TheSaffaGeek

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Category Archives: Virtualisation


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VCAP5-DCA: Objective 5.2

Deploy and Manage Complex Update Manager Environments

This is another quick one and for most of it, I just did the Update Manager PowerCLI part as the rest is almost exactly the same as the VCAP4 objective. I think this is all about playing around in your lab again, breaking things, upgrading hosts, patching hosts and using the PowerCLI commands.

Knowledge

  • Identify firewall access rules for Update Manager

Skills and Abilities

  • Install and configure Update Manager Download Service
  • Configure a shared repository
  • Configure smart rebooting
  • Manually download updates to a repository
  • Perform orchestrated vSphere upgrades
  • Create and modify baseline groups
  • Troubleshoot Update Manager problem areas and issues
  • Generate database reports using MS Excel or MS SQL
  • Upgrade vApps using Update Manager
  • Utilize Update Manager PowerCLI to export baselines for testing <- Covered perfectly here: http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-update-manager-powercli-50-inst-admg.pdf
  • Utilize the Update Manager Utility to reconfigure VUM settings

Now on to my favourite objective and the one I think is the number one thing the DCA is based on, Troubleshooting.

Gregg


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VCAP5-DCA: Objective 5.1

Objective 5.1 – Implement and Maintain Host Profiles

*NOTE: If this is the first time you have hit these objectives, I am only covering the new things in vSphere 5 and the VCAP5-DCA blueprint over and above what was already covered so well by Sean Cookston’s,Ed Grigson’s and Kendrick Coleman’s Blueprint Breaksdowns for the VCAP4.

 

Host profiles are extremely important in vSphere 5 environments and are a requirement for Auto Deploy. This is another objective I think you need to practice in your lab and do all the things listed below. If you don’t know about Host Profiles in vSphere 5 (which you should from your VCP5 studies) then there is a really good KB pdf by VMware that covers it all here. The guys from the vBrownbags have covered the whole of Objective 5 very recently here and Damian gives a great overview of it and some top tips.

Skills and Abilities

Loads of lab practice necessary for this objective which burnt a fair amount of my time. A fair amount of it is the same but due to it now being linked to Auto Deploy I wanted to really get my head around it all and how the answer files tie in.

Gregg


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VCAP5-DCA: Objective 4.2

Deploy and Test VMware FT

 

This is exactly the same as the VCAP4 Objective so this is all about reviewing and practice in the lab. I watched the Super High Availability with VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) topic in the the Trainsignal VMware vSphere 5 Training course, went through the stuff Ed listed .I have also watched the FT lesson from the Trainsignal VMware vSphere Pro Series Training Vol 2 as my refresher and enabled it, broke it and played around with it in my lab A very simple one once you have played around with it

Knowledge

  • Identify VMware FT hardware requirements
  • Identify VMware FT compatibility requirements

Skills and Abilities

  • Modify VM and ESXi host settings to allow for FT compatibility
  • Use VMware best practices to prepare a vSphere environment for FT
  • Configure FT logging
  • Prepare the infrastructure for FT compliance
  • Test FT failover, secondary restart, and application fault tolerance in a FT Virtual Machine

A very quick and easy one and seeing as Section 4.3 – Configure a vSphere environment to support MSCS Clustering and Section 4.4 – Deploy and maintain vCenter Heartbeat aren’t part of the VCAP5 blueprint so it means that’s Objective 4 completed Smile

Gregg


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VCAP5-DCA: Objective 4.1

Implement and Maintain Complex VMware HA Solutions

There isn’t much that is different for this over what was in the VCAP4-DCA Blueprint objective. I’ve been watching the HA videos from the Trainsignal VMware vSphere 5 Training course and the vSphere 5 Clustering Tech Deepdive book by Frank Denneman and Duncan Epping. Due to HA and DRS being revamped for vSphere 5 I think the book covers it all perfectly and more. Duncan also did a blog posting covering HA here: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/vmware-high-availability-deepdiv/ (it’s a serious deepdive)

Knowledge

  • Identify the three admission control policies for HA
  • Identify heartbeat options and dependencies

Skills and Abilities

  • Calculate host failure requirements
  • Configure customized isolation response settings
  • Configure HA redundancy

Management Network – Simply down to setting two management connections/vmkernel ports

Datastore Heartbeat – this is new to vSphere 5 and is therefore something new to this objective. I’ve learnt it via the clustering tech deepdive book and from this blog posting by Duncan http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2011/07/26/ha-architecture-series-datastore-heartbeating-35/ It is also covered in the trainsignal videos and is something you should know from your VCP5 studies

Network partitions – This is also new and is covered in the book and the deepdive posting. I also learnt how to fix it should a host alert that it is network partitioned as I think this could be a task and so I learnt this kb article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2012649 it is also covered here

