This is a joint post of three prominent writers in the virtualization community: Forbes Guthrie, Scott Lowe, and Maish Saidel-Keesing.
For the past 6 months we have been working on a joint project. It has actually been kept pretty quiet, and it is now time to make this public.
Previous VMware vSphere books have focused on how to master the technology, deep-diving into certain elements and giving tips & tricks that help you manage your virtual infrastructure.
But we felt there was something missing in all these books. What was missing was how to design an infrastructure, accounting for all the elements that you need to consider. For example:
- What kind of servers should I use?
- Which storage: NFS, iSCSI or FC?
- How do I scale a vCenter Server appropriately?
…and many more similar questions. This is how VMware vSphere Design was born…
The three of us collaborated on the book, to not only explain how to configure each element of your infrastructure, but to make you think about all the options available, and how each choice can impact the overall design. It should help you find the right solution for your environment—because no “one size fits all.”
To our knowledge, it is the only book focused on designing VMware vSphere implementations. It is written for engineers and architects who plan, install, maintain and optimize vSphere solutions.
The book details the overall design process, server hardware selection, network layout, security considerations, storage infrastructure, virtual machine design, and more. We debate the merits of scaling up servers versus scaling out, ESX versus ESXi hypervisors, vSwitches versus dvSwitches, and FC, FCoE, iSCSI or NFS storage. We show you which tools can be used to monitor, to plan, to manage, to deploy and to secure your vSphere landscape. We run through the design decisions that a typical company might face, and question the choices you come to. The book is packed with real-world proven strategies. VMware vSphere Design examines how the virtualization architecture for your company should ideally look, be it a newly deployed environment or an optimization of the existing infrastructure.
VMware vSphere Design is available now for pre-order on Amazon and will be in the stores around the middle of March 2011.
We would like to thank Jason Boche for acting as the technical editor for the book. (Note from Scott: I can’t speak for Forbes or Maish, but I know that Jason’s contributions as technical editor definitely improved the quality of this book. His role should not be underestimated!)
We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed writing it!
Tags: Virtualization, VMware, vSphere, Writing
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AWESOME.
I can’t wait to read it. You VCDX people need to slow down releasing all these fancy books. I’m going broke.
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Scott, hopefully there will be a Kindle version?
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Awesome! I’ll buy one.
Will that be available in europe at some point so I can save on shipping?
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Scott, I certainly look forward to this book. Im sure it will be on the same level as your Mastering vSphere 4 book.
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Aah glad to know finally a book on vSphere Design is being released. Will definitely pre-order my copy.
Scott, have you covered design topics around the new features in 4.1 such as SIOC and NIOC?
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Scott, any chance this will be released fairly quickly in electronic format as well? Kindle Reader on the iPad has ruined me for paper books.
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Well done guys and looking forward to the release.
Are there any plans for an electronic copy?
thanks
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Thanks for all the comments!
It is important to note that I am not the primary author—that distinction goes to Forbes, who wrote the largest portion of the book. I am honored to have had the opportunity to participate.
To those inquiring about electronic versions, it’s my understanding the publisher has a workflow in place to have electronic versions available almost immediately upon print release.
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@JIBhatia,
SIOC is mentioned. I actually wrote the Storage chapter before 4.1 was released, but went back and added some detail relating to the most important storage related improvements such as SIOC and VAAI. Its something I’d like to expore more, now that we’ve all had a chance to see what the follow-on impacts of using SIOC can be. Methinks this might be a good subject to expand on in an upcoming blog post.
Maish wrote the networking chapter, and I haven’t seen it, so I can’t comment on how much depth he went into on the NIOC side.
Forbes.
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Scott, your previous excellent Mastering vSphere book was perfect study material for VCP certification. Would you say that this one works the same way for VCAP-DCD?
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Tomas, thanks for the feedback about Mastering VMware vSphere 4; I’m glad you found it helpful and informative. This book was not written as a guide to the VCAP-DCD exam, and I really don’t know that it will be helpful in preparing for that exam. Our goal—and I welcome Forbes and Maish to jump in here—was to talk about options, provide some general guidelines, discuss the impact of design decisions, weigh the pros and cons, etc. If getting your mind thinking along those lines helps with the exam, then that’s a welcome side effect IMHO.
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Nice one! I’ve just pre-ordered my copy from Amazon UK. I will look forward to reading it guys!!
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Looking forward to the book, pre-ordered.
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Great News! This is something really missing today on the market place. Will pre-order for sure!!!
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All, thank you so much for your kind words and pre-orders. I know that I speak for Maish and Forbes when I say that we truly appreciate it, and we hope that you really enjoy the book and find it useful!
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You should consider a couple of these for a give-away at the local VMUGs.
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Pre ordered this today.
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Will definitely be something I pick up. I just can’t seem to get enough of vmware!!!!
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I pressed the button (requested a Kindle copy from Amazon). Sounds really good. I see someone already asked if it might be helpful for preparing for the VCAP-DCD. Having not read the book I first thought it might be helpful for those working towards their VCDX…. Do you think that the content of this book would help to work out a design that would be acceptible to get you in the door for peer review? Its up to the individual to defend the design but I am still waiting for anything even resembling a blueprint for the VCDX. Congrats Scott!
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vRico, while the book was not written specifically for VCAP-DCD, we (the authors) believe that anything that helps you start thinking in design terms—like this book does—will have an indirect benefit on the test.
Good luck!
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Question about your book….does it go in depth on how to build a Virtual Dist switch? That one skill I am lacking and looking to build on that?
thanks
Ryan -
RyanP, the book does not go into detail on how to build a distributed virtual switch. For in-depth “how to” information, a better option is Mastering VMware vSphere 4, also by yours truly:
Good luck!
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Just got it in the mail yesterday. Only problem is we ordered one for the office, mass panic over who got it first.
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I’d ordered now. Hoping to receive it by early next month.
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Now that vSphere 5 is out, will you update or are you planning a new edition? Thanks!
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Tsands, we have discussed revising the book for vSphere 5. No final decisions have been made one way or another. Forbes, Maish, and I did try to write the book with future versions in mind, so we feel like a pretty fair amount of the content will be applicable to both vSphere 4.x as well as vSphere 5. If you feel strongly that a new edition should be published, speak up—the publisher listens!
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Team,
Just to make sure that no update will be release with the new vSphere 5 content?
I am really interested in the book but if a vSphere 5 edition will come up soon then I prefer to wait a little longer… -
Marco, Forbes and I announced at VMworld that an updated version of VMware vSphere Design will be available late this year.
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That’s a great news Scott, I will be your first buyer of the updated edition of this book!
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Exc news… I will definitely get that release…
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