SHIVA COMPUTERS # 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET,

HYD. Ph:9959562929,66848223. WWW.SHIVACOMPUTERS.NET

SHIVA COMPUTERS
# 101, REVATHI APPARTMENTS, BEHIND
MAITRIVANAM, AMEERPET, HYD.
Ph:9959562929,66848223.
www.shivacomputers.net

VMWARE
ESX 4.1/5.0

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INDEX

Lesson Topic Page No

1 VMWARE VIRTUALIZATION 3

2 VMWARE WORKSTATION 6

3 VMWARE SERVER (GSX) 34

4 VMWARE CONVERTER STANDALONE 55

5 VMWARE ESX 62

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LESSON 1: VMWARE VIRTULIZATION

What is Virtualization?
• Virtualization is a technique of working with multiple virtual computers on a single computer,
simultaneously

What is VM?
• VM is Virtual Machine created on a physical machine
• It runs on the top of other OS
• It runs with Virtual Hardware
ilize the hardware resources (processor, RAM, HDD, Network etc) from physical machine
• VMs utilize
• VMs may contain different OS like windows, linux, solari
solaris etc

Virtualization Advantages
• Multiple OS on a Single Server
• Reduce the cost of Hardware and maintenance
• Maximum hardware utilization (With Virtual Hardware, Idle resources are not wasted)
• Flexibility in working with OS (OS works as application)

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Data centers Migration

• Data center is a location where all servers placed in racks
• With Virtualization Physical Data Centers (PDC) become Vi Virtual
rtual Data Centers (VDC)
• This is called P2V migration – Physical to Virtual

Data Centers (P2V)

Virtual Machine Products

PRODUCT FROM PROPRIETARY PRODUCTS

Virtual PC
Microsoft Yes
Virtual Server (Hyper-V)
(Hyper
Xen Server
Xen Open Source Xen Center
Xen Citrix Server
VMWare Workstation
VMWARE Yes
VMWare Server

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VMWare ESX

60% to 70% Market share is from VMWare

VMWare Products
• VMWare Products are two types
o Host Based Product
o Bare Metal Product
HOST BASED BARE METAL
Works on top of other OS Works as standalone OS
VMWARE Workstation VMWARE ESX Server 4.1
VMWARE Server (GSX) VMWARE ESX Server 4.0
VMWARE Player VMWARE ESXi
VMWARE Converter (No service console in ESXi)

Hardware Requirements
• Intel Xeon Processor / AMD opetran Processor
• 64 Bit Processor
• Virtual Technology enabled CPU

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LESSON 2: VMWARE WORKSTATION

VMWARE Work station runs on the top of Other OS

VM Ware Workstation Installation

VMWARE Workstation interface

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Creating a VM (Guest OS)

VM can be created in two methods. Typical and Custom

Typical Installation

There are three installation methods

• Installer Disc (CD/DVD Writer)
• Installer image (ISO image file)
• Install Later

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Select the Guest OS and Version. Give the name of VM and Location

Select the Disk size (Disk can be single file or 2GB files split). Hardware can be customized

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Power on the Virtual Machine to begin installation of VM

To Reboot a VM press CTRL+ALT+INS

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Custom installation

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Select the VM hardware compatibility. It shows compatible products and Limitations

There are three installation methods

• Installer Disc (CD/DVD Writer)
• Installer image (ISO image file)
• Install Later

Select the Guest OS and Version

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Set VM name and Location. Do the Processor Configuration

Explanation on Processors
• Processor Socket is one Physical Processor Unit
• Core means CPU. It iss Processing unit in the physical processor

With HT (Hyper threading) Technology a single core works like two logical cores
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Set the memory for VM and Select the Network Type

Explanation on Network connection

• Bridged : VM works like machine connected to physical Network

• NAT : VMWARE IPs are NATted with physical machine IP

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• Host only : VMWARE IPs work like private Network (no communication withphysical network)

• Custom : Customization of Network adapters

Select I/O Adapter Type

Explanation on I/O Adapters

SCSI Adapter logics are 3 types (I/O Adapters)

• Bus Logic (Eg. Win XP installation)
• LSI Logic (Eg. Win 2003 installation)
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• LSI logic SAS (Eg. Win 2008 installation)

Select the Disk and Virtual Disk Type

Specify the Disk Capacity in GB. (Can be single file or 2GB split files)

Explanation on HDD
Hard disks are two types in VMWARE
• Thin HDD
o Thin Provisioning
o Dynamic allocation
o Disk space not dedicated, takes the space as required
• Thick HDD
o Thick Provisioning

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o Static/ Pre allocation

o Disk space is dedicated, Better for real time scenarios

Then specify the disk file and location. Hardware customization is also possible

Customize the Hardware resources like Memory, Processor, CD/DVD, Network Adapter, USB, Sound card, Display etc
Adding new hardware devices is also possible.

