Networking for VMWare Administrators (Vmware Press Technology)

The book is a few years old and references ESXI 5.x and things, but the basic network foundation and concepts in ESXi later versions is still very useful. I feel it is one of the best ESXI books I have seen on the topic matter it covers. Now if one can find a good over all book for ESXI 7 and 8. If you are week on networking skills and concepts this is a good book to get, and even in later versions of ESXi it still has value.

This is a fantastic book for VMware administrators who need to get a better handle on networking. Chris Wahl and Steve Pantrol do a great job unpacking the networking world where it intersects with virtualization. Coming from someone with a considerable background in VMware administration, I don't fancy myself much a network administrator, but it was clear that I had a pretty good handle on things after I went through a few chapters. What is great about the book is that it will certainly fill in the gaps for anyone who comes from a server administration role and who is trying to pickup the necessary networking concepts needed to be successful with VMware.The book is very well written and easy to follow. The concepts are presented and explained well. As with anyone who has ever met Chris Wahl or read any of this posts online, his humor comes through and it makes the book enjoyable to read. The beginning of the book starts at the beginning and while this may be remedial to many users, I'm sure its needed for others. The authors have done an admirable job recapping the basics of networking and a historical view of how we get to where we are. The middle of the book contains a great deal of good stuff about standard and distributed vSwitches and how VMware translates the physical network world into vSphere. It includes everything needed to truly understand the intersection of the networking world with vSphere. The lab scenario is also a fantastic resource since a home lab environment may be the first time many VMware administrators are left alone to design their own networking - since many will have the assistance of dedicated networking staff to augment their knowledge in their daily jobs.

"The one-stop guide to modern networking for every VMware administrator, engineer, and architect". This book is an absolute homerun of a read for a junior network admin who landed his first job at a company leveraging vSphere. That said, I'm basing this review on the subject-matter depth I expected to glean from a book put out by VMware Press and authored by well-known blogger Chris Wahl. No disrespect to either of these parties but I feel this book missed the intended mark.BLUF: There isn't much content here for a VMware Administrator. Even less for Engineer or Architect-level folks.vCNS/vShield isn't mentioned. VXLANs aren't mentioned. SDN isn't mentioned, which I can understand since this is an Administrative guide, but NSX wasn't mentioned either. The scope of this book really is limited to just vSphere.Chapters 1-6: Could have been cut and paste out of any networking 101 or Wikipedia article on networking basics. Other than passing mention of Nutanix's hyper-converged platform, these chapters offer little value to either a networking admin or a VMware admin.Chapter 7 (How Virtual Switching Differs from Physical Switching): Useful for someone unfamiliar with VMware.Chapters 8-10: Light on content, other than definitions of very basic concepts like what a VLAN is, what a VMkernel Port is, etc. At this point we're 135pgs into the book and we haven't touched a single thing that a low-level administrator (network or otherwise) can't rattle off in his sleep.To say I'm disappointed is an understatement, but maybe we can still have some redemption in the second half of the book.Chapter 11 (Lab Scenario): More definitions, a screen grab of the VLANs from UCS manager, and a picture of the summary tab of an ESXi 5.5 host, taken from the web client. Is this to prove that the authors have access to a server? I don't understand why they are wasting so many pages saying NOTHING!Chapter 12 (Standard vSwitch Design): Importance of establishing naming conventions, and building a standard vSwitch that will carry all management and virtual machine traffic using 4 portgroups and 2 NICs. There is also mention of the VMkernel port req'd for NFS traffic. More on these topics later in the book though.Chapter 13 (vDS design): Worthwhile chapter on how to build a distributed vSwitch.Chapters 14 and 15 (iSCSI considerations): Definitions and basic configuration. Nothing new here.Chapters 16 & 17 (NFS overview): Good chapters on how VMware handles NFS traffic and how to do a basic configuration.Chapter 18 (additional vSwitch Design Scenarios): vSwitch design suggestions for hosts that have more than 2 physical NICs.Chapter 19 (Multi-NIC vMotion Architecture): Interesting chapter on a concept I don't often think about.End of the book.

Networking for VMware Administrators is just that, a detailed explanation of Networking for VMware Administrators.At the start the author details that this “should” be mandatory reading for people who are involved with networking for the VMware environment, this includes the Server Engineers who now have some domain of responsibility in the Network and Network Engineers who need to interface with the Virtualisation Engineers on a regular basis.I found the book set out correctly, crawl, walk, run type progress between the chapters. This is very good, while the book assumes you know a fair amount about virtualisation, it does assume you know very little about networking. Which is good for us who have achieved our CCNAs and let them expire and never touched networking again.If you are looking for an NSX book this is not for you, it does not contain NSX and wouldn’t be appropriate for the target audience.All over I liked this book helpful a great prep to improve my own vSphere environments. I will be reading any further books the authors have put out. From my quick search on Amazon this is the first book these guys have come out with, great job guys!!CriticismA little repetitive at times, laying foundations each scenario, easy to ignore information when presented this format. However I fully acknowledge the all people learn differently and someone may benefit from this where I did not.

As a VCP who has been using VMware and other virt solutions for a number of years with no real training I was always conscious that networking was a bit of an unchecked box for me - some of the terminology didn't really make sense and I was aware that it was an area on my CV that needed fleshing out somewhat. Chris and Steve's book is an excellent resource that I can't rate highly enough, explaining the basics of routing, switching, VLANs and all the rest clearly especially for those coming to virtualisation with little to no proper networking experience.I'm now much more confident when designing and troubleshooting networking for vSphere solutions, and think I'll do some study with a view to CCNA. All in all a very happy customer!

This might sound like trumpet blowing but it is provide context for my review. I have both Data Centre VCAPs and am working (crawling) towards the VCDX-DCV. This book clarified a couple of networking myths for me and it endorsed the views I already had about network design. It is always good to get definite reinforcement that your understanding and reasoning are correct especially from people with proven design skills. As another reviewer mentioned, its and easy read written in a colloquial style so it is easy to pick up and useful as a reference tool. Definitely part of my recommended VMware reads collection. I found it useful at my competency level and would regard it as absolutely invaluable if I was working towards a VCP.

About half way through. Highly recommended book to anyone interested in solidifying or expanding their knowledge in vSphere/vCenter networking. Great layout with use cases to help illustrate various topics. The way it reads suits my style very much, written as if you were having a conversation with the authors about the topic.

half a book explaining things very little connected to vmware networking. Could be formed better. But still good information base.

Just read for a second time in prep for my VCDX and is a great refresher for even "skilled" consultants