VMware vSphere: Overview [V4]

Course overview

This 1-day hands-on training course introduces the most compelling features of VMware® vSphere™ 4. This course demonstrates vSphere features that help to reduce your IT costs while improving efficiency, availability, flexibility, and manageability. This course is 60 percent lecture, 40 percent hands-on lab.

Prerequisites

• System administration experience on Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems

Audience

This course is designed for technical persons responsible for evaluating ESX, ESXi, and vCenter Server, including IT managers, system architects, and system administrators.

Ways to save

Course objectives

By the end of the course, you should understand how to use vSphere core features, including:

• Using VMware vCenter™ Server to deploy virtual machines
• Performing live migrations of virtual machines Configuring VMware ESX™ clusters to automatically balance virtual machine workloads
• Hierarchically allocating CPU and memory resources to specific business functions
• Using vCenter Server alarms to proactively monitor the virtual datacenter
• Ensuring high availability of applications

Next steps

• VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage (HH627S)
• VMware vSphere: Fast Track Program (HH629S)

Course outline

Course Introduction

• Course Introduction

Virtual Infrastructure Overview

• Define virtualization and identify vSphere components
• Learn to use the vCenter Server management interface
• View virtual network and storage components

Creating Virtual Machines

• Create and use templates to deploy virtual machines
• Automate guest operating system customization

Allocating Compute Resources to Business Functions

• Hierarchically allocate CPU and memory resources
• Set virtual machine priorities on CPU and memory resources
• Create resource pools

Migrating Virtual Machines

• Migrate live virtual machines using VMware VMotion™ and VMware Storage VMotion

Balancing Virtual Machine Workloads

• Configure a VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler cluster and resource pools

Monitoring the Virtual Datacenter

• Become familiar with vCenter Server graphs to monitor virtual machine performance
• Use vCenter Server alarms to monitor and proactively respond to ESX/ESXi and virtual machine state changes

High Availability and Fault Tolerance

• Configure a VMware High Availability cluster
• Understand how VMware Fault Tolerance works

Extending VMware vSphere Capabilities

• Discuss how different VMware products and features work together to reduce the costs and improve the efficiency, availability, flexibility, and manageability of your datacenter