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Add the Hardware devices if required.

Power on the Virtual Machine to begin installation of VM

To Reboot a VM press CTRL+ALT+INS
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VM Files and Extensions

File extension File

.vmdk VM HDD File
.vmx VM Config File
.log VM log File
.nvram VM Bios file
.vmxf VM Team Member
.lck VM Lock File
.vmfs VM File System
.vmtm VM Team file (config file)
.vmsn VM Snapshot
.vmsd VM Snapshot Metadata
.vmx Same extension used for Consolidated backup also
.ovf Open Virtualization Format

VMWARE Tools Installation Sequence

The Sequence to be followed is
• First Install VMWARE Workstation
• Install Guest OS
• Install VMWARE Tools
• Install Applications on VM

VM Tools Advantages

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• Increasing VM Performance
• Keyboard, Mouse movement, Graphics improved
• Time Synchronization between Host OS and Guest OS
• No need to Press ALT+CTRL to release cursor
• Install Network drivers, increases network performance

VM Tools Location
VM Tools are located in C:\Program Files\VMWARE\VMWARE Workstation in Host OS. They are installed along
with VMWARE workstation

There are multiple ISO files in this location. They are for Windows, Linux , Solaris Operating Systems.

Eg. For windows, the file is C:\Program Files\VMWARE\VMWARE Workstation\Windows. ISO

VMWARE Tools Installation

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Select the installation Type

• Typical : Only for VM Workstation Product
• Complete : For all VMWARE Products
• Custom : Customize installation
Restart VM to take effect

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Teaming
Teaming is used to Start and Stop VMS as a Group
• Create a New Team
• Add the VMs (.vmx files) to form a team
• Select LAN segment and Network Type

Create a New team

Enter the Team Name

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Add the required existing VMs (.vmx files) or new VMs

Select the Network Type

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Team is created and VMs also added

Team settings can be changed

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Delay Time can be changed

Delay time is the time delay between VMs to start up. Default is 10 sec and can be customized
Delay time is useful not to overwhelm the resources

LAN segments and Options like team name etc can be modified

Cloning
• Creating a VM from an existing VM
• Cloning is two types
o Linked Clone

VMs share same VMDK, VMX files

The cloned VM doesn’t work if main VM is deleted

OS is same for both VMs, but changes in cloned VM doesn’t affect main VM

Requires Less time and Less space

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o Full Clone

VMs have own VMDK, VMX files (copy of VMDK, VMX)

VMs are independent of each other

Requires much time and more space

• VMs should be powered off before taking a Clone. Hot cloning is not supported in VMWARE Workstation
Hot cloning is supported in VMWARE ESX (cloning can be done while the VM is powered on)
ESX supports only full clone. It doesn’t support linked clone.
• Once the clone is taken, cloned machine parameters need to be changed to avoid conflictions
eg. Hostname, IP address,s, System ID etc. (System IID can be changed with “new sid” software)

Cloning Process

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Select the Clone Method (Linked Clone or Full clone)

Set name and location of Cloned VM

SnapShots
• Snap Shots are similar to restore points
• Used to restore a VM to the earlier stage at which snap shot has been taken
o Take a snapshot : Creates a snap shot at current stage
o Revert to snapshot : Restores to last Snapshot
o Snap shot manager : To manage all snapshots and restoring to a specified snapshot

Taking a Snap Shot :

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Enter Name of Snap shot and Description. Snapshot Created

Revert to Snapshot

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Snap Shot Manager

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Record and Play

• With Record Option, Actions in VM can be recorded in .JPEG sequence that gives the feel of video
• With Play option, it can be played back when required

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Give the name of recorded Video and save

Play back Video

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Move the marker to the locations to see the actions.

Deleting a VM

Virtual Network Editor

Virtual Network Editor is used to Manage Virtual Network Adapters, IP addresses and options

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These parameters can be modified

VM Workstation Preferences

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VMWARE Workstation preferences can be modified

In VMWARE Workstation Menu Bar Full screen, Quick view, slide view etc options are available

VM Player

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• VM Player can open the existing VM

• New VM can be created only with Typical Option
• Virtual Appliance can be downloaded
o Virtual appliances are in OVF format. These are VMs that contain pre installed packages
o Virtual appliances can be downloaded from VMWARE.com

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LESSON 3: VMWARE SERVER

VMWARE Server (GSX)
• VMWARE Server is a host based product (Runs on the top of other OS)
• The VMs created in VMWARE Server can be managed from a remote location
• The primary difference between VMWARE server and VMWARE workstation is remote administration

