One of the VMware VSphere 5.1 Learning Series: building an experimental environment

first, physical host configuration

My physical host hardware configuration is as follows:

Motherboard	Intel DQ67SW	Supports the vt-d feature, which is not available under VMware Workstation
Cpu	Intel i7 2600	Supports the Vt-x/ept feature to enable nesting of 64-bit systems
Memory	4*4 GB	32GB will get better performance when it meets the memory requirements of basic experiments
Hard disk	3*320 GB RIAD 0	For experimentation, drive speed is required, regardless of data security

second, the experimental environmental planning Experimental Environmental Planning details

Schematic diagram of experimental environment planning:

Experimental Environmental Planning Instructions:

We use VMware Workstation to build an experimental environment, a basic environment of a total of 6 virtual machines, namely: 3 ESXi, 1 vcenter, 1 Ad&dns, 1 sets of Openfiler. Depending on the content of the experiment, the number of virtual machines is also increased.

ESXi and Vcenter virtual machines, using VMware vSphere 5.1 release software.

Ad&dns and Vcenter virtual machines, using the Windows Server R2 SP1 system, the domain name is jack.com.

Openfiler virtual machine, use Openfiler nas/san 2.99.1 version software.

The network connection between the virtual machines, using the bridged Cambridge access mode.

We can according to the experimental Environment planning diagram, configure the virtual machine hardware, network, system and other environments.

It is important to note that the Virtual lab environment built with VMware Workstation, although the vast majority of vsphere functional experiments can be done, but for some of the hardware has specific requirements of the function, there is nothing to do. set VMware Workstation memory Options

From the experimental environment planning diagram, it is not difficult to find a problem, all virtual machines need 19GB of memory, and the physical host only 16GB memory (the actual available physical memory will be smaller), obviously the physical memory is not enough.

While the 19GB is allocated, it does not fully use 19GB when the virtual machine is running, and the VMware Workstation memory operating mechanism can be adjusted to meet the operational requirements of the experimental environment.

Run the VMware Workstation program, and in the Home tab of the main window, click Workstation Preferences.

In the Preferences window, select the memory bar.

In the additional memory area, select Allow most virtual machine memory to be swapped, click OK to save the configuration.

Iii. Creating a virtual machine Create a VMware Workstation virtual machine

According to the experimental environment plan, we will create a virtual machine esx1.jack.com.

In the Home tab of the VMware Workstation window, click Create a New Virtual machine.

Open the New Virtual Machine wizard window.

On the Welcome to the New Virtual Machine Wizard page, what type of configuration does you want? Select as custom (Advanced) and click Next.

On the Choose the Virtual Machine Hardware compatibility page, select Hardware compatibility as Workstation 9.0 and click Next.

On the Guest Operating System installation page, select Install from as I will install the Operating System later, click Next.

On the Select a guest operating system page, select the guest operating system as VMware ESX, select version as VMware ESXi 5, and click Next.

In the name the virtual machine page, enter the name of the VM, browse at the location, or enter where the virtual machine file is saved, and click Next.

On the Processors Configuration page, select number of processors and number of cores per processor to 2, click Next.

On the memory for the Virtual machine page, adjust the RAM size slider to 4 GB and click Next.

On the Network Type page, select Network connection as use bridged networking and click Next.

On the Select I/O Controller Types page, select the SCSI controller as LSI Logic and click Next.

On select a disk, select disk as Create a new virtual disk and click Next.

On the Select a disk Type page, select Virtual Disk type as scsi (Recommended) and click Next.

On the Specify Disk capacity page, enter 40.0 in maximum disk size (GB) and select Store Virtual disk a single file and click Next.

On the Specify Disk File page, use the default virtual machine disk files name in disk file and click Next.

On the ready to Create Virtual Machine page, review the VM configuration information and click Finish.

Modifying the VMware Workstation virtual machine configuration

In the VMware Workstation window, you can see the virtual machine esx1.jack.com that you just created.

According to the experimental environment planning, we now also need to add and delete the hardware of the esx1.jack.com virtual machine, click on the edit virtual machines settings.

Open the Virtual Machine Settings window, on the Hardware tab, select the Processors bar, select Virtualize Intel vt-x/ept or amd-v/at virtualization engine RVi and virtualize CPU performance counters.

Select the CD/DVD (IDE) bar, at connection, select Use ISO image file, and enter or select the ESXi 5 installation disc image ISO file.

Select the floppy bar and click Remove to remove this virtual hardware.