Here’s a summary of the core concepts typically covered in a basic virtual machine (VM) administration course:
I. Introduction to Virtualization:
- What is Virtualization? Understanding the concept of running multiple operating systems on a single physical machine.
- Types of Virtualization:
- Hardware virtualization (full virtualization, paravirtualization)
- Operating system virtualization (containers)
- Application virtualization
- Hypervisors:
- Type 1 (bare-metal) hypervisors (e.g., VMware ESXi, Hyper-V Server)
- Type 2 (hosted) hypervisors (e.g., VMware Workstation, VirtualBox)
- Benefits of Virtualization:
- Resource optimization
- Improved server utilization
- Reduced hardware costs
- Simplified disaster recovery
- Enhanced testing and development environments
II. VM Creation and Configuration:
- Installing a Hypervisor: Setting up the chosen virtualization platform.
- Creating Virtual Machines:
- Allocating resources (CPU, RAM, storage, network)
- Selecting operating system images (ISO files)
- Configuring virtual hardware.
- VM Settings:
- Memory management (static vs. dynamic)
- CPU allocation (vCPUs)
- Storage configuration (virtual disks, thin vs. thick provisioning)
- Network configuration (bridged, NAT, internal networks)
- Virtual switches.
- Installing Guest Operating Systems: Installing and configuring the OS within the VM.
- Virtual Machine templates and cloning: speeding up VM deployment.
III. VM Management:
- Starting, Stopping, and Restarting VMs: Basic VM control operations.
- Snapshots: Creating and managing VM snapshots for backups and rollback.
- Resource Monitoring: Tracking VM performance (CPU, memory, disk, network).
- VM Migration:
- Live migration (moving running VMs between hosts)
- Cold migration (moving powered-off VMs).
- VM Backups and Recovery: Implementing backup strategies for VMs.
- VM Security:
- Securing the hypervisor
- Securing guest operating systems
- Network security considerations.
IV. Networking and Storage:
- Virtual Networking:
- Virtual switches
- Network adapters
- VLANs
- IP addressing.
- Virtual Storage:
- Virtual disks
- Storage pools
- Storage provisioning
- Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networks (SAN) basics.
V. Troubleshooting and Maintenance:
- Common VM Issues:
- Performance bottlenecks
- Network connectivity problems
- Storage issues
- OS errors.
- Troubleshooting Tools: Using hypervisor tools and guest OS tools for diagnostics.
- VM Maintenance: Applying updates and patches to hypervisors and guest OSes.
- Log Analysis: Examining system logs for troubleshooting.