Creating Virtual Machines

Module 3

2012 VMware Inc. All rights reserved

You Are Here

Course Introduction
Introduction to Virtualization Creating Virtual Machines VMware vCenter Server Configuring and Managing Virtual Networks Configuring and Managing vSphere Storage Virtual Machine Management

Data Protection Access and Authentication Control Resource Management and Monitoring High Availability and Fault Tolerance Host Scalability Patch Management Installing VMware vSphere Components

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Importance

A virtual machine is a set of virtual hardware on which a supported guest operating system and its applications run. You can create a virtual machine in a number of ways. Choosing the correct method can help you save time and make the deployment process manageable and scalable.

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Module Lessons

Lesson 1: Lesson 2:

Virtual Machine Concepts Creating a Virtual Machine

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Lesson 1: Virtual Machine Concepts

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Learner Objectives

After this lesson, you should be able to do the following: Describe a virtual machine. Display a virtual machines files. Discuss virtual machine hardware.

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What Is a Virtual Machine?

A virtual machine is: A set of virtual hardware on which a supported guest operating system and its applications run A set of discrete files A virtual machines configuration file describes the virtual machines configuration, including its virtual hardware. Avoid using special characters and spaces in the virtual machines name.

virtual machine

MyVM.vmx

guestOS = winnetstandard

displayName = MyVM (etc.)

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Files That Make Up a Virtual Machine

Configuration file Swap files BIOS file

(<VM_name>.vmx) (<VM_name>.vswp) (vmx-<VM_name>.vswp) (<VM_name>.nvram) (vmware.log) (<VM_name>.vmtx) (<VM_name>-rdm.vmdk) (<VM_name>.vmdk) (<VM_name>-flat.vmdk) (<VM_name>.vmss) (<VM_name>.vmsd) (<VM_name>.vmsn) (<VM_name>-delta.vmdk)

VM folder

Log files Template file Raw device map file Disk descriptor file Disk data file Suspend state file Snapshot data file Snapshot state file Snapshot disk file

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Displaying a Virtual Machines Files

Click a virtual machine. On the Summary tab, right-click the datastore in the Resources pane.

Click Browse Datastore to browse its files.

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Using the Storage Views Tab to Display Files

Select the virtual machine in the inventory and click the Storage Views tab. Select Show All Virtual Machine Files from the menu.

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Virtual Machine Hardware

1 IDE controller 4 devices
up to 3
parallel ports

up to 4
serial/com ports

HD audio

1 USB controller 20 Devices 1 floppy controller 2 Devices

1-10 NICs

Virtual Machine
hardware 3D

up to 4 SCSI adapters

up to 1TB of RAM up to 64 vCPUs

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15 devices per adapter

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CPU and Memory

Up to 64 virtual CPUs (vCPUs): Depends on the number of licensed CPUs on a host and the number of processors supported by a guest operating system Up to 1TB maximum memory size: Depends on the amount of memory that the guest operating system is told that it has

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Virtual Disk

Sample virtual disk definition:

Virtual disk size: Datastore: Virtual disk node: Virtual storage adapter: Virtual disk files: Default disk mode: Optional disk mode: Disk provisioning policy: 4GB MyVMFS 0:0 LSI Logic SAS Server1.vmdk and Server1-flat.vmdk Snapshots allowed Independent persistent or nonpersistent Thick provision lazy zeroed, thick provision eager zeroed, or thin provision
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Virtual Network Interface Card

Network adapters that might be available for your virtual machine:

Flexible Can function as either a vlance or vmxnet adapter:

vlance Also called PCNet32, supported by most 32-bit guest operating systems vmxnet Provides significantly better performance than vlance

e1000 e1000e:

High-performance adapter available for only some guest operating systems

vmxnet, vmxnet2, and vmxnet3 are VMware drivers that are only available with VMware Tools:

Whenever possible, choose vmxnet3.

vmxnet2 (Enhanced vmxnet) vmxnet adapter with enhanced performance vmxnet3 Builds on the vmxnet2 adapter

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Other Devices
CD/DVD drive:

Connect to CD-ROM, DVD, or ISO image.

USB 3.0:

Smart-card readers

Floppy drive: Connect to floppy or floppy image.

