Understand and implement VMware Virtual SAN: the heart of tomorrow’s Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC) VMware’s breakthrough Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC) initiative can help you virtualize your entire datacenter: compute, storage, networks, and associated services. Central to SDDC is VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN): a fully distributed storage architecture seamlessly integrated into the hypervisor and capable of scaling to meet any enterprise storage requirement. Now, the leaders of VMware’s wildly popular Virtual SAN previews have written the first authoritative guide to this pivotal technology. You’ll learn what Virtual SAN is, exactly what it offers, how to implement it, and how to maximize its value. Writing for administrators, consultants, and architects, Cormac Hogan and Duncan Epping show how Virtual SAN implements both object-based storage and a policy platform that simplifies VM storage placement. You’ll learn how Virtual SAN and vSphere work together to dramatically improve resiliency, scale-out storage functionality, and control over QoS. Both an up-to-the-minute reference and hands-on tutorial, Essential Virtual SAN uses realistic examples to demonstrate Virtual SAN’s most powerful capabilities. You’ll learn how to plan, architect, and deploy Virtual SAN successfully, avoid gotchas, and troubleshoot problems once you’re up and running. Coverage includes Understanding the key goals and concepts of Software-Defined Storage and Virtual SAN technology Meeting physical and virtual requirements for safe Virtual SAN implementation Installing and configuring Virtual SAN for your unique environment Using Storage Policy Based Management to control availability, performance, and reliability Simplifying deployment with VM Storage Policies Discovering key Virtual SAN architectural details: caching I/O, VASA, witnesses, pass-through RAID, and more Ensuring efficient day-to-day Virtual SAN management and maintenance Interoperating with other VMware features and products Designing and sizing Virtual SAN clusters Troubleshooting, monitoring, and performance optimization

Plan, implement, and manage VMware’s radically simple, enterprise-class software-defined storage platform VMware’s Virtual SAN has rapidly proven itself in environments ranging from hospitals to oil rigs to e-commerce platforms. Along the way, it has matured to offer unsurpassed features for data integrity, availability, and space efficiency. Virtual SAN 6.x makes all-flash storage practical for even more use cases, while radically simplifying IT operations and supporting the transition to hyper-converged infrastructures (HCI). Now, the authors of Essential Virtual SAN (VSAN) have thoroughly updated their definitive guide to this transformative technology. Writing for vSphere administrators, architects, and consultants, Cormac Hogan and Duncan Epping explain what Virtual SAN is, how it has evolved, what it now offers, and how to gain maximum value from it. Hogan and Epping draw on unsurpassed experience shaping Virtual SAN and helping VMware customers deploy it. They offer expert insight into preparation, installation, configuration, policies, provisioning, clusters, and more. You’ll also find practical guidance for using its new Health and Performance Services to gain end-to-end visibility into infrastructure and resource consumption. Both an up-to-the-minute reference and hands-on tutorial, Essential Virtual SAN, Second Edition uses realistic examples to demonstrate the immense power of Virtual SAN 6.x. You’ll learn all you need to successfully plan and deploy the newest versions, and operate them smoothly and efficiently. COVERAGE INCLUDES: Understanding the goals and concepts of Software-Defined Storage and Virtual SAN Meeting updated requirements for safe Virtual SAN 6.x implementation Architecting, installing, and configuring Virtual SAN for your unique environment Simplifying deployment with VM storage policies and provisioning Controlling availability, performance, and reliability Efficiently managing and maintaining Virtual SAN Providing resiliency and scale-out storage functionality Designing and sizing clusters (with examples) Using stretched clusters to address rigorous downtime requirements Applying valuable new features such as deduplication, compression, checksums, and encryption Using Health and Performance Services to troubleshoot hardware, configurations, and performance

