VCP5-DCV Official Certification Guide (Covering the VCP550 Exam): VMware Certified Professional 5 - Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 / Edition 2

by Bill Ferguson

Overview

The official study guide helps you master all the topics on the VCP5-DCV exam, including

• Installing, upgrading, and securing all the key components in your vSphere, including ESXi hosts, vCenter, datastores, and network components

• Networking components in vSphere, including vSphere standard switch and distributed switch concepts

• Configuring and managing all forms of storage, including Fibre Channel, iS CSI, and network-attached storage

• Creating, configuring, and managing virtual machines and vApps

• Keeping your vSphere running smoothly and recovering quickly from any failure, including services that improve overall utilization and recoverability

• Identifying the key components of your vSphere and how they work together

• Understanding the "core four" resources in any computer system: CPU, memory, disk, and network

• Preparing thoroughly for the VCP550 exam

VCP5-DCV Official Cert Guide presents you with an organized test-preparation routine through the use of proven series elements and techniques. "Do I Know This Already?" quizzes open each chapter and enable you to decide how much time you need to spend on each section. Exam topic lists make referencing easy. Chapter-ending Exam Preparation Tasks help you drill on key concepts you must know thoroughly.

• Master VMware VCP550 exam topics

• Assess your knowledge with chapter-opening quizzes

• Review key concepts with exam preparation tasks

• Gain confidence taking the realistic practice exam on the DVD

VCP5-DCV Official Cert Guide focuses specifically on the objectives for the VCP550 exam on vSphere 5.5 for VMware Certified Professional 5 - Data Center Virtualization certification. VMware Certified Instructor (VCI) Bill Ferguson shares preparation hints and test-taking tips, helping you identify areas of weakness and improve both your conceptual knowledge and hands-on skills. Material follows the exam blueprint and is presented in a concise manner, focusing on increasing your understanding and retaining exam topics.

The companion DVD contains a powerful Pearson IT Certification Practice Test engine that enables you to focus on individual topic areas or take a complete, timed exam. The assessment engine also tracks your performance and provides feedback on a module-by-module basis, laying out a complete assessment of your knowledge to help you focus your study where it is needed most.

Well regarded for its level of detail, assessment features, comprehensive design scenarios, and challenging review questions and exercises, this official study guide helps you master the concepts and techniques that will enable you to succeed on the exam the first time.

VCP5-DCV Official Cert Guide is part of a recommended learning path from VMware that includes simulation and hands-on training from authorized VMware instructors and self-study products from VMware Press. To find out more about instructor-led training, e-learning, and hands-on instruction offered worldwide, please visit www.vmware.com/training.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789753748
Publisher:	VMware Press
Publication date:	08/29/2014
Series:	VMware Press Certification Series
Pages:	750
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Bill Ferguson, VCI 3, 4, 5; VCP 3, 4, 5; CCSI; and MCT Alumni 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.”

Table of Contents

Introduction xxiii

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

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 3

Foundation Topics 6

Identifying and Explaining vSphere Editions and Features 6

Identifying Available vSphere and vCenter Server Editions 6

Identifying the Various Data Center Solutions that Interact with vSphere 9

Explaining ESXi and vCenter Server Architectures 10

Identifying Available vSphere Editions and Features 10

Explaining ESXi and vCenter Server Architectures 11

Explaining Private/Public/Hybrid Cloud Concepts 12

Determining the Appropriate vSphere Edition Based on Customer Requirements 14

Identifying Single Sign-On Requirements 15

Deploying the vCenter Appliance 15

Installing vCenter Server into a Virtual Machine 20

Sizing the vCenter Server Database 24

Installing Additional vCenter Server Components 24

Installing/Removing vSphere Client Plug-Ins 25

Enabling/Disabling vSphere Web Client Plug-Ins 26

Licensing vCenter Server 26

Determining Availability Requirements for vCenter Server in a Given vSphere Implementation 27

