9780789749314

This is the first and only official guide to VMware's new VCP510 (VCP 5) exam. Organized to follow VMware's newest exam blueprint, it's also designed from the ground up to be both engaging and enjoyable. Author Bill Ferguson acts like a "study buddy," encouraging virtualization professionals, anticipating their questions, and helping them gain both mastery and confidence. Throughout, he provides many illustrations, tables, figures, screenshots, and realistic sample test questions - all designed to help readers learn more, learn faster, and remember more of what they learn. Coverage includes: * Understanding how virtualization can best be integrated into today's real-world IT environments * Recognizing what to change, and what to leave alone * Planning, installing, configuring, and upgrading vCenter Server and VMware ESXi * Planning and configuring vSphere networking and storage * Deploying and Administering Virtual Machines and vApps * Establishing and Maintaining Service Levels * Performing basic troubleshooting * Monitoring vSphere implementations * Managing vCenter Server alarms * Preparing for the future of VMware virtualization

Bill Ferguson, VCI5, VCP5, CCSI, and MCT has been in the computer industry for more than 20 years. Originally in technical sales and IT consulting with Sprint, he made his transition to Certified Technical Trainer in 1997 with ExecuTrain. He now runs his own company, Parallel Connections, as an independent contractor and consultant based in Birmingham, Alabama, working worldwide for most of the national training companies and some regional training companies. In addition, he has written and produced many technical training videos and books. Bill’s aspiration is as follows: “My job is to understand the material so well that I can make it easier for others to learn than it was for me to learn. Toward that end, I strive to provide an effective learning environment whether in person, in print, or online.”

About the Author xix

Dedication xx

Acknowlegments xxi

About the Reviewers xxii

Introduction xxiii

Chapter 1 Planning, Installing, Configuring, and Upgrading vCenter Server and VMware ESXi 3

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 3

Installing and Configuring vCenter Server 6

Identifying Available vSphere and vCenter Server Editions 6

Deploying the vCenter Appliance 9

Installing vCenter Server into a Virtual Machine 14

Sizing the vCenter Server Database 17

Installing Additional vCenter Server Components 17

Installing/Removing vSphere Client Plug-Ins 18

Enabling/Disabling vSphere Client Plug-Ins 19

Licensing vCenter Server 19

Determining Availability Requirements for vCenter Server in a

Given vSphere Implementation 21

Determining Use Cases for vSphere Client and Web Client 22

Installing and Configuring VMware ESXi 22

Performing an Interactive Installation of ESXi 22

Deploying an ESXi Host Using Auto Deploy 24

Configuring NTP on an ESXi Host 26

Configuring DNS and Routing on an ESXi Host 27

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Hyperthreading 27

Enabling/Sizing/Disabling Memory Compression Cache 28

Licensing an ESXi Host 30

Planning and Performing Upgrades of vCenter Server and VMware ESXi 31

Identifying Upgrade Requirements for ESXi Hosts 31

Identifying Steps Required to Upgrade a vSphere Implementation 32

Upgrading a vSphere Distributed Switch 33

Upgrading from VMFS3 to VMFS5 34

Upgrading VMware Tools 34

Upgrading Virtual Machine Hardware 37

Upgrading an ESXi Host using vCenter Update Manager 39

Determining Whether an In-Place Upgrade Is Appropriate in a Given Upgrade Scenario 42

Securing vCenter Server and ESXi 43

Identifying Common vCenter Server Privileges and Roles 43

System Roles 44

Sample Roles 44

Custom Roles 45

Describing How Permissions are Applied and Inherited in vCenter Server 45

Example 1: Permissions That Apply Directly to an Object Supersede Those That Are Inherited 46

Example 2: If a User Is a Member of More Multiple Groups, the User Is Assigned the Union of the Privileges for Each Group 46

Example 3: User/Role Pairings Applied Directly to an Object Supersede User/ Role Pairings That Are Inherited 47

Example 4: Permissions That Are Applied Directly to a User Supersede Permissions That Are Inherited Through Group Membership 48

Configuring and Administering the ESXi Firewall 49

Enabling Lockdown Mode 50

Configuring Network Security Policies 51

Promiscuous Mode 52

MAC Address Changes 53

Forged Transmits 53

Viewing/Sorting/Exporting User and Group Lists 54

Adding/Modifying/Removing Permissions for Users and Groups on vCenter Inventory Objects 54

