VMware vSphere Advanced Administration
Format	Instructor lead advanced class on VMware vSphere 4.1
Course Books	Study Guide (400+ pages). Lab Guide (200+ pages)
vSphere Version	Covers VMware vSphere 4.1 including ESXi 4.1 and vCenter
Delivery	Remote access via MS Terminal Services (or WebEx) to a rack of HP DL360/DL365 servers and iSCSI SAN, etc. Each attendee gets their own server.
Max Attendees	Limited by server availability. We currently have 150 student servers available for rent
Requirements	Course can be run from any location that has a reliable Internet connection. One PC per attendee with Microsoft Terminal Services or WebEx Remote Support Access
Lab Time	40+% of class time is devoted to hands-on labs
Availability	February, 2011
Certification	Prepares attendees to challenge the ESXLab Certified Virtualization Specialist exam One exam voucher included with this class
Suggested Price	$2,995

Overview

This class is an intensive 4 day intensive hands on workshop for experienced VMware ESXi and vCenter administrators who want to take virtualization to the next level. The focus on this class is the effective and efficient use of vSphere software to improve deployment, performance, availability, back up & recovery.

Service availability is covered through in-depth looks at VMware High Availability clusters and VMware Fault Tolerance. Performance is extensively covered, helping you keep your vSphere and VMs running at top speed.

VM back up and recovery is addressed using VMware Data Recovery and 3^rd party tools. Learn how these tools can be used for daily VM back up and also for Disaster Recovery and remediation.

Windows and ESXi host patching is covered along with Host Profiles. These tools let you set configuration and patch baselines and then help you deploy and update to ensure policy and configuration compliance.

Virtualization introduces new security concerns. These are identified and addressed both by creating awareness and by demonstrating how security can be improved and monitored.

This class includes lectures/labs that use the vCLI and VMware Management Assistant command line. Command line skills are helpful but not required.

Objectives

At the end of the course, attendees will be able to:

Explain the benefits of virtualization and VM use cases
Minimize Windows licensing costs and improve licensing compliance
Explain the benefits and limitations of the various vSphere licenses
Install ESXi and vCenter according to best practices
Configure and manage local and iSCSI SAN storage
Create, customize and optimize virtual to physical LAN segments
Define and use NAS datastores using command line tools
Create virtual machines, install operating systems and applications
Install, configure and administer VMware vCenter
Improve vCenter availability through the use of Linked Clones
Rapidly deployment of VMs using golden-master templates and VM Guest OS Customization Specifications
Take advantage of advanced virtual hardware properties such as multi-core vCPUs and hot-plug memory, disks and NICs
Improve network and iSCSI performance with Jumbo Frames
Design and implement redundant iSCSI storage to improve network performance
Manage SAN storage volumes and virtual disks for performance and space efficiency
Use VMware Data Recovery to back up and recover VMs and files
Create and manage VMware High Availability clusters to protect against VM service loss caused by ESX server failures
Use Fault Tolerance to eliminate unplanned VM down time due to hardware failures
Configure VM, ESXi host patch management using Update Manager
Create and enforce server configuration standards with Host Profiles
Troubleshoot common problems
Perform common ESXi and VM tasks from the vMA and Windows Power Shell command line
Identify, isolate and resolve performance issues
Automate the deployment and management of their virtual infrastructure

Who Should Attend?

Senior administrators responsible for technical design and implementation of new Virtual Infrastructure projects
Security specialists responsible for monitor, managing, securing and administering Virtual Infrastructure
Performance and capacity analysts who need to understand, provision, monitor and performance tune Virtual Infrastructure
Backup Administrators who need to understand the impact of existing and new back up strategies in a virtual environment
Business Continuity specialists responsible for disaster recovery and high availability
Storage administrators who need to understand how Virtual Infrastructure sees and uses Fibre SAN and iSCSI SAN volumes and NAS datastores

Chapter Outline

Chapter 0 – Virtualization Overview

Chapter 1 – VMware vSphere

Chapter 2 – ESXi Server Installation

Chapter 3 – VMware Command Line Installation & Use

Chapter 4 – Virtual Networking

Chapter 5 – NFS File Shares

Chapter 6 – Virtual Hardware and Virtual Machines

Chapter 7 – vCenter and vCenter Linked Mode

Chapter 8 – Fibre and iSCSI Storage and VMware File Systems

Chapter 9 – VMware High Availability Clusters

Chapter 10 – VMware Fault Tolerance

Chapter11 – VMware DRS Clusters

Chapter 12 – VM Backup with VMware Data Recovery

Chapter 14 – VMware Update Manager

Chapter 15 – ESXi Host Profiles

Chapter 16 – Managing Scalability and Performance

Hands On Labs

During class, attendees will complete the following hands on labs:

Install ESXi onto an HP DL360/365 server. Configure ESXi for efficient power management. Join ESXi to a Windows Domain
Create and update Virtual Switches including setting Cisco Discovery Protocol properties. Create NIC teams and optimize for performance. Explore vSwitch security properties
Learn how to test for Jumbo Frame hardware support, determine the maximum frame size and configure ESXi NICs to use Jumbo Frames
Connect to and browse NFS file shares. Easily move files between Windows and ESXi using the Datastore Browser and other tools
Convert virtual disks between Thick and Thin format to maximize either performance or space efficiency
Hot plug VM hardware including virtual CPUs, memory, disks and NICs
Install and configure vCenter. Install vCenter Modules
Create redundant vCenter Linked Mode configuration for higher up time
Work with Clones and Templates. Rapidly deploy new VMs. Hot clone a VMs. Deploy VMs using Guest OS Customization Specifications
Work with virtual disks. Grow non-system volumes and system disk
Create custom virtual CPU configurations (such as dual core vCPUs) to minimize software licensing costs and maximize VM performance
Use Power Management to dynamically adjust cluster capacity
Connecting to shared iSCSI SAN storage. Create robust, redundant, high performance, iSCSI configurations with Jumbo Frame support
How to create, tune, span and grow VMFS volumes
Use HA clusters to minimize VM down time due to server failures
Use VMware Fault Tolerance to deliver 100% VM up time
Back up and restore a VM using VMware Data Recovery appliances
Perform VM file level recoveries with VMware Data Recovery
Create, edit and enforce VMware ESX Host Profiles
Apply updates to Windows VMs using VMware Update Manager
Update ESXi hosts with VMware Update Manager
Install, configure and review VMware Virtual Management Assistant VM
Use vMA (virtual Management Appliance) command line tools to monitor, configure and manipulate VMs, ESXi hosts, vCenter, Networking, storage
Use Windows vCLI and PowerShell to control your Virtual Infrastructure
Use Power Management to control ESXi host capacity

Detailed Course Outline