RTFM Guides
I have written many administration guides which cover all of the VMware Enterprise Products (ESX, vCenter, P2V). They have been created in a PDF format.
Impleamenting VMware Site Recovery Manager
The SRM book is available as free PDF download from LULU. Alternatively, if you wish a hard-copy you can order one from the lulu as well.
The Virtual Infrastructure 3: Advanced Technical Design Guide
The Vi3 ADTG book that I co-authored with Ron Oglesby and Scott Herold is now available as free download
Be sure to download the two other guides below on Vi3.5 to “upgrade” the book to be more up to date. If you still want a hard copy, the book is available on Amazon
Doc Version 1.1
This guide covers the primary configuration of the ESX3i product. It was based around the Beta & RC1 distrubutions. It has yet to be verified against the GA release, primarily because I don’t have access to it (yet!)
Upgrade Guide to ESX 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5
Doc Version 1.1
This guide is geared up for people already familiar with ESX 3.x.x and VirtualCenter 2.x.x and wish to quickly upgrade their skills to ESX 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5. It was based on the Beta and Release Candidates – and has yet to be fully tested against the GA Release.
Upgrade Guide to ESX 3 and VirtualCenter 2
Doc Version 1.3
This guide is geared up for people already familiar with ESX 2.x and VirtualCenter 1.x and wish to quickly upgrade their skills. It was based on the Beta and Release Candidates – and has been update for the GA Release
Guide to ESX 3 Service Console
Doc Version 1.1
This guide is geared up to people already familiar with ESX 3.x – but now want to dig deep into the VMware’s platform, and discover ways of managing ESX from the command-line environment
Guide to ESX 2.x Administration I
Doc Version 1.4
Includes topics such as: Installation, Virtual Machine Administration, Disk Management (both Virtual and Physical), Performance Management, Networking, Basic Security.
Guide to ESX 2.x Administration II
Doc Version 1.3
Includes topic such as: Advanced Usage of the Service Console, Overview of SANS, Performance Tools (esxtop, vmkusage, vmktree), Clustering-in-a-box, Overview of Scripting (Shell Scripts and VBS Scripts)
Guide to vCenter 1.x Administration
Doc Version 1.5
Creating farms, virtual machine groups, cloning, templates, permissions & delegation, cold migration, performance monitoring, alerts and creating charts
Guide to P2V 2.x
Doc Version 1.6
Overview of VMware’s P2V Product based on many server builds including NT4, Citrix, SQL, Dynamic Disks and Microsoft Software Fault Tolerance, Ghost and BartPE Boot CD and Overview of LeoStream P>V. Refreshed for ESX 3.x and VirtualCenter 2.x
Beyond the Manual – VMware ESX 2.x
Doc Version 1.3
A round up of assorted “value-add” material not conventional covered in VMware courses or in documentations, including: Advanced Disk Management (both Physical and Virtual), Unattended Installations, A Firewall “Tutorial” (MS NAT and MS ISA Server), Controlling & Restricting the ESX User Interface (MUI/Service Console)
ESX 2.x Service Console Quick Command-Line Guide
Doc Version 1.3
A round up of the common commands used at the Service Console, with samples and quick explanations