@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 * [http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/certedu/certification/vcp VMware VCP Forum]
 * [http://mylearn.vmware.com/lcms/mL_faq/2726/VMware%20Certified%20Professional%20on%20vSphere%204%20Blueprint%208.13.09.pdf VCP4 Blueprint]
-* [http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pages/vsp_pubs_esx40_vc40.html vSphere Documentation]
+* VMware vSphere Documentation: [http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pages/vsp_pubs_esx40_vc40.html PDF] [http://pubs.vmware.com/vsp40 HTML] (HTML version is good for searching)
+* [http://thinkvirtually.co.uk/#/overview/4535842936 Scott Vessey]
 * [http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/vcp-vsphere-upgrade-study-notes/ Simon Long blog]
@@ Line 41: / Line 42: @@
 |-
 |  || <code> vmkcore </code> || 1.25GB || Core debugging dumps
+|}
+'''Optional Partitions'''
+{|cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="1"
+|- style="background-color:#bbddff;"
+! Mount              !! Type !! Size   !! Description
+|-
+| <code>/home</code> || ext3 || 512MB  || ESX user accounts
+|-
+| <code>/tmp</code>  || ext3 || 1024MB || Temp files!
+|-
+| <code>/usr </code> || ext3 ||        || User programs and data (3rd party apps)
+|-
+|<code>/var/log</code>|| ext3 || 2000MB || Log files
+|-
 |}
@@ Line 55: / Line 72: @@
 | Standard        || Essentials + HA
 |-
-| Advanced        || Standard + 12 cores/CPU, Hot Add, FT, vShield, VMotion, Data Recovery
+| Advanced        || Standard + 12 cores/CPU, Hot Add, FT, VMotion, vShield, Data Recovery
 |-
 | Enterprise      || Advanced + 6 cores/CPU, Storage vMotion, Data Recovery, DRS
 |-
-| Enterprise Plus || 12 cores/CPU, 8way vSMP, maxGB/ESX, vNetwork Distributed Switch, Host Profiles, 3rd Party Multipathing
+| Enterprise Plus || 12 cores/CPU, 8way vSMP, 1TB/ESX, vNetwork Distributed Switch, Host Profiles, 3rd Party Multipathing
 |-
 | vCentre Foundation || Fully featured, but limited to managing 3 ESX's
@@ Line 65: / Line 82: @@
 == Upgrade VMware ESX/ESXi ==
+'''Prerequisites'''
+* <code> /boot </code> partition must be at least 100 MB
 '''Pre-Upgrade Backups'''
 * Backup ESX Host Config
@@ Line 111: / Line 131: @@
 == Secure VMware ESX/ESXi ==
+* ESX firewall - primary source of protection for Service Console
+* Weak ciphers are disabled, all communications are secured by SSL certificates
+* Tomcat Web service has been modified to limited functionality (to avoid general Tomcat vulnerabilities)
+* Insecure services (eg FTP, Telnet) are not installed, and ports blocked by the firewall
+* TCP 443 - Service Console, vmware-authd
+* TCP 902 - VMkernel, vmkauthd
+== Install VMware ESX/ESXi on SAN Storage ==
+'''Boot from SAN'''
+* HBA must be located in lowest PCI bus and slot number
+* HBA BIOS must designate the FC card as a boot controller
+* The FC card must initiate a primative connection to the boot LUN
+* Each ESX must have its own boot LUN
+** SAN storage paths can be masked using <code> esxcli corestorage claimrule </code> (PSA claim) rules to select which available LUN's are claimed
+* iSCSI must use a hardware initiator (impossible to boot using software iSCSI)
+'''FC boot from SAN set-up'''
+* Configure/create boot LUN
+* Enable boot from HBA in system's BIOS and in HBA's BIOS
+* Select the LUN to boot from in HBA BIOS
-== Install VMware ESX/ESXi on SAN Storage ==
+'''iSCSI boot from SAN set-up'''
+* Configure storage ACL so that only correct ESX has access to correct boot LUN (must be LUN 0 or LUN 255)
+* Enable boot from HBA in system's BIOS and in HBA's BIOS
+* Configure target to boot from in HBA's BIOS
 == Identify vSphere Architecture and Solutions ==
@@ Line 120: / Line 162: @@
 * Server
 * ESXi (standalone, free)
+'''vSphere Features etc'''
+* '''VMsafe''' - API to enable 3rd party security products to control and protect
+** Memory and CPU - Introspection of VM memory pages and CPU states
+** Networking - Filtering of packets inside hypervisor (vSwitches)
+** Process Execution - In guest (VM), in process API's effectively allowing monitoring and control of process execution (agent-less AV)
+** Storage - VM disks can be mounted etc (agent-less AV)
+* '''vShield''' - Appliance utilising VMsafe to provide security and compliance
 '''Datacentre Solutions'''
@@ Line 153: / Line 203: @@
 * VLAN - Traditional single VLAN assignment to a port group
 * VLAN Trunking - Multiple VLAN's can be assigned to a dv Port Group
-* Private VLAN - Allows Private VLANs (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_VLAN)
+* Private VLAN - Allows Private VLANs
+** VLANs over a VLAN, the VLAN equivalent of subnetting.  Hosts on differing subVLANs may be in same IP range, but need to go via router to communicate.