  • Configure HA related alarms and monitor an HA cluster
  • Create a custom slot size configuration
  • Understand interactions between DRS and HA
  • Analyze vSphere environment to determine appropriate HA admission control policy
  • Analyze performance metrics to calculate host failure requirements
  • Analyze Virtual Machine workload to determine optimum slot size
  • Analyze HA cluster capacity to determine optimum cluster size

Due to objective 3 having DRS as objective 3.3 and this objective being about HA it has worked in well that I have been re-reading the vSphere 5 Clustering Tech Deepdive book as it covers both of these 100%. All that you need to do now is practice doing it all in your lab

Gregg


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VCAP5-DCA: Objective 9.2

Install ESXi Hosts Using Auto Deploy

I know this isn’t following the flow but I wanted to get Auto Deploy tested in my lab early so I jumped to this so I could have all of my Auto Deployed Hosts done before doing all my other lab work.

For this objective I would do an install in your lab/on your laptop and learn it as I think this the only way to learn how it all goes together. Duncan Epping has done a great blog posting here: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2011/08/25/using-vsphere-5-auto-deploy-in-your-home-lab/

Also VMware have done a really great POC step by step that is a really great way of building it and is the one I’ve followed to learn it.  http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-A9FFEDEE-1A3D-4EFD-A130-F6E78C727380.html

  • Knowledge
    • Identify Auto Deploy requirements

For me this is about knowing what are all the prerequisites and parts that make up the Auto Deploy solution. There is a really great VMware article that covers this and is what I think they based this objective on as it seems to have links for all the parts of this objective here: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2005131

  • Skills and Abilities
    • Install the Auto Deploy Server

This is really simple and if clicking next,next and finish is all they test you on I’ll be happy as the installation is really easy http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-A9FFEDEE-1A3D-4EFD-A130-F6E78C727380.html

I would also learn how to configure the auto deploy server as I think the installation steps above are surely too simple: http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-A9FFEDEE-1A3D-4EFD-A130-F6E78C727380.html

    • Utilize Auto Deploy cmdlets to deploy ESXi hosts

Covered here: http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/esxi-image-builder-and-auto-deploy-powercli-quick-reference.html

    • Configure Bulk Licensing

This is quite straight forward but is something that is also extremely important and therefore is something I think you need to make sure you really who how to do. The steps are detailed on pg75 and 76 of the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

    • Provision/Reprovision ESXi hosts using Auto Deploy

Provisioning is covered on pg 81 of the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

Reprovisioning is covered on pg 82 of the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

    • Configure an Auto Deploy reference host

This is covered on pg 84 vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

I think this is something that may be asked as it incorporates host profiles and auto deploy and is something that can be easily tested in the lab. That’s my opinion though.

This objective was really quick and seeing as it is the last on the list I think a fair amount of people may speed through it but I think this is one of the most important as it’s a new feature and also is something any VMware Admin/Architect should be learning as it’s likely to be the way vSphere goes in the future

Gregg


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    London VMUG May 2012

    Just a very quick posting to remind anyone around the south of England or who is willing to come to the south of England for it that the next London VMware User Group (LonVMUG)  is happening THIS Thursday the 17th of May. Also my fellow vExpert, partner in crime and Xtravirt colleague Darren Woollard is presenting which should be an incentive for anyone to go just to heckle him Smile

    If you haven’t registered I would highly recommend you do so ASAP . You can register for the event here and there will also be a large contingent of my fellow Xtravirt colleagues attending as well and should be easily recognisable due to them all wearing the shirt shown below (one each obviously Winking smile )

    .photo

    After the VMUG the standard vBeers will take place. If you’ve somehow never heard of vBeers before the below is just for you Smile.

    vBeers

    Is an informal get together of virtualisation enthusiasts and professionals to meet and discuss all things IT. It’s a great opportunity to network, learn and meet like minded people.

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    The following is part quoted from Simon Seagrave’s Website :

    Enjoy Talking Virtualization? Come & Socialise at vBeers!

    vBeers[7]Fancy meeting up every month with other IT virtualization enthusiasts to socialise and chat over a cold beer, wine or soft-drink? If so, then vBeers is for you! This is a great opportunity to meet with other virtualization enthusiasts and professionals and enjoy discussing all things virtualization, and in fact anything else that comes up in conversation…

    vBeers is open to everyone so whether you are a VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer user/fan or none of the above it really doesn’t matter as “it’s all about the virtualization”.

