Do you work with VMware technology and want to get your hands dirty with some practical, real-world physical and virtual networking knowledge? Or are you a networking professional that wants to finally understand just what the heck is going on over in the world of ESXi virtualization and those virtual switches? No matter which technology stack you live and breathe, Networking for VMware Administrators has something for you and is now available from several vendors in a variety of formats:

Amazon Paperback available now with Prime shipping
Amazon Kindle available now
Pearson IT Book and/or eBook Bundle available now

Operators are standing by to take your order!

We spent just about a year putting this project together, and it was a blast – and we’re honored that Ivan Pepelnjak, CCIE #1354, took the time to write us a sparkling foreward! If you do end up buying the book, perhaps you could drop us a review on Amazon and let us know what you thought? Unless it’s a bad review … in that case, just ping me directly. 😉

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Update: Wow! We’re blown away by the community support for this book. Networking for VMware Administrators has reached the #1 Networking Administration slot on Amazon. You all rock!
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What’s Inside Networking for VMware Administrators

Let’s talk shop for a bit. You’re probably wondering just what the heck is in this book, right? Well, weighing in at just about 370 pages, this book features a plethora of networking chapters aimed at three major topics: physical networking 101, virtual switching, and IP storage networking.

This is essentially what the entire book is like, but ... more — This is essentially what the entire book is like, but … more

Section 1: Physical Networking 101

In this section, Steve and I cover the basics necessary to begin understanding networking at an introductory level. We focus on the various types of networks that exist, OSI models, TCP/IP, Ethernet, VLANs, Spanning Tree Protocol, routing, subnetting, and some newer forms of converged networking. This will bring you up to speed on the physical world of networking and arm you with enough knowledge to help begin translating these ideas into the virtual world. It should also give you a broader lexicon of terms when speaking with networking professionals by bridging the gap between physical and virtual.

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We felt it was best to give everyone a common baseline. If you’re already a networking professional, you may end up brushing past this section. We’re OK with that. 🙂
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Section 2: Virtual Switching

Now that we’ve established a baseline of physical networking knowledge, it’s time to dig into the virtual world with a passion. Here we’ll go deep into the differences between virtual and physical switches. There’s also a ton of content on the standard vSwitch, distributed vSwitch, and Nexus 1000v switch – with topics ranging from architecture, control and data planes, MTU settings, security controls, teaming, traffic shaping, Network IO Control, port properties, discovery protocols, and much more. To round things out, we take an enterprise lab environment and walk through many of the considerations you’re going to face from a VCDX-like perspective: network designs, host designs, traffic flows, naming conventions, port layouts, etc. – and then we walk through real configurations that address these configuration items.

Section 3: Hey – you got your storage in my networking!

The final section focuses on IP storage with iSCSI and NFS. We spend a large volume of time discussing general use cases for both types of storage traffic, including the fundamental building blocks of how both protocols work in the virtual and physical networks. This includes an in-depth look at designing around quality of service, jumbo frames, naming standards, security, hardware types, failure handling, and more. Then we once again fire up the lab and walk through these ideas within a real environment and show you how to execute your design using fictitious design scenarios.

Donations to Alzheimer’s Association

100% of the revenue I receive for my portion of the book will be donated to Alzheimer’s Association, a non profit dedicated to Alzheimer’s Disease as it relates to research, caring, and advocacy. I’ve suffered personal heart ache with relationships that have been affected by Alzheimer’s Disease, and feel that this is my chance to help make a contribution – no matter how small – to ending the disease.