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VMs creation, Management etc Operations are similar in VMWARE Server and Workstation
But interface is different
VMWARE Server and Workstation products can’t be installed at a time in a single machine

VMWARE Workstation and VMWARE Server Comparison

VMWARE Workstation VMWARE Server

Host based Product Host based Product
Runs on top of other OS Runs on top of other OS
No remote administration Remote administration
No data stores Data Stores can be created
No roles and Permissions Roles and Permissions possible
Teaming, cloning, record& play are available Teaming, cloning, record& play are not available
Multiple snap shots possible Only a single snap shot

VMWARE Server Key Features

• Remote Administration
o VMWARE server is accessible via web interface (with local users credentials on Host OS)
• Data Stores management
o It’s the storage location, in which VMs are created
o Data Storage can be local Storage or shared folder (NAS share)
• Role and Permissions
o Local users created on Host OS and Permissions can be given to them to manage VMWARE server

VMWARE Server installation

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FQDN can be modified. 8222 is HTTP default port. 8333 is HTTPS default port. These default port numbers can be
modified if required. In most of the cases they are left untouched.

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The host OS needs to be restarted, after installing VMWARE Server

Remote administration

Now the VMWARE server can be accessible from locally or remote location.
Remote clients can access VMWARE server with a web browser.

https://vmwareserver-ipaddress: 8333

Example: https://192.168.140.1:8333

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Access VMWARE server with local username and password

VMWARE Server interface

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Data Stores management

• This is the storage location for VMWARE Server. There can be multiple datastores
• VMs are created on these datastores.
• Data Store is two types. Local datastore or Network Shared Datastore

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Adding Local Datastore

Specify the datastore name and directory path

Adding Network shared Datastore

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Specify the datastore name and CIFS properties and authorization

There are two file systems for NAS shares

CIFS – Common Internet File System (Used for Windows)
NFS – Network File System (Used for Linux)

VMs Creation

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Specify name of VM and datastore

Select OS and Version

Modify memory and processors settings

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Select HDD type

Specify the file name of vmdk file and location

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Add the network adapter

Specify the network connection type

Use a physical drive or ISO image to install OS in VM

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Browse the ISO image in data store

Select the ISO image from the datastore (which are already saved in datastore)

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Add a floppy drive if needed

Add a USB controller if needed

VM creation is finished

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The VM (windows 2003 server) is created and appears in Inventory List.

Hardware configuration can be modified if required.
By using the controls VM can be started, stopped or paused

Adding Hardware in VMs

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Add the required Hardware

VM Snap Shot

Snap shot of VM can be taken. Only one snap shot is possible

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VM configuration

VMs General and Power Options can be configured

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VMs Snapshot and Advanced Options can be configured

Adding VMs to the Inventory

Existing VMs can be added to the VMWARE Server inventory

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Browse the VM in datastore to add it to inventory

Poweing on VM- Console plugin

Console plug in need to be installed to start and view the VM in console

Generate a Shortcut for VM

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Copy this URL and use it to access that VM

VMWARE Server- Interface

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Summary tab displays summary information, processor, datastores, network etc

Virtual machines tab displays the current VMs added to inventory

Tasks tab displays the actions done

Events tab displays the logs

Deleting a VM
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The VM can be deleted from Inventory or completely from disk

Roles and Permissions

• First create a role and define the privileges
• To assign the permissions- Map the local user with the role

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By default administrator, no access, read only roles appear. Then add a new role

Enter the name of a role and define the privileges. (eg. Testrole)

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Testrole added. Role can be modified or removed

Permission can be defined

A user account created in local users and groups (eg. Testuser)

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Local user account is mapped with the role (eg. Testuser is mapped with testrole)

New permission is applied

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Login to the VMWARE server with testuser account

Now testuser can do only the tasks specified in testrole

LESSON 4: VMWARE CONVERTER

• VMWARE converter is used for P2V (Physical to Virtual) and V2V (virtual to virtual) conversions

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VMWARE Converter installation

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For client –server installation the default port numbers are

https :443 http:80 agent services:9089

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Specify the source and its information

Source types
Source Type Source is on Conversion type
Powered-on machine Physical machine P2V
VMWARE infrastructure virtual machine ESX V2V

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VMWARE workstation or other VMWARE virtual machine VM product (host based) V2V
Backup image or third-party virtual machine Backup file V2V
Virtual appliance OVF Image V2V

Specify the destination and its information

Destination types
Destination Type Destination is
VMWARE infrastructure virtual machine ESX
VMWARE workstation or other VMWARE virtual machine VM Product (Host based)
Virtual appliance OVF Image