Determining Use Cases for vSphere Client and Web Client 28

Installing and Configuring VMware ESXi 28

Performing an Interactive Installation of ESXi 29

Deploying an ESXi Host Using Auto Deploy 31

Configuring NTP on an ESXi Host 33

Configuring DNS and Routing on an ESXi Host 33

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Hyperthreading 34

Enabling/Sizing/Disabling Memory Compression Cache 35

Licensing an ESXi Host 36

Planning and Performing Upgrades of vCenter Server and VMware ESXi 37

Identifying Upgrade Requirements for ESXi Hosts 37

Identifying Steps Required to Upgrade a vSphere Implementation 38

Upgrading a vSphere Distributed Switch 39

Upgrading from VMFS3 to VMFS5 40

Upgrading VMware Tools 41

Upgrading Virtual Machine Hardware 44

Upgrading an ESXi Host Using vCenter Update Manager 45

Determining Whether an In-Place Upgrade Is Appropriate in a Given Upgrade Scenario 50

Securing vCenter Server and ESXi 50

Identifying Common vCenter Server Privileges and Roles 51

System Roles 52

Sample Roles 52

Custom Roles 53

Describing How Permissions Are Applied and Inherited in vCenter Server 53

Example 1: Permissions That Apply Directly to an Object Supersede Those That Are Inherited 53

Example 2: If a User Is a Member of Multiple Groups, the User Is Assigned the Union of the Privileges for Each Group 54

Example 3: User/Role Pairings Applied Directly to an Object Supersede User/Role Pairings That Are Inherited 55

Example 4: Permissions That Are Applied Directly to a User Supersede Permissions That Are Inherited Through Group Membership 55

Single Sign-On Architecture 56

Configuring and Administering the ESXi Firewall 57

Enabling Lockdown Mode 58

Configuring Network Security Policies 59

Promiscuous Mode 60

MAC Address Changes 61

Forged Transmits 61

Adding/Modifying/Removing Permissions for Users and Groups on vCenter Inventory Objects 62

Creating/Cloning/Editing vCenter Server Roles 63

Creating Roles 63

Cloning Roles 64

Editing Roles 66

Adding an ESXi Host to a Directory Service 68

Applying Permissions to ESXi Hosts Using Host Profiles 69

Determining the Appropriate Set of Privileges for Common Tasks in vCenter Server 69

Summary 70

Exam Preparation Tasks 70

Review All the Key Topics 70

Review Questions 71

Chapter 2 Planning and Configuring vSphere Networking 75

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 75

Foundation Topics 78

Configuring vSphere Standard Switches 78

Identifying vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) Capabilities 78