Understand and implement VMware Virtual SAN: the heart of tomorrow's Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC) VMware's breakthrough Software-Defined Datacenter (SDDC) initiative can help you virtualize your entire datacenter: compute, storage, networks, and associated services. Central to SDDC is VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN): a fully distributed storage architecture seamlessly integrated into the hypervisor and capable of scaling to meet any enterprise storage requirement. Now, the leaders of VMware's wildly popular Virtual SAN previews have written the first authoritative guide to this pivotal technology. You'll learn what Virtual SAN is, exactly what it offers, how to implement it, and how to maximize its value. Writing for administrators, consultants, and architects, Cormac Hogan and Duncan Epping show how Virtual SAN implements both object-based storage and a policy platform that simplifies VM storage placement. You'll learn how Virtual SAN and vSphere work together to dramatically improve resiliency, scale-out storage functionality, and control over QoS. Both an up-to-the-minute reference and hands-on tutorial, Essential Virtual SAN uses realistic examples to demonstrate Virtual SAN's most powerful capabilities. You'll learn how to plan, architect, and deploy Virtual SAN successfully, avoid gotchas, and troubleshoot problems once you're up and running. Coverage includes Understanding the key goals and concepts of Software-Defined Storage and Virtual SAN technology Meeting physical and virtual requirements for safe Virtual SAN implementation Installing and configuring Virtual SAN for your unique environment Using Storage Policy Based Management to control availability, performance, and reliability Simplifying deployment with VM Storage Policies Discovering key Virtual SAN architectural details: caching I/O, VASA, witnesses, pass-through RAID, and more Ensuring efficient day-to-day Virtual SAN management and maintenance Interoperating with other VMware features and products Designing and sizing Virtual SAN clusters Troubleshooting, monitoring, and performance optimization

VMware's vSAN has rapidly proven itself in environments ranging from hospitals to oil rigs to e-commerce platforms and is one of the top three players in the hyperconverged space. Along the way, it has matured to offer unsurpassed features for data integrity, availability, and space efficiency. vSAN 6.7 U1 has radically simplified IT operations and supports the transition to hyperconverged infrastructures (HCI). The authors of the vSAN Deep Dive have thoroughly updated their definitive guide to this transformative technology. Writing for vSphere administrators, architects, and consultants, Cormac Hogan, and Duncan Epping explain what vSAN is, how it has evolved, what it now offers, and how to gain maximum value from it. The book offers expert insight into preparation, installation, configuration, policies, provisioning, clusters, architecture, and more. You'll also find practical guidance for using all data services, stretched clusters, and two node configurations. This book is part of the Deep Dive series.Combine this book with the vSphere 6.5 Host Deep Dive, and the vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive, and you have an in-depth and comprehensive set of books that deliver the information you need to design and administer both vSphere and vSAN in the enterprise.Often referred to in the virtual community as the vSphere Resource kit, the Host Resource Deep Dive zooms in on hardware resources such as CPU and Memory and covers how the vSphere resource scheduler manages these. The vSAN Deep Dive discusses how to leverage local storage devices to create a shared storage platform and the Clustering Deep Dive builds on top of that and zooms in how a group of ESXi hosts work together and provide compute clustering services. Buy all three and become your organizations' private cloud superhero!

Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals For many IT organizations, today''s greatest challenge is to drive more value, efficiency, and utilization from data centers. Virtualization is the best way to meet this challenge. Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals brings together the comprehensive knowledge Cisco professionals need to apply virtualization throughout their data center environments. Leading data center expert Gustavo A. A. Santana thoroughly explores all components of an end-to-end data center virtualization solution, including networking, storage, servers, operating systems, application optimization, and security. Rather than focusing on a single product or technology, he explores product capabilities as interoperable design tools that can be combined and integrated with other solutions, including VMware vSphere. With the author''s guidance, you''ll learn how to define and implement highly-efficient architectures for new, expanded, or retrofit data center projects. By doing so, you can deliver agile application provisioning without purchasing unnecessary infrastructure, and establish a strong foundation for new cloud computing and IT-as-a-service initiatives. Throughout, Santana illuminates key theoretical concepts through realistic use cases, real-world designs, illustrative configuration examples, and verification outputs. Appendixes provide valuable reference information, including relevant Cisco data center products and CLI principles for IOS and NX-OS. With this approach, Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals will be an indispensable resource for anyone preparing for the CCNA Data Center, CCNP Data Center, or CCIE Data Center certification exams. Gustavo A. A. Santana, CCIE® No. 8806, is a Cisco Technical Solutions Architect working in enterprise and service provider data center projects that require deep integration across technology areas such as networking, application optimization, storage, and servers. He has more than 15 years of data center experience, and has led and coordinated a team of specialized Cisco engineers in Brazil. He holds two CCIE certifications (Routing & Switching and Storage Networking), and is a VMware Certified Professional (VCP) and SNIA Certified Storage Networking Expert (SCSN-E). A frequent speaker at Cisco and data center industry events, he blogs on data center virtualization at gustavoaasantana.net. Learn how virtualization can transform and improve traditional data center network topologies Understand the key characteristics and value of each data center virtualization technology Walk through key decisions, and transform choices into architecture Smoothly migrate existing data centers toward greater virtualization Burst silos that have traditionally made data centers inefficient Master foundational technologies such as VLANs, VRF, and virtual contexts Use virtual PortChannel and FabricPath to overcome the limits of STP Optimize cabling and network management with fabric extender (FEX) virtualized chassis Extend Layer 2 domains to distant data center sites using MPLS and Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) Use VSANs to overcome Fibre Channel fabric challenges Improve SAN data protection, environment isolation, and scalability Consolidate I/O through Data Center Bridging and FCoE Use virtualization to radically simplify server environments Create server profiles that streamline "bare metal" server provisioning "Transcend the rack" through virtualized networking based on Nexus 1000V and VM-FEX Leverage opportunities to deploy virtual network services more efficiently Evolve data center virtualization toward full-fledged private clouds -Reviews - "The variety of material that Gustavo covers in this work would appeal to anyone responsible for Data Centers today. His grasp of virtualization technologies and ability to relate it in both technical and non-technical terms makes for compelling reading. This is not your ordinary tech manual. Through use of relatable visual cues, Gustavo provides information that is easily recalled on the subject of virtualization, reaching across Subject Matter Expertise domains. Whether you consider yourself well-versed or a novice on the topic, working in large or small environments, this work will provide a clear understanding of the diverse subject of virtualization." -- Bill Dufresne, CCIE 4375, Distinguished Systems Engineer, Cisco (Americas) "..this book is an essential reference and will be valuable asset for potential candidates pursuing their Cisco Data Center certifications. I am confident that in reading this book, individuals will inevitably gain extensive knowledge and hands-on experience during their certification preparations. If you''re looking for a truly comprehensive guide to virtualization, this is the one!" -- Yusuf Bhaiji, Senior Manager, Expert Certifications (CCIE, CCDE, CCAr), Learning@Cisco "When one first looks at those classic Cisco Data Center blueprints, it is very common to become distracted with the overwhelming number of pieces and linkages. By creating a solid theoretical foundation and providing rich sets of companion examples to illustrate each concept, Gustavo''s book brings hope back to IT Professionals from different areas of expertise. Apparently complex topics are demystified and the insertion of products, mechanisms, protocols and technologies in the overall Data Center Architecture is clearly explained, thus enabling you to achieve robust designs and successful deployments. A must read... Definitely!" -- Alexandre M. S. P. Moraes, Consulting Systems Engineer -- Author of "Cisco Firewalls"

The inside guide to the next generation of data storage technology VMware Software-Defined Storage, A Guide to the Policy Driven, Software-Defined Storage Era presents the most in-depth look at VMware's next-generation storage technology to help solutions architects and operational teams maximize quality storage design. Written by a double VMware Certified Design Expert, this book delves into the design factors and capabilities of Virtual SAN and Virtual Volumes to provide a uniquely detailed examination of the software-defined storage model. Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS) is discussed in terms of deployment through VMware technology, with insight into the provisioning of storage resources and operational management, while legacy storage and storage protocol concepts provide context and demonstrate how Virtual SAN and Virtual Volumes are meeting traditional challenges. The discussion on architecture emphasizes the economies of storage alongside specific design factors for next-generation VMware based storage solutions, and is followed by an example in which a solution is created based on the preferred option identified from a selection of cross-site design options. Storage hardware lifecycle management is an ongoing challenge for IT organizations and service providers. VMware is addressing these challenges through the software-defined storage model and Virtual SAN and Virtual Volumes technologies; this book provides unprecedented detail and expert guidance on the future of storage. Understand the architectural design factors of VMware-based storage Learn best practices for Virtual SAN stretched architecture implementation Deploy STaaS through vRealize Automation and vRealize Orchestrator Meet traditional storage challenges with next-generation storage technology Virtual SAN and Virtual Volumes are leading the way in efficiency, automation, and simplification, while maintaining enterprise-class features and performance. As organizations around the world are looking to cut costs without sacrificing performance, availability, or scalability, VMware-based next-generation storage solutions are the ideal platform for tomorrow's virtual infrastructure. VMware Software-Defined Storage provides detailed, practical guidance on the model that is set to transform all aspects of vSphere data center storage.