• ESX 3.5 to 4.0 and ESX 4.0 to 3.5 conversions are possible by selecting appropriate hardware version while
converting
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• Hardware versions for ESX

o Version 4 is for ESX 3.5
o Version 7 is for ESX 4.0

In view/edit options some parameters can be modified. Data to copy, devies, networks, services, advanced options

Devices options

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Services options

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Summary of conversion

Conversion process is going on. It displays source, destination, current status, estimated time information etc

V2V conversion is going on (from VMWARE Workstation to VMWARE ESX)

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The converted VM has been powered on successfully in ESX server

LESSON 5: VMWARE ESX SERVER

VMWARE ESX server
• Bare Metal Product
• ESX works like standalone OS (No Host OS required)
• 4.0 is standard release
• 4.1 is latest version
• ESX 3.5 is 32 bit support
• ESX 4.0 is 64 bit support

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Minimum Hardware Requirements for ESX 4.0

• Intel Xeon (or) AMD Opteron processor with 64 Bit support
• 2GB RAM
• SCSI HDD (or) SAS HDD (or) Specific SATA controllers
• SCSI (or) SAS controllers
• Serverr Mother Board and server configuration
• Network Card Support
Example configuration: Intel Xeon CPU – E3110@3GHz - 4GB RAM

Kernel
• Kernel is the core component of OS that converts high level language commands to machine level language
• Kernel is the interface between OS and Hardware

ESX Kernel
• ESX server works like standalone OS.
• ESX has two Kernels.
• These two kernels are key components of ESX
• Linux Kernel 2.6
o This is the console OS (COS)
o 2.6 is latest
o Used for OS features, Security

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o All linux commands work with this kernel

• VM Kernel
o Used for VMWARE features
o All VMWARE commands work with this

ESX Server Mandatory Partitions

Partition Partition name Used for

/ Root Entire OS installed

/boot Boot Bootable files

Virtual Memory (additional)
Useful when main memory not enough
/swap Swap
1.5 or 2.0 times of main memory
Toggles idle processes into swap

ESX 4.0 Installation

Installation in graphical mode

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Accept the license terms

Select the Keyboard and custom drivers installation (custom drivers are not required generally)

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Load the system drivers

Enter25-digit license serial number. If the key is not entered, ESX enters into evaluation mode. Evaluation period is
60days. Evaluation is not a limited version. All features can work. Select the network adapter.

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Enter ESX IP address, mask, gateway, dns and FQDN host name.

Select standard setup or advanced setup. Select the storage to install ESX.

It needs 1.25GB as minimum space.

The Total size will be 9.50GB with service console.

Mount points
• / = 5GB,
• /swap=600MB (service console has 300MB memory. Swap is double the service console)
• /var/log is for logs

Select the Time zone. Set the Date and Time

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Enter the root password. Add the additional accounts if required

Verify the summary of installation settings

Installation goes on

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Installation completed. ESX server restarts

ESX server is powered on and ready to access

Accessing ESX server

• ESX server console is CLI based
• Remote systems can access ESX in mulitple ways

Methods to connect with ESX

• Vsphere client
o GUI based
o Both ESX, VMs can be managed
• Putty
o CLI based
o Used for troubleshooting
• Web access
o GUI based

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o Only VMs can be managed

Vsphere client
• Vsphere client is for accessing ESX 4.0 (ESX 4.0 is called as vsphere)
• VMWARE Infrastructure client is for accessing ESX 3.5

Vsphere client can be downloaded from ESX server by accessing http://esxipaddress (eg. http://172.16.0.10)
(All VMWARE softwares can be downloaded from VMWARE.com )

Access the server by using the ipaddress. It shows the default home page. Now download vsphere client

Installation of vsphere client

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Start vsphere client installation

Specify username and Organization

Vsphere client installation completed

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Enter IP address of ESX server. Enter username and password to gain access to ESX server

If security warning dialogue box appears, ignore it

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ESX server interface is displayed (servername is shiva-esx1, ip address is 172.16.0.10)

Putty Access
• By default SSH access is disabled on ESX server
• To enable putty SSH access edit this file
o Vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
o #permitrootlogin no (make this line as comment)
o Service sshd restart
o Now putty access is available

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Now start putty and enter IP address of ESX

Now ESX server is available with putty access

Web Access
• By default web access is denied
• To enable web access start below service
o /etc/init.d/VMWARE-webAccess start
o Web access is available now

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Access server by using http://esxipaddress/ui (eg. http://172.16.0.1/ui)

Enter login credentials

VMWARE server web access is available now. Only VMs can be managed with this. ESX server can’t be managed
VMWARE Remote MKS plug-in need to be installed to see the VM console
Accessing VMWARE ESX with Vsphere client