Creating/Deleting a vSphere Standard Switch 79

Deleting a vSphere Standard Switch 84

Adding/Configuring/Removing vmnics on a vSphere Standard Switch 85

Configuring VMkernel Ports for Network Services 91

Adding/Editing/Removing Port Groups on a vSphere Standard Switch 93

Determining Use Cases for a vSphere Standard Switch 97

Configuring vSphere Distributed Switches 97

Identifying vSphere Distributed Switch Capabilities 98

Creating/Deleting a vSphere Distributed Switch 101

Deleting a vDS 104

Adding/Removing ESXi Hosts from a vSphere Distributed Switch 104

Adding/Configuring/Removing dvPort Groups 110

Adding/Removing Uplink Adapters to dvUplink Groups 113

Creating/Configuring/Removing Virtual Adapters 118

Migrating Virtual Adapters To/From a vSphere Standard Switch 125

Migrating Virtual Machines To/From a vSphere Distributed Switch 127

Configuring vSS and vDS Policies 132

Identifying Common vSS and vDS Policies 132

Configuring dvPort Group Blocking Policies 138

Configuring Load Balancing and Failover Policies 139

Load Balancing 140

Network Failover Detection 141

Notify Switches 141

Failback 142

Configuring VLAN Settings 143

Configuring VLAN Policy Settings on a vDS 145

Configuring VLAN Trunking Policies on a VDS 145

Configuring Private VLAN Policy Settings on a vDS 146

Configuring Traffic Shaping Policies 148

Traffic Shaping Policies for vSphere Standard Switches 148

Traffic Shaping Policies for vSphere Distributed Switches 150

Enabling TCP Segmentation Offload Support for a Virtual Machine 150

Enabling Jumbo Frames Support on Appropriate Components 152

Enabling Jumbo Frames for VMkernel Interface on a vSS 152

Enabling Jumbo Frames on a vDS 154

Enabling Jumbo Frame Support on Virtual Machines 155

Determining Appropriate VLAN Configuration for a vSphere Implementation 155

Monitoring dvPort State 157

Backing Up and Restoring vDS Configuration 157

Configuring LACP on Uplink Port Groups 159

Determining Use Cases for a vSphere Distributed Switch 166

Summary 166

Exam Preparation Tasks 167

Review All the Key Topics 167

Review Questions 168

Chapter 3 Planning and Configuring vSphere Storage 175

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 175

Foundation Topics 179

Configuring Shared Storage for vSphere 179

Identifying Storage Adapters and Devices 179

Fibre Channel 180

FCoE 180

iSCSI 181

NAS 181

VSAN 181

Identifying Storage Naming Conventions 182

Storage Naming Conventions for Local and SAN 182

Identifying Hardware/Dependent Hardware/Software iSCSI Initiator Requirements 184

Comparing and Contrasting Array Thin Provisioning and Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning 185

Array Thin Provisioning 186

Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning 186

Describing Zoning and LUN Masking Practices 188

Zoning 188

Masking 189

Scanning/Rescanning Storage 189

Identifying Use Cases for FCOE 191

Creating an NFS Share for Use with vSphere 191

Connecting to an NAS Device 192

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling vCenter Server Storage Filters 195

Configuring/Editing Hardware/Dependent Hardware Adapters 197

Enabling/Disabling Software iSCSI Initiator Settings 197

Configuring iSCSI Port Binding 199

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling iSCSI CHAP 201

Determining Use Cases for Hardware/Dependent Hardware/Software iSCSI Initiator 204

Determining Use Cases For and Configuring Array Thin Provisioning 204

Creating and Configuring VMFS and NFS Datastores 205

Identifying VMFS and NFS Datastore Properties 205

Identifying VMFS-5 Capabilities 207

Creating/Renaming/Deleting/Unmounting a VMFS Datastore 207

Mounting/Unmounting an NFS Datastore 216

Extending/Expanding VMFS Datastores 220

Extending VMFS Datastores 220

Expanding VMFS Datastores 223

Upgrading a VMFS-3 Datastore to VMFS-5 226

Placing a VMFS Datastore in Maintenance Mode 228

Selecting the Preferred Path for a VMFS Datastore 229

Disabling a Path to a VMFS Datastore 231

Determining Use Cases for Multiple VMFS and NFS Datastores 232

Determining Appropriate Path Selection Policy for a VMFS Datastore 232

Summary 233

Exam Preparation Tasks 234

Review All the Key Topics 234

Review Questions 235

Chapter 4 Deploying and Administering Virtual Machines and vApps 241

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 241

Foundation Topics 244

Creating and Deploying Virtual Machines 244

Identifying Capabilities for VM Hardware Versions 244

Identifying VMware Tools Device Drivers 246

Identifying Methods to Access and Use Virtual Machine Console 246

Identifying Virtual Machine Storage Resources 248

Placing Virtual Machines in Selected ESXi Hosts/Clusters/Resource Pools 249

Configuring and Deploying a Guest OS into a New Virtual Machine 249

Creating/Converting Thin/Thick Provisioned Virtual Disks 251

Configuring Disk Shares 253

Installing/Upgrading/Updating VMware Tools 256

Configuring Virtual Machine Time Synchronization 258

Converting a Physical Machine Using VMware Converter 259

Importing a Supported Virtual Machine Source Using VMware Converter 262

Modifying Virtual Hardware Settings Using VMware Standalone Converter 262

Configuring/Modifying Virtual CPU and Memory Resources According to OS and Application Requirements 263

