VMware vSphere Courses

Overview

This five-day course features intensive hands-on training that focuses on installing, configuring, and managing VMware vSphere 8, which includes VMware ESXi™ 8 and VMware vCenter® 8. This course prepares you to administer a vSphere infrastructure for an organization of any size.

This course is the foundation for most VMware technologies in the software-defined data center.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter 8.0

Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Install and configure ESXi hosts
Deploy and configure vCenter
Use the vSphere Client to create the vCenter inventory and assign roles to vCenter users
Create virtual networks using vSphere standard switches and distributed switches
Create and configure datastores using storage technologies supported by vSphere
Use the vSphere® Client™ to create virtual machines, templates, clones, and snapshots
Create content libraries for managing templates and deploying virtual machines
Manage virtual machine resource allocation
Migrate virtual machines with VMware vSphere® vMotion® and VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion®
Create and configure a vSphere cluster that is enabled with VMware vSphere® High Availability and
VMware vSphere® Distributed Resource Scheduler™
Manage the life cycle of vSphere to keep vCenter, ESXi hosts, and virtual machines up to date

Prerequisites

This course has the following prerequisites:

System administration experience on Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems

Audience

System administrators
System engineers

Outline

1 Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

2 vSphere and Virtualization Overview

Explain basic virtualization concepts
Describe how vSphere fits in the software-defined data center and the cloud infrastructure
Recognize the user interfaces for accessing vSphere
Explain how vSphere interacts with CPUs, memory, networks, storage, and GPUs

3 Installing and Configuring ESXi

Install an ESXi host
Recognize ESXi user account best practices
Configure the ESXi host settings using the DCUI and VMware Host Client

4 Deploying and Configuring vCenter

Recognize ESXi hosts communication with vCenter
Deploy vCenter Server Appliance
Configure vCenter settings
Use the vSphere Client to add and manage license keys
Create and organize vCenter inventory objects
Recognize the rules for applying vCenter permissions
View vCenter logs and events

5 Configuring vSphere Networking

Configure and view standard switch configurations
Configure and view distributed switch configurations
Recognize the difference between standard switches and distributed switches
Explain how to set networking policies on standard and distributed switches

6 Configuring vSphere Storage

Recognize vSphere storage technologies
Identify types of vSphere datastores
Describe Fibre Channel components and addressing
Describe iSCSI components and addressing
Configure iSCSI storage on ESXi
Create and manage VMFS datastores
Configure and manage NFS datastores

7 Deploying Virtual Machines

Create and provision VMs
Explain the importance of VMware Tools
Identify the files that make up a VM
Recognize the components of a VM
Navigate the vSphere Client and examine VM settings and options
Modify VMs by dynamically increasing resources
Create VM templates and deploy VMs from them
Clone VMs
Create customization specifications for guest operating systems
Create local, published, and subscribed content libraries
Deploy VMs from content libraries
Manage multiple versions of VM templates in content libraries

8 Managing Virtual Machines

Recognize the types of VM migrations that you can perform within a vCenter instance and across vCenter instances
Migrate VMs using vSphere vMotion
Describe the role of Enhanced vMotion Compatibility in migrations
Migrate VMs using vSphere Storage vMotion
Take a snapshot of a VM
Manage, consolidate, and delete snapshots
Describe CPU and memory concepts in relation to a virtualized environment
Describe how VMs compete for resources
Define CPU and memory shares, reservations, and limits

9 Deploying and Configuring vSphere Clusters

Create a vSphere cluster enabled for vSphere DRS and vSphere HA
View information about a vSphere cluster
Explain how vSphere DRS determines VM placement on hosts in the cluster
Recognize use cases for vSphere DRS settings
Monitor a vSphere DRS cluster
Describe how vSphere HA responds to various types of failures
Identify options for configuring network redundancy in a vSphere HA cluster
Recognize vSphere HA design considerations
Recognize the use cases for various vSphere HA settings
Configure a vSphere HA cluster
Recognize when to use vSphere Fault Tolerance

10 Managing the vSphere Lifecycle

Enable vSphere Lifecycle Manager in a vSphere cluster
Describe features of the vCenter Update Planner
Run vCenter upgrade prechecks and interoperability reports
Recognize features of VMware vSphere® Lifecycle Manager™
Distinguish between managing hosts using baselines and managing hosts using images
Describe how to update hosts using baselines
Describe ESXi images
Validate ESXi host compliance against a cluster image and update ESXi hosts
Update ESXi hosts using vSphere Lifecycle Manager
Describe vSphere Lifecycle Manager automatic recommendations
Use vSphere Lifecycle Manager to upgrade VMware Tools and VM hardware

