vSphere and Private Cloud Boot Camp

Schedule for this Course

Course Description:

This fast paced, high energy, hands-on course provides not only the foundation needed for a top performing datacenter it also provides the latest in virtualization and cloud technologies which gives the engineer or administrator the knowledge and skills needed to design and manage the datacenter for tomorrow’s needs. This course will cover everything from design, installation, configuration, best practices, performance monitoring, and just about everything in between!

Why Attend this Course

• Learn far more than just how to use the product. This course teaches the why behind the how which is vital to any engineer or administrator in the business.
• Why attend 2 to 4 other classes to get the same knowledge found in this one courseThis course covers content and concepts from multiple VMware® classes: Install, Configure, Manage; What's New!; Manage for Performance; Fast Track; and Troubleshooting!
• Our team of developers have many years of experience working and consulting in the industry. This team includes best practices learned from the field, no need to test the theoretical best practices, start implementing real world use cases directly after the course.
• Qualified Instructors do make a difference! Our trainers are not just trainers, they are consultants with a well-rounded knowledge base.
• Every datacenter makes use of 3rd party products or tools, why not learn the best in the industry? This course will cover the best in the industry of both free and paid 3rd party products that make a real difference!
• Every IT professional enjoys learning new technologies! This course will help in two ways – A: It will teach you the fastest way to get the job done right! B: It will teach you the latest technologies used in today’s datacenters related to virtualization and the private cloud. We cover the key items in this five day class, we cannot cover every new idea or product in a five day class.
• Take the VM’s home with you for additional work after class!
• 50% of your time will be hands on!

You will learn:

• Latest technologies in virtualization and cloud infrastructures
• Foundational concepts in virtualization and cloud technologies
• Designing your infrastructure for today and tomorrow
• How to install ESXi
• How to configure the virtual network with performance and security in mind
• How to configure storage with performance and security in mind
• How vCLI and PowerCLI can help do the job faster
• When to make use of advanced features such as DRS, DPM, Distributed Switches, Fault Tolerance and other key features
• How Multipathing to storage devices works and when it should be used
• How vMotion and SvMotion functions
• Hot to perform backups and what 3rd party tools work best
• How to deploy every component of the vCloud Suite, including ESXi, vCenter, vCloud Automation Center and others

Prerequisites

• Network+ Certification or Equivalent Knowledge
• Two Years’ Experience with Microsoft or Linux Servers
• Basic Virtualization/Cloud Knowledge

Course Outline:

Chapter 1 – Course Introduction

Chapter 2 – Virtualization and Cloud Overview

1. Overview of Virtualization
2. Overview of Cloud Technologies
3. Designing the Datacenter for today and tomorrow
4. Key technologies for a virtual and private could datacenter

Chapter 3 – Installing and Managing ESXi

1. Planning for the Installation
2. Installing ESXi
   1. Using the DCUI
   2. vSphere Client
   3. ESXi Configuration Settings
      1. Hostname Resolution
      2. NTP
      3. IP Address
      4. Syslog
3. Accessing ESXi
   1. Management User Interface (MUI)
   2. SSH Access
4. Managing ESXi
   1. esxcli and its many uses
   2. Controlling User Access
   3. Active Directory Integration
   4. Managing the Firewall
   5. Troubleshooting

Chapter 4 – Installing and Managing vCenter

1. vSphere/vCloud Licensing
2. vCenter Requirements
   1. Minimum Specifications
   2. Database Requirements
3. vCenter Architecture
4. Planning vCenter Installation
5. vCenter Single Sign-On
6. vCenter Installation
7. vSphere Web Client
8. vCenter Overview of Capabilities
9. Managing vCenter related to general tasks
10. Troubleshooting vCenter Server and Database

Chapter 5 – Configuring and Managing the Network

1. Virtual Switch Types, Connections and Identification
2. Physical NIC configuration
3. vSwitch Features
   1. Port Types
   2. Cisco Discovery Protocol
   3. VLAN’s
   4. Security Settings
   5. Traffic Shaping
   6. NIC Teaming
   7. Load Balancing Best Practices
4. Physical Switch Configuration
5. Using the CLI to create and manage vSwitches

Chapter 6 – Configuring and Managing Storage

1. Storage Overview
   1. iSCSI, Fiber Channel and NAS
2. vStorage API’s
3. Storage Multipathing
4. Storage Configuration
   1. iSCSI, FC and NAS
5. Monitoring Storage
6. Storage CLI Commands
7. Troubleshooting Software iSCSI
8. Virtual Machine File System
9. Raw Device Mapping
10. Solid State Disks
11. Storage Views

Chapter 7 – Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines

1. Overview of VM Hardware
   1. VMware® Tools
2. Creating a VM
3. Clones
4. Templates
5. Virtual Appliances
6. VMware® Converter
7. Managing the VM
8. Snapshots
9. Troubleshooting the VM

Chapter 8 – vSphere Management

1. Controlling User Access
2. vMotion
3. Storage vMotion
4. vCenter Host Cluster
   1. Covers all Cluster Features
5. Distributed Resource Scheduler
6. Using vApps
7. Other Management Options
   1. vCLI
   2. PowerCLI
   3. RVTools

Chapter 9 – vSphere Monitoring and Performance

1. Configuring ESXi resources for best performance
   1. Understanding the resources such as CPU, Memory and Disk
2. Configuring the VM for best performance
3. Monitoring the vSphere and vCloud Infrastructure
   1. vCenter Performance Tab
   2. esxtop
4. Configuring Alarms
5. Using Resource Pools properly
6. Troubleshooting performance issues
7. vSphere Logs

Chapter 10 – Backup and Disaster Recovery Implementation and Management

1. High Availability
   1. Fault Domain Manager
2. Virtual Machine Fault Tolerance
3. Microsoft Clustering
   1. How it works
   2. Its uses in a vSphere Infrastructure
4. Backup Solutions
   1. vSphere Data Protection
   2. Third Party Solutions
5. Disaster Recovery Solutions
   1. vCenter Site Recovery Manager
   2. Third Party Solutions

Chapter 11 – vSphere Upgrading and Patch Management

1. Why do we worry about patching and upgrading?
2. Patching the ESXi host
   1. Stand Alone
   2. Using Update Manager
3. Patching Virtual Appliances
4. Patching Virtual Machines
5. Planning the Upgrade
6. Performing the Upgrade

Appendix – Advanced features only covered in extended hour’s delivery (Bootcamp Format)

1. vCenter Appliance Deployment
2. Third Party and Advanced Installation Options
   1. vSphere Image Builder
   2. vSphere Auto Deploy
   3. UDA and other 3rd party tools
3. Distributed Switch Configuration, Management and Best Practices
   1. Overview
   2. Covers every component and feature of the distributed switch
   3. Third Party Distributed Switches
4. Storage Advanced Features
   1. Storage I/O Control
   2. Storage Clusters and Storage DRS
      1. Profile Driven Storage
   3. VMware® Virtual SAN
   4. Third Party Storage Management Solutions
5. Advanced vSphere Management
   1. Host Profiles
   2. Linked Mode
   3. Third party monitoring tools
   4. vCenter Mobile Connectivity
   5. vSphere Management Assistant (vMA)
   6. vSphere SDK
   7. GUI Setup – cannot remember
   8. Third Party performance monitoring tools
6. VMware® vCloud Director
7. vCloud Networking and Security