Chapter 9 - Administering a Virtual Infrastructure

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the administration of a virtual infrastructure. It delves into VirtualCenter, which is one of the products on the market for managing a virtual infrastructure. Instead of using VirtualCenter, one would use a hybrid approach to manage the virtual infrastructure because depending on the task, the MUI may work just fine, whereas other times VirtualCenter will be the best option. The VirtualCenter Client is the interface used to manage the virtual infrastructure through the VirtualCenter Server. The Management Interface (MUI) and Service Console are used to administer ESX Server with or without VirtualCenter in the environment. The VMware Remote Console is used to remotely connect to and manage VMs. It's similar to a KVM switch, but is implemented as software. VirtualCenter supports Microsoft Access, SQL Server, and Oracle database platforms. Installing VirtualCenter requires an ODBC connection to the VirtualCenter database. VirtualCenter is a Windows-based application that requires the .NET Framework. VirtualCenter requires licenses for the VirtualCenter Server, VMotion, and VirtualCenter Agents.