VMware vSphere with ESXi and vCenter
Private Training

Course Summary

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This powerful 5-day class is an intense introduction to virtualization using VMware’s vSphere™ 5.5 including VMware ESX™ 5.5 and vCenter™. Assuming no prior virtualization experience, this class starts with the basics and rapidly progresses to more advanced topics. More than 40% of class time is devoted to labs so concepts, skills and best practices are developed and reinforced. Initial labs focus on installation and configuration of stand-alone ESXi servers. As the class progresses, shared storage, networking and centralized management are introduced. The class continues on to more advanced topics including resource balancing, high availability, back-up and recovery, troubleshooting and more. Disaster recovery, rapid deployment, hot migration and workload consolidation are also covered. By the end of the class, attendees will have learned the benefits, skills, and best practices of virtualization. Attendees will be able to design, implement, deploy, configure, monitor, manage and troubleshoot VMware vSphere 5.5.

Audience
System Architects, security specialists, analysts, back-up and storage administrators.
Course Length
5 Days
Prerequisites
Attendees should have user, operator or administrator experience on common operating systems such as Microsoft Windows®, Linux™, UNIX™, etc. Experience installing, configuring and managing operating systems, storage systems and or networks is useful but not required. All attendees should have a basic familiarity with PC server hardware, disk partitioning, IP addressing, O/S installation, networking, etc.

Objectives

Install ESXi Server according to best practices

Configure and manage local storage

Create virtual, distributed virtual, and virtual to physical LAN segments

Understand and use shared SAN storage including Fibre SAN, iSCSI SAN

Install, configure and administer VMware vCenter

Rapid deployment of VMs using golden-master templates

Perform VM cold and hot migrations

Deploy and use VMware Data Recovery to back up and recover VMs

Create and manage load balanced clusters

Monitor and tune both ESXi and virtual machine performance

Patch and update ESXi servers using vCenter Update Manager

Replicate critical VMs to protect against data and service loss

Understand how VMware and third party products, including operating systems are impacted by