Overview

This five-day course teaches you advanced skills for configuring and maintaining a highly available and scalable virtual infrastructure. Through a mix of lecture and hands-on labs, you configure and optimize the VMware vSphere 8 features that build a foundation for a truly scalable infrastructure. You also discuss when and where these features have the greatest effect. Attend this course to deepen your understanding of vSphere and learn how its advanced features and controls can benefit your organization.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter 8.0

Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Configure and manage a VMware Tools Repository
Configure vSphere Replication and recover replicated VMs
Manage VM resource usage with resource pools
Configure and manage vSphere networking and storage for a large and sophisticated enterprise
Configure VMware vCenter Server® High Availability
Use host profiles to manage VMware ESXi™ 8 host compliance
Use the vSphere Client and the command line to manage certificates
Monitor the vCenter, ESXi, and VMs performance in the vSphere client
Secure VMware vCenter® 8, ESXi, and VMs in your vSphere environment
Use Identity Federation to configure the vCenter to use external identity sources
Use VMware vSphere® Trust Authority™ secure the infrastructure for encrypted VMs

Prerequisites

This course requires the following:

Attend VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V8]
Equivalent knowledge and administration experience with ESXi and vCenter
Experience with working at the command line is highly recommended.

Audience

Experienced system administrators
System engineers
System integrators

Outline

1 Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

2 Virtual Machine Operations

Recognize the role of a VMware ToolsTM Repository
Configure a VMware Tools Repository
Recognize the backup and restore solution for VMs
Identify the components in the VMware vSphere® ReplicationTM architecture
Deploy and configure vSphere Replication and VMware Site RecoveryTM instances
Recover replicated VMs

3 vSphere Cluster Operations

Create and manage resource pools in a cluster
Describe how scalable shares work
Describe the function of the vCLS
Recognize operations that might disrupt the healthy functioning of vCLS VMs

4 Network Operations

Configure and manage vSphere distributed switches
Describe how VMware vSphere® Network I/O Control enhances performance
Explain distributed switch features such as port mirroring and NetFlow
Define vSphere Distributed Services Engine
Describe the use cases and benefits of VMware vSphere® Distributed Services EngineTM

5 Storage Operations

Discuss vSphere support for NVMe and iSER technologies
Describe the architecture and requirements of vSAN configuration
Describe storage policy-based management
Recognize components in the VMware vSphere® Virtual VolumesTM architecture
Configure Storage I/O Control

6 vCenter and ESXi Operations

Create a vCenter backup schedule
Recognize the importance of vCenter High Availability
Explain how vCenter Server High Availability works
Use host profiles to manage ESXi configuration compliance
Recognize the benefits of using configuration profiles
Use the vSphere client and the command line to manage certificates

7 vSphere Monitoring

Monitor the key factors that can affect a virtual machine’s performance
Describe the factors that influence vCenter performance
Use vCenter tools to monitor resource use
Create custom alarms in vCenter
Describe the benefits and capabilities of VMware SkylineTM
Recognize uses for VMware Skyline AdvisorTM Pro

8 vSphere Security and Access Control

Recognize strategies for securing vSphere components, such as vCenter, ESXi hosts, and virtual machines
Describe vSphere support for security standards and protocols
Describe identity federation and recognize its use cases
Configure identity federation to allow vCenter to use an external identity provider

9 vSphere Trusted Environments and VM Encryption

Configure ESXi Host Access and Authentication
Describe virtual machine security features
Describe the components of a VM encryption architecture
Create, manage, and migrate encrypted VMs
List VM encryption events and alarms
Describe the benefits and use cases of vSphere Trust Authority

Course Content

This five-day course teaches you advanced skills for configuring and maintaining a highly available and scalable virtual infrastructure. Through a mix of lecture and hands-on labs, you configure and optimize the VMware vSphere® 7 features that build a foundation for a truly scalable infrastructure, and you discuss when and where these features have the greatest effect.

Attend this course to deepen your understanding of vSphere and learn how its advanced features and controls can benefit your organization.

