If you don’t want to read any further… Just go buy it Mastering VMware vSphere 4. In my opinion, you won’t regret it.

I would first like to say that this book has for me become my VMware “bible”. I read it cover to cover(minus appendixes) in about 6.5 days, and being a technical book that’s generally no small feat. However I think that is testament to the book, and not to any determination I had to get through it.

Although being a “manual” in many ways, I found it very easy to get involved in the book and constantly wanting to see what’s on the next page. Scott does a great job of engaging the reader by giving real-life examples and posting summary questions at the end of each chapter.

Scott explains how to do most things someone would want to do in VMware, and if he doesn’t explain it, he provides a resource that does. Not only does he tell you how to do something, he also explains the Why. This is easily one of my favorite things about this book.

For me, it took a longer to get through the storage chapter than any other. Let me explain. Personally storage is the area I am currently weakest in, so it naturally took me longer to read this chapter. I had to reread some sections more than once, not because it was explained poorly, but because I wanted to make sure I completely understood and could wrap my head around the section. All of this being said though, I learned the most from the storage chapter and don’t think I would have removed anything it. Storage is just a big topic to cover and I thought Scott did a great job of covering it.

I should note though to those who want to buy the book. The book was published in August 2009, so just be aware that some of the numbers listed in the book, such as configuration maximums, may not be up to date. However, this is a miniscule issue that should not dissuade anyone from purchasing the book.

In summary, I cannot recommend this book enough to everyone who is involved in VMware and anyone just looking to learn more about VMware. It was a joy to read and I fully plan on reading through it a second time. I also believe it was instrumental in helping me pass my VCP-410.

Categories: General

2 Comments

Scott Lowe · March 5, 2011 at 9:04 pm

Thanks for the great review, I certainly appreciate it! I’m glad you found the real-world examples and summary questions helpful. You should be aware that for this version of the book, Chad Sakac actually authored the content for Chapter 6 (the storage chapter). So, while I’d love to take credit for that part, the credit goes to Chad for Chapter 6.

Picked up the latest book, VMware vSphere Design, yet? 🙂

vNoob » Book Review: Mastering VMware vSphere 5 · January 10, 2012 at 9:07 am

[…] start, if you read Mastering 4 by Scott Lowe, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you are getting into here. The book […]

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