    The London vBeers meet-up is held at the Pavilion End Pub . Details and directions below:

    When & Where

    The London vBeers are held on the first Thursday of every month or after a VMUG meeting starting at 6pm in the ‘pavilion end pub’

    407fefe6-2a76-102d-855f-000e0cc30319

    Location: The ‘pavilion end pub’, London

    Address: 23 Watling Street Moorgate EC4M 9BR

    Date: First Thursday of every month and after VMUG meetings

    Time: 6:00pm

    Map:

    image

    Gregg


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    VCAP5-DCA Objective 1.2

    Objective 1.2 is almost exactly the same as the VCAP4 blueprint’s and a large portion of the things in here are covered better in the troubleshooting sections in my opinion but for the few things that are different that I made sure I covered, I have listed below. As with Objective 1.1,the below links are ones I’ve been using in my preparations for the beta exam, for some of the sections I’ve not put any links in as Sean Cookston’s,Ed Grigson’s and Kendrick Coleman’s Blueprint Breaksdowns for the VCAP4 covered them perfectly.

    Knowledge

    • Identify storage provisioning methods
    • Identify available storage monitoring tools, metrics and alarms

    Skills and Abilities

    • Apply space utilization data to manage storage resources
    • Provision and manage storage resources according to Virtual Machine requirements
    • Understand interactions between virtual storage provisioning and physical storage provisioning

    http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.0.pdf pg 11,30

    • Apply VMware storage best practices

    http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.0.pdf pg 30

    • Configure Datastore Alarms

    http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-12145

    http://www.gabesvirtualworld.com/how-to-make-vcenter-datastore-alarms-useful/

    • Analyze Datastore Alarms and errors to determine space availability
    • Configure Datastore Clusters

    Storage DRS lesson from VMware vSphere 5 Training course from Trainsignal

    A nice and quick section thankfully, some of the links I used are still related to vSphere 4 but are nice refresher reads Smile

    Gregg


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    VCAP5-DCA Objective 1.1

    Seeing as the VCAP5-DCA blueprint is 60-70% the same as the VCAP4, a large portion of the objectives are the same but objective 1.1 has a fair amount of differences due to VMFS 5 coming out, the standardisation of the esxcli command and a number of new features like Profile Based Storage. I think you can never know too much about storage and this one is one I’ve spent a bit more time on due to the new features and methods. Also i need to break old habits of using esxcfg. The below links are ones I’ve been using in my preparations for the beta exam, for some of the sections I’ve not put any links in as Sean Cookston’s,Ed Grigson’s and Kendrick Coleman’s Blueprint Breaksdowns for the VCAP4 covered them perfectly. This is more about covering the new things i need to learn after having done the VCAP4-DCA exam (twice to be exact)

    Objective 1.1 – Implement and Manage Complex Storage Solutions

    Knowledge

    · Identify RAID levels

    · Identify supported HBA types

    · Identify virtual disk format types

    Skills and Abilities

    • Determine use cases for and configure VMware DirectPath I/O
    • Determine requirements for and configure NPIV
    • Determine appropriate RAID level for various Virtual Machine workloads
    • Apply VMware storage best practices

    http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.0.pdf pg 30

    • Understand use cases for Raw Device Mapping
    • Configure vCenter Server storage filters

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-storage-guide.pdf pg126

    • Understand and apply VMFS resignaturing

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-storage-guide.pdf pg122-123

    http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011387 Now using the esxcli command for ESXi 5

    • Understand and apply LUN masking using PSA-related commands

    http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1009449 <- look carefully at this one as I think there is a nice hint in it by the name of something

    http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1017760

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vcli.examples.doc_50/cli_advanced_storage.8.2.html

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-storage-guide.pdf pg 166-168

    http://www.punchingclouds.com/?p=965

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vcli.ref.doc_50/esxcli_storage.html

    • Analyze I/O workloads to determine storage performance requirements

    Understanding vSphere Storage Management from Trainsignals VMware vSphere Performance Monitoring Training

    • Identify and tag SSD devices

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-storage-guide.pdf Pg 143 and 144 and 147

    • Administer hardware acceleration for VAAI

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-4-esxi-installable-vcenter/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vsphere.esxi_server_config.doc_41/esx_server_config/managing_storage/c_hardware_acceleration.html

    http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1021976

    http://www.shogan.co.uk/?p=995 From my Xtravirt Colleague Sean Duffy

    • Configure and administer profile-based storage

    http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-storage-guide.pdf pg195

    Policy Driven Storage lesson from VMware vSphere 5 Training course from Trainsignal

    • Prepare storage for maintenance (mounting/un-mounting)

    http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2004605 -Covers via vsphere client, command line and automated via PowerCLI

    http://blog.mwpreston.net/vcp-5/vcp-5-objective-3-3-create-and-configure-vmfs-and-nfs-datastores/

    • Upgrade VMware storage infrastructure

    http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2003813

    http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/VMFS-5_Upgrade_Considerations.pdf

    http://blog.mwpreston.net/vcp-5/vcp-5-objective-3-3-create-and-configure-vmfs-and-nfs-datastores/

    Now to go and practice all the above things in your lab and make sure you know how to do all of them.

