VMware vSphere 5: Fast Track

At the end of the course, you should be able to do the following:

• Configure and manage ESXi networking and storage.
• Create, configure, migrate, manage, convert, and monitor virtual machines and virtual appliances.
• Manage user access to the virtual infrastructure.
• Use vCenter Server to monitor resource usage.
• Scale the vSphere virtual infrastructure.
• Implement business continuity solutions.
• Manage changes to the vSphere environment.
• Use a command-line interface to manage vSphere.
• Install and configure ESXi and vCenter Server.
• Use vSphere Auto Deploy to provision ESXi hosts.

• Module 1 - Course Introduction
• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives

Module 2 - Introduction to VMware Virtualization

• Introduce virtualization, virtual machines, and vSphere components
• Explain the concepts of server, network, and storage virtualization
• Describe where vSphere fits into the cloud architecture
• Install and use vSphere user interfaces

Module 3 - Create Virtual Machines

• Introduce virtual machines, virtual machine hardware, and virtual machine files
• Deploy a single virtual machine

Module 4 - VMware vCenter Server

• Introduce vCenter Server architecture
• Manage vCenter Server inventory objects and licenses

Module 5 - Configuring and Managing Virtual Networks

• Describe, create, and manage a standard virtual switch
• Describe and modify standard virtual switch properties
• Configure virtual switch load-balancing algorithms

Module 6 - Configuring and Managing Virtual Storage

• Introduce storage protocols and device names
• Configure ESXi with iSCSI, NFS, and Fibre Channel storage
• Create and manage vSphere datastores
• Introduce VMware vSphere® Storage Appliance

Module 7 - Virtual Machine Management

• Use templates and cloning to deploy virtual machines
• Modify and manage virtual machines
• Create and manage virtual machine snapshots
• Perform VMware vSphere® vMotion® and vSphere Storage vMotion migrations
• Create a vSphere vApp

Module 8 - Access and Authentication Control

• Control user access through roles and permissions
• Configure and manage the ESXi firewall
• Configure ESXi lockdown mode
• Integrate ESXi with Active Directory
• Introduce VMware® vShield Zones

Module 9 - Resource Management and Monitoring

• Introduce virtual CPU and memory concepts
• Describe methods for optimizing CPU and memory usage
• Configure and manage resource pools
• Use vCenter Server performance graphs and alarms to monitor resource usage

Module 10 - High Availability and Fault Tolerance

• Introduce new vSphere High Availability architecture
• Configure and manage a vSphere HA cluster
• Introduce vSphere Fault Tolerance

Module 11 - Host Scalability

• Use Host Profiles to manage ESXi configuration compliance
• Configure and manage a vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler cluster
• Configure and manage vSphere Distributed Power Management

Module 12 - Network Scalability

• Create, configure, and manage vNetwork distributed switches, network connections, and port groups

Module 13 - Storage Scalability

• Introduce Storage I/O Control
• Describe VMware vSphere® Storage APIs - Array Integration and VASA
• Explain policy-driven storage • Add a storage policy to a virtual machine storage profile
• Describe Storage DRS operation • Create a datastore cluster for Storage DRS
• Configure Storage DRS

Module 14 - Data Protection

• Discuss a strategy for backing up ESXi hosts and vCenter Server
• Introduce the VMware Data Recovery appliance
• Discuss solutions for backing up virtual machines efficiently

Module 15 - Patch Management

• Use VMware vSphere® vCenter Update Manager to manage ESXi patching
• Install Update Manager and the Update Manager plug-in
• Create patch baselines
• Scan and remediate hosts

Module 16 - VMware vSphere Management Assistant

• Describe VMware vSphere® Management Assistant (vMA)
• Configure vMA • Discuss the esxcli and vicfg commands
• Perform command-line operations for host management, network management, storage management, and performance monitoring

Module 17 - Installing VMware Components

• Use vCenter Linked Mode to manage multiple vCenter Server inventories
• Introduce ESXi installation
• Describe boot-from-SAN requirements
• Describe vCenter Server hardware, software, and database requirements
• Install vCenter Server (Windows-based)
• Introduce VMware vCenter Server Appliance
• Configure and manage vCenter Server Appliance
• Use Image Builder to create an ESXi installation image
• Use Auto Deploy to deploy a stateless ESXi host