Product Alignment

ESXi 7
vCenter Server 7

Who should attend

Experienced system administrators, system engineers, and system integrators

Prerequisites

You must complete one of the following prerequisites:Understanding of concepts presented in the VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V7] (VSICM7) course
Equivalent knowledge and administration experience with ESXi and vCenter Server
Experience with working at the command line is highly recommended.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:Configure and manage vSphere networking and storage for a large and sophisticated enterprise
Use VMware vSphere® Client™ to manage certificates
Use Identity Federation to configure VMware vCenter Server® to use Microsoft ADFS
Use VMware vSphere® Trust Authority™ to secure the infrastructure for encrypted VMs
Use host profiles to manage VMware ESXi™ host compliance
Create and manage a content library for deploying virtual machines
Manage VM resource usage with resource pools
Monitor and analyze key performance indicators for compute, storage, and networking resources for ESXi hosts
Optimize the performance of ESXi and VMware vCenter Server®

Outline:

1 Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

2 Network Scalability

Configure and manage vSphere distributed switches
Describe how VMware vSphere® Network I/O Control enhances performance
Explain distributed switch features such as port mirroring and NetFlow

3 Storage Scalability

Explain why VMware vSphere® VMFS is a high-performance, scalable file system
Explain VMware vSphere® Storage APIs — Array Integration, VMware vSphere® API for Storage Awareness™, and vSphere APIs for I/O Filtering
Configure and assign virtual machine storage policies
Create VMware vSAN™ storage policies
Configure VMware vSphere® Storage DRS™ and VMware vSphere® Storage I/O Control
Discuss vSphere support for NVMe and iSER

4 Host and Management Scalability

Use the vSphere Client to manage vSphere certificates
Describe identity federation and recognize its use cases
Configure identity federation
Describe the benefits and use cases of vSphere Trust Authority
Configure vSphere Trust Authority
Use host profiles to manage ESXi configuration compliance
Manage and update VM templates in content libraries
Create and manage resource pools in a cluster

5 CPU Optimization

Explain the CPU scheduler operation and other features that affect CPU performance
Explain NUMA and vNUMA support
Use esxtop to monitor key CPU performance metrics

6 Memory Optimization

Explain ballooning, memory compression, and host-swapping techniques for memory reclamation when memory is overcommitted
Use esxtop to monitor key memory performance metrics

7 Storage Optimization

Describe storage queue types and other factors that affect storage performance
Use esxtop to monitor key storage performance metrics

8 Network Optimization

Explain performance features of network adapters
Explain the performance features of vSphere networking
Use esxtop to monitor key network performance metrics

9 vCenter Server Performance Optimization

Describe the factors that influence vCenter Server performance
Use VMware vCenter® Server Appliance™ tools to monitor resource use

10 Introduction to vSphere with Kubernetes

Differentiate between containers and virtual machines
Identify the parts of a container system
Recognize the basic architecture of Kubernetes
Describe a basic Kubernetes workflow
Describe the purpose of vSphere with Kubernetes and how it fits into the VMware Tanzu portfolio
Explain the vSphere with Kubernetes supervisor cluster
Describe the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid service

Overview

This five-day, extended hour course takes you from introductory to advanced VMware vSphere® 8 management skills. Building on the installation and configuration content from our best-selling course, you will also develop advanced skills needed to manage and maintain a highly available and scalable virtual infrastructure. Through a mix of lecture and hands-on labs, you will install, configure, and manage vSphere 7. You will explore the features that build a foundation for a truly scalable infrastructure and discuss when and where these features have the greatest effect. This course prepares you to administer a vSphere infrastructure for an organization of any size using vSphere 8, which includes VMware ESXi™ 8 and VMware vCenter Server® 8.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter 8.0

Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Install and configure ESXi hosts
Deploy and configure vCenter
Use the vSphere Client to create the vCenter inventory and assign roles to vCenter users
Configure vCenter High Availability
Create and configure virtual networks using vSphere standard switches and distributed switches
Create and configure datastores using storage technologies supported by vSphere
Use the vSphere Client to create virtual machines, templates, clones, and snapshots
Configure and manage a VMware Tools Repository
Create content libraries for managing templates and deploying virtual machines
Manage virtual machine resource use
Migrate virtual machines with vSphere vMotion and vSphere Storage vMotion
Create and configure a vSphere cluster that is enabled with vSphere High Availability and vSphere Distributed Resource
Scheduler
Manage the life cycle of vSphere to keep vCenter, ESXi hosts, and virtual machines up to date
Configure and manage vSphere networking and storage for a large and sophisticated enterprise
Use host profiles to manage VMware ESXi host compliance
Monitor the vCenter, ESXi, and VMs performance in the vSphere client

Prerequisites

This course has the following prerequisites:

System administration experience on Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems

Audience

System administrators
System engineers

Outline

1 Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

2 vSphere and Virtualization Overview

Explain basic virtualization concepts
Describe how vSphere fits in the software-defined data center and the cloud infrastructure
Recognize the user interfaces for accessing vSphere
Explain how vSphere interacts with CPUs, memory, networks, storage, and GPUs
Install an ESXi host

3 vCenter Management

Recognize ESXi hosts communication with vCenter
Deploy vCenter Server Appliance
Configure vCenter settings
Use the vSphere Client to add and manage license keys
Create and organize vCenter inventory objects
Recognize the rules for applying vCenter permissions
View vSphere tasks and events
Create a vCenter backup schedule
Recognize the importance of vCenter High Availability
Explain how vCenter High Availability works