Configuring and Modifying Virtual Machine CPU 263

Configuring and Modifying Virtual Machine Memory 264

Configuring/Modifying Virtual NIC Adapter and Connecting Virtual Machines to Appropriate Network Resources 267

Determining Appropriate Datastore Locations for Virtual Machines Based on Application Workloads 267

Creating and Deploying vApps 268

Identifying vApp Settings 268

Application Properties 269

Deployment 269

Authoring 272

Start Order 273

Creating/Cloning/Exporting a vApp 274

Adding Objects to an Existing vApp 282

Editing vApp Settings 282

Configuring IP Pools 283

Suspending/Resuming a vApp 284

Determining When a Tiered Application Should Be Deployed as a vApp 284

Managing Virtual Machine Clones and Templates 285

Identifying the vCenter Server, Managed ESXi Hosts, and Virtual Machine Maximums 286

Identifying Cloning and Template Options 288

Cloning an Existing Virtual Machine 289

Creating a Template from an Existing Virtual Machine 290

Deploying a Virtual Machine from a Template 293

Updating Existing Virtual Machine Templates 295

Deploying Virtual Appliances and/or vApps from an OVF Template 298

Importing and/or Exporting an OVF Template 301

Creating and Publishing Content Libraries 303

Determining the Appropriate Development Methodology for a Given Virtual Machine Application 303

Administering Virtual Machines and vApps 303

Identifying Files Used by Virtual Machines 304

Identifying Locations for Virtual Machine Configuration Files and Virtual Disks 305

Identifying Common Practices for Securing Virtual Machines 308

Hot Extending a Virtual Disk 309

Configuring USB Passthrough from an ESXi Host 312

Configuring Serial Port Redirection 313

Configuring Virtual Machine Options 314

General Options 315

VMware Remote Console Options 315

VMware Tools 316

Power Management 317

Advanced 318

Fibre Channel NPIV 318

Configuring Virtual Machine Power Settings 319

Configuring Virtual Machine Boot Options 320

Configuring Virtual Machine Troubleshooting Options 321

Assigning a Storage Policy to a VM 321

Verifying Storage Policy Compliance for Virtual Machines 323

Determining When an Advanced Virtual Machine Parameter Is Required 324

Adjusting Virtual Machine Resources (Shares, Limits, and Reservations) Based on Virtual Machine Workloads 324

Summary 324

Exam Preparation Tasks 325

Review All the Key Topics 325

Review Questions 327

Chapter 5 Establishing and Maintaining Service Levels 333

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 333

Foundation Topics 336

Creating and Configuring VMware Clusters 336

Describing DRS Virtual Machine Entitlement 336

Creating/Deleting a DRS/HA Cluster 337

Adding/Removing ESXi Hosts from a DRS/HA Cluster 338

Adding or Removing Virtual Machines from a DRS/HA Cluster 344

Configuring Storage DRS 345

Configuring Enhanced vMotion Compatibility 351

Monitoring a DRS/HA Cluster 352

Configuring Migration Thresholds for DRS and Virtual Machines 353

Configuring Automation Levels for DRS and Virtual Machines 355

Enabling and Disabling Host Power Management 356

Enabling BIOS P/C States 357

Creating VM-Host and VM-VM Affinity Rules 358

Enabling/Disabling Host Monitoring 363

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Virtual Machine and Application Monitoring 364

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Virtual Machine Monitoring 364

Enabling/Configuring/Disabling Application Monitoring 366

Configuring Admission Control for HA and Virtual Machines 366

Admission Control 367

Admission Control Policy 367

Determining Appropriate Failover Methodology and Required Resources for an HA Implementation 370

Host Failures the Cluster Tolerates 370

Percentage of Cluster Resources as Failover Spare Capacity 371

Specify Failover Hosts 371

Planning and Implementing VMware Fault Tolerance 371

Identifying VMware Fault Tolerance Requirements 372

Configuring VMware Fault Tolerance Networking 373

Enabling/Disabling VMware Fault Tolerance on a Virtual Machine 373

Testing an FT Configuration 375

Determining Use Case for Enabling VMware Fault Tolerance on a Virtual Machine 375

