Book: Advanced Server Virtualization: VMware and Microsoft Platforms in the Virtual Data Center

Summary
With practical guidelines and examples, Advanced Server Virtualization emphasizes design, implementation, and management from both a technical and consultative point of view. This book presents step-by-step guidelines for planning, deployment, installing, configuring, and creating virtual servers. Covering Microsoft Virtual Server and VMware, it addresses platform-specific virtualization features such as virtual machines, hard drives, networking, and resource management. It offers best practices that allow users to avoid common pitfalls and achieve quicker success in server virtualization implementation. It also discusses software licensing issues and the cost-benefits of deploying virtual servers.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1 – Introduction to Server Virtualization
• Chapter 2 – Types of Server Virtualization Technologies
• Chapter 3 – Server Virtualization Concepts
• Chapter 4 – Business Cases for Server Virtualization
• Chapter 5 – Other Uses of Server Virtualization
• Chapter 6 – Planning for Deployment
• Chapter 7 – Server Virtualization Platform Differences
• Chapter 8 – The Microsoft Virtual Server Platform
• Chapter 9 – Installing Microsoft Virtual Server
• Chapter 10 – Configuring Microsoft Virtual Server
• Chapter 11 – Creating a Microsoft Virtual Server Virtual Machine
• Chapter 12 – Microsoft Virtual Server Advanced Topics
• Chapter 13 – The VMware ESX Server Platform
• Chapter 14 – Installing VMware ESX Server
• Chapter 15 – Configuring VMware ESX Server
• Chapter 16 – Creating a VMware ESX Server Virtual Machine
• Chapter 17 – VMware ESX Server Advanced Topics
• Chapter 18 – The VMware GSX Server Platform
• Chapter 19 – Installing VMware GSX Server
• Chapter 20 – Configuring VMware GSX Server
• Chapter 21 – Creating a VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine
• Chapter 22 – VMware GSX Server Advanced Topics
• Chapter 23 – Upgrading VMware GSX Server and ESX Server
• Chapter 24 – Guest Operating System Techniques
• Chapter 25 – Scripting with Microsoft Virtual Server, VMware GSX Server and VMware ESX Server
• Chapter 26 – Other Advanced Topics
• Chapter 27 – Tools and Utilities
• Chapter 28 – Related Products and Open Source Projects
• Chapter 29 – Other Virtualization Resources

Abouth the Authors
David Marshall is a senior architect at Surgient, the leading provider of virtual lab applications for automating software testing, training, and demo labs. He is also the editor of the Infoworld Virtualization Report (weblog.infoworld.com/virtualization/) and the virtualization news blog, VMBlog.com. Marshall is a Microsoft Certified Professional and holds additional certifications from CompTIA and others. He has extensive experience architecting, deploying and managing complex virtual infrastructure environments for a variety of Fortune 1000 clients over the past six years. Prior to joining Surgient, Marshall was employed by ProTier, an early virtualization service provider acquired by Surgient in 2003, and by BankOne. Marshall holds a B.S. in Finance and Information Technology Certification from the University of New Orleans.

Wade A. Reynolds is a senior architect at Surgient, the leading provider of virtual lab applications for automating software testing, training and demo labs. Reynolds is a Microsoft Certified Professional and specializes in designing and implementing enterprise solutions using virtual infrastructure technology including VMware ESX Server and Microsoft Virtual Server. Reynolds has several years of experience in the architecture, deployment, and troubleshooting of small to large scale advanced server virtualization solutions for many prestigious clients. Reynolds has software development, database design, network engineering and systems integration experience developed at companies such as SCP Pool Corporation and General Electric. He currently lives in Austin, Texas.

Dave McCrory currently works as an expert in Enterprise Data Center Virtualization and Hosting Technologies. McCrory has been granted two US Patents and has five others pending, all based on Data Center Management and Virtualization technologies. He has worked with Microsoft Virtual Server in its Alpha state as well as with its predecessor, Connectix Virtual Server. While working with these products, he provided these companies with assistance on the original designs. Additionally, he also was the first successful Alpha site for VMware ESX Server. Previously, he has also worked as a consultant for both Sprint and General Electric. McCrory also founded ProTier, a startup company that wrote virtualization management software that was later acquired by Surgient. He has also attained Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Master Certified Netware Engineer, and Citrix Certified Administrator certifications.