VCP5

This page shows my crib notes created into to obtain the VCP5 certification. I've been using the technology for a while now, and I've only bothered to document the gaps in my own knowledge, so it is by no means concise and unlikely to cover much that would also apply to previous certs. VMware's What's New course covers the following...

• List and describe key enhancements in vSphere 5.0
• Upgrade a deployment from vSphere 4.x to vSphere 5.0
• Use Image Builder to modify and export an image profile as part of Auto Deploy
• Use Auto Deploy to Install a stateless ESXi host
• Manage a version 8 virtual machine with the next-generation Web-based VMware vSphere Client
• List and describe key networking enhancements, including the ESXi firewall and new features in vNetwork distributed switches
• Upgrade and manage a VMware vSphere VMFS5 datastore
• Understand and configure policy-driven storage management
• Create a datastore cluster and configure Storage DRS
• Configure a VMware High Availability cluster based on the new Fault Domain Manager agents
• Use the Linux-based VMware vCenter Server Appliance

Plan, Install, Configure and Upgrade vCenter Server and VMware ESXi

Install and Configure vCenter Server

vCentre Server Appliance

• Deployed via OVF, requires 7 GB disk (max 80 GB)
• Supports up to 5 ESXs / 50 VMs with embedded db

vCentre Server Components

• Update Manager - requires 32-bit DSN db
• ESXi Dump Collector - requires IPv4
• Syslog Collector - requires IPv4
• Auto Deploy - deploys ESXi image direct to ESX memory
• Authentication Proxy - allows ESXi servers to join AD domain

vCentre Availability

• Must match any requirements to support Auto Deploy
• Must run on ESXi's not supported by Auto Deploy

Client version use cases

• vSphere Client - Primary vSphere management tool (for infrastructure sys admins)
• vSphere Web Client - Primarily intended for inventory display, and VM deployment/configuration (for infrastructure mgrs and consumers)

Install and Configure VMware ESXi

vSphere Auto Deploy Image Builder

• Creates ESXi images in VIB packages

Auto Deploy rules

• Rules identify an ESX by...
  • boot MAC (as seen in PXE boot)
  • SMBIOS info
  • BIOS UUID
  • Vendor / Model
  • Fixed DHCP IP address
• Active Rule Set - used to match ESXs at boot time
• Working Rule Set - used test compliance prior to adding to rule to Active Rule Set

On an ESX's 1st boot

1. ESX boots, gets IP from DHCP server
2. ESX downloads and runs gPXE from TFTP server
3. gPXE gets image from Auto-Deploy server over HTTP
4. ESX boots image and registers with VC that the Auto Deploy server is registered with
5. If Host Profile requires user entry, ESX will boot into Maintenance Mode
6. If ESX is part of DRS cluster, ESX may receive VM's as soon as online

Memory Compression Cache

• Mem.MemZipEnable - set to 0 to disable
• Mem.MemZipMaxPct - changes %age of VM memory allowed to be compressed (default is 10%)

Plan and Perform Upgrades of vCenter Server and VMware ESXi

ESX

• ESX's can be upgraded via (ESX will retain MS-DOS based partitioning)
  • Update Manager
  • ISO installer
  • Script
• Or installed fresh via (ESX will use GUID partition tables)
  • esxcli
  • Auto Deploy (not an upgrade, ESX is re-provisioned from scratch)
  • ISO installer

VMFS

• v3 -> v5 Upgrade...
  • Requires exclusive access to datastore
  • Original block size is retained