Top 10 things you must read about VMware vSphere By Eric Siebert published: Wednesday, May 13 2009
vSphere the successor to VI3 and VMware’s much anticipated next generation datacenter virtualization product is finally here. This new release has many new features and serves to further distance VMware from its competitors. Some of the new features include Fault Tolerance, Host Profiles, Distributed Network vSwitches, vShield Zones, Thin Provisioning, Hardware Hot Add and many smaller features and improvements. There is a lot to learn about this new release and this list consists of some of the key information that you should know to educate yourself on it. Licensing is also changed in this release so make sure you understand the new editions and upgrade paths & entitlements. The items on this list will help get you started with vSphere and includes information on new features and enhancements, licensing changes and what you need to know to upgrade to vSphere.
VMware vSphere 4 Cheat Sheet
A cheat sheet document from VMware on vSphere that outlines new features, editions, entitlements and comparison tables to other virtualization products.
vSphere 4 Pricing, Packaging and Licensing Overview
A white paper from VMware that outlines the various vSphere and VMware vCenter Server editions and the latest changes to pricing, licensing, upgrade paths and Support and Subscription (SnS) entitlements.
vSphere Key Features & Benefits Summary
A table that outlines all the different features in vSphere and which ones are included in the different vSphere editions.
 vSphere Editions Comparison
A simple comparison checklist that shows all seven editions of vSphere and which of the larger features are included in each one.
 vSphere Pre-requisites Checklist
A checklist from VMware that describes the requirements and pre-requisites necessary to begin planning for the upgrade of an existing VMware Infrastructure to VMware vSphere.
 VMware vSphere: Got 64-bit hardware?
Unlike VI3 which supports both 32-bit and 64-bit server hardware, vSphere will only support 64-bit server hardware. This article explains what 64-bit hardware is and how to tell if your servers are 64-bit capable or not.
What’s New in VMware vSphere 4: Virtual Networking
A white paper from VMware that provides an overview of the new features and capabilities to virtual networking under VMware vNetwork which is the new name to describe the collection of networking technologies for optimally integrating networking and I/O functionality into vSphere.
What’s New in VMware vSphere 4: Performance Enhancements
A white paper from VMware that outlines the key performance enhancements of vSphere, organized into following categories: Scalability Enhancements, CPU/Memory/Storage/Networking, Resource Management and Performance Management.
What Is New in VMware vSphere 4: Storage
A white paper from VMware that provides information about the storage enhancements in vSphere including the following: Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning, Improved iSCSI Software Initiator Efficiency, New vCenter Storage Capabilities, Dynamic Expansion of VMFS Volumes, Enhanced Storage VMotion, Pluggable Storage Architecture and PV SCSI and Direct Path I/O.
The Path to vSphere Unleashed
A four part video series that details the transition to VMware vSphere from VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3), covering the VMware VirtualCenter management components, the VMware ESX host migration methods, the virtual machine upgrades (VMware Tools and virtual hardware) and implementing the VMware vSphere licensing.
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 1 - VMware VirtualCenter Management Components
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 2 - VMware ESX Host Migration Methods
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 3 - Virtual Machine Upgrades (VMware Tools and Virtual Hardware)
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 4 - Implementing VMware vSphere Licensing
Related Links:
Complete 'Top 10' Collection, Top 10 things you should read about patching & monitoring ESX & ESXi hosts
Eric Siebert is a 25-year IT veteran with experience in programming,
networking, telecom and systems administration. He is a guru-status
moderator on the VMware community VMTN
forum and maintains VMware-land.com,
a VI3 information site.
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