Virtualization - Where to Start?

I've been playing around with VMWare's VMPlayer and I'm quite intrigued. I havent really found any information on where to start nor do I really know where to look. I've heard the VMware certification is really best for someone who already has some experience and works with it everyday, I dont have that. So where do I begin? Any recommendations on books or videos? I love playing around with my network lab, can I set up a similar type of lab to learn virtualization? Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!

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pumbaa_g

Try CBT Nuggets or Trainsignal Video Series and keep playing with your lab

Essendon

I've watched both CBT Nuggets and TS, and TS beats the Nuggets hands down. The Nuggets barely scratch the surface while the TS videos go into more detail. Keep in mind though that these videos are only a primer, if you will, to your studies. They only initiate you to the topic, tell you a bit about it. It's only upto you to delve into much more detail, the kind of detail you need to pass the test. Not discouraging you or anything, the VCP isnt easy and not entry level by any means.

What kind of computer do you have for your lab? If you only want the feel of VMware, then VMplayer may get you by. Maybe try the free VMware Server. If you want to eventually go the cert route, download the iso for ESXi 5 from VMware.com and install it on your computer. Then go crazy with labbing. The book you need is Mastering VMware vSphere 5 by Scott Lowe, it has to be the best and most comprehensive book ever. It goes into a lot of detail, easy to understand (even for a vN00b, no offence to you) and if you fully understand the book, the test should be a piece of cake.

Good luck!

ChickenNuggetz

Essendon wrote: »

I've watched both CBT Nuggets and TS, and TS beats the Nuggets hands down. The Nuggets barely scratch the surface while the TS videos go into more detail. Keep in mind though that these videos are only a primer, if you will, to your studies. They only initiate you to the topic, tell you a bit about it. It's only upto you to delve into much more detail, the kind of detail you need to pass the test. Not discouraging you or anything, the VCP isnt easy and not entry level by any means.

What kind of computer do you have for your lab? If you only want the feel of VMware, then VMplayer may get you by. Maybe try the free VMware Server. If you want to eventually go the cert route, download the iso for ESXi 5 from VMware.com and install it on your computer. Then go crazy with labbing. The book you need is Mastering VMware vSphere 5 by Scott Lowe, it has to be the best and most comprehensive book ever. It goes into a lot of detail, easy to understand (even for a vN00b, no offence to you) and if you fully understand the book, the test should be a piece of cake.

Good luck!

Thank you very much! This is exactly what I was looking for! I'll see if I can get my hands on the Train Signal vids and I'll definitely be getting the book. I'm just starting out with all this, but I'm really, really interested in it, especially how it relates to networking. As for a lab computer, its the same desktop I use to configure my network lab, I also run GNS3 on it. Its got an AMD Phenom II X4 w/ 8GB RAM. I've read that some people run vSphere 5 in their home lab because the trial license works for 6 months or so and they just uninstall and reinstall after that; is this something feasible to do? Should I look into upgrading my current specs?

Essendon

Not a problem, glad to be of some help. There are two components really to a VMware environment, the vCenter server and the ESXi server. Both have their own licenses. You'll see that the license to your vCenter servers runs out before your ESXi server's license does. Both trial licenses are good for 60 days. For some reason, the vCenter license calculates days even when you dont fire up the lab. For example, if you installed vCenter on the 17th of August, it'll last till the 16th of October - even if you didnt work on your lab for the half the days. The ESXi host license on the other hand, calculates the hours you've logged into it. So if you've used it for 24 hours over 10 days, on the 11th day it'll say you have 59 days remaining. Just FYI.

As for the computer, all you really need is a 64 bit CPU and the ability to turn on VT-x or Virtualization enabled or something similar in the machine's BIOS. For an AMD machine it may be called something slightly different. I purchased a dual core with 8GB of RAM running an e6550 processor from my company. At first, it couldnt install ESXi 5 because it said - Hardware Virtuslization is not turned on for this processor. I scoured through the BIOS to find such an option and couldnt find one. Performed a BIOS update on the machine and the option to enable VT-x showed up and ESxi 5 installed without a problem. Luckily I was able to get me hands on a DL 380 G5 machine with 32GB of RAM and tons of storage and use that as my test lab now.

All you really need for your lab is the RAM (which you already have and 8GB RAM is enough to run a VCP 5 lab), a 64 bit machine (which you also appear to have) and the ability to turn on VT-x (which can become available in the BIOS with a BIOS update).

Hope this helps.

Essendon

To add:

Here's a great free resource: vBrownbags

Here's where to download ESXi from: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vmware-vsphere5-ent&lp=default

Here's the issue you'll run into when you try to nest virtual ESXi hosts within your physical ESXi host and the fix: VMware Communities: Help Nested Esxi 5 VM Issues!!!

Here's how to extend the vCenter license: Information about Cloud Computing (IaaS) and VMware Technologies: vCenter Reinstallation after 60-Days trial expires without losing Database Contents

ChickenNuggetz

Oh man you rock!

+1 reputation for giving lots of great info! I havent been this excited since I configured my first real router and switch!

dave330i

The only thing I don't like about Trainsignal is that their individual videos can be long (some are 1.5 hrs) vs. cbt nugget (usually under 30 min).

Essendon

Your right about the length of the videos Dave, but in case of the VCP prep, the CBT Nuggets are terrible.

Essendon

ChickenNuggetz wrote: »

Oh man you rock! +1 reputation for giving lots of great info! I havent been this excited since I configured my first real router and switch!

Glad to be able to be of some use to you!

whatthehell

+1 - Excellent info!

Essendon wrote: »

To add:

Here's a great free resource: vBrownbags

Here's where to download ESXi from: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vmware-vsphere5-ent&lp=default

Here's the issue you'll run into when you try to nest virtual ESXi hosts within your physical ESXi host and the fix: VMware Communities: Help Nested Esxi 5 VM Issues!!!

Here's how to extend the vCenter license: Information about Cloud Computing (IaaS) and VMware Technologies: vCenter Reinstallation after 60-Days trial expires without losing Database Contents