Use this expert guide to prepare for the VCA-DCV exam VCA-DCV VMware Certified Associate on vSphere Study Guide: VCAD-510 is a comprehensive study guide for the VMware Certified Associate – Data Center Virtualization exam. Hands-on examples, real-world scenarios, and expert review questions cover the full exam blueprint, and the companion website offers a suite of tools to help you prepare for the exam including practice exams, electronic flashcards, and a glossary of key terms. In addition, the website includes videos that demonstrate how to complete the more challenging tasks. Focused on practical skills, this study guide not only prepares you for the certification exam, but also for the duties expected of a VCA.
The VMware Certified Associate-Data Center Virtualization certification targets those with limited virtualization and VMware data center technology experience, providing a springboard to the popular VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization certification. Virtualization has become a high priority among organizations, and credentialed professionals are in high demand. This guide helps you prove a certain level of foundational skill in basic virtualization technology, including the vSphere suite's Infrastructure Services, Application Services, and vCenter Server. Topics include:
- Explaining data center virtualization concepts
- Identifying the core components of vSphere
- Networking and storage planning/configuration with vSphere
- Correlating VMware solutions to common business challenges
The VCA-DCV certification is the only one with no instructor-led training requirement, so a thorough study guide is an invaluable tool in you exam preparation. This book not only covers the full exam, but also provides practice designed to actually improve the skills used every day on the job. VCA-DCV VMware Certified Associate on vSphere Study Guide is more than just test prep—it's job prep.
Table of Contents:
Introduction xv
Assessment Test xxi
Chapter 1 Intro to Virtualization 1
What Is Data Center Virtualization? 2
Virtualization Then and Now 3
Physical and Virtual Data Center Components 4
Physical Data Center Components 4
Virtual Data Center Components 5
Physical and Virtual Component Differences 7
Benefits of Using Virtualization 9
Online Tools 13
Summary 14
Exam Essentials 15
Review Questions 16
Chapter 2 VMware Solutions 21
Availability Challenges 22
VMware Availability Products and Technologies 23
Management Challenges 27
VMware Management Products and Technologies 27
Scalability Challenges 28
VMware Scalability Products and Technologies 29
Optimization Challenges 31
VMware Optimization Products and Technologies 32
Summary 36
Exam Essentials 37
Review Questions 39
Chapter 3 vSphere Core Components 43
Virtual Machines 44
What Is a Virtual Machine, Anyway? 44
What Can You Do with Virtual Machines? 45
ESXi Hypervisor 47
vCenter Server 47
vMotion 48
Distributed Resource Scheduler 49
Distributed Power Management 49
Storage vMotion 50
Storage DRS 50
vSphere Data Protection 51
High?]Availability Configuration 51
Fault Tolerance 52
vSphere Replication 52
Migration 53
High Availability 54
Host HA 55
Virtual Machine HA 56
Applications HA 57
Fault Tolerance 57
Clusters and Resource Pools 58
Clusters 58
Resource Pools 59
Other VMware Data Center Products 61
vCenter Operations Manager 61
vSphere Data Protection 62
NSX 62
Virtual SAN 62
vCenter Site Recovery Manager 62
Summary 63
Exam Essentials 64
Review Questions 65
Chapter 4 Storage in a VMware Environment 71
Physical vs. Virtual Storage 72
What Is Shared Storage? 73
VMware Storage Types 75
Local Storage 75
Fibre Channel 76
iSCSI 77
Network File System 77
Virtual Machine File System 78
The VMFS vs. the NFS 78
Disk Provisioning 78
Thick Provisioning 79
Thin Provisioning 80
VMware Virtual Storage Technologies 82
Summary 83
Exam Essentials 84
Review Questions 86
Chapter 5 Networking in a VMware Environment 91
Differentiate Physical and Virtual Networking 92
Physical Switches 92
Virtual Switches 94
Differences Between Physical and Virtual Switches 97
Differentiate VMware Virtual Switch Technologies 97
Standard Virtual Switches 98
Distributed Virtual Switches 98
Identify VMware Virtual Switch Components 101
Standard Virtual Switch 101
Distributed Virtual Switch 102
Identify Common Virtual Switch Policies 103
Port Group Policies 103
Distributed Virtual Switch Policies 106
Identify Capabilities of Network I/O Control 108
Summary 113
Exam Essentials 113
Review Questions 115
Chapter 6 Business Challenges Meet VMware Solutions 119
Availability Challenges and Solutions 120
vMotion 121
Storage vMotion 121
Virtual Machine Snapshots 122
High Availability 123
Fault Tolerance 123
vSphere Replication 124
vSphere Data Protection 124
Site Recovery Manager 125
Management Challenges and Solutions 126
Virtual Machines/Physical?]to?]Virtual Conversions 126
vCenter Server 126
vCenter Configuration Manager 127
Optimization Challenges and Solutions 128
vCenter Operations Manager 128
Thin Provisioning 129
Distributed Switches with QoS 130
Distributed Power Management 130
Storage I/O Control 131
vFlash 131
VM Storage Profiles 131
Memory Ballooning 132
Transparent Page Sharing 132
Scalability Challenges and Solutions 133
Virtual Machines 133
Virtual Machine Templates 134
Distributed Resource Scheduler 135
Storage DRS 135
vSphere Storage Appliance 136
Hot Add 136
Distributed Virtual Switches 136
The Differences between SMB and Enterprise Challenges and Solutions 137
Summary 138
Exam Essentials 139
Review Questions 140
Appendices 145
Appendix A Answers to Review Questions 147
Appendix B Online Resources 159
Index 165
About the Author :
Robert Schmidt, VMware Certified Administrator (VCA), and the VMware Certified Professional (VCP 2.5, 3, 4, 5), has over 20 years of experience working with information technology. He has spent the last 10 years specializing in virtualization, and has been heavily involved in several large virtualization initiatives. Dane Charlton, VMware Certified Professional (VCP 2.5, 3, 4, 5), has over 25 years of experience working with information technology for small and large companies. For the last 15 years he's been supporting virtualization efforts along with large messaging environments.