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Enter ESX IP address (172.16.0.1) and specify username and password

ESX Home Page

This is ESX Home page

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Summary Page displays ESX Hardware resources information, network information, maintenance mode, reboot,
shutdown commands etc

Virtual Machines Page displays existing VMs and their state, status, utilization information etc

Resource allocation page displays CPU, Memory utilization, shares, % shares etc

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Performance page displays hardware resources utilization as graphs

Chart options display the custom graphs based on time slots

Configuration page displays processors, memory, storage, networking, storage adapters, and network adapters
information. The entire configuration can be done from this page.
Licensing features, time configuration, DNS and Routing configuration, VM shutdown/startup, security profile,
system resources allocation, advanced settings appear on this page.

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Users&Groups page display the current users and group information

Events Page display the Event logs information

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Permissions Page display the Roles assigned to the users

ESX configuration Page: ESX configuration page is very important since it contains many tasks

Shows health status information

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Processor configuration

Configures service console memory. 256MB<service console memory<800MB

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New storage devices like SAN volumes (LUN) can be added

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New virtual switches can be created. VM Port groups, VM Kernel Ports, Service console Ports can be added

New storage adapters can be configured. HBA is Host Bus adapter

Shows the Network adapters. First physical NIC id is vmnic0, second NIC is vimnic1 and so on

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Shows advanced settings

Shows ESX server licensing features

License sources Options

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Time configuration and NTP (Network Time Protocol) Options

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General and NTP settings. Add NTP servers if exist.

To configure DNS and Routing (Gateway) Options

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Specify DNS and Default gateway IP addresses

Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown settings

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Specify VM swapfile location. Generally VM memory location is the swap memory location

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To configure firewall properties and services

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To configure system resource allocation

To configure advanced settings

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Creating VMs in ESX : This procedure is similar to creating a VM in Workstation

New VM creation

Select type of installation and VM Name

Select Data store to create a VM (generally it is shared storage like SAN)

Select the Guest OS and Version

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Select virtual processors and memory for VM

Select Network (VM Port Group), adapter. Specify Disk size for VM

Now VM can be powered on to begin with OS installation

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ESX Networking

ESX creates a Virtual Switch (vSwitch) and Virtual Network. Multiple Vswitches can be created in ESX

Virtual Switch
Virtual Switches are 3 Types

• Virtual Switch Without Physical NIC

o Connection limited within the switch
o No connectivity with other virtual switches

• Virtual switch with one physical NIC

o Connection with other switches possible
o No Redundancy

• Virtual switch with multiple NIC

o Connection with other switches possible
o Redundancy (Fail over) and load balancing

NIC Teaming
Adding two or more physical NIC to the same virtual switch is called NIC Teaming

Virtual Switch Port Types

There are 3 types of ports in virtual switch

• Virtual Machine Port Group

o Its created by default
o Used to connect VMs
o These are mapped with VLANs

• VM Kernel Port
o Not created by default
o Used to provide some VM Kernel services such as VMotion, iSCSI, NFS, FT etc

• Service console Port

o Created by default
o Used to manage ESX server (IP address of ESX server)
o Additional Service Console Ports can be configured with other IP address

VM Kernel Port uses

Vmotion : Moving the VM from one ESX to another ESX while the power is ON. VM Kernel Port IP is used in vmotion
iSCSI : It’s a protocol to connect iSCSI SAN storage devices. Volumes mounted on VM Kernel IP
NFS : To connect NAS storage (NFS, CIFS protocols)

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Vswitch structure

One VM Port Group & One Service console port exists by default. VM Kernel Port can be created as per requirement
Additional VM Port Group, VM Kernel port, Service console ports can be cre
created

VLAN Concepts
• VLAN is Virtual LAN
ment is further divided into multiple LAN segments. Each segment is called as VLAN
• The physical LAN segment
• VLAN is a logical boundary on the switch
• Each VLAN is identified by VLAN ID
• ESX supports 1-4094 VLANs in a single switch. These are extended VLANs
• Vlans are mapped with VM Port Groups

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To allow multiple VLANs, the port needs to be configured as trunk port. Trunk port tags the VLAN id information
within the Ethernet frame. This is called frame taggin
tagging or VLAN tagging.

Physical Switch connectivity with ESX server vswitch

• Physical switch contains VLANs. Every VLAN has one VLAN Id

• Physical switch uplink port is configured as trunk port to allow multiple VLAN
VLANs

• In ESX vswitch, multiple VM Port Groups are created and mapped with VLAN id
• All these vlans can communicate with physical switch vlans via physical NIC of ESX. Typically it is vmnic0
• This physical NIC is also called as Uplink Adapter.
• No special configuration is required to make vmnic0 as trunk port.

