Integrating VMware with Altiris solutionalong with initial planning
In this article you will learn how to integrate VMware with Altiris, I will try to cover maximum in this, Over here you will learn from VMware installation ESX 3.5 to integration With VMware, To support the flow of this article, Some KB will be followed for understanding in better way, I hope to be informative for you.
Installation and configuration of VMware ESX
Following are the pre-requisites for installing VMware solution on server
(1)VMware ESX Server CD
(2)Server Hardware that supports Virtualization for VMware ESX 3.5 installation.
After inserting ESX cd in Cdrom you will be presented with the screen below that will go through the installation
Figure-1.1
Select next
Figure-1.2
Select English Keyboard
Figure-1.3
Select Mouse
Figure-1.4
Select I accept Terms of the license agreement
Figure-1.5
Select partition options
Figure-1.6
Allocate Network setting
Figure-1.7
Select Time zone
Figure-1.8
Provide Account Information
Installation of VCMS for managing ESX servers-Before that what is Virtual center-
• Centralized management capabilities allow IT organizations
To organize, monitor, and configure the entire IT environment
Through a single interface resulting in lower operating costs
• Rapid provisioning with deployment wizard and virtual machine
Templates reduces the time and effort for creating and deploying
Virtual machines to a few mouse clicks.
• Performance monitoring capabilities, including utilization
Graphs of CPU, memory, Disk I/O, and Network I/O provide the
Detail needed to analyze the performance of physical servers, and
The virtual machines they are running.
• Operational automation through task scheduling and alerting
Improves responsiveness to business needs and prioritizes actions
Needing the most urgent attention
• Secure access control, robust permissions mechanisms, and
integration with Microsoft® Active Directory guarantee authorized
access to the environment and its virtual machines. Responsibilities
can be delegated to tiers of system administrators.
• Resource optimization through performance monitoring, multiserver
resource pools, and dynamic workload balancing delivers
the highest virtual machine to physical server ratio while improving
service levels to software applications. Automated data centerwide
resource optimization with VMware DRS aligns available
resources with pre-defined business priorities while streamlining
labor and resource intensive operations across disparate hardware,
operating system, and software applications.
• Migration of live virtual machines across entirely separate
physical servers with VMware VMotion makes the maintenance of
IT environments non-disruptive
• High availability provided by VMware HA enables broad-based,
cost-effective application failover independent of hardware and
operating systems.
• Integration with third party systems management products
through Web services APIs provided by the VMware Infrastructure
SDK.
After this introduction lets install VCMS
Figure-1.1
Select next
Figure 1.2
Select I Accept
Figure 1.3
Give username/Organization Name
Figure 1.4
Select Virtual Center Server
Figure 1.5
Provide SQL server information
Figure 1.6
Provide License Information
Figure 1.7
Select Install for Installation
So here we had successfully installed ESX 3.5 so let see how we can integrate Altiris with Vmware.
Integration of Altiris withVMware- To support integration part, the below data has been captured from Kb article: 2133
In recognition of the growing popularity and maturity of systemVirtualization solutions such as VMware, Altiris now officially supports it’sCustomers who wish to use VMware or Microsoft Virtual Server/PC in anyOf the following scenarios:
Hosted Server
Running the Altiris Notification Server and supported Solutions in a virtual machine session
Managed Virtual Machine
Managing a supported virtual machine using Altiris Solutions
Managed Host
Managing a supported host machine using Altiris Solutions Altiris will support the normal operation of specified products in each of these scenarios. The details of what platforms and products are supported for each scenario are provided in the subsequent pages of this statement.
Altiris’ standard support policy, if a customer were to run into a problem using a supported product in a supported scenario, they should report the issue to the Altiris Support team via our Customer Services
Helpdesk, email, or telephone so that Altiris can work to resolve the issue. Issues reported on a supported virtual platform running a supported guest/host OS will be handled like any other issue. Specifically, Altiris will prioritize the issue based on severity, attempt to diagnose the problem, and evaluate whether it is necessary to address the issue with a code fix (hot fix, service pack, version release) based on severity, pervasiveness, etc. See the “Known Issues” section for information on currently identified issues.
SUPPORTED SCENARIOS
Below are the supported Scenarios
Using Altiris Deployment Solution 6.8 to Provision & Manage VMware in dell server environment
- I recommend you to read this article (Using Altiris Deployment Solution 6.8 to Provision & Manage), I am attaching article with this, its worth really if you plan to integrate virtualization with DS