4 Configure and Manage vSphere Networking

Configure and view standard switch configurations
Configure and view distributed switch configurations
Recognize the difference between standard switches and distributed switches
Explain how to set networking policies on standard and distributed switches

5 Configure and Manage vSphere Storage

Recognize vSphere storage technologies
Identify types of vSphere datastores
Describe Fibre Channel components and addressing
Describe iSCSI components and addressing
Configure iSCSI storage on ESXi
Create and manage VMFS datastores
Configure and manage NFS datastores
Discuss vSphere support for NVMe and iSER technologies

6 Deploying Virtual Machines

Create and provision VMs
Explain the importance of VMware Tools
Identify the files that make up a VM
Recognize the components of a VM
Navigate the vSphere Client and examine VM settings and options
Modify VMs by dynamically increasing resources
Create VM templates and deploy VMs from them
Clone VMs
Create customization specifications for guest operating systems
Create local, published, and subscribed content libraries
Deploy VMs from content libraries
Manage multiple versions of VM templates in content libraries

7 Managing Virtual Machines

Recognize the types of VM migrations that you can perform within a vCenter instance and across vCenter instances
Migrate VMs using vSphere vMotion
Describe the role of Enhanced vMotion Compatibility in migrations
Migrate VMs using vSphere Storage vMotion
Take a snapshot of a VM
Manage, consolidate, and delete snapshots
Describe CPU and memory concepts in relation to a virtualized environment
Describe how VMs compete for resources
Define CPU and memory shares, reservations, and limits
Recognize the role of a VMware Tools Repository
Configure a VMware Tools Repository
Recognize the backup and restore solution for VMs

8 vSphere Cluster Management

Use Cluster Quickstart to enable vSphere cluster services and configure the cluster
View information about a vSphere cluster
Explain how vSphere DRS determines VM placement on hosts in the cluster
Recognize use cases for vSphere DRS settings
Monitor a vSphere DRS cluster
Describe how vSphere HA responds to different types of failures
Identify options for configuring network redundancy in a vSphere HA cluster
Recognize the use cases for various vSphere HA settings
Configure a cluster enabled for vSphere DRS and vSphere HA
Recognize when to use vSphere Fault Tolerance
Describe the function of the vCLS
Recognize operations that might disrupt the healthy functioning of vCLS VMs

9 Managing the vSphere Lifecycle

Generate vCenter interoperability reports
Recognize features of vSphere Lifecycle Manager
Describe ESXi images and image depots
Enable vSphere Lifecycle Manager in a vSphere cluster
Validate ESXi host compliance against a cluster image and remediate ESXi hosts using vSphere Lifecycle Manager
Describe vSphere Lifecycle Manager automatic recommendations
Use vSphere Lifecycle Manager to upgrade VMware Tools and VM hardware

10 Network Operations

Configure and manage vSphere distributed switches
Describe how VMware vSphere Network I/O Control enhances performance
Define vSphere Distributed Services Engine
Describe the use cases and benefits of vSphere Distributed Services Engine

11 Storage Operations

Describe the architecture and requirements of vSAN configuration
Describe storage policy-based management
Recognize components in the vSphere Virtual Volumes architecture
Configure Storage I/O Control

12 ESXi Operations

Use host profiles to manage ESXi configuration compliance
Recognize the benefits of using configuration profiles

13 vSphere Monitoring

Monitor the key factors that can affect a virtual machine’s performance
Describe the factors that influence vCenter performance
Use vCenter tools to monitor resource use
Create custom alarms in vCenter
Describe the benefits and capabilities of VMware Skyline
Recognize uses for Skyline Advisor Pro

Overview

This five-day training course provides you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve competence in troubleshooting the VMware vSphere® 8 environment. This course increases your skill level and competence in using the command-line interface, VMware vSphere® Client™, log files, and other tools to analyze and solve problems.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Introduce troubleshooting principles and procedures
Use command-line interfaces, log files, and the vSphere Client to diagnose and resolve problems in the vSphere environment
Explain the purpose of common vSphere log files
Identify networking issues based on reported symptoms
Validate and troubleshoot the reported networking issue
Identify the root cause of networking issue
Implement the appropriate resolution to recover from networking problems
Analyze storage failure scenarios using a logical troubleshooting methodology identify the root cause of storage failure
Apply the appropriate resolution to resolve storage failure problems
Troubleshoot vSphere cluster failure scenarios
Analyze possible vSphere cluster failure causes
Diagnose common VMware vSphere® High Availability problems and provide solutions
Identify and validate VMware ESXiTM host and VMware vCenter® problems
Analyze failure scenarios of ESXi host and vCenter problems
Select the correct resolution for the failure of ESXi host and vCenter problems
Troubleshoot virtual machine problems, including migration problems, snapshot problems, and connection problems
Troubleshoot performance problems with vSphere components