Understand the concepts, processes and technologies that will aid in your professional development as a new system administrator. While every information technology culture is specific to its parent organization, there are commonalities that apply to all organizations. The Accidental SysAdmin Handbook, Second Edition looks at those commonalities and provides a general introduction to critical aspects associated with system administration. It further acts to provide definitions and patterns for common computer terms and acronyms. What You Will Learn Build and manage home networking and plan more complex network environments Manage the network layer and service architectures as well as network support plans Develop a server hardware strategy and understand the physical vs. virtual server ecosystem Handle data storage, data strategies and directory services, and central account management Work with DNS, DHCP, IP v4 and IP v6 Deploy workstations and printers Manage and use antivirus and security management software Build, manage and work with intranets and Internet support services Who This Book Is For It is assumed that the reader has little to no experience in a professional information technology environment.

The superabundance of data that is created by today's businesses is making storage a strategic investment priority for companies of all sizes. As storage takes precedence, the following major initiatives emerge: Flatten and converge your network: IBM® takes an open, standards-based approach to implement the latest advances in the flat, converged data center network designs of today. IBM Storage solutions enable clients to deploy a high-speed, low-latency Unified Fabric Architecture. Optimize and automate virtualization: Advanced virtualization awareness reduces the cost and complexity of deploying physical and virtual data center infrastructure. Simplify management: IBM data center networks are easy to deploy, maintain, scale, and virtualize, delivering the foundation of consolidated operations for dynamic infrastructure management. Storage is no longer an afterthought. Too much is at stake. Companies are searching for more ways to efficiently manage expanding volumes of data, and to make that data accessible throughout the enterprise. This demand is propelling the move of storage into the network. Also, the increasing complexity of managing large numbers of storage devices and vast amounts of data is driving greater business value into software and services. With current estimates of the amount of data to be managed and made available increasing at 60% each year, this outlook is where a storage area network (SAN) enters the arena. SANs are the leading storage infrastructure for the global economy of today. SANs offer simplified storage management, scalability, flexibility, and availability; and improved data access, movement, and backup. Welcome to the cognitive era. The smarter data center with the improved economics of IT can be achieved by connecting servers and storage with a high-speed and intelligent network fabric. A smarter data center that hosts IBM Storage solutions can provide an environment that is smarter, faster, greener, open, and easy to manage. This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides an introduction to SAN and Ethernet networking, and how these networks help to achieve a smarter data center. This book is intended for people who are not very familiar with IT, or who are just starting out in the IT world.

The new edition of a bestseller, now revised and update throughout! This new edition of the unparalleled bestseller serves as a full training course all in one and as the world's largest data storage company, EMC is the ideal author for such a critical resource. They cover the components of a storage system and the different storage system models while also offering essential new material that explores the advances in existing technologies and the emergence of the "Cloud" as well as updates and vital information on new technologies. Features a separate section on emerging area of cloud computing Covers new technologies such as: data de-duplication, unified storage, continuous data protection technology, virtual provisioning, FCoE, flash drives, storage tiering, big data, and more Details storage models such as Network Attached Storage (NAS), Storage Area Network (SAN), Object Based Storage along with virtualization at various infrastructure components Explores Business Continuity and Security in physical and virtualized environment Includes an enhanced Appendix for additional information This authoritative guide is essential for getting up to speed on the newest advances in information storage and management.