02072015_vmware

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How to create a VMware vSphere virtual machineutilizing all available features17 PhotosSep 22, 2010 10:33 AM PDT

Virtualization pro Rick Vanover walks you through the process of creating a virtual machinein VMware vSphere and utilizing all of the new features that are available.

Step 1: Choose where to create a VM

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The first step is the inevitable right-click to create a virtual machine. But where can it becreated? If vCenter Server is used, virtual machines can be created either directly on a host,


in a datacenter, in a cluster, or in a vApp. Whether this is the start of a new virtual machinetemplate or a server for an experiment, the behavior is similar in each situation and startswith the right-click. If scripting is your persuasion, of course there is a PowerShell outlet forthat.


Step 2: Choose a custom configuration

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The next option will be whether or not to select a custom configuration for the virtualmachine. The menu options for a custom virtual machine make it easier to utilize thenew vSphere features. The typical virtual machine's selection has seven decision points,compared to the custom virtual machines' fourteen. Besides, what techie doesn't alwaysselect custom anyway?


Step 3: Assign a name to the VM

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The next step in creating a virtual machine is assigning a name to the virtual machine.This isn?t the name of the guest operating system, but it is a good idea to keep them thesame. Further, why not make the server name of virtual machines (and physical systems!)self-documenting? In this case, VMAPPDEV01 is a development virtual machine applicationserver which is the first in its series. Instead of APP, you can put in something like "FILE" fora file server, "DOCO" for a domain controller, or something else that is self-documenting inyour environment.


Step 4: Choose a destination

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After the virtual machine has a name, a basic location needs to be selected. If VMware'sDRS is used in a cluster, they are enumerated in the resource pool to select for the virtualmachine. If DRS is not used, host resource pools are available. Likewise, a vApp is a validdestination as well. If multiple datacenters are in use within the same vCenter Server; thecontext of the datacenter that the right-click initiated will be displayed.


Step 5: Choose datastore location

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Storage is one of the most critical decision points for virtualization. Planning on the big scaleand the small scale are important. The next screen of the wizard asks in which datastoreto put the virtual machine. In vSphere clusters, a datastore that is accessible to multiplehosts should be used and ensure that adequate space is available. If Thin Provisioning isutilized, ensure that the provisioned amount is not too much greater than the capacity of thedisk. Managing over-subscription is an art that is directly reflective of your virtual machine'sbehavior.


Step 6: Select virtual machine version 7

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For vSphere installations, definitely select a virtual machine version 7. This will be used in allvirtual machines that are running on ESX or ESXi hosts version 4 or higher. It is confusingthat VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) virtual machines are a version 4 virtual machine, yetvSphere 4 virtual machines are a version 7 virtual machine. Further, version 7 is thegateway to the new vSphere features.


Step 7: Choose the operating system

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Deciding which operating system should run on the virtual machine is important. For currentserver operating systems, this will set important options such as 64-bit execution mode.Windows Server 2008 R2 is available only in x64, so selecting the correct operating systemwill ensure the optimal performance of the virtual machine from the base configuration.This starts with the virtual machine BIOS that is assigned to each virtual machine. vSpheresupports a number of new operating systems, including DOS, SCO OpenServer, SCOUnixWare, OS/2, FreeBSD, Windows 3.1 and others.


Step 8: Select the number of VM processors

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Selecting the number of virtual machine processors is an important step of the virtualmachine provisioning process. As a general rule, only allocate the required number ofprocessors. If you can get away with assigning only one virtual processor, do it. vSpheresupports up to 8 vSMP for a virtual machine as well as the 3 vSMP option. VI3 only offered1, 2 or 4 vSMP.


Step 9: Assign the virtual memory

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Without question, the most critical decision point in creating a virtual machine is theamount of virtual memory to assign a guest. Like vSMP, memory allocation should beexactly what the application and operating system require. vSphere supports up to 255GB of RAM on a virtual machine. VMware?s memory management technologies allowoversubscription of the guest compared to the host?s RAM inventory, which means theremay be swapping involved if the allocations exceed the available memory after the othermemory management technologies such as the balloon driver, transparent page sharing,and memory compression.


Step 10: Select the network interface type

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Selecting what type of network interface and on what virtual switch the virtual machinewill reside is the next part of the provisioning process. vSphere includes the VMXNET3virtualized network adapter that is optimized for virtual machines. Once VMware Tools areinstalled, the VMXNET3 driver will connect at 10 GBps; even if your line rate is only 100MBps! You can also select the new distributed virtual switch option for the virtual machine.


Step 11: Select the driver

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A virtual machine has a driver associated with its disk access. vSphere gives four optionsfor this function, with the new VMware Paravirtual driver being again purpose-built for virtualmachines. vSphere now supports the VMware Paravirtual driver to be used on boot volumesfor selected operating systems (including most current Windows versions). The Paravirtualdriver requires some additional consideration for being made bootable, see VMware KB1010398.


Step 12: Create a new virtual disk file (VMDK)12 of 17

You can then create a new virtual disk file (VMDK) for the virtual machine. I prefer to use theVMDK option instead of Raw Device Mappings (RDMs) in most situations. Should you havea virtual disk file ready to use, the previously configured disk option can also be utilized.


Step 13: Set VMDK options

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When determining the size for the virtual machine, the wizard only creates one VMDK file.If multiple VMDKs are to be used, they can be completed at the end of the wizard. Thereare a few key options to choose when creating the VMDK. Size is important, especiallyif the Thin Provisioning option is not selected. I prefer to use Thin Provisioning for mostsituations, as only the actual consumed storage of the guest operating system is reflected inthe VMDK. If the virtual machine is to be a Fault Tolerant virtual machine, Thin Provisioningis not available and the VMDK is formatted as a zeroed thick file. You can also specify thatthe VMDK file reside in a different datastore as the configuration and memory swap fileassociated with the virtual machine.


Step 14: Configure VMDK location on the bus

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Just like a physical SCSI bus, the virtual SCSI bus has node IDs. Here you can configure theVMDK file?s location on the bus of the virtual machine. Each virtual machine maintains itsown virtual SCSI bus addressing. So, this virtual machine may live on the SCSI 0:0 addressand on the same host the next virtual machine will also have a SCSI 0:0 address; yet be onseparate virtual busses.


Step 15: Make final customizations to VM

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The summary of the virtual machine is presented at this point. Even though the customwizard is thorough, I still go into the "Edit the virtual machine settings before completion"option for a few more customizations to the virtual machine.


Step 16: Make hardware inventory customizations

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The virtual machine hardware inventory is presented here, and I always make a fewcustomizations. One option is to remove the floppy drive. If the VMware Paravirtual SCSIdriver is used, I'll need the virtual floppy to pass the driver to the installation process. Ifnot, I?ll remove it here. The most common other tasks in this screen are to add additionalVMDK files for additional drives for the virtual machine, of which some may be on differentdatastores.


Step 17: Map the virtual CD-ROM device

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The final step to make the virtual machine usable is to map the virtual CD-ROM device to afile of an operating system installer. The most common situation is to map it to an .ISO file.PXE deployments can be used as well. Be sure to check the "Connect at power on" optionat the top to ensure that the mapping is correct.Click the Finish button and the virtual machine is created! At that point, it can be powered onand the operating system installed.

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