Creating VM Port Group

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Create a new vswitch or use existing vswitch, then it displays preview

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Enter the name of VM Port Group

Shows the final preview

VM Port group created (eg. Test-vmport-group)

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Adding a VM into portgroup

Edit VM settings, then add network adapter into VM port group

VM Windows 2003 server is added to test-vmport-group

Creating a VM Kernel Port

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Specify name and VLAN id, vmotion, fault tolerance options, it displays preview

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Specify IP address of VM Kernel port and observe preview

It displays the final preview

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VM Kernel port is created with the specified IP address (eg. Test-vmkernel-port)

New vswitch

New virtual switch (vswitch1) is created

VM Port Group (eg. Shiva-vmportgroup) and VMKernel Port (eg. Shiva-vmkernel-port) are created on the new switch

Creating Service Console Port

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Select the switch to create a new service console

Specify the name, IP address of new service console. It displays preview

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A new service console port is created on vswitch1 (eg. Shiva-serviceconsole-port)

Vswitch properties

Displays physical network adapters information

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Displays VM Port Groups, VM Kernel Port, service console ports created on the switch

General tab displays number of Ports in the switch. The number of ports can be modified

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Security tab displays policy exceptions

Promiscuous mode
Default is rejecting. That means Non-promiscuous mode
Non-promiscuous mode: The destination VM checks whether frames coming for its MAC or not. If yes frames
accepted. Otherwise frames rejected. By default every PC works in non-promiscuous mode only.
By default ESX also works in non-promiscuous mode. But it can work at promiscuous mode if setting modified

MAC change
Default is accepting. That means MAC address of VM can be changed. (VM settings- network adapter)

Forged Transmit
Default is accepted. That is while sending the packets source VM will not check for any MAC, it transfers all the
packets

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Traffic shaping is disabled by default. Burst size is the packet size in one shot

NIC teaming is for failover and load balancing

Different load balancing options are available

Network failover detection: Link status only and beacon probing

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Link status detects only link issues. Can’t detect manual configuration errors
Beacon probing can detect link issues and manual configuration errors also
Notify switches gives notification messages when switch fails
Failover is shifting to standby (Primary NIC to Secondary NIC)
Failback is coming back to normal (Secondary NIC to Primary NIC)

Failover order
Active adapters
Displays the adapters in active state
In failover only 1 NIC used
In load balancing 2 NIC are used
Standby adapters
Displays the adapters in standby state
Unused adapters
Displays the adapters reserved

VM Port Group Properties

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Service console Port settings

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VM Kernel Port settings

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VM Port Group- VM Kernel Port- Service console Port comparisons

Property VM Port Group VM Kernel Port Service Console Port

Used for Grouping VMs Vmotion, FT, NAS, SAN volumes ESX Management
contains IP No Yes Yes
Created by Default No Default
Additional Can be created Can be created Can be created
General General General
(label, VLAN id) (label, VLAN id, vmotion, FT) (label, VLAN id)
Settings tabs - IP address IP address
Security Security Security
Traffic shaping Traffic shaping Traffic shaping

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NIC Teaming NIC Teaming NIC teaming

Removing a vswitch

Removing a vswitch from existing virtual network may disrupt the operations

Removing ports from vswitch

Removing a port group or port from vswitch may disrupt the existing virtual network operations

ESX Server- Storage concepts

Storage Basics
3 types of storages
• DAS
o Direct Attached storage
o It’s not a shared storage
o HDD in PC is the example of DAS
• NAS
o Network Attached storage
o It’s a shared storage
o Its File level shared storage
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o Shared folders in storage server

o NAS works on CIFS, NFS protocols
• SAN
o Storage Area Network
o It’s a shared storage
o Its block level shared storage
o LUNs created in SAN
o FC SAN, iSCSI SAN, FCOE SAN are the SAN types

DAS- NAS-SAN comparisons

DAS NAS SAN

Direct Attached Storage Network Attached Storage Storage Area Network

Not a shared storage File level shared storage Block level shared storage
CIFS FC SAN (FCP based),
NFS Protocols iSCSI SAN(IP based),
(NAS is IP based) FCOE SAN(FC
SAN over Ethernet)
Not used for ESX to create VMs Used for ESX to create VMs Used for ESX to create VMs
in real time scenarios in real time scenarios in
n real time scenarios
Not preferable Preferable Most preferable

DAS
DAS is directly attached storage. It’s the HDD connected in ESX server
server.
This DAS is used only by that ESX because it is not a shared storage
In real time scenarios DAS is not used for ESX to create VMs