Generic SCSI devices (such as tape libraries):

Can be connected to additional SCSI adapters

NVIDIA GPUs (VMware View)

Use hardware-accelerated graphics with View

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Virtual Machine Console

Send power changes to the virtual machine. Access the virtual machines guest operating system. Send Ctrl+Alt+Del to the guest operating system. Press Ctrl+Alt+Ins in the virtual machine console. Press Ctrl+Alt to release the pointer from the virtual machine console.

VM console icon

VM console

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Review of Learner Objectives

You should be able to do the following: Describe a virtual machine. Display a virtual machines files. Discuss virtual machine hardware.

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Lesson 2: Creating a Virtual Machine

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Learner Objectives

After this lesson, you should be able to do the following: Create a virtual machine:

Configure the virtual machine options Install the guest operating system into the virtual machine Install VMware Tools into the guest operating system

Describe how to import a virtual appliance.

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Provisioning a Virtual Machine

Methods for creating virtual machines: Use the Create New Virtual Machine wizard. Import a virtual appliance.

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Create New Virtual Machine Wizard

Start the Create New Virtual Machine wizard. Perform a typical or custom configuration.

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Choosing the Typical Configuration

Information needed for a typical configuration: Virtual machine name and inventory location Datastore on which to store the virtual machines files Guest operating system and version Disk parameters for creating a new virtual disk:

Disk size Disk-provisioning:

Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed Thick Provision Eager Zeroed Thin Provision

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Storage Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning

Virtual machine disks consume only the amount of capacity needed to hold the current files. A virtual machine sees the full allocated disk size at all times. You can mix thick and thin formats. Full reporting and alerts help manage allocations and capacity.

More efficient storage utilization: Virtual disk allocation140GB Available datastore capacity 100GB Used storage capacity 80GB

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Choosing the Custom Configuration

Other information needed for a custom configuration: Virtual machine version (version 9 is the latest) Number of CPUs, number of cores per CPU and size of memory Number of NICs, network to connect to, and network adapter type SCSI controller type Whether to create a disk, use an existing disk, use a raw device mapping (RDM), or use no disk Other disk-provisioning settings:

Whether to store the virtual disk with the virtual machine or in a different datastore Virtual device node (for example, SCSI(0:0)) Mode-independent (persistent and nonpersistent)

For both the typical and the custom configurations: You can edit virtual machine settings before completing the task.

For example, attach an ISO image to the virtual CD/DVD drive.

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Raw Device Mapping

virtual disk RDM

RDM enables you to store virtual machine data directly on a logical unit number (LUN). The mapping file is stored on a VMware vSphere VMFS datastore that points to the raw LUN.
.vmdk -flat.vmdk .vmdk -rdm.vmdk
Raw LUN

VMFS or NFS

VMFS
3-25

NTFS or ext3

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Installing the Guest Operating System

Install the guest operating system into the virtual machine.

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VMware Tools
Features of VMware Tools include: Device drivers: Install VMware Tools into the guest operating system.

SVGA display vmxnet/vmxnet3 Balloon driver for memory management Sync driver for quiescing I/O Improved mouse

Virtual machine heartbeat Time synchronization Ability to shut down virtual machine Adds additional choices to Perfmon DLL.

VMware Tools icon

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Virtual Appliances

Virtual appliances are reconfigured virtual machines: Usually designed for a single purpose (for example, a safe browser or firewall) Deployed as an OVF template Available from the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace: http://www.vmware.com/appliances Use the VMware vSphere Client to upload appliances into VMware vCenter Server or a VMware vSphere ESXi host.

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Deploying an OVF Template

Another way to deploy a virtual appliance or any virtual machine stored in OVF format: Deploy from an OVF template.

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Lab 3

In this lab, you will create and prepare virtual machines for use. 1. Create a virtual machine. 2. Install a guest operating system in a virtual machine. 3. Identify a virtual machines disk format and usage statistics. 4. Install VMware Tools on a virtual machine installed with a Windows operating system. 5. Prepare your virtual machine for upcoming labs.

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Review of Learner Objectives

You should be able to do the following: Create a virtual machine:

Configure the virtual machine options Install the guest operating system into the virtual machine Install VMware Tools into the guest operating system

Describe how to import a virtual appliance.

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Key Points

Virtual machines can be provisioned using different methods. You can use the vSphere Client to create virtual machines using the Add Virtual Machine wizard or by deploying an OVF template.

Questions?

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