any idea of virtualization or ever played around with it? or good microsoft knowledge?

MentholMoose

Darian929 wrote: »

thank you very much Menthol. Yea I'd like to start reading up the thing about the different softwares is I dont know which one is responsible for what and what goes installed on the server and what enables one another.

The typical starting point when learning about virtualization is the Hypervisor, which is installed directly on a physical server and facilitates virtualization in the first place. Ask the engineer responsible for your infrastructure about what hypervisors are in use and then research them. Hyper-V is a Microsoft product and covered in Mastering Microsoft Virtualization, whereas VMware ESX is part of vSphere so look into Mastering VMware vSphere. Or, use one of the other learning methods I mentioned. Once you understand hypervisors you can better understand technologies that leverage them, such as VDI.

QHalo

In a former life, before I decided to make a dream job career change which didn't end up working out so I went back to IT, I was a systems administrator for a very large insurance company and was involved in VMware consolidation. So yes, I have virtualization knowledge but it extends back into the 2.5.2 and 3.0 days of VMware.

I'm using this book and other study materials to catch back up with where things are now so I can make my way back into doing that. I'd like to get my VCP, something I wished I had done long ago. I'm pulling no punches this time either. I've queued up the HA/DRS deepdive and performance troubleshooting items available and I have the materials from the 4.1 install and configure class thanks to a generous friend of mine so I can get as much pre-study in as I can as well as a few other offerings. When I have to take the class, I want it to be a good review before the exam and set me up to take the exam very close to the completion. And yes, I have a good understanding of MS technology in general and their virtualization offerings as well.

Listen to Menthol's advice and get a solid grounding in the hypervisor offerings before you try to piece together a VDI. Remember, as with any technology you're learning for the first time start with the fundamentals and work your way up. It will work out better for you in the long run and lead to less frustrations.

Darian929

Hey guys sounds good i will start with that Mastering Microsoft Virtualization first then and get a good foundation! I just spoke with my boss and asked him also that I wanted to learn all the pieces and he sort of gave me a 5 mins explanation over the phone about it and how the companies started up and that we try to use the best out of every company. He also said he was happy that I was really taking this seriously and if I found a book that taught all of them to let him know as he was looking for one also but he stated its practically impossible as they all are different companies and each company wants you to use their own stuff which is true.