VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V8]

• System administrators;
• System engineers.

• Describe the software-defined data center (SDDC);
• Explain the vSphere components and their function in the infrastructure;
• Install and configure ESXi hosts;
• Deploy and configure VMware vCenter® Server Appliance™;
• Use VMware vSphere® Client™ to manage the vCenter Server inventory and the vCenter Server configuration;
• Manage, monitor, back up, and protect vCenter Server Appliance;
• Create virtual networks with vSphere standard switches;
• Describe the storage technologies supported by vSphere;
• Configure virtual storage using iSCSI and NFS storage;
• Create and manage VMware vSphere® VMFS datastores;
• Use the vSphere Client to create virtual machines, templates, clones, and snapshots;
• Create a content library and deploy virtual machines from templates in the library;
• Manage virtual machine resource use;
• Migrate virtual machines with VMware vSphere® vMotion® and VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion®;
• Create and manage a vSphere cluster that is enabled with VMware vSphere® High Availability and  VMware vSphere® Distributed Resource Scheduler™;
• Discuss solutions for managing the vSphere life cycle;
• Use VMware vSphere® Lifecycle Manager™ to perform upgrades to ESXi hosts and virtual machines.

Hands-on experience on system administration working with Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems.

VMvare training materials.

Not intended.

1. Course Introduction

• Introductions and course logistics;
• Course objectives.

2. Introduction to vSphere and the Software-Defined Data Center

• Explain basic virtualization concepts;
• Describe how vSphere fits into the software-defined data center and the cloud infrastructure;
• Explain how vSphere interacts with CPUs, memory, networks, and storage;
• Recognize the user interfaces for accessing the vCenter Server system and ESXi hosts;
• Describe the ESXi host architecture;
• Navigate the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) to configure an ESXi host;
• Recognize ESXi host user account best practices;
• Install an ESXi host;
• Use VMware Host Client™ to configure ESXi host settings.

3. Virtual Machines

• Create and provision a virtual machine;
• Explain the importance of VMware Tools™;
• Install VMware Tools;
• Identify the files that make up a VM;
• Recognize the components of a VM;
• Recognize virtual devices supported by a VM;
• Describe the benefits and use cases for containers;
• Identify the parts of a container system.

4. vCenter Server

• Describe the vCenter Server architecture;
• Discuss how ESXi hosts communicate with vCenter Server;
• Deploy and configure vCenter Server Appliance;
• Use vSphere Client to manage the vCenter Server inventory;
• Add data center, organizational objects, and hosts to vCenter Server;
• Use roles and permissions to enable users to access objects in the vCenter Server inventory;
• Back up vCenter Server Appliance;
• Monitor vCenter Server tasks, events, and appliance health;
• Use VMware vCenter Server® High Availability to protect a vCenter Server Appliance.

5. Configuring and Managing Virtual Networks

• Create and manage standard switches;
• Describe the virtual switch connection types;
• Configure virtual switch security, traffic-shaping, and load-balancing policies;
• Compare vSphere distributed switches and standard switches.

6. Configuring and Managing Virtual Storage

• Identify storage protocols and storage device types;
• Discuss ESXi hosts using iSCSI, NFS, and Fibre Channel storage;
• Create and manage VMFS and NFS datastores;
• Explain how multipathing works with iSCSI, NFS, and Fibre Channel storage;
• Recognize the components of a VMware vSAN™ configuration.

7. Virtual Machine Management

• Use templates and cloning to deploy new virtual machines;
• Modify and manage virtual machines;
• Create a content library and deploy virtual machines from templates in the library;
• Use customization specification files to customize a new virtual machine;
• Perform vSphere vMotion and vSphere Storage vMotion migrations;
• Describe the Enhanced vMotion Compatibility feature;
• Create and manage virtual machine snapshots;
• Examine the features and functions of VMware vSphere® Replication™;
• Describe the benefits of VMware vSphere® Storage APIs – Data Protection.

8. Resource Management and Monitoring

• Discuss CPU and memory concepts in a virtualized environment;
• Describe what overcommitment of a resource means;
• Describe methods for optimizing CPU and memory usage;
• Use various tools to monitor resource use;
• Create and use alarms to report certain conditions or events.

9. vSpheze Clusters

• Describe the functions of a vSphere DRS cluster;
• Create a vSphere DRS cluster;
• Monitor a vSphere cluster configuration;
• Describe options for making a vSphere environment highly available;
• Explain the vSphere HA architecture;
• Configure and manage a vSphere HA cluster;
• Examine the features and functions of VMware vSphere® Fault Tolerance.

10. vSphere Lifecycle Management

• Recognize the importance of vCenter Server Update Planner;
• Describe how VMware vSphere® Lifecycle Manager™ works;
• Describe how to update ESXi hosts using baselines;
• Validate ESXi host compliance using a cluster image;
• Describe how to upgrade VMware Tools and VM hardware.