What you need for this book

This book assumes a basic level of VMware vSphere and virtualization knowledge in order to understand all the concepts.

This book requires the following minimum software components: VMware vSphere 6.5 U1, VMware vCenter Server 6.5 U1, and other optional software.

This book was written in late 2017 (from August to November) using the vSphere 6.5 Update 1 version as a reference. New updates or patches may change some of commands, settings, behaviors, or considerations, so be sure to always verify the release notes of each update.
When applicable, we have used the vSphere Client (the new HTML5 client), but it is still incomplete; for this reason, in some parts of this book, the vSphere Web Client is used instead of the vSphere Client.

The best way to practice without the need for software licenses or hardware components is to try the VMware Hands-on-Labs (https://labs.hol.vmware.com/), which cover different products and technologies. The first ones that you should use, if you are new to new features of vSphere 6.5, are:

• HOL-1710-SDC-1 - Introduction to vSphere v6.5
• HOL-1710-SDC-6 - What's New: vSphere 6.5

If you prefer your own lab, there are several hints which type of hardware, if using a big server, with all nested VM and hosts, or a cloud service, for example, Ravello (which can also host nested ESXi). There are also suggestions on how to deploy all software components. One interesting way is using AutoLab (http://www.labguides.com/autolab/), but version 2.6 does not support vSphere 6.5; or just look on the blogs of Alan Renouf and William Lam, where you can found some powerful scripts to build an entire vSphere 6.5 (also with vSAN and NSX!).