NAS
NAS is Network Attached Storage. NAS is IP based storage. It’s the storage connected to NAS server
This NAS is used by multiple ESX servers because it is a shar
shared storage

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Two protocols are used for NAS

• CIFS
o Common Internet File System
o Used for windows machines
• NFS
o Network File System
o Used for linux machines
ESX server supports only NFS (doesn’t support CIFS) because ESX console OS is linux
ESX VM Kernel IP is used for NFS shares mounting
In NAS server, permissions can be given to ESX server’s VM Kernel IP (like
like read only, read write etc)

SAN
SAN is Storage Area Network. It’s the storage connected to SAN Box
This SAN is used by multiple ESX servers because it is a shared storage
SAN storage is basically 3 types
• FC SAN
• iSCSI SAN
• FCOE SAN

FCSAN
Runs on Fiber Channel (FC). FCP is the protocol
protocol. It is not IP based storage.
This is very fast. But expensive for longer distances because of FC

iSCSI SAN
Internet SCSI SAN. iSCSI is the protocol.
iSCSI SAN is also called as IP SAN. This is IP based storage.
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FCOE SAN
Fiber Channel over Ethernet SAN
It is advanced technology SAN

ESX connectivity with SAN

Multiple VMHBAs are connected to FC switches. Multiple SPs (storage processors) are also connected to FC switches
It provides redundant paths from ESX to SAN. This is called multi pathing.

Multi pathing
There are 3 types of multi pathing

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• Fixed
o Always use the same path
o Failover and Failback
• MRU
o Most Recently used path
o Failover but no failback
• Round Robin
o Using paths one by one in sequence
o This is the best multi pathing method

Select datastore and properties

Manage Paths

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Select the multi pathing method

OPEN FILER
In real time scenario, Storage administrators create LUNs in SAN and make them available to the VMWARE
administrators. VMWARE administrators mount LUNs in ESX and use them to create VMs.

Open Filer is a SAN simulator. It is used here to create new LUNs (iSCSI) and attaching them with ESX.
So Open Filer is used in lab scenario to simulate the real time scenario

Storage Admin (explained in Open filer) VMWARE admin (in ESX)

Download open filer VM (around 2.25GB)
Configure network (IP assignment)
Add 10GB HDD to VM (for SAN storage)
Web interface to manage SAN (https://ipaddress:446)
Create VM Kernel Port with IP address
Create 10GB physical volume
Create 10GB volume group Enable iSCSI software adapter

Create volumes(LUNs) with 6GB, 4GB

Add iSCSI server IP address (Open filer IP)
Enable iSCSI target server service (3260 is iSCSI default port number)
Create iSCSI target
Map the LUNs to the target
Assign permissions to ESX servers (use VM Kernel IP)
Multiple ESX servers can be permitted

Download open filer Virtual appliance to create a VM in VMWARE Workstation or VMWARE ESX.
Various open filer flavors are available. It is generally in .tar.gz format (tar and Zip compressed)

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Uploading a file into ESX

Browse the ESX datastore

Browse and upload openfiler-xxxx.tar.gz into ESX data store

File is being uploaded

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Login into ESX server, navigate to datastore and untar the file

Browse the datastore and add openfiler-xxx.vmx file to inventory

Assign the name to VM

Select the ESX server to create

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VM is ready to be added in ESX inventory

VM edit settings Add new hardware

Add the HDD and createa new virtual disk

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Add 10GB HDD (this space will be configured as SAN LUNs)

Additional HDD (10GB) created for open filer VM

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Start open filer VM and assign the IP address

IP address assigned (eg. 172.16.0.55) and network service restarted

Now Open filer SAN storage is ready with 10GB and can be accessed by https://172.16.0.55:446

Open Filer configuration

Access open filer with web interface https://172.16.0.55:446

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Open filer status page

Block devices screen shows physical disks

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Create a new physical volume group (select 10GB HDD that is /dev/sdb)

Assign a name to the volume group (eg. Shiva_volume)

Volume group is created with the name of shiva_volume

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Add new volumes in volume group (eg. shiva_lun1 is added with 6GB space)

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Manage volumes page shows created volumes and graph

(Two volumes created. shiva_lun1 with 6GB, shiva_lun2 with 3GB)

Enable iSCSI target server

Add new iSCSI Target

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In ESX server, VM Kernel Port is created (eg. Test-vmkernel-port with IP 172.16.0.60)

In open filer Network setup, add ESX server’s VM Kernel Port IP to permit SAN access
(eg. network access is given to ESX server with VM kernel IP 172.16.0.60, name is shiva-esx1-vmkernel)

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Enable iSCSI software adapter in ESX server

Configure iSCSI properties. Enable software initiator

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iSCSI software adapter is enabled, displays iSCSI name and alias

In Dynamic Discovery tab, add iSCSI server IP (open filer IP)

Specify the open filer IP address (172.16.0.55, default port number is 3260)

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iSCSI server IP address is added

Rescan the target if required

Select the options to rescan

iSCSI SAN LUNs mounted

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Add the LUNs to ESX storage

DISK/LUN is used to mount DAS and SAN volumes (NFS is used for NAS)

Select the LUN to mount

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Maximum file size options can be modified

A new SAN based data store is added to ESX server (eg. Shiva-vm)

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Now VMs can be created on this data store.