Creating/Cloning/Editing vCenter Server Roles 55

Creating Roles 55

Cloning Roles 56

Editing Roles 59

Adding an ESXi Host to a Directory Service 60

Applying Permissions to ESXi Hosts Using Host Profiles 62

Determining the Appropriate Set of Privileges for Common Tasks in vCenter Server 62

Identifying vSphere Architecture and Solutions 62

Identifying Available vSphere Editions and Features 63

Explaining ESXi and vCenter Server Architectures 63

Explaining Private/Public/Hybrid Cloud Concepts 64

Determining the Appropriate vSphere Edition Based on Customer Requirements 66

Summary 67

Chapter 2 Planning and Configuring vSphere Networking 73

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 73

Configuring vSphere Standard Switches 76

Identifying vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) Capabilities 76

Creating / Deleting a vSphere Standard Switch 77

Deleting a vSphere Standard Switch 81

Adding / Configuring / Removing vmnics on a vSphere Standard Switch 82

Configuring VMkernel Ports for Network Services 88

Adding / Editing / Removing Port Groups on a vSphere Standard Switch 90

Determining Use Cases for a vSphere Standard Switch 94

Configuring vSphere Distributed Switches 94

Identifying vSphere Distributed Switch Capabilities 95

Creating/Deleting a vSphere Distributed Switch 97

Deleting a vDS 100

Adding/Removing ESXi Hosts from a vSphere Distributed Switch 100

Adding/Configuring/Removing dvPort Groups 104

Adding/Removing Uplink Adapters to dvUplink Groups 108

Creating/Configuring/Removing Virtual Adapters 111

Migrating Virtual Adapters to/from a vSphere Standard Switch 117

Migrating Virtual Machines to/from a vSphere Distributed Switch 119

Determining Use Cases for a vSphere Distributed Switch 123

Configuring vSS and vDS Policies 124

Identifying Common vSS and vDS policies 124

Configuring dvPort Group Blocking Policies 132

Configuring Load Balancing and Failover Policies 133

Load Balancing 134

Network Failover Detection 134

Notify Switches 135

Failback 135

Configuring VLAN Settings 137

Configuring VLAN Policy Settings on a VDS 139

Configuring VLAN Trunking Policies on a VDS 140

Configuring Private VLAN Policy Settings on a vDS 140

Configuring Traffic Shaping Policies 142

Traffic Shaping Policies for vSphere Standard Switches 143

Traffic Shaping Policies for vSphere Distributed Switches 144

Enabling TCP Segmentation Offload support for a Virtual Machine 145

Enabling Jumbo Frames Support on Appropriate Components 147

Enabling Jumbo Frames for VMkernel Interface on a vSS 147

Enabling Jumbo Frames on a vDS 148

Enabling Jumbo Frame Support on Virtual Machines 149

Determining Appropriate VLAN Configuration for a vSphere Implementation 149

Summary 151

Chapter 3 Planning and Configuring vSphere Storage 159

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 159

Configuring Shared Storage for vSphere 162

Identifying Storage Adapters and Devices 162

Fibre Channel 163

FCOE 163

iSCSI 164

NAS 164

Identifying Storage Naming Conventions 164

Storage Naming Conventions for Local and SAN 165

Identifying Hardware/Dependent Hardware/Software iSCSI Initiator Requirements 166

Comparing and Contrasting Array Thin Provisioning and Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning 168

Array Thin Provisioning 168

Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning 169

Describing Zoning and LUN Masking Practices 170

Zoning 171

Masking 172

Scanning/Rescanning Storage 172

Identifying Use Cases for FCOE 173

Creating an NFS Share for Use with vSphere 174

Connecting to a NAS Device 175

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling vCenter Server Storage Filters 177

Configuring/Editing Hardware/Dependent Hardware Adapters 179

Enabling/Disabling Software iSCSI Initiator Settings 180

Configuring iSCSI Port Binding 181

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling iSCSI CHAP 183

Determining Use Cases for Hardware/Dependent Hardware/Software iSCSI Initiator 185