Creating and Administering Resource Pools 375

Describing the Resource Pool Hierarchy 376

Defining the Expandable Reservation Parameter 377

A Description of vFlash Architecture 377

Creating/Removing a Resource Pool 378

Configuring Resource Pool Attributes 380

Adding/Removing Virtual Machines from a Resource Pool 381

Determining Resource Pool Requirements for a Given vSphere Implementation 381

Evaluating Appropriate Shares, Reservations, and Limits for Resource Pools Based on Virtual Machine Workloads 382

Migrating Virtual Machines 383

Identifying ESXi Host and Virtual Machine Requirements for vMotion and Storage vMotion 383

ESXi and VM Requirements for vMotion 384

ESXi and VM Requirements for Storage vMotion 385

Enhanced vMotion (Cross-Host vMotion) 386

Identifying Enhanced vMotion Compatibility CPU Requirements 387

Identifying Snapshot Requirements for vMotion/Storage vMotion Migration 389

Migrating Virtual Machines Using vMotion/Storage vMotion 390

Migrating a VM Using vMotion 390

Migrating a VM’s Files Using Storage vMotion 394

Configuring Virtual Machine Swap File Location 396

Migrating a Powered-Off or Suspended Virtual Machine 399

Utilizing Storage vMotion Techniques 399

Backing Up and Restoring Virtual Machines 401

Identifying Snapshot Requirements 401

Creating/Deleting/Consolidating Virtual Machine Snapshots 401

Identifying VMware Data Protection Requirements 408

Explaining VMware Data Protection Sizing Guidelines 409

Installing and Configuring VMware Data Protection 410

Creating a Backup Job with VMware Data Protection 412

Installing, Configuring, and Managing vSphere Replication 412

Determining Appropriate Backup Solution for a Given vSphere Implementation 416

Patching and Updating ESXi and Virtual Machines 416

Identifying Patching Requirements for ESXi Hosts and Virtual Machine Hardware/Tools 417

Creating/Editing/Removing a Host Profile from an ESXi Host 417

Attach/Apply a Host Profile to an ESXi Host or Cluster 421

Performing Compliance Scanning and Remediation of an ESXi Host Using Host Profiles 423

Installing and Configuring vCenter Update Manager 425

Configuring Patch Download Options 429

Creating/Editing/Deleting an Update Manager Baseline 430

Attaching an Update Manager Baseline to an ESXi Host or Cluster 434

Scanning and Remediating ESXi Hosts and Virtual Machine Hardware/Tools Using Update Manager 434

Summary 435

Exam Preparation Tasks 436

Review All the Key Topics 436

Review Questions 439

Chapter 6 Performing Basic Troubleshooting 443

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 443

Foundation Topics 447

Performing Basic Troubleshooting for ESXi Hosts 447

Identifying General ESXi Host Troubleshooting Guidelines 447

Learn How to Access Support Mode 447

Know How to Retrieve Logs 451

Troubleshooting Common Installation Issues 453

Troubleshooting Boot Order 453

Troubleshooting License Assignment 454

Troubleshooting Plug-Ins 454

Monitoring ESXi System Health 455

Exporting Diagnostic Information 456

Performing Basic vSphere Network Troubleshooting 461

Verifying Network Configuration 461

Verifying a Given Virtual Machine Is Configured with the Correct Network Resources 463

Troubleshooting Virtual Switch and Port Group Configuration Issues 463

Troubleshooting Physical Network Adapter Configuration Issues 464

Identifying the Root Cause of a Network Issue Based on Troubleshooting Information 465

Performing Basic vSphere Storage Troubleshooting 466

Verifying Storage Configuration 467

Troubleshooting Storage Contention Issues 469

Troubleshooting Storage Overcommitment Issues 471

Excessive Reservations Cause Slow Host Performance 471

Path Thrashing Causes Slow Performance 471

Troubleshooting iSCSI Software Initiator Configuration Issues 472

Troubleshooting Storage Reports and Storage Maps 472

Storage Reports 472

Storage Maps 475

Identifying the Root Cause of a Storage Issue Based on Troubleshooting Information 476

