VCP5-DCV Official Certification Guide (Covering the VCP550 Exam): VMware Certified Professional 5 - Data Center Virtualization

Trust the Official Cert Guide series from VMware Press to help you learn, prepare, and practice for exam success. They are the only VMware authorized self-study books and are built with the objective of providing assessment, review, and practice to help ensure you are fully prepared for your certification exam.   ·         Master VMware VCP550 exam topics ·         Assess your knowledge with chapter-opening quizzes ·         Review key concepts with exam preparation tasks ·         Practice with realistic exam questions on the DVD   This is the eBook edition of the VCP5-DCV Official Certification Guide.This eBook does not include the companion DVD with practice exam that comes with the print edition.   VCP5-DCV Official Certification 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.   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.   The official study guide helps you master all the topics on the VCP550 exam. Key topics include   ·         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 vSphere distributed switch concepts ·         Configuring and managing all forms of storage, including Fibre Channel, iSCSI, 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 to schedule, take, and pass the VCP550 test   VCP5-DCV Official Certification 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.  

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  

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.”