To be clear, I have included the below image as a map, or topology, of the environment that is being described in this process. Let’s examine the two items in the image. The Win7 VDI Management machine is simply a PC that is running a Windows 7 operating system and the second machine is the Host machine that is running VMWare® ESXi™ as its operating system. The Host is where all of the Virtual Machines (VM’s) will be stored. The link between the Win7 VDI Management machine and the ESXi Host can be any type of media (i.e., Ethernet, Fiber, etc.) connection to establish a communication link between the two machines.
Topology Diagram
Communication between the Win7 VDI Management PC, (I will refer to as the Management PC), and the host is managed through a Hypervisor. A hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM) is a piece of computer software that creates and runs virtual machines. The Host can have one or more virtual machines, also referred to as a guest machine. The hypervisor called a Type 1 native, or bare metal hypervisor, runs directly on the host’s hardware to control the hardware and to manage the guest operating systems. This feature allows guest machines to have different operating systems other than the host. For example, depending on the resources available to the host, there can be VM’s running Windows XP, Windows 7 & 8, as well as Linux all running simultaneously and independently from one another. The hypervisor used in this example is VMWare® vSphere™.
Let’s assume that the network is 10.1.1.0/24 and the two machines are assigned static IP addresses. For simplicity, the ESXi Host will be 10.1.1.1 and the Management PC is 10.1.1.2. Additionally, I have pre-loaded VM’s on the host to simplify the explanation. Normally, administrators would need to import or build their individual VM’s. This exercise is not about building VM’s, rather, how a communication session is established between the Host and Management machine.
Secondly, to better understand that virtual machines perform as they were physical machines, you will learn to communicate directly with those machines from the management workstation using CLI (Command Line Interface) commands like PING. This session is used to reinforce the concept that VM’s perform as though they are physical machines in responding to communication requests.
Each machine will respond to the ping requests to illustrate that network communications are established within the 10.1.1.0/24 network. Additional CLI commands could be demonstrated during this session although they are not covered in the lab. Throughout the lab additional definitions and concepts are introduced such as Host, Active Directory, DHCP, and Consoles. These concepts will be explored in more advanced topics.
Using the attached portable document file (pdf), I have provided a detailed explanation of using VMWare® vSphere™ to communicate and control the host. You will need the latest version of Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader to access. This is an interactive demonstration that will require you to click on active content to follow the demo. Please use the controls at the bottom of the demo to play, rewind, or forward through the demo or follow the directions in the demo to interact with the process. There is no sound. The format may not work in all browser’s (i.e., Chrome, Safari). As an alternate I have also posted this as a video on YouTube by clicking this link: vSphere Management
vSphere_Management (download)
Technically Simplified 