+** Primary (promiscuous) VLAN uplinks to rest of network
+** Ssee http://blog.internetworkexpert.com/2008/07/14/private-vlans-revisited/
+'''Traffic Shaping'''
+* Can be applied to both inbound and outbound traffic
+* Can be set per dvPort (dvPort Group must allow overrides)
 '''Service Console ports'''
@@ Line 165: / Line 222: @@
 = Configure ESX/ESXi Storage =
 == Configure FC SAN Storage ==
+'''Storage Device Naming'''
+* '''Name''' - A ''friendly'' name based on storage type and manufacturer.  User changeable, kept consistent across ESX's
+* '''Identifier''' - Globally unique, human unintelligible.  Persistent through reboot and consistent across ESX's
+* '''Runtime Name''' - The first path to a device, created by host and not persistent.  Of format '''<code>vmhba#:C#:T#:L#''' </code>
+** vmhba - Storage Adapter number
+** C - Storage Channel number (software iSCSI uses this to represent multiple paths to same target)
+** T - Target
+** L - LUN (provided by storage system; if only 1 LUN its always L0)
 '''PSA - Pluggable Storage Architecture'''
 * Manages storage multipathing
@@ Line 170: / Line 237: @@
 * Native Multipathing Plugin (NMP) provided by default, can have sub-plugins (can be either VMware or 3rd party)
 ** Storage Array Type Plugin (SATP) - unique to a particular array (effectively an array driver, like a standard PC hardware driver)
-** Path Selection Plugin (PSP)
+** Path Selection Plugin (PSP) - default assigned by NMP based on the SATP
-* Multipathing Plugin (MPP) - 3rd party, can run alongside or in addition to Native Multipathing Plugin
+* Multipathing Plugin (MPP) - 3rd party, can run alongside or in addition to Native Multipathing Plugin,
 '''PSA operations'''
@@ Line 182: / Line 250: @@
 * Handles physical path discovery and removal
 * Provides logical device and physical path I/O stats
 '''MPP / NMP operations'''
@@ Line 191: / Line 260: @@
 ** Depending  on storage device, perform specific actions necessary to handle path failures and I/O cmd retries
 * Support management tasks, EG abort or reset of logical devices
+'''PSP types'''
+Default (VMware) PSP Types (3rd party PSP's can be installed)...