Performing Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS Clusters and vMotion/Storage vMotion 476

Identifying HA/DRS and vMotion Requirements 476

Verifying vMotion/Storage vMotion Configuration 477

Verifying vMotion Configuration 478

Verifying HA Network Configuration 478

Verifying HA/DRS Cluster Configuration 479

Troubleshooting HA Capacity Issues 480

Troubleshooting HA Redundancy Issues 480

Interpreting the DRS Resource Distributing Graph and Target/Current Host Load Deviation 481

Troubleshooting DRS Load Imbalance Issues 483

Troubleshooting vMotion/Storage vMotion Migration Issues 483

Interpreting vMotion Resource Maps 484

Identifying the Root Cause for a DRS/HA Cluster or Migration Issue Based on Troubleshooting Information 484

Summary 486

Exam Preparation Tasks 487

Review All the Key Topics 487

Review Questions 488

Chapter 7 Monitoring a vSphere Implementation 493

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 493

Foundation Topics 497

Monitoring ESXi, vCenter Server, and Virtual Machines 497

Describing How Tasks and Events Are Viewed in vCenter Server 497

Viewing by Object Selected in the Navigator 498

Filtering the Output 499

Filtering by Keyword 499

Identifying Critical Performance Metrics 500

Explaining Common Memory Metrics 501

Explaining Common CPU Metrics 506

Explaining Common Network Metrics 507

Explaining Common Storage Metrics 507

Comparing and Contrasting Overview and Advanced Charts 508

Configuring SNMP for vCenter Server 510

Configuring Active Directory and SMTP Settings for vCenter Server 511

Configuring Active Directory Settings for vCenter 511

Configuring SMTP Settings for a vCenter Server 512

Configuring vCenter Server Logging Options 514

Creating a Log Bundle 515

Creating/Editing/Deleting a Scheduled Task 518

Configuring/Viewing/Printing/Exporting Resource Maps 524

Starting/Stopping/Verifying vCenter Service Status 527

Starting/Stopping/Verifying ESXi Host Agent Status 529

Configuring vCenter Server Timeout Settings 530

Monitoring/Administering vCenter Server Connections 531

Creating an Advanced Chart 533

Determining Host Performance Using Resxtop and Guest Perfmon 536

Determining Host Performance Using Resxtop 536

Determining Host Performance Using Guest Perfmon 540

Given Performance Data, Identifying the Affected vSphere Resource 541

Creating and Administering vCenter Server Alarms 541

Listing vCenter Default Utilization Alarms 542

Listing vCenter Default Connectivity Alarms 543

Listing Possible Actions for Utilization and Connectivity Alarms 543

Creating a vCenter Utilization Alarm 544

Creating a vCenter Connectivity Alarm 548

Configuring Alarm Triggers 551

Configuring Alarm Actions 552

For a Given Alarm, Identifying the Affected Resource in a vSphere Implementation 552

Installing, Configuring, and Administering vCenter Operations Manager 553

Differentiating Between Major/Minor vCOPs Badges 554

Explaining vCOPs Architecture 555

Deploying and Configuring a vCOPs Appliance 556

Upgrading vCOPs 564

Understanding Metrics Used by Major/Minor vCOPs Badges 566

Monitoring Your vSphere Environment 567

Summary 568

Exam Preparation Tasks 569

Review All the Key Topics 569

Review Questions 571

Chapter 8 What Do I Do Now? 575

Foundation Topics 576

Scheduling the Test 576

Comparing Your Knowledge to the VCP550 Exam Blueprint Objectives 577

Studying the Questions at the End of Each Chapter and on the Bonus Material 577

Taking the Mock Exam on the VMware Website 578

The Day of the Test 579

Sending Me an Email When You Pass 579

Appendix A Answers to the “Do I Know This Already?” Quizzes and Chapter Review Questions 581

“Do I Know This Already?” Answers 581

Chapter Review Answers 583

9780789753748 TOC 7/9/2014