Advanced VMware Features & Automation

Once you have mastered basic VMware operations, you can explore advanced features like automation, high availability, and scripting to improve efficiency and scalability.

1. VMware vSphere & ESXi

VMware vSphere is an enterprise-level virtualization platform that includes:
✅ ESXi – The hypervisor that runs virtual machines.
✅ vCenter Server – Manages multiple ESXi hosts centrally.
✅ vMotion & DRS – Enables live migration and resource balancing.

Setting Up ESXi

1. Download ESXi from VMware’s official site.
2. Install ESXi on a physical server.
3. Access ESXi via Web UI and create virtual machines.
4. Manage VMs using vCenter Server for centralized control.

2. VMware vMotion & High Availability (HA)

💡 vMotion allows live migration of VMs from one host to another without downtime.
💡 High Availability (HA) automatically restarts VMs on another host if the current host fails.

Steps to Enable vMotion

1. Enable vMotion in vCenter > Cluster Settings.
2. Configure shared storage (NFS, iSCSI, or vSAN).
3. Add multiple ESXi hosts to a vCenter Cluster.
4. Perform Live Migration:
   • Right-click VM → Migrate → Change Host.

3. VMware Cloning & Templates

💡 Cloning helps you quickly duplicate VMs.
💡 Templates allow you to create pre-configured VMs for rapid deployment.

Steps to Clone a VM

1. Right-click VM → Clone → Clone to Virtual Machine.
2. Select destination and configure hardware settings.
3. Click Finish to create a new VM from the clone.

Steps to Create a VM Template

1. Convert a VM into a Template in vCenter.
2. Use the template to deploy multiple VMs instantly.

4. VMware Automation with PowerCLI

💡 PowerCLI is a PowerShell-based scripting tool to automate VMware tasks.

Installing PowerCLI

powershellCopyEditInstall-Module VMware.PowerCLI -Scope CurrentUser

Basic PowerCLI Commands

✅ Connect to vCenter

powershellCopyEditConnect-VIServer -Server vcenter.example.com -User admin -Password pass

✅ List all VMs

powershellCopyEditGet-VM

✅ Create a new VM

powershellCopyEditNew-VM -Name "TestVM" -MemoryGB 4 -NumCpu 2 -Datastore "Datastore1"

✅ Shutdown all VMs

powershellCopyEditGet-VM | Stop-VM -Confirm:$false

5. VMware Backup & Disaster Recovery

💡 Use Veeam Backup & Replication or Commvault to back up VMs.
💡 Configure VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) for disaster recovery.

Backup Best Practices

✅ Schedule regular VM backups (daily or weekly).
✅ Store backups in multiple locations (on-premises & cloud).
✅ Test VM recovery regularly to ensure backups work.

6. VMware Security Best Practices

🔒 Enable Secure Boot for VMs.
🔒 Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in vCenter.
🔒 Apply VMware security patches regularly.
🔒 Isolate VMs using network segmentation.