+* '''Most Recently Used''' - Good for either Active/Active or Active/Passive
+* '''Fixed''' - Can cause path thrashing when used with Active/Passive
+* '''Round Robin''' - Load balanced
 '''PSA Claim Rules'''
-Used to define paths should be used by a particular plugin module
+* Used to define paths should be used by a particular plugin module
 '''LUN Masking'''
-Used to prevent an ESX from seeing LUN's or using individual paths to a LUN
+* Used to prevent an ESX from seeing LUN's or using individual paths to a LUN
-Add and load a claim rule to apply
+* Add and load a claim rule to apply
 == Configure iSCSI SAN Storage ==
+'''''Most of the FC SAN Storage info above is also applicable here'''''
+'''CHAP Authentication'''
+* '''One-way CHAP''' - Unidirectional, iSCSI target authenticates the initiator (ESX) only
+* '''Mutual CHAP''' - Bidirectional, ESX also authenticates the iSCSI target (''Software iSCSI only'')
+'''Multipathing (software iSCSI)'''
+# Set-up a vSwitch with two VMkernel ports and two uplinks
+# For each VMkernel port, edit ''NIC Teaming'' | ''Override vSwitch failover order'' to bind one uplink each
+# Connect the iSCSI initiator to each VMkernel port
+#* <code> esxcli swiscsi nic add -n <vmk_port_name> -d <vmhba_no> </code>
 == Configure NFS Datastores ==
-* ESX's manage exclusive access to files via <code>.lc-XXX</code> lock files
+* ESX supports NFS v3 on TCP ''only''
+* ESX's manage exclusive access to files via <code> .lc-XXX </code> lock files
+* To use jumbo frames, enable on the vSwitch and the VMkernel port(s)
+** Frames up to 9kB are supported
 == Configure and Manage VMFS Datastores ==
@@ Line 229: / Line 324: @@
 {|cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="1"
 |- style="background-color:#bbddff;"
 ! Plug-In               !! Description
+|-
+| Storage Monitoring    || [Default]
+|-
+| Service Status        || [Default] Displays health of services on the VC
+|-
+| Hardware Status       || [Default] Displays ESX hardware health (CIM monitoring)
 |-
 | Update Manager        ||
@@ Line 252: / Line 353: @@
 * (Win) Sysprep must be installed on VC
 * (Linux) Guest OS must have Perl installed
+'''vCenter Maps'''
+* Provide an overview of relationships for
+** Host Resources
+** VM Resources
+** Datastore Resources
 == Configure Access Control ==
@@ Line 283: / Line 390: @@
 * VM Hardware v4 runs on ESX3 or ESX4, v7 runs on ESX4 only
 * VM's running MS Windows should have SCSI TimoutValue changed to 60 secs to allow Windows to tolerate delayed SAN I/O from path failovers
 '''Disk Types'''
 * Thick - traditional (can convert to Thin via Storage vMotion)
-* Thin - minimal space usage (conversion to Thick is manual process)
+* Thin - minimal space usage (conversion to Thick requires VM downtime)
+Can't specify for NFS stores (controlled by the NFS server itself)
 '''Memory'''
 * Minimum of 4MB, increments of 4MB
 * Maximum for best performance - threshold over which a VM's preformance will be degraded if memory size exceeded (varies dependant on load on ESX)
 '''SCSI Controller Types'''
@@ Line 300: / Line 411: @@
 ** Only VM h/ware v7 with Win2k3, Win2k8 or Red Hat Ent v5
 ** Not supported with
-*** Boot disks (use a standard adapter for VM's OS/boot disk)
 *** Record/replay
 *** Fault Tolerance
 *** MSCS Clustering (so also SQL clusters)
+*** ''[Boot disks - not an issue since ESX4.0 Update 1]''
 '''N-port ID virtualization (NPIV)'''
@@ Line 310: / Line 422: @@
 * ESX's HBA's must support NPIV
 * NPIV enabled VM's are assigned 4 NPIV WWN's
+* Storage vMotion is not supported
 '''vNICs'''
@@ Line 316: / Line 430: @@
 * '''VMXNET2''' - Aka enhanced VMXNET, supports jumbo frames and TSO, limited OS support
 * '''VMXNET3''' - Performance driver, only supported on VM hardware v7, and limited OS's
+'''VMDirectpath'''
+Allows direct access to PCI devices (aka passthrough devices), using inhibits
+* VMotion
+* Hot add
+* Suspend and resume, Record and replay
+* Fault Tolerance
+* HA
+An orange icon when trying to add a passthrough device indicates that the device has changed and the ESX must be bounced before it can be used.
+'''VMI Paravirtualisation'''
+Enables improved performance for supported VM (Linux only currently), by allowing VM to communicate with hypervisor
+* Uses 1 of VM's 6 vPCI slots
+* Must be supported by ESX (VM can be cold migrated to unsupported ESX, with perf hit)
+'''vCenter Converter'''
+Features/functionality...