Prerequisites

This course requires completion of one the following courses:

VCP-DCV certification
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage
VMware vSphere: Operate, Scale and Secure

The course material presumes that you can perform the following tasks with no assistance or guidance before enrolling in this course:

Install and configure ESXi
Install vCenter Server
Create vCenter Server objects, such as data centers and folders
Create and modify a standard switch
Create and modify a distributed switch
Connect an ESXi host to NAS, iSCSI, or Fibre Channel storage
Create a VMware vSphere VMFS datastore
Modify a virtual machine’s hardware
Migrate a virtual machine with VMware vSphere® vMotion® and VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion®
Configure and manage a VMware vSphere® Distributed Resource SchedulerTM cluster
Configure and manage a VMware vSphere HA cluster
Basic knowledge of command line tools like ESXCLI, DCLI, and PowerCLI
If you cannot complete these tasks, VMware recommends that you take the VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V8] course instead.

Audience

System architects and system administrators

Outline

1 Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

2 Introduction to Troubleshooting

Define the scope of troubleshooting
Use a structured approach to solve configuration and operational problems
Apply troubleshooting methodology to logically diagnose faults and improve troubleshooting efficiency

3 Troubleshooting Tools

Discuss the various methods to run commands
Discuss the various ways to access ESXi Shell
Use commands to view, configure, and manage your vSphere components
Use the vSphere CLI
Use ESXCLI commands from the vSphere CLI
Use Data Center CLI commands
Identify the best tool for command-line interface troubleshooting
Identify important log files for troubleshooting vCenter Server and ESXi
Describe the benefits and capabilities of VMware SkylineTM
Explain how VMware Skyline works
Describe VMware SkylineTM Health
Describe VMware Skyline AdvisorTM

4 Troubleshooting Virtual Networking

Analyze and troubleshoot standard switch problems
Analyze and troubleshoot virtual machine connectivity problems
Analyze and troubleshoot management network problems
Analyze and troubleshoot distributed switch problems

5 Troubleshooting Storage

Discuss the vSphere storage architecture
Identify the possible causes of problems in the various types of datastores
Analyze the common storage connectivity and configuration problems
Discuss the possible storage problems causes
Solve the storage connectivity problems, correct misconfigurations, and restore LUN visibility
Review vSphere storage architecture and functionality necessary to troubleshoot storage problems
Use ESXi and Linux commands to troubleshoot storage problems
Analyze log file entries to identify the root cause of storage problems
Investigate ESXi storage issues
Troubleshoot VM snapshots
Troubleshoot storage performance problems
Review multipathing
Identify the common causes of missing paths, including PDL and APD conditions
Solve the missing path problems between hosts and storage devices

6 Troubleshooting vSphere Clusters

Identify and troubleshoot vSphere HA problems
Analyze and solve vSphere vMotion problems
Diagnose and troubleshoot common vSphere DRS problems

7 Troubleshooting Virtual Machines

Discuss virtual machine files and disk content IDs
Identify, analyze, and solve virtual machine snapshot problems
Troubleshoot virtual machine power-on problems
Identify possible causes and troubleshoot virtual machine connection state problems
Diagnose and recover from VMware Tools installation failures

8 Troubleshooting vCenter Server and ESXi

Analyze and solve vCenter Server service problems
Diagnose and troubleshoot vCenter Server database problems
Use vCenter Server Appliance shell and the Bash shell to identify and solve problems
Identify and troubleshoot ESXi host problems

Overview

This three-day course equips you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to design a VMware vSphere 8 virtual infrastructure. You follow a proven approach to design a virtualization solution that ensures availability, manageability, performance, recoverability, and security. The approach presented follows VMware best practices. This course discusses the benefits and risks of available design alternatives and provides information to support making sound design decisions.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter 8.0

Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Create a vSphere design given a case study
Identify and assess the business objectives of the vSphere environment
Identify business requirements, constraints, assumptions, and risks, for all layers in the vSphere environment
Apply a framework to a design
Analyze design choices for vCenter, ESXi, storage, networking, vSphere clusters, and virtual machine
Identify design decisions to ensure manageability, which include scalability, capacity planning and lifecycle management
Identify design decisions to ensure that the vSphere environment is highly available
Identify design decisions to ensure that the vSphere environment performs well
Identify design decisions to ensure that the vSphere environment is secure
Identify design decisions to ensure that the vSphere environment can recover from data loss or disaster