Determining Use Cases for and Configuring Array Thin Provisioning 186

Configuring the Storage Virtual Appliance for vSphere 186

Defining the VSA Architecture 187

Configuring ESXi Hosts as VSA Hosts 188

Configuring the Storage Network for the VSA 189

Deploying/Configuring the VSA Manager 189

Administering VSA Storage Resources 190

Administering VSA Clusters 191

Administering VSA Datastores 191

Administering VSA Cluster Membership 191

Determining Use Case for Deploying the VSA 192

Determining Appropriate ESXi Host Resources for the VSA 192

Creating and Configuring VMFS and NFS Datastores 193

Identifying VMFS and NFS Datastore Properties 193

Identifying VMFS-5 Capabilities 195

Creating/Renaming/Deleting/Unmounting a VMFS Datastore 195

Mounting/Unmounting an NFS Datastore 205

Extending/Expanding VMFS Datastores 209

Extending VMFS Datastores 209

Expanding VMFS Datastores 213

Upgrading a VMFS-3 Datastore to VMFS-5 218

Placing a VMFS Datastore in Maintenance Mode 220

Selecting the Preferred Path for a VMFS Datastore 221

Disabling a Path to a VMFS Datastore 223

Determining Use Cases for Multiple VMFS and NFS Datastores 224

Determining Appropriate Path Selection Policy for a VMFS Datastore 224

Summary 225

Chapter 4 Deploying and Administering Virtual Machine and vApps 235

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 235

Creating and Deploying Virtual Machines 238

Identifying Capabilities for Virtual Machine Hardware Versions 238

Identifying VMware Tools Device Drivers 240

Identifying Methods to Access and Use Virtual Machine Console 240

Identifying Virtual Machine Storage Resources 242

Placing Virtual Machines in Selected ESXi Hosts/Clusters/Resource Pools 243

Configuring and Deploying a Guest OS Into a New Virtual Machine 243

Creating/Converting Thin/Thick Provisioned Virtual Disks 245

Configuring Disk Shares 246

Installing/Upgrading/Updating VMware Tools 249

Configuring Virtual Machine Time Synchronization 251

Converting a Physical Machine Using VMware Converter 252

Importing a Supported Virtual Machine Source Using Vmware Converter 255

Modifying Virtual Hardware Settings Using VMware Standalone Converter 256

Configuring/Modifying Virtual CPU and Memory Resources According to OS and Application Requirements 256

Configuring and Modifying Virtual Machine CPU 257

Configuring and Modifying Virtual Machine Memory 258

Configuring/Modifying Virtual NIC Adapter and Connecting Virtual Machines to Appropriate Network Resources 260

Determining Appropriate Datastore Locations for Virtual Machines Based on Application Workloads 261

Creating and Deploying vApps 262

Identifying vApp Settings 262

Options 262

Start Order 266

vServices 267

Creating/Cloning/Exporting a vApp 267

Adding Objects to an Existing vApp 274

Editing vApp Settings 274

Configuring IP Pools 274

Suspending/Resuming a vApp 276

Determining When a Tiered Application Should Be Deployed as a vApp 276

Managing Virtual Machine Clones and Templates 277

Identifying the vCenter Server, Managed ESXi Hosts, and Virtual Machine Maximums 278

Identifying Cloning and Template Options 280

Cloning an Existing Virtual Machine 281

Creating a Template from an Existing Virtual Machine 282

Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template 285

Updating Existing Virtual Machine Templates 287

Deploying Virtual Appliances and/or vApps from an OVF Template 290

Importing and /or Exporting an OVF Template 293

Determining the Appropriate Development Methodology for a Given Virtual Machine Application 295

Administering Virtual Machines and vApps 295

Identifying Files Used by Virtual Machines 295

Identifying Locations for Virtual Machine Configuration Files and Virtual Disks 297

Identifying Common Practices for Securing Virtual Machines 300

Hot Extending a Virtual Disk 301

Configuring Virtual Machine Options 303

General Options 304

vApp Options 304

VMware Tools 305

Power Management 306

Advanced 306

Configuring Virtual Machine Power Settings 307

Configuring Virtual Machine Boot Options 308

Configuring Virtual Machine Troubleshooting Options 309

Assigning a Storage Policy to a VM 310

Verifying Storage Policy Compliance for Virtual Machines 312

Determining When an Advanced Virtual Machine Parameter is Required 312

Adjusting Virtual Machine Resources (shares, limits and reservations) Based on Virtual Machine Workloads 313

