VMware Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Preface

VMware is one of those products that many of us, including this book’s authors, have been reading about for years. Ryan has had the opportunity over the years to become involved with and architect many virtualized environments, ranging from small- to large-scale cloud deployments using VMware technology. As time passes, Ryan has grown fond of the VMware product suite and continues to discuss it daily.

Matthew and Ryan have worked together on several projects in the past. In the summer of 2008, the two of us decided we would like to write a book together. We tossed around ideas and decided to write on VMware’s ESX platform, because it impressed us so. Since Matthew was already an established writer and also technologically proficient, although new to this specific software, we decided that Ryan would do the technical writing and Matthew would concentrate his efforts on making sure it all came across clearly and accurately.

We are genuinely delighted by VMware as a company, and have found its employees very kind and helpful. We have also become sold on its products. Using VMware’s platform in a production environment has been everything it is advertised to be: it has made system administration easier, made the use of resources more efficient and cost-effective, and quite frankly, been a lot of fun. If this weren’t the case, like all true geeks (in the best sense of the word), we would find something else to play with. So far, we haven’t.

This book encompasses many of the most ...