CHAP Authentication in iSCSI targets
CHAP is Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. It is used for authentication between ESX and SAN storage
It should be enabled at both sides (ESX and SAN) with username and password

CHAP is two types

• CHAP
o Target authenticates host. So storage authenticates ESX
• Mutual CHAP
o Mutual authentication happens
o Target authenticates host & host authenticates target. So Storage and ESX authenticates each other

Configure incoming user and outgoing user at SAN storage (open filer)
For CHAP: only incoming user. For mutual CHAP: incoming user and outgoing user

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In iSCSI software adapter properties, configure CHAP

Configure CHAP and Mutual CHAP options along with username and passwords

Adding NAS volumes to ESX

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NFS option is used for mounting NAS volumes

Specify NAS server IP address, Path, datastore name (eg. July25)

NAS volume will be added to ESX data store

VMs on SAN Storage- advantages

• VMs will not work in case of ESX failure, if they are created on ESX local storage

• SAN storage is common for all ESX servers

• In ESX failures, VMs can be migrated to other ESX, if they are created on SAN storage

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In real time scenarios VMs will be created only on SAN storage or NAS storage

Resource Management

System Resources
Some system resources need to be managed in order to use them efficiently

System Resources Chances of waste (by default) Resource Management

Manage Required
Network NO NO
HDD NO NO
CPU YES YES
Memory YES YES

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Some system resources are consumed by ESX console OS, from the overall hardware resources

Total capacity Remaining capacity after consumed by ESX console OS

CPU Reserved Capacity Capacity used by currently powered on VMs
Available Capacity Remaining capacity available for powered off VMs

Total capacity Remaining capacity after consumed by ESX console OS

Reserved Capacity Capacity used by currently powered on VMs
Memory
Overhead reservation Capacity available with memory management techniques
Available capacity Remaining capacity available for powered off VMs

Overhead Reservation
It is the over commitment of memory. There are 3 overhead reservation methods

• Transparent page sharing

o Works for VMs that have same OS
o Memory page (used for booting process) can be shared for all VMs, if they have same OS
o That is same memory page for all VMs
• Memory ballooning
o It installs VM MEM CTR (VM memory controller) in all VMs
o VM MEM CTR identifies and destroys unwanted objects and makes some memory free
o This is also known as Memory stealing

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o Memory stolen from one VM and given to other VMs that requires memory
• Swap file
o Swap file size of VM is equal to VM memory

Resource management

Reservation is guaranteed resources for the VM. By default there is no reservation

Limit is Maximum limit the VM can use. By default unlimited

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Share values are used to define relative distribution of resources between the VMs
Low=500 points
Normal=1000 points
High=2000 points
Custom= custom points

Share values can be modified

Resources consumption: 1high VM Resources = 2 Normal VMs Resources = 4 Low VMs Resources

% shares shows the share values in percentage

Type is not applicable for VMs (applicable for Resource Pools)

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Resource settings can be edited

Modify CPU Resources and Memory Resources settings as required

Resource Pool (RP)

• Resource pool is a logical group
• It is used for resource management
• VMs can be added to Resource Pool
• Resource management settings applied to resource pool will be applied to all VMs in that pool
• A resource pool can contain child resource pools and/or VMs

Resource Pool Hierarchy

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 ----------  VMs
Parent RP  child RP Child Child RP

Create resource pools

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Two resource pools created (eg. shiva-resourcepool1, shiva-resourcepool2)

Two resource pools created and VMs also added (drag and drop VMs to add them to Resource pools)

One more resource pool created (eg. shiva-resourcepool-main)

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Resource pools are added to parent resource pool ((shiva-resourcepool-main

main is parent RP now)

For all Resource pools and VMs, settings and share values can be configured individually

Resource Pool types

Resource Pools are two types
• Fixed
o Fixed RP doesn’t ask its parent for required resources
o Fixed RP gives only the fixed resources to its child RPs those are available
• Expandable
o Expandable RP asks its parent RP for required resources
o Expandable RP gives acquired resources to its child RPs (if they require)

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Modifying Resource Pool type (expandable or fixed)

Resource Pool Types-examples

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