Prerequisites

This course requires completion of the one of the following:
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage
VMware vSphere: Operate, Scale, and Secure

Audience

System integrators
Consultants
Solution architects

Outline

1 Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

2 Infrastructure Assessment

Describe various design framework principles
Follow a proven process to design a virtualization solution
Define customer business objectives and requirements
Use a systematic method to evaluate and document a conceptual model
Create a logical design from a conceptual model
Recognize key information contained in the physical design

3 Designing for Manageability: Capacity Planning

Make capacity planning design decisions that adhere to business requirements
Design capacity planning strategies that meet the needs of the vSphere environment and follow VMware best practices
Calculate compute and storage requirements for the VMs in the vSphere environment

4 Designing for Manageability: Scalability

Make scalability design decisions that adhere to business requirements
Design scalability strategies that meet the needs of the vSphere environment and follow VMware best practices

5 Designing for Manageability: Lifecycle Management

Make lifecycle management design decisions that adhere to business requirements
Design lifecycle management strategies that meet the needs of the vSphere environment and follow VMware best practices

6 Designing for Availability

Make availability design decisions that adhere to business requirements
Design availability strategies that meet the needs of the vSphere environment and follow VMware best practices

7 Designing for Performance

Make performance design decisions that adhere to business requirements
Design performance strategies that meet the needs of the vSphere environment and follow VMware best practices

8 Designing for Security

Make security design decisions that adhere to business requirements
Design security strategies that meet the needs of the vSphere environment and follow VMware best practices

9 Designing for Recoverability

Make recoverability design decisions that adhere to business requirements
Design recoverability strategies that meet the needs of the vSphere environment and follow VMware best practices

Course Overview

This five-day course provides hands-on training to equip students with a range of skills, from performing routine VMware vSphere 8 administrative tasks to complex vSphere operations and configurations. Through lab-based activities, students are immersed in real-life situations faced by VMBeans, a fictitious company. These situations expose students to real-life scenarios faced by companies that are building and scaling their virtual infrastructure.

This course uses scenario-based lab exercises and does not provide guided step-by-step instructions. To complete the scenario-based lab exercises, you are required to analyze the task, research, and deduce the required solution. References and suggested documentation are provided. This course utilizes labs to teach students how to effectively navigate and manage vSphere. The course aligns fully with the VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Center Virtualization Deploy exam objectives.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter 8.0

Course Content

Course Introduction
Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

Creating and Configuring Management Clusters

Create a vSphere cluster for management workloads
Activate vSphere cluster features that help to improve resource allocation and availability of virtual machines
Use standard virtual switches to create networking in a cluster
Select the appropriate vSphere storage types to meet requirements
Configure iSCSI storage
Configure VMFS and NFS datastores
Recognize when to configure ESXi NTP and PTP support
Recognize ESXi user account best practices
Configure ESXi host settings
Use vSphere configuration profiles to maintain consistent ESXi host configurations

Creating and Configuring Production Clusters

Use Cluster Quickstart to create a vSAN-activated cluster
Configure advanced vSphere HA settings
Configure the vCenter identity provider
Assign specific permissions and roles to Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) users
Configure Enhanced vMotion Compatibility on a cluster and a VM
Perform a Cross vCenter Server migration
Use content libraries to share virtual machine templates between sites
Manage VM and ESXi host resources using resource pools, scalable shares, and vSphere DRS rules

Troubleshooting vSphere and Backing Up Configurations

Troubleshoot ESXi connectivity issues
Troubleshoot ESXi storage issues
Troubleshoot vSphere cluster issues
Troubleshoot PowerCLI issues
Generate vCenter and ESXi log bundles
Back up vCenter
Create a vCenter profile to standardize configurations in the environment

Lifecycle Management

Troubleshoot upgrade-blocking issues
Increase logging levels on vCenter
Configure a VMware Tools™ shared repository
Upgrade vCenter
Upgrade ESXi
Upgrade VMware Tools
Upgrade virtual machine hardware compatibility

vSphere Security

Configure a key management server
Encrypt virtual machines using vSphere VM encryption
Secure VMs in transit with encrypted vSphere vMotion
Identify and implement different ESXi CPU scheduler options
Apply security hardening guidelines to ESXi hosts
Replace vCenter certificates with trusted CA-signed certificates
Reconfigure the primary network identifier for a vCenter instance

