Comments about O'Reilly Media VMware Cookbook:

VMware Cookbook
Ryan Troy and Matthew Helmke
O'Reilly

VMware Cookbook is written in a similar fashion to what many IT professionals are accustomed to when searching the knowledge base of any vendor. It clearly states the problem, the solution and an area for discussion. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to cover every problem that an administrator will encounter when working with a virtual environment, however, this book addresses a wide array of issues and common tasks from installation to networking and general security. The book will benefit professionals who are beginning to plan their first virtual environment, as well as, those who have been working with VMware for sometime and are interested in performing more advanced level tasks. The setup of the book allows for quick reference to determine what tasks are available when administering a virtual environment. One area I would have liked to see the authors include is a general troubleshooting chapter to cover some common issues and nuances of working in a virtual environment that a new administrator may experience.
Overall this book is a handy utility that any virtual administrator should have in their library for quick reference.

Comments about O'Reilly Media VMware Cookbook:

This is a good book for anyone working with the Enterprise products of VMware :ESX, ESXi and vCenter Server. The authors walk us through the installation of each of the products in detail(they even include screenshots of the installation process) in the first chapter. In the second chapter, they cover different types of storage and how to use them in an ESX environment. In the third chapter, they cover recipes for configuring networking for ESX. In the fourth chapter, they cover the important topic of resource management.

What I really liked about the book is that in the fifth chapter, they present a bunch of really useful command-line tools.

I wish they covered at least a part of the different APIs (for example: vSphere PowerCLI) that are provided by VMware but may be they plan to cover these in a future edition of the book.

Comments about O'Reilly Media VMware Cookbook:

As someone who works with VMware most everyday, I'm always on the lookout for new tips, ideas and things that make administration easier.

VMware Cookbook is organized into seven chapters that cover everything from installation to automation and much in between. The authors do a great job of explaining the nuts and bolts of core VMware functions in very understandable terms. The resource management and automation chapters were particularly useful and apply to tasks I come across frequently.

This is not a book that offers a broad reference - and doesn't claim to be; rather it offers VMware admins many, many useful tips, configuration options and excellent ways to fine-tune your systems. If you're looking beyond the basics of virutalization with VMware and want to get a better understanding of specific areas and learn more about optimizing and monitoring ESX, this is an excellent resource for you.