BOOKSHELF

One thing that is common among all IT professionals is the amount of books we seem to collect. Whether it be books on studying for the latest certification or gaining a deeper understanding of a particular product, we all seem to have that bookshelf full of them. On this page I’ll list which books I believe are essential to your collection.

VMware vSphere 5

Mastering vSphere 5 by Scott Lowe – Scott is back again with his follow up to Mastering vSphere 4. Just as before, this book is a must own and if you only buy one book; this is it. Covering all of the core concepts of vSphere 5 this book is a great read for those just starting out or a seasoned veteran. Also, if you are going down the VMware Certified Professional 5 track this will be an invaluable study resource.

VMware vSphere 5 Clustering Technical Deep Dive by Duncan Epping and Frank Denneman -

VMware vSphere 4

Mastering vSphere 4 by Scott Lowe- This is a great read for getting a fundamental understanding of VMware vSphere components and design. The chapter on storage is worth the price alone.

VMware vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS Technical Deepdive by Duncan Epping and Frank Denneman – If you are not familiar with these two authors/bloggers jump to Google now and subscribe to there RSS feeds. Both Duncan and Frank have a deep understanding of all things HA and DRS and this book combines all of their knowledge into a bible of HA/DRS goodness. They give you the “soup to nuts” explanation on how each of these components work as well as best practices for the design and implementation of these services in your environment.

VMware ESXi: Planning, Implementation, and Security by Dave Mishchenko – As most people are aware, VMware vSphere 4.x is the swan song for “classic” ESX, meaning in future releases there will no longer be a local Service Console to manage your ESX hosts. Enter ESXi and the need for this book. Managing ESXi for the most part is the same, but you just go about it in a few different ways. Dave covers everything from day-to-day system management to scripting host installs (a new feature in ESXi 4.1). For anyone making the move/transition from ESX to ESXi this book will ease that process.