Virtualization Technologies: VMware and Hyper-V

Information Technology and Digital Systems October 25, 2025
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Introduction

Virtualization has become a cornerstone of modern IT infrastructure, enabling resource optimization, increased agility, and reduced capital expenditure. This course provides a hands-on deep dive into the two industry-leading hypervisor platforms: VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V. Participants will learn how to install, configure, and manage virtual machines, networks, and storage across these environments. The emphasis is on practical application, high availability features, and the best practices for effectively leveraging virtualization in an enterprise setting.

Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Differentiate between type 1 and type 2 hypervisors and their use cases.
  • Install and perform initial configuration of both VMware ESXi and Hyper-V Server.
  • Create, deploy, and manage virtual machines (VMs) using best practices.
  • Configure virtual networking, including vSwitches and network adapters on both platforms.
  • Implement and manage shared storage for virtualization hosts (e.g., iSCSI, NFS).
  • Utilize high-availability features like VMware HA/vMotion and Hyper-V Live Migration/Failover Clustering.
  • Perform routine management tasks, including snapshots, cloning, and resource allocation.
  • Troubleshoot common issues related to VM performance and host connectivity.

Target Audience

  • System Administrators and Engineers.
  • IT Architects and Infrastructure Designers.
  • Cloud Administrators managing private cloud environments.
  • DevOps professionals seeking to deploy and manage virtual environments.
  • Individuals pursuing VMware Certified Professional (VCP) or MCSA certifications.

Methodology

  • Extensive hands-on labs using both vSphere and Hyper-V test environments.
  • Individual exercises on VM deployment and resource configuration.
  • Group activities for setting up high-availability clusters and testing failover.
  • Case studies involving virtual machine sprawl and performance optimization.

Personal Impact

  • Master the skills to manage the two dominant hypervisor platforms.
  • Increase efficiency in deploying and managing server workloads.
  • Enhance ability to design highly available and fault-tolerant infrastructure.
  • Acquire specialized knowledge highly valued in the cloud and data center markets.
  • Develop systematic approaches to troubleshooting virtualized environments.

Organizational Impact

  • Significant reduction in hardware capital expenditure through server consolidation.
  • Improved server utilization and energy efficiency.
  • Reduced application downtime through high-availability features and rapid recovery.
  • Increased IT agility for faster application deployment and testing.
  • Better resource management and simplified infrastructure scaling.

Course Outline

Unit 1: Virtualization Concepts and Hypervisors

Introduction to Virtualization
  • The benefits and challenges of server virtualization.
  • Understanding Type 1 (bare-metal) vs. Type 2 (hosted) hypervisors.
  • Key components of a virtualized environment (host, guest, hypervisor).
  • Resource isolation, pooling, and abstraction.
Hypervisor Installation
  • Hardware prerequisites for virtualization hosts.
  • Installation and initial configuration of VMware ESXi.
  • Installation and initial configuration of Microsoft Hyper-V Server.
  • Basic management tools and interfaces (vSphere Client, Hyper-V Manager).

Unit 2: Virtual Machine and Storage Management

Virtual Machine Lifecycle
  • Creating and configuring new VMs with appropriate resources.
  • VM templates, cloning, and deployment from a content library.
  • Managing snapshots and their impact on performance.
  • VM migration strategies: cold, hot, and live migration.
Virtual Storage
  • Connecting virtualization hosts to shared storage (NFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel).
  • Understanding virtual disk formats (VMDK, VHDX) and thin/thick provisioning.
  • Managing datastores and storage vMotion (VMware) or storage migration (Hyper-V).
  • Introduction to Software-Defined Storage (SDS) concepts.

Unit 3: Virtual Networking

VMware vSphere Networking
  • Standard vs. Distributed Virtual Switches (vSwitches).
  • Configuring uplinks, port groups, and VLAN tagging.
  • Load balancing and failover policies for network adapters.
  • Introduction to NSX and network virtualization.
Hyper-V Networking
  • Creating and managing External, Internal, and Private virtual switches.
  • Virtual Network Adapters and advanced features (e.g., SR-IOV).
  • Network teaming and load balancing in Hyper-V hosts.
  • Implementing virtual firewalls and network segmentation.

Unit 4: High Availability and Disaster Recovery

Clustering and Failover
  • Configuring VMware High Availability (HA) and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).
  • Setting up Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) for Hyper-V.
  • Understanding Live Migration/vMotion and its requirements.
  • Resource pool management and resource allocation settings.
Backup and Replication
  • Native backup tools and integration with third-party solutions.
  • VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) and Hyper-V Replica.
  • Developing a recovery strategy for virtualized infrastructure.
  • Best practices for patch management in a clustered environment.

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