+* P2V
+* Convert/import other format VM's (eg VMware Workstation, MS Virtual Server)
+* Convert 3rd party backup or disk images
+* Restore VCB backup images
+* Export VM's to other VMware VM formats
+* Make VM's bootable
+* Customise existing VM's
+Requires the following ports
+* Windows: TCP 139, 443, 445, 902
+* Linux: TCP 22, 443, 902, 903
+'''Guided Consolidation'''
+* Active Domains - Systems being analysed need to be a member of an active domain
+* Add to Analysis to analyse new systems, max 100 concurrent, can take 1hr for new analysis to start
+* Confidence - Degree to which VC collected perf data, and how good a candidate
+** High confidence is shown after 24 hrs, if workload varies over greater interval, further analysis is required
+* New VM's disk size = Amount used on physical x 1.25
+* Convert manually to be able to specify new VM's settings
 == Manage Virtual Machines ==
@@ Line 322: / Line 479: @@
 * VM hardware version is v7
 * vCPU's can only be added if "CPU Hot Plug" is enabled in the VM's options
+'''Virtualized Memory Management Unit (MMU)'''
+* Maintains mapping between VM's guest OS ''physical'' memory to underlying hosts ''machine'' memory
+* Intercepts VM instructions that would manipulate memory, so that CPU's MMU is not updated directly.
 == Deploy vApps ==
+vApp - An enhanced resource pool to run a contained group of VM's, can be created under the following conditions
+* A host is selected in the inventory that is running ESX3 or later
+* A DRS-enabled cluster is selected in the inventory
+* Name up to 80 chars
 '''Deploying an OVF template'''
 * Non-OVF format appliances can be converted using the VMware vCentre Converter module
@@ Line 330: / Line 497: @@
 ** Transient - VCentre manages a pool of available IP's
 ** DHCP
-vApp - An enhanced resource pool to run a contained group of VM's
 = Manage Compliance =
@@ Line 353: / Line 518: @@
 == Establish and Apply ESX Host Profiles ==
+* ESX 4 supported only
 * Used to ensure consistent configuration across ESX's
 * Create a profile from a reference ESX, then apply to Cluster or ESX
 ** Reference ESX can be changed
 ** Profile can be refreshed (if reference ESX config has been updated)
+* ESX must be in maintenance mode for a profile to be applied (resolve compliance discrepancies)
+* Can be imported/exported as .vpf files
 = Establish Service Levels =
@@ Line 394: / Line 562: @@
 '''Prerequisites'''
 * Cluster
-** HA and host monitoring must be enabled
+** HA and host monitoring must be enabled (if monitoring isn't enabled new Secondary VM's aren't created)
 ** Host certificate checking must be enabled
 * ESX's
@@ Line 403: / Line 571: @@
 ** Host BIOS must have Hardware Virtualisation (eg Intel VT) enabled
 * VM's
-** VMDK files must be thick provisioned with Cluster Features enabled
+** VMDK files must be thick provisioned with Cluster Features enabled and not Physical RDM
 ** Run supported OS (generally all, may require reboot to enable FT)
@@ Line 423: / Line 591: @@
 # Turn on FT for appropriate VM's
-'''Not Protected''' caused by...
+'''Not Protected''' caused by Secondary VM not running, because...
 * VM's are still starting up
-* Secondary VM is not started, possible causes...
+* Secondary VM cannot start, possible causes...
 ** No suitable host on which start secondary
 ** A fail-over has occurred but FT network link down, so new secondary not started
@@ Line 448: / Line 616: @@
 * Can quiesce guest file system (req VMTools) to ensure consistent disk state
 * Independent disks are excluded from snapshots (Persistent writes to disk, Nonpersistent writes to redo log, discarded at power off)
+* '''Migrating a VM with Snapshots'''
+** Cannot use Storage VMotion
+** All VM files must reside in single directory if being moved by cold storage migration
+** Reversion after VMotion may cause VM to fail - only occurs if discrepancies in ESX hardware
 '''VMware Data Recovery'''
@@ Line 455: / Line 627: @@
 * Max 8 VM backups can run concurrently
 * Max 2 backup destinations used concurrently
-* Max 100 VM's per back appliance
+* Max 100 VM's per back up appliance
+* Backup's won't start if ESX CPU usage >90%
 '''VMware Data Recovery Setup'''
@@ Line 499: / Line 672: @@
 [[Category:VMware]]
+[[Category:VCP]]

Difference between revisions of "VCP4"

VCP4 (view source)

Revision as of 21:56, 16 June 2013

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