Summary 313

Chapter 5 Establishing and Maintaining Service Levels 323

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 323

Creating and Configuring VMware Clusters 326

Describing DRS Virtual Machine Entitlement 326

Creating/Deleting a DRS/HA Cluster 327

Adding/Removing ESXi Hosts from a DRS/HA Cluster 328

Adding or Removing Virtual Machines from a DRS/HA Cluster 334

Configuring Storage DRS 335

Configuring Enhanced vMotion Compatibility 340

Monitoring a DRS/HA Cluster 342

Configuring Migration Thresholds for DRS and Virtual Machines 342

Configuring Automation Levels for DRS and Virtual Machines 344

Creating VM-Host and VM-VM Affinity Rules 346

Enabling/Disabling Host Monitoring 350

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Virtual Machine and Application Monitoring 351

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Virtual Machine Monitoring 351

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Application Monitoring 352

Configuring Admission Control for HA and Virtual Machines 353

Admission Control 354

Admission Control Policy 354

Determining Appropriate Failover Methodology and Required Resources for an HA Implementation 357

Host Failures the Cluster Tolerates 357

Percentage of Cluster Resources as Failover Spare Capacity 358

Specify Failover Hosts 358

Planning and Implementing VMware Fault Tolerance 358

Identifying VMware Fault Tolerance Requirements 359

Configuring VMware Fault Tolerance Networking 360

Enabling/Disabling VMware Fault Tolerance on a Virtual Machine 361

Testing an FT Configuration 362

Determining Use Case for Enabling VMware Fault Tolerance on a Virtual Machine 362

Creating and Administering Resource Pools 363

Describing the Resource Pool Hierarchy 363

Defining the Expandable Reservation Parameter 364

Creating/Removing a Resource Pool 365

Configuring Resource Pool Attributes 367

Adding/Removing Virtual Machines from a Resource Pool 368

Determining Resource Pool Requirements for a Given vSphere Implementation 368

Evaluating Appropriate Shares, Reservations, and Limits for Resource Pool Based on Virtual Machine Workloads 368

Cloning a vApp 369

Migrating Virtual Machines 373

Identifying ESXi Host and Virtual Machine Requirements for vMotion and Storage vMotion 373

ESXi and VM Requirements for vMotion 373

ESXi and VM Requirements for Storage vMotion 375

Identifying Enhanced vMotion Compatibility CPU Requirements 376

Identifying Snapshot Requirements for vMotion/Storage vMotion Migration 377

Migrating Virtual Machines Using vMotion/Storage vMotion 378

Migrating a VM Using vMotion 378

Migrating a VM’s Files Using Storage vMotion 382

Configuring Virtual Machine Swap File Location 384

Migrating a Powered-Off or Suspended Virtual Machine 386

Utilizing Storage vMotion Techniques 387

Backing Up and Restoring Virtual Machines 388

Identifying Snapshot Requirements 389

Creating/Deleting/Consolidating Virtual Machine Snapshots 389

Installing and Configuring VMware Data Recovery 395

Creating a Backup Job with VMware Data Recovery 396

Performing a Test and Live Full/File-Level Restore with Vmware Data Recovery 397

Determining Appropriate Backup Solution for a Given vSphere Implementation 397

Patching and Updating ESXi and Virtual Machines 398

Identifying Patching Requirements for ESXi Hosts and Virtual Machine Hardware/Tools 398

Creating/Editing/Removing a Host Profile from an ESXi Host 398

Attach/Apply a Host Profile to an ESXi Host or Cluster 402

Performing Compliance Scanning and Remediation of an ESXi Host Using Host Profiles 405

Installing and Configuring vCenter Update Manager 406

Configuring Patch Download Options 411

Creating/Editing/Deleting an Update Manager Baseline 412

Attaching an Update Manager Baseline to an ESXi Host or Cluster 415

Scanning and Remediating ESXi Hosts and Virtual Machine Hardware/Tools Using Update Manager 416

Summary 417

Chapter 6 Performing Basic Troubleshooting 423

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 423

Performing Basic Troubleshooting for ESXi Hosts 426

Identifying General ESXi Host Troubleshooting Guidelines 426

Learn How to Access Support Mode 426

Know How to Retrieve Logs 429

Troubleshooting Common Installation Issues 431

Troubleshooting Boot Order 432

Troubleshooting License Assignment 432

Troubleshooting Plug-Ins 433

Monitoring ESXi System Health 433

Exporting Diagnostic Information 435

Performing Basic vSphere Network Troubleshooting 439

Verifying Network Configuration 440

Verifying a Given Virtual Machine Is Configured with the Correct Network Resources 441

