TheSaffaGeek

My ramblings about all things technical

Tag Archives: VCAP5


by 1 Comment

VCAP5-DCA: Objective 2.1

This objective has barely changed from the VCAP4-DCA objective. LLDP is new to vSphere 5 as is NetFlow configurations. For this one I’ve spent time practicing in my lab and will be one I’ll also be covering when i rebuild my lab and do the troubleshooting objective (Objective 6)

Knowledge

· Identify common virtual switch configurations

Skills and Abilities

  • Configure SNMP

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008065 vicfg-snmp method via ESXCli

http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/1688-VCAP-DCA-Prep-Video-Configure-SNMP-for-ESXESXi.html A video by Eric Sloof of how to do it via the vMA which I feel is a much easier method. Just remember to to the –E to enable it which Eric doesn’t show in his video

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.vcli.ref.doc_50/vicfg-snmp.html?resultof=%22%76%69%63%66%67%2d%73%6e%6d%70%22%20

  • Determine use cases for and applying VMware DirectPath I/O

Covered in objective 1.1

  • Migrate a vSS network to a Hybrid or Full vDS solution

This is all about lab practice firstly

Used the vSphere Distributed Virtual Switch (dvswitch) lesson from the VMware vSphere 5 Training course from Trainsignal

  • Configure vSS and vDS settings using command line tools

This is another that can only be learnt in your lab

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vcli.ref.doc_50%2Fvcli-right.html – all the commands you should know for both standard and distributed virtual switching

  • Analyze command line output to identify vSS and vDS configuration details

This is another where lab practice is the best way of learning it.

The above link in the previous bullet point covers all the things you should know how to do. Personally I’m using it to build, change and troubleshoot my networking in the lab as I have experience in the GUI methods already

  • Configure NetFlow

http://blogs.vmware.com/networking/2011/08/vsphere-5-new-networking-features-netflow.html

  • Determine appropriate discovery protocol

CDP

LLDP

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.networking.doc_50%2FGUID-A1B145E9-6454-45C0-8E7E-71E04A3BC9FF.html this covers both and what each provides

CDP overview in the vSphere Network Troubleshooting How-To lesson in trainsignals http://www.trainsignal.com/VMware-vSphere-Troubleshooting-Training.aspx

Jason Boche has done two posting covering each of the discovery protocols

http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2011/11/17/link-layer-discovery-protocol-lldp/

http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2011/05/15/cisco-discovery-protocol-cdp-tag-team/

As I’ve said for Objectives 1.1 and 1.2, the above 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)

Gregg


by 1 Comment

VCAP5-DCA Objective 1.3

Not many differences in this one. For me it was all about refreshing my understanding of the PSA,MPP’s,PSP’s and SATP’s and in what circumstances would I use what command.

Knowledge

  • Explain the Pluggable Storage Architecture (PSA) layout

Skills and Abilities

  • Install and Configure PSA plug-ins

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-storage-guide.pdf pg164

  • Understand different multipathing policy functionalities

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1011340 A really great VMware kb on it all

http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/03/19/pluggable-storage-architecture-exploring-the-next-version-of-esxvcenter/ -Really great for getting your head around what to use when, just remember the esxcli commands have changed for vSphere 5

http://www.trainsignal.com/VMware-vSphere-Troubleshooting-Training.aspx vSphere Storage Troubleshooting – Terms, Concepts, & Logs

  • Perform command line configuration of multipathing options

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc_50%2FGUID-DD2FFAA7-796E-414C-84CE-1FCC14474D5B.html

  • Change a multipath policy

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc_50/GUID-C1358DCD-E4F2-49A5-842D-EDADA1784E9A.html

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1017760 <-i really like this one as gives a good overview of the “change” of commands from 4 to 5

  • Configure Software iSCSI port binding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvD7MDlfh9U this gives a good overview of the steps necessary

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/vmware-multipathing-configuration-software-iSCSI-port-binding.pdf A VMware technical white paper showing every single step necessary. I read this one twice as this covers it perfectly and seeing as it is a new feature of vSphere 5 to have the new UI interface to support multipathing configuration for the software iSCSI adapter using port binding i think it’s a technique to know for the exam.

.

A fairly straight forward objective once i got my head around all the components again.

Gregg


by 1 Comment

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


by 2 Comments

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


by 2 Comments

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


by Leave a comment

All Things Virtual 27

 

Yep I’ve decided to start trying to build up my All Things Virtual postings so as to try help myself keep up to date on the latest news happening in the virtualisation arena and also help people like myself who don’t have the time during the day/work week to keep up to date on the latest blog postings,news and articles. I’ve only listed the past few week’s worth of blog postings that have caught my interest and for future All Things Virtual I’m planning on doing it fortnightly/monthly.

First on my list is a reminder to all that the “applications” for the VMware vExpert title are still open. there are now three paths for the title which I blogged about in my VMware vExpert 2012 nominations and applications are open blog posting. You can find the application form and all the information also on the vExpert communities page here

Next was the results of Eric Sieberts yearly Top Virtualisation Blog poll. I was very honoured to be included in the voting this year for the first time and came in at 103rd which I’m really pleased about Smile. A massively congratulations to all the top 10 and top 25 blogs and it’s amazing to see that 1 in 10 of the blogs in the votes were from the London VMware User Group #LonVMUG crew.

The mad rush for the VCP5 upgrade before the end of February cut off date is in full swing. Almost all my colleagues at Xtravirt have done theirs in the past week and almost every day loads and loads of the people I follow on twitter are posting about their passing of the exam. For those that have decided to bypass the cut off date due to possibly already having done the what’s new course or are happy to do the what’s new course there is a massive amount of top resources out there for you to use. I’ve tried to list them all on my VCP5 page. Cody Bunch’s VCP5 Brownbag series is now in full swing with videos of all the objectives listed by Cody in his VCP5 Brownbag Playlist posting.

Talking of certifications there were four new VCDX’s announced, so a massive and envious congratulations to Tom Arentsen @tomarentsen,Mike Brown @vmikebrown, Matthew Meyer @mattdmeyer and Hugo Phan @hugophan. Hugo did a very helpful blog posting all about his 5 simple steps to the VCDX certification . His steps do seem very manageable and are great for those people out there feeling up for the challenge. One of the people who has already thrown his hat in the ring is fellow vExpert and top blogger Christian Mohn who announced his intent in his blog posting here . Good luck Christian, maybe now that my new role with Xtravirt is gaining me some serious design exposure and experience I may join you in attempting the VCDX if i can find the time to do what I couldn’t do for VCAP4 and gain both my VCAP5-DCA and DCD. I’ll keep you all posted on my decision Smile

Next is a posting by Gabrie van Zanten all about the Auto Deploy GUI VMware fling. Gabrie does a great walkthrough of how to use the tool and how it makes your life much easier. I’m currently planning to use the tool in my testing of Auto Deploy in my home lab and hopefully it’s as good as he describes

As I’ve mentioned loads of times in my VCAP4,VCP5 and VCAP5 study resources pages, the trainsignal videos are an amazing learning resource in my opinion and are as good if not better than attending the respective courses. TrainSignal have recently released the VMware View 5 Essentials Training videos. The videos are described by Trainsignal as  “Virtualisation experts Brian Knudtson and Lane Leverett guide you from VDI basics, through app virtualization and more. Learn how to get your View environment up and running and reduce costs for your end-user desktops”. I’m currently started to use these videos in my attempt to strengthen my VDI skills and hopefully if all goes to plan try obtain my VCP5-DT.

Talking about VMware View and the VCP5-DT, the VMware View 5 Install Configure and Manage course was released in early January and Eric Sloof posted all about it in his posting here. The course looks really good and maybe if I am given the opportunity i may be able to attend it and give a good overview for anyone thinking about attending the course.

Lastly, a massive thanks to John Troyer and Alex Maier for the vExpert gift and Certificate. I’ve already started using my bag as my main bag and geekingly added my vExpert and blogger badges from the past two VMworld’s also (yep I’m sad)

image

Gregg


by 7 Comments

VCP5 Study Resources Page

Just a very quick posting that I have finally created my VCP5 Study Resources Page with all the resources I’m planning to use in preparation for my VCP5 exam. As mentioned on the page I decided to create the page as it seems the VCAP5 exams aren’t going to be out before the grace period for people with the VCP4 accreditation not needing to take the What’s New course expires. So like with my VCAP4 and VCAP5 pages I’m planning on listing all the resources I plan to use and the great study resources I come across that may help other people of varying degrees of expertise prepare for the exam

Good luck to anyone preparing for any of the VMware exams soon, good luck! Also tell me how you’ve done or if you think I have missed an amazing resource by either leaving a comment or sending me a tweet on @greggrobertson5 on twitter

Gregg


by Leave a comment

All Things Virtual 26

 

As you would expect there has been loads of news about the release of vSphere 5 and all the new features. A large amount of it early on and all over the VMware communities and the vExpert community has been about the vRAM licencing model.

  • Last week Wednesday the rumours that VMware were going to make changes to the licencing model came true. A massive amount of people blogged about it and VMware also posted a blog posting about it. So seeing as they did such a great job of it and to save me repeating what has already been covered, here is the official VMware blog posting about the changes as well as a brilliant posting from fellow vExpert Eric Siebert all about how VMware has a change of heart on licensing. From these two postings I think I’ve finally got my head around the new licencing model and how it will impact my environments.
  • William Lam the master of vMA and ESXCLI posted about the new features and enhancements in vSphere 5 for ESXCLI and some awesome tips and tricks for vMA 5. For my VCAP-DCA study preparations I’ve been forcing myself to try do as much of my daily job via the vMA and it really is an amazing tool and with the tricks William has listed you can do pretty much anything you want in your VMware environment with ease and on mass.
  • Scott Drummonds has written up a really great posting all about what he feels are the Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to vSphere 5. This is a great list for anyone who needs to explain to their boss on management why they need to upgrade to vSphere 5 apart from the obvious eventual expiration of vSphere 4. There really are some amazing new features