Who should attend

System administrators
System engineers

Prerequisites

This course requires completion of the following prerequisites:
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage
VMware vSphere: Operate, Scale, and Secure
Working knowledge of VMware vSAN™
System administration experience on Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:
Configure VMware vCenter® and VMware ESXi™
Configure and manage a vSphere cluster solution for vSphere HA, vSphere DRS, and vSAN
Configure vSphere storage and networking
Perform lifecycle operations on vSphere components
Troubleshoot vSphere infrastructure and connectivity issues
Back up vCenter configurations
Implement solutions for securing the vSphere infrastructure

Overview

In this two-day course, you explore the new features and enhancements following VMware vCenter Server 8.0 and VMware ESXi 8.0. Real-world use-case scenarios, hands-on lab exercises, and lectures teach you the skills that you need to effectively implement and configure VMware vSphere 8.0.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Recognize the importance of key features and enhancements in vSphere 8.0
Describe vCenter Server, VMware ESXi, storage, virtual machine, and security enhancements in vSphere 8.0
Describe the purpose of vSphere Distributed Services Engine
Update an ESXi host equipped with a Data Processing Unit (DPU) using vSphere Lifecycle Manager
Identify devices supported for system storage on ESXi 8.0
Recognize enhancements to VM hardware compatibility settings
VMware vSphere Memory Monitoring and Remediation and the improvements to vSphere DRS
Recognize the new Virtual Non-Uniform Memory Access (vNUMA) topology settings of a VM in vSphere Client
Use vSphere Lifecycle Manager and Auto Deploy to manage the configuration specifications for the hosts in a cluster
Recognize the vSphere Lifecycle Manager and Auto Deploy enhancements in vSphere 8.0
Recognize the cloud benefits that VMware vSphere+ brings to on-premises workloads
Recognize technology that is discontinued or deprecated in vSphere 8.0

Prerequisites

This course requires completion of one of the following courses, or equivalent knowledge, plus administration experience with ESXi and vCenter Server:
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage
VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale
VMware vSphere: Fast Track
VMware vSphere: Troubleshooting
Experience with working at the command line is helpful.
The course material presumes that you can perform the following tasks with no assistance or guidance before enrolling in this course:
Install and configure ESXi
Install vCenter Server
Create vCenter Server objects, such as data centers and folders
Create and manage vCenter Server roles and permissions
Create and modify a standard switch
Create and modify a distributed switch
Connect an ESXi host to NAS, iSCSI, or Fibre Channel storage
Create a VMware vSphere VMFS datastore
Use a content library template to create a virtual machine
Modify a virtual machine’s hardware
Migrate a virtual machine with VMware vSphere vMotion and VMware vSphere Storage vMotion
Configure and manage a VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler cluster
Configure and manage a VMware vSphere High Availability cluster
Use VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager to perform upgrades to ESXi hosts and VMs

Audience

System architects, system administrators, IT managers, VMware partners, and individuals responsible for implementing and managing vSphere architectures who want to deploy vSphere 8.0 into their existing vSphere environment.

Outline

1 Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

2 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Describe how device groups support AI and ML in vSphere 8
Describe how device virtualization extensions support AI and ML in vSphere 8

3 vSphere Distributed Services Engine

Describe the benefits of Distributed Services Engine
Explain how Distributed Services Engine works
Recognize use cases for Distributed Services Engine
Install ESXi on a host equipped with a DPU
View DPU information in vSphere Client
Add an ESXi host equipped with a DPU to a cluster
Update an ESXi host equipped with a DPU using vSphere Lifecycle Manager
Create a vSphere Distributed Switch for network offloads
Add a host with a DPU to the vSphere Distributed Switch
Configure a VM to use Uniform Passthrough Mode

4 vSphere and vCenter Management

Review the improvements to the communication between vCenter and ESXi hosts
Review the enhancements to the vCenter recovery process

5 ESXi Enhancements

Describe the function of the central configuration store in ESXi
Explain how ConfigStore affects your interaction with ESXi configuration files
Recognize the supported system storage partition configuration on ESXi 8.0
Identify devices supported for system storage on ESXi 8.0
Configure an RDMA host local device on ESXi

6 vSphere Storage

Describe the vSAN Express Storage Architecture
Recognize the benefits of using vSAN Express Storage Architecture
Describe the benefits of using NVMe
Recognize the support for NVMe devices in vSphere

7 Guest OS and Workloads

Review the enhancements of the latest virtual hardware versions
Describe the features introduced with virtual hardware version 20
Create a snapshot of a VM with an NVDIMM device

8 Resource Management

View energy and carbon emission metrics in vRealize Operations Manager
Describe the VMware vSphere Memory Monitoring and Remediation (vMMR) functionality
Describe how vMMR enhances the performance of vSphere DRS