Detailed Outline

  1. Introduction to vSphere 5.5
    • VMware vSphere
    • Server Resource Utilization
    • Server Consolidation
    • Datacenter Issues
    • OS, Application Imaging
    • Hardware Maintenance
    • Windows Licensing for VMs
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Disaster Recovery
    • Test, Development & QA
    • Virtualization Over Time
    • VMware vSphere 5.5 Editions
    • vSphere Acceleration Kits
    • VMware Service & Support (SnS)
    • VMware ESXi
    • Multiple ESXi w. Shared Storage
    • vSphere Private Cloud
    • Storage Cloud
    • What’s New in vSphere
  2. VMware ESXi
    • Stand Alone ESXi
    • Scaling Up Networks, Storage
    • Installing ESXi
    • Performing an In-Place Upgrade
    • ESXi 5.5 DCUI
    • ESXi Configuration & Settings
    • Configure Management Network
    • IPV4 & DNS Configuration
    • Apply Network Changes
    • ESXi Ready for Service
    • Security Warning
    • ESXi Host Roles
    • Licensed Features in ESXi 5.5
  3. Virtual Networking
    • Virtual to Physical Networking
    • Teamed Networking
    • Multi-homed Networking
    • vSwitch Properties
    • ESXi Physical NICs
    • vSwitch Rules
  4. NAS/NFS
    • Network Attached Storage
    • Network File System
    • NAS Components
    • Define NFS Shares
    • NFS Share in Storage Roster
    • NAS/NFS Trade-offs
    • Troubleshooting NFS
  5. Virtual Machines
    • Virtual Hardware
    • Take Ownership of a VM
    • New Virtual Machine Wizard
    • VM Wizard – Virtual CPUs
    • Snapshot Manager
    • Complete the Virtual Machine
    • Remote Console
    • VMware Tools
    • USB Virtual Device Support
    • Windows Performance Tips
    • Supported Guest OS
  6. vCenter
    • Central Management w. vCenter
    • vCenter is a Management Proxy
    • vCenter for Windows
    • vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA)
    • vCenter Server
    • Inventory Service
    • vCenter Simple Install
    • vCenter for Databases
    • Install vCenter for Windows
    • vCenter Windows Services
    • Configuring vCSA IP Properties
    • VMs run on Clusters
    • Adding Licenses to vCenter
    • Web Client
    • Migrating a VM
    • vSphere Clients
    • vCenter Limits
  7. Templates, Clones
    • Template Theory
    • Template Benefits
    • Templates
    • Disk Formats
    • Creating a New Template
    • Template Properties
    • VM Cloning
    • Clone a Template
    • Template Maintenance
    • Windows VM Customization
    • Non-Windows OS Customization
    • Virtual Machines / Pros and Cons
    • Import/ Export Virtual Appliances
    • CPU to vCPU Virtualization
    • Windows 7 Basic 3D Video
    • Adding Virtual Hardware
    • All VMs Support Simple Changes
    • Hot Add Virtual Hardware
    • Hot Grow Disks
  8. Permissions
    • Permission Privileges and Roles
    • Determining Permissions
    • Determining Permissions
    • Role Assignments
    • Work with Roles
    • vCenter Users, Groups
    • vCenter Base Permissions
    • ESXi Users, Groups
    • View ESXi Permissions
  9. Shared Storage
    • Fibre Storage Area Networks
    • Fibre Switched Fabric Topology
    • Hardware Paths
    • iSCSI, Capabilities, Motivation
    • LUN Discovery Options
    • iSCSI Hardware & Software Initiators
    • Challenge Authentication Protocol
    • CHAP Authentication Process
    • Scan iSCSI SAN
    • New iSCSI LUNs
    • iSCSI Trade-offs
    • Storage Properties, Views, Reports
    • ESXi 5.5 Boot from SAN
  10. VMware File System
    • VMFS 5 Features
    • Building a VMFS
    • Properties and Formatting
    • New VMFS
    • VMFS Capacity Management
    • LUN Span – Before/After
    • Grow VMFS into Free Space
    • Multipathing
    • iSCSI SAN Multipathing
    • Pluggable Storage Architecture
  11. Alarms
    • Performance Alarms
    • vCenter Alarms
    • Alarm Settings
    • ESXi Host Alarms
    • Virtual Machine Alarms
    • Alarm Reporting
    • Default Alarm Definitions
    • Set Local Mail Server Properties
    • Change Custom Alarms
    • Alarm Best Practices
  12. Resource Pools
    • Resource Administration
    • VM CPU Resource Tunables
    • Dynamic Memory Balancing
    • Resource Shares
    • Resource Pools
    • Expandable Reservations
    • Auto-Update Resource Pools
    • Resource Allocations
  13. Converter
    • Converter Import Source Options
    • What’s New in Converter 5.5
    • Clone & Update Disks
    • Install and Enable Converter
    • Launch Converter Enterprise
    • Specify New VM Location
    • Clone Physical Disk(s)
    • Copying Disk Volumes
    • Create the New Virtual Machine
    • VM Reconfiguration
    • Converter Housekeeping
    • New VM Housekeeping
    • Converter Caveats
    • Conversion in Progress
  14. VM Migration
    • Virtual Machine Migration
    • Cold Migration
    • VMotion Migration, Benefits, Requirements
    • Progress is Monitored
    • VM Descheduled
    • Switch Over
    • VM Scheduled to Run
    • Housekeeping
    • Validation
    • Host and CPU Compatibility
    • Storage VMotion
  15. DRS
    • Distributed Resource Scheduler
    • DRS Clusters / Functions
    • DRS Automation Level
    • Migration Threshold
    • Power Management
    • EVC and AMD CPUs
    • EVC Benefits
    • Affinity, Anti-Affinity Rules
    • DRS Groups Manager
    • Resource Management
    • Adopting DRS
  16. VMware HA
    • High Availability Clusters
    • VMware HA Host Failures
    • Admission Control
    • HA Cluster Heartbeat
    • Datastore Heartbeat
    • HA Restart Priority
    • VM Monitoring
    • Maintenance Mode
    • Resolving HA Problems
    • HA and DRS
    • Isolation Response
    • VMware Fault Tolerance
  17. Host Profiles
    • Managing ESXi Host Configuration
    • Host Profiles
    • Attaching Host Profiles
    • Host Benefits, Tasks, Contents
    • Bringing a Host into Compliance
    • Guest OS Compliance?
  18. vSphere Replications
    • VM Synchronization
    • VM Replication Policies
    • Replicated VM
    • vSphere Client Integration Plug-in
    • Select Replication Server
    • Advanced Disk Configuration
    • vSphere Replication > Manage
    • Recovering a VM
  19. Update Manager
    • VMware Update Manager
    • Patch Management
    • Install VUM
    • VUM Storage
    • Configure VUM
    • Patch Download Settings and Schedule
    • Stock Patch Baselines
    • Selected Patches
    • VUM and DRS Clusters
  20. Performance
    • Performance Analysis & Tuning
    • ESXi CPU Usage Strategy
    • Active VM CPU Scheduling
    • Physical to Virtual CPU
    • Sequential vs Concurrent Tasks
    • Physical & VM Memory
    • Transparent Page Sharing
    • Memory Ballooning
    • Ballooning vs. VMkernel Swap
    • VMkernel Native Drivers
    • ESXi and SSDs
    • Performance Charts
    • Performance Problems
    • CPU Ready Time
    • Monitoring Memory Stress
    • Page Faults
    • Memory Consumption
  21. Final Thoughts
    • What to Virtualize
    • CPU Storage and Network Considerations
    • Server Capacity Management
    • Delivering High Availability
    • Virtualization Security Issues