Customer Reviews

Mastering VMware vSphere 4 (Computer/Tech)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Scott Lowe's blog has always been impressive but his new vSphere book is a real "masterpiece"!

This book starts with vSphere planning and installation and moves into daily administrative tasks. I especially enjoyed the chapters on resource allocation, high availability, and automating vSphere.

Scott's extensive real-world experience really shows through in the way that the book is written.

If you had to choose only one vSphere book - this is the book to choose!

-David Davis, vExpert, VCP4, CCIE
[...]

VSphere is definitely a step in the right direction for those who are using VMware version 3.x and possibly the right step those who have never used VMware previously. I guess the important question at the end boils down to "What is the path of least resistance both to bring your skills up to date and to introduce or update your environment as painlessly as possible to vSphere?" To cut a long story short, Unless you have the ability to attend the vSphere course or have the time and resources to swot the technical manuals; you will have a bit of a bumpy ride ahead of you. Getting started of vSphere for those who are new to the product or those who are living with VMware day and night is definitely made a lot easier and shorter by this book. It gets you started as quickly as possible by explaining the whole concept of virtualization and its implementation using VMware ESX 4.x known as vSphere. Tips, real life examples and recommendations from someone whose job is to design, implement and support the product are everywhere in the book and offer a very valuable insight into the product.

So, Should You Get This Book?
Newbie: For a VMware Newbie, this is a very good book. You're in for a proper initiation into the virtual world of computer resources. Still, you do need to work with the product otherwise your retention for the information presented will be very very short indeed.
Seasoned: Short path to upgrade your ESX 3.x knowledge to vSphere and see what's new in ESX 4.x. Once done, the possibilities are endless, or at least you can start reading the technical manuals for more details and specifics and the multitude of presentation, White & Technical papers and plenty of high quality training video on the net and You Tube.
Seeking VCP: The book will cut your study time in half; your will get all the essential information and a few valuable tips to get your nearly ready for the big day; but again you will have no choice but to scourge through the technical manuals and examine every screen in the product to get really really comfortable before attempting the VCP 4.x exams. There is no substitute to experience.
Attended ESX Course: From previous experience, ESX course are well laid and worth every penny spent.

No doubt, this is a good enjoyable book and quiet informative. I'm reluctant to say it's a "Mastering" as that stage of knowledge requires substantial commitment to work intensively with the product hand in hand with the technical manuals before you can say you have mastered the product; but it's a tool for mastering the product.

A quick note, you will outgrow this book quickly, so you may not end up keeping it as a reference; the products technical guides from VMware are 2nd to none in their quality.

Another interesting point, between me and my colleagues in the office we purchased about 5 copies of this book; we all loved it.

To "Master" you will need to read every article about the command line and vSphere out there on the Internet. The book does an outstanding job giving you all the must have knowledge, and if you understand the book's content, you can see yourself going forward with vmware. I am also using it as a part of my prep towards the vcp4 test, and love the way it is organized. Feels like it was written by a hands on person not some technical writer, it is very clear and concise, and very well chapter-ed. Highly recommending Scott's blog as well as David Davis from Train Signal, which is probably the best video instructor you ever had.

A good book to understand fundamental concepts and know day to day administration stuff.

sometimes, you will face performance issues, network issues, etc. For those more harder issues, you will need to have extra knowledge which you can gain from vSphere: troubleshooting course, and vsphere: Manage for Performance.

In case the potential reader of this text is wondering to what extent VMware vSphere 4 is covered, the subtitles explain a majority of the content: "Install and Maintain VMware vSphere 4" and "Create and Manage Virtual Networks". The reason this reviewer is calling out these subtitles is because some of the other reviewers here have questioned why certain aspects of the product are not covered. This text is already 650-pages in length. While the subject matter covers well installation, maintenance, and network creation (and other reviewers are correct when indicating VMware documentation and white papers are better than average when covering these topics), this book also includes a well written introduction to vSphere 4, as well as other topics such as creating and managing virtual machines, migrating and importing virtual machines, managing virtual machine resource allocation, ensuring high availability and business continuity, and monitoring performance.

This text is a well written introductory guide (meaning that although it covers some advanced topics, it is written with the beginner in mind), and although (as other reviewers have indicated) many will quickly outgrow this effort, Scott Lowe provides a great one-stop shop for getting going with vSphere 4. What the potential reader will need is highly dependent on how deeply they will get involved with the product (and technologies offered as part of the product). As a consultant architect, my reading was initially focused on the non-core portions of the book that concentrate on creating and managing virtual machines, migrating and importing virtual machines, and managing virtual machine resource allocation, although other portions of the book were later read as well. Combined with the introduction where vSphere 4 is explored and product editions and licensing are explained, this reviewer was able to begin discussing (with quick turnaround) the environment with fellow consultants and client staff after a reading of this text.

VMware documentation and white papers will need to be read in conjunction with this text once the basics are understood, although in some aspects the explanations provided in this book cannot be found elsewhere. While the bulk of the material found here is otherwise available from alternative sources, the organization that Lowe provides is superb. For example, Table 1.2 ("Overview of VMware vSphere Product Editions") is complete, listing all editions of vSphere and the options available with each, while the white paper ("VMware vSphere Pricing, Packaging and Licensing Overview") that Lowe notes at the bottom of the table, although a good reference, is fragmented in the opinion of this reviewer, and a search of the VMware website separates the edition comparison across dedicated pages for small and midsized businesses and large businesses.

One aspect of which the potential reader needs to be aware is the sparse coverage of automation in Chapter 14. Although vCenter Orchestrator, PowerCenter, PowerCLI, and ESX shell scripts are introduced, the coverage of these areas is very raw. And although the author correctly indicates that ESXi does not have a Linux-based Service Console that can be accessed, he limits his advice on porting the scripts that he shares to run within the vSphere Management Assistant (vMA). Lowe freely admits in the concluding pages of this chapter by writing that there is "much, much more to writing shell scripts than the tiny snippets I've shown you here", and anyone experienced in writing UNIX shell scripts should already know that entire books have been written on the subject. This reviewer especially appreciated closing "The Bottom Line" sections provided at the end of each chapter (and answers in Appendix A to questions intended to deepen skills and understanding by working out exercises). Well recommended to anyone needing an introduction to virtualization that is specific to VMware vSphere 4.

To complement the VMware FastTrack v4 course, I read this book as well. Scott Lowe went into great detail covering VMware ESX/ESXi and their counterparts. The book provided excellent information in preparing for the VCP 4 certification.

This is a very good book when I bought it. Now ESX is going out the door and ESXi will be the standard.

This book was absolutely invaluable in obtaining my VCP and using as a daily reference in managing our vSphere environment. Granted if you want to pass the test you have to follow the VMware Blueprint and associated PDF's but this book is much easier to read and gives many real life examples on why certain features would be used. Even after the exam is over this book stays planted on my desktop.

I haven't completed reading this book but this is one of the most comprehensive books I have had on VMWare. This is one handy book you should have with you on job.

I work with VMware on a regular basis and wanted to prepare for an upcoming VMware Fast Track class. I read this book and it did an excellent job in providing a foundation for my learning. I didn't find any glaring errors and the explanations were pretty straightforward and easy to follow. If you're going to take the VCP test, I don't think this should be your only study resource, but it will definitely provide you with a solid background in VMware vSphere.