Troubleshooting Virtual Switch and Port Group Configuration Issues 442

Troubleshooting Physical Network Adapter Configuration Issues 443

Identifying the Root Cause of a Network Issue Based on Troubleshooting Information 444

Performing Basic vSphere Storage Troubleshooting 445

Verifying Storage Configuration 445

Troubleshooting Storage Contention Issues 448

Troubleshooting Storage Over-Commitment Issues 450

Excessive Reservations Cause Slow Host Performance 450

Path Thrashing Causes Slow Performance 450

Troubleshooting iSCSI Software Initiator Configuration Issues 451

Troubleshooting Storage Reports and Storage Maps 451

Storage Reports 451

Storage Maps 453

Identifying the Root Cause of a Storage Issue Based on Troubleshooting Information 454

Performing Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS Clusters and vMotion/Storage vMotion 455

Identifying HA/DRS and vMotion Requirements 455

Verifying vMotion/Storage vMotion Configuration 456

Verifying vMotion Configuration 456

Verifying HA Network Configuration 457

Verifying HA/DRS Cluster Configuration 458

Troubleshooting HA Capacity Issues 459

Troubleshooting HA Redundancy Issues 459

Interpreting the DRS Resource Distributing Graph and Target/Current Host Load Deviation 460

Troubleshooting DRS Load Imbalance Issues 462

Troubleshooting vMotion/Storage vMotion Migration Issues 462

Interpreting vMotion Resource Maps 463

Identifying the Root Cause for a DRS/HA Cluster or Migration Issue Based on Troubleshooting Information 463

Summary 465

Chapter 7 Monitoring vSphere Implementation and Managing vCenter Alarms 471

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 471

Monitoring ESXi, vCenter Server, and Virtual Machines 474

Describing How Tasks and Events are Viewed in vCenter Server 474

Viewing by Object Selected in Console Pane 475

Showing Only Object Entries 476

Filtering by Keyword 477

Identifying Critical Performance Metrics 477

Explaining Common Memory Metrics 478

Explaining Common CPU Metrics 484

Explaining Common Network Metrics 484

Explaining Common Storage Metrics 485

Comparing and Contrasting Overview and Advanced Charts 485

Configuring SNMP for vCenter Server 487

Configuring Active Directory and SMTP Settings for vCenter Server 488

Configuring Active Directory Settings for vCenter 488

Configuring SMTP Settings for a vCenter Server 489

Configuring vCenter Server Logging Options 491

Creating a Log Bundle 492

Creating/Editing/Deleting a Scheduled Task 495

Configuring/Viewing/Printing/Exporting Resource Maps 500

Starting/Stopping/Verifying vCenter Service Status 503

Starting/Stopping/Verifying ESXi Host Agent Status 505

Configuring vCenter Server Timeout Settings 506

Monitoring/Administering vCenter Server Connections 507

Creating an Advanced Chart 508

Determining Host Performance Using Resxtop and Guest Perfmon 510

Determining Host Performance Using Resxtop 510

Determining Host Performance Using Guest Perfmon 514

Given Performance Data, Identifying the Affected vSphere Resource 514

Creating and Administering vCenter Server Alarms 515

Listing vCenter Default Utilization Alarms 516

Listing vCenter Default Connectivity Alarms 516

Listing Possible Actions for Utilization and Connectivity Alarms 517

Creating a vCenter Utilization Alarm 518

Creating a vCenter Connectivity Alarm 521

Configuring Alarm Triggers 524

Configuring Alarm Actions 525

For a Given Alarm, Identifying the Affected Resource in a vSphere Implementation 525

Summary 526

Chapter 8 What Do I Do Now? 533

Scheduling the Test 533

Comparing Your Knowledge to the VCP510 Exam Blueprint Objectives 534

Studying the Questions at the End of Each Chapter and on the Bonus Material 535

Taking the Mock Exam on the VMware Website 536

The Day of the Test 536

Sending Me an Email When You Pass 537

Appendix A Answers to the “Do I Know This Already?” Quizzes and Chapter Review Questions 539

TOC, 9780789749314, 7/12/2012

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The Official VCP5 Certification Guide

The Official VCP5 Certification Guide

0789749319

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials