Course Content
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage Content
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Course Introduction
Introduction to vSphere and the Software Defined Data Center
As a vSphere administrator, you must be familiar with the components on which vSphere is based. You must also understand the following concepts: Virtualization, the role of the ESXi hypervisor in virtualization and virtual machines Fundamental vSphere components and the use of vSphere in the software-defined data center Use of vSphere clients to administer and manage vSphere environments
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Overview of vSphere and Virtual Machines
vSphere Virtualization of Resources
vSphere User Interfaces
Overview of ESXi
Virtual Machines
You can create a virtual machine in several ways. Choosing the correct method can save you time and make the deployment process manageable and scalable.
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Creating Virtual Machines
Virtual Machine Hardware Deep Dive
Introduction to Containers
vCenter Server
vCenter Server helps you centrally manage multiple ESXi hosts and their virtual machines. If you do not properly deploy, configure, and manage vCenter Server Appliance, your environment might experience reduced administrative efficiency or ESXi host and virtual machine downtime.
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Centralized Management with vCenter Server
Deploying vCenter Server Appliance
vSphere Licensing
Managing the vCenter Server Inventory
vCenter Server Roles and Permissions
Monitoring vCenter Server Appliance
Backing Up and Restoring vCenter Server Appliance
vCenter Server High Availability
Configuring and Managing Virtual Networks
When you configure ESXi networking properly, virtual machines can communicate with other virtual, and physical, machines. In this way, remote host management and IP-based storage operate effectively.
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Introduction to vSphere Standard Switches
Configuring Standard Switch Policies
Configuring and Managing Virtual Storage
Understanding the available storage options helps you set up your storage according to your cost, performance, and manageability requirements. You can use shared storage for disaster recovery, high availability, and moving virtual machines between hosts.
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vSphere Storage Concepts
Fibre Channel Storage
iSCSI Storage
VMFS Datastores
NFS Datastores
vSAN Datastores
Virtual Machine Management
Virtual machines are the foundation of your virtual infrastructure. Managing VMs effectively requires skills in creating templates and clones, modifying VMs, migrating VMs, taking snapshots, and protecting the VMs through replication and backups.
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Creating Templates and Clones
Working with Content Libraries
Modifying Virtual Machines
Migrating VMs with vSphere vMotion
Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Migrating VMs with vSphere Storage vMotion
Creating Virtual Machine Snapshots
vSphere Replication and Backup
Resource Management and Monitoring
Although the VMkernel works proactively to avoid resource contention, maximizing performance requires both analysis and ongoing monitoring. Developing skills in resource management, you can dynamically reallocate resources so that you can use available capacity more efficiently.
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Virtual CPU and Memory Concepts
vSphere Resource Controls
vSphere Resource Monitoring Tools
Monitoring Resource Use in vSphere
Using Alarms in vSphere
vSphere Clusters
Most organizations rely on computer-based services like email, databases, and web-based applications. The failure of any of these services can mean lost productivity and revenue. By understanding and using vSphere HA, you can configure highly available, computer-based services, which are important for an organization to remain competitive in contemporary business environments. And by developing skills in using vSphere DRS, you can improve service levels by guaranteeing appropriate resources to virtual machines.
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vSphere Clusters Overview
vSphere DRS
Introduction to vSphere HA
vSphere HA Architecture
Configuring vSphere HA
Introduction to vSphere Fault Tolerance
vSphere Lifecycle Management
Managing the life cycle of vSphere involves keeping vCenter Server and ESXi hosts up to date and integrated with other VMware and third-party solutions. To achieve these goals, you must understand how to use the new features provided by vSphere Lifecycle Manager, namely, clusterlevel management of ESXi hosts and the vCenter Server Update Planner.
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vCenter Server Update Planner
Overview of vSphere Lifecycle Manager
Working with Baselines
Working with Images
Managing the Life Cycle of VMware Tools and VM Hardware
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage
About Lesson

vSphere Resource Monitoring Tools

Learner Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

  • Describe the performance-tuning methodology
  • Identify resource-monitoring tools
  • Use vCenter Server performance charts to view performance

Performance-Tuning Methodology

 

You can tune the performance of your vSphere environment:

  • Assess performance:
    • Use appropriate monitoring tools.
    • Record a numerical benchmark before changes.
  • Identify the limiting resource.
  • Make more resources available: – Allocate more resources.
    • Reduce competition. – Log your changes.
  • Benchmark again.

Resource-Monitoring Tools

Many resource-monitoring and performance-monitoring tools are available for use with vSphere.

Guest Operating System Monitoring Tools

To monitor performance in the guest operating system, use tools that you are familiar with, such as Windows Task Manager.

Using Perfmon to Monitor VM Resources

The Perfmon DLL in VMware Tools provides VM processor and memory objects for accessing host statistics in a VM.

Using esxtop to Monitor VM Resources

The esxtop utility is the primary real-time performance monitoring tool for vSphere:

  • Can be run from the host’s local vSphere ESXi Shell as esxtop
  • Can be run remotely from vSphere CLI as resxtop
  • Works like the top performance utility in Linux operating systems

In this example, you enter lowercase c and uppercase V to view CPU metrics for VMs.

Monitoring Inventory Objects with Performance Charts

The vSphere statistics subsystem collects data on the resource usage of inventory objects, which include:

  • Clusters
  • Hosts
  • Datastores
  • Networks
  • Virtual machines

Working with Overview Performance Charts

The overview performance charts display the most common metrics for an object in the inventory.

Working with Advanced Performance Charts

Advanced charts support data counters that are not supported in other performance charts.

Chart Options: Real-Time and Historical

vCenter Server stores statistics at different specificities.

Time Interval Data Frequency Number of Samples
Real-time (past hour) 20 seconds 180
Past day 5 minutes 288
Past week 30 minutes 336
Past month 2 hours 360
Past year 1 day 365

Chart Types: Bar and Pie

Depending on the metric type and object, performance metrics are displayed in different types of charts, such as bar charts and pie charts.

Chart Types: Line

A line chart displays metrics for a single inventory object, for example, metrics for each CPU on an ESXi host.

Chart Types: Stacked

Stacked charts are useful for comparing resource allocation and usage across multiple hosts or VMs.

Chart Types: Stacked Per VM

Per-VM stacked graphs are available only for hosts.

Saving Charts

You click the Save Chart icon above the graph to save performance chart information. You can save information in PNG, JPEG, SVG, and CSV formats.

About Objects and Counters

Performance charts graphically display CPU, memory, disk, network, and storage metrics for devices and entities managed by vCenter Server. Objects are instances or aggregations of devices: Examples:

  • vCPU0
  • vCPU1
  • vmhba1:1:2
  • Aggregation over all NICs

Counters identify which statistics to collect: Examples:

  • CPU: Used time, ready time, usage (%)
  • NIC: Network packets received
  • Memory: Memory swapped

About Statistics Types

The statistics type is the unit of measurement that is used during the statistics interval.

Statistics Type Description Example
Rate Value over the current interval CPU use (MHz)
Delta Change from previous interval CPU ready time
Absolute Absolute value, independent of interval Memory active

About Rollup

Rollup is the conversion function between statistics intervals:

  • 5 minutes of past-hour statistics are converted to one past-day value:
    • – Fifteen 20-second statistics are rolled up into a single value.
  • 30 minutes of past-day statistics are converted to 1 past-week value: – Six 5-minute statistics are rolled up into a single value.
Rollup Type Conversion Function Sample Statistic
Average Average of data points CPU use (average)
Summation Sum of data points CPU ready time (milliseconds)
Latest Last data point Uptime (days)
Minimum Current or average minimum data point Available in all counters when vCenter Server statistics collection is set to level 4
Maximum Current or average maximum data point

Review of Learner Objectives

After completing this vSphere Resource Monitoring Tools lesson, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

  • Describe the performance-tuning methodology
  • Identify resource-monitoring tools
  • Use vCenter Server performance charts to view performance
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