    Gregg


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    VCAP5-DCA Beta

    As a VMware vExpert working for Xtravirt Limited and a keen contributor to the VCAP communities on the VMware communities ,I received an email from Randy Becraft from VMware confirming my inclusion on the VCAP5-DCA beta exam along with the Blueprint for the exam which should be starting in the coming weeks. Obviously I am under NDA so I can’t divulge too much but Randy has kindly given me permission to blog about the blueprint and what will be required once the exam becomes available to the public.

    The Differences

    The exam is 60-70% the same as the VCAP4 but the main differences are:

    • The exam consists of approximately 26 live lab activities and consists of multiple tasks, where each task is scored. This is down from the 36 there was in the VCAP4-DCA which I think is much better as I blazed through the VCAP4-DCA to try finish enough of the questions in time and made a few mistakes along the way due to this.
    • There are a number of sections and products which are thankfully not part of the exam any more. This is great as these were very uncommon products that were very hard to practice seeing as 98% of people have never used them (although they are gaining prominence recently).The ones that aren’t a part of the exam anymore are:
      • vCenter Server Linked Mode
      • Orchestrator
      • vShield Zones
      • vCenter Heartbeat
    • The exam is obviously based on vSphere 5 and so as you would imagine there are a number of the new features that have been introduced in vSphere 5 that are part of the blueprint like Storage DRS and the new Auto Deploy features to name but two.
    • The recommended courses are also different as with VCAP4-DCA there were four recommended courses aka:

    But with the VCAP5-DCA there are only two recommended courses:

    I do think it’s a shame there aren’t the kinds of courses there were for the VCAP4 as I learnt an unbelievable amount from the courses and will be using Trainsignal videos and the official course notes I received from doing two of the recommended courses to help me prepare for the VCAP5-DCA beta

    The Similarities

    The following things are the same as the VCAP4-DCA:

    • The passing score is still 300 and is scaled. Scaled scores are calculated using a mathematical formula that considers a variety of factors, including the number and type of exam questions included in a specific version of the exam
    • The exam time is still 210 minutes for English speaking countries. Extra time is given for non-English speaking countries the same as they do for the VCP exams.
    • Having your VCP (in this case the VCP5) is a pre-requisite for the exam and you will still need to put in an authorisation request like you did for the VCAP4 before being able to book the exam. If you are a VCAP4-DCA but do not have your VCP5 and pass the VCAP5-DCA exam within the first three months from release of the live exam you will also be awarded your VCP5 credential.
    • You can book the exam via Pearson VUE’s website at http://www.pearsonvue.com/vmware. The exam will be in the usual Pearson VUE testing centres that offer VCAP-level exams and there may not be a centre near you offering the exam.
    • The security for the exam is still the enhanced method where they won’t let you take in anything to the exam room even your watch and you will be required to have a photo taken and do a digital signature over and above the normal exam sign in procedures.
    • So as to not repeat what has been done so well, Ed Grigson also got permission from Randy to blog about his inclusion in the beta and has done a brilliant breakdown of the similarities and differences between the blueprints of the VCAP4-DCA and the VCAP5-DCA in his blog posting here

    There has been information about the infrastructure you will be expected to use during the VCAP5 exam, which will be two ESXi hosts and a vCenter server. This is very much like the VCAP4 exam environment but a subtle difference which VCAP4-DCA takers will fully recognise.

    I will be linking to all the resources I’m using for both the VCAP exams on my VCAP5-DCA and DCD resources page and plan to give an NDA limited review of my thoughts of the beta exam and if it was harder/easier or the same as the VCAP4-DCA.

    Good luck to all those people selected to do the beta exam and keep an eye out for my home lab postings in my preparation for the exam.

    Gregg


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    A true honour,vExpert 2012.

    After hurling myself out of a plane at 15000 feet as part of a birthday present I came down to the ground to find out I had been honoured as a VMware vExpert 2012 and as one for the second year running.

    It was such an amazing honour to be selected as one last year and to retain it is as amazing and I’m looking forward to another year of being part of such a prestigious group of my peers and also with a fair number of my fellow colleagues from Xtravirt. A massive congratulations to Darren Woollard, Sean Duffy and Paul Wood for also being selected, especially Sean and Paul for their first year as one this year.It’s quite an amazing achievement for a company of less than 20 people  to have so many in my opinion.For those of you who don’t know what the vExpert award is, here is the definition from the vExpert site:

    The VMware vExpert Award is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past year. vExperts are book authors, bloggers, VMUG leaders, tool builders, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others. These vExperts have gone above and beyond their day jobs to share their technical expertise and communicate the value of VMware and virtualization to their colleagues and community.

    A massive thanks to  Alex Maier and John Troyer for selecting me, it is an amazing honour Open-mouthed smile. Also a massive congratulations to all the other people selected especially all the ones from the London VMUG. You can see the list of the other vExpert 2012 awardees on the list here

    Gregg