9 Security and Compliance

Describe how to handle vTPM secrets when cloning a VM
Manage OVF templates for VMs that are configured with vTPM
Deploy an OVF template with vTPM
Describe the enhancements to trusted binary enforcement in ESXi
Describe ESXi 8 enhanced security features

10 vSphere Lifecycle Manager

Describe the enhancements to life cycle management of standalone ESXi hosts
Manage the configuration profiles of ESXi hosts in a cluster with vSphere LifecycleManager
Use Auto Deploy to boot a host with the desired image and configuration specifications
Upgrade multiple ESXi hosts in a cluster in parallel
Stage an ESXi host image prior to remediation

11 Auto Deploy

Manage custom host certificates using Auto Deploy

12 vSphere with Tanzu

Describe the features of the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.0 offering

13 Announcing vSphere+

Describe the functionality and benefits of vSphere+

Course Overview

This four-day, hands-on training course is an introduction to VMware vSphere®. In this course, you acquire the skills needed to perform Day 2 operational tasks that are typically assigned to the roles of operator or junior administrator in a vSphere environment.

Product Alignment

VMware ESXi 7.0
VMware vCenter Server 7.0

Who should attend

Technical professionals with basic system administration skills and operators responsible for managing virtual machines using VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter Server®

Certifications

This course is part of the following Certifications:

VMware Certified Technical Associate ‒ Data Center Virtualization 2023

Prerequisites

This course has the following prerequisites:

Working knowledge of operating systems
Understanding of basic network, storage, and computer hardware concepts

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Describe virtualization and virtual machines
Describe vSphere components and the software-defined data center (SDDC)
Explain the concepts of server, network, and storage virtualization
Monitor network and datastore configurations in VMware vSphere® Client™
Deploy, configure, and clone virtual machines
Migrate, monitor, and manage virtual machines
Monitor tasks and events in VMware vSphere® Client™
Recognize how vSphere DRS and VMware vSphere® High Availability improve performance and availability of a vSphere cluster

Course Outline:

Course Introduction

Introductions and course logistics
Course objectives

Virtualization and vSphere Concepts

Describe how virtual machines (VMs) work
Recognize the purpose of a hypervisor
Describe how VMs share resources in a virtualized environment
Recognize the components of an SDDC
Describe the relationship between vSphere, the SDDC, and cloud computing
Recognize the functions of the components in a vSphere environment
Access and view vSphere graphical user interfaces
Identify VMware solutions that integrate with vSphere in the SDDC

Navigating the vSphere Client

View and organize the inventory objects managed by vCenter Server
Add and assign vSphere licenses
Change the log level of vCenter Server
Edit the startup policy of ESXi services
Describe how vCenter Server roles and permissions work
Add permissions to virtual machines

Lifecycle of Virtual Machines

Add and remove VM virtual hardware components
Identify the purpose of different VM files
Configure VM settings
Create and delete virtual machines
Recognize the benefits of installing VMware Tools™
Install VMware Tools into a guest operating system
Upgrade VMware Tools and VM hardware compatibility

vSphere Networking

Describe virtual networking
Recognize ways that virtual switches connect VMs and ESXi hosts to the network
View components and properties of a vSphere standard switch configuration
View a vSphere distributed switch configuration in vSphere Client
Recognize when and how to use the settings for the security networking policy
Recognize when and how to use the settings for the traffic shaping networking policy
Describe how the NIC teaming and failover policy helps maintain network connectivity
Perform basic checks to diagnose VM connectivity issues

vSphere Storage

Describe the function of a datastore
Recognize types of vSphere datastores
View datastore information in vSphere Client
Monitor datastore usage in vSphere Client

Virtual Machine Management

Recognize the benefits of using VM templates
Create and update a VM template
Deploy a VM from an existing template
Clone a virtual machine
Recognize how to use guest OS customization specifications
Deploy VMs from a content library
Deploy a virtual appliance from an OVF template
Perform a hot and cold migrations of VMs
Identify requirements for using VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion®
Perform a vSphere Storage vMotion migration
Identify use cases for VM snapshots
Create and manage snapshots of a virtual machine
Resource Monitoring
Recognize the purpose of each type of VM resource control
Configure the resource allocation settings of a VM
Observe the behavior of virtual machines with different share values
Manage and acknowledge vSphere alarms
Use performance charts to monitor VM CPU and memory usage
Monitor tasks and events in vSphere Client

vSphere Clusters

View information about the services that a vSphere cluster offers
Recognize how vSphere HA responds to different types of failures
Monitor vSphere HA during a host failure
Describe how vSphere DRS works
Interpret DRS scores given to VMs
Recognize how to apply the appropriate vSphere DRS automation and migration threshold levels
Describe how vSphere Fault Tolerance works
Recognize how Enhanced vMotion Compatibility works