Jae Ellers' "Mister VM" Blog

For everyone looking for a solid book on server virtualization using VMware Virtual Infrastructure you can rest easy. Equal parts design guide, best practices, and cookbook this book is full of great background, pertinent info, and ways to make your infrastructure more reliable and secure. If this book were not so thorough I might say it errs on the side of TMI (too much information). However, since it is so complete I believe there is something here for everyone.

There's great coverage here of obscure topics like the boot sequence that only serves to add to the level of even an expert's understanding. Do you know how to configure Boot From San? You will if you buy this book. I especially like the hardware agnosticism of having the step by step presented for both Emulex and Qlogic
HBAs

The author's understanding of security factors in design and implementation definitely adds a lot of value and raises the bar for those willing to go the extra distance in their infrastructure. There are auditing and configuration scripts that help you secure your environment.

Networking design and configuration are also covered in depth, with detailed command line examples. I found a lot to like in this book and plan to keep my copy close at hand. If you'reinterested in your own copy you can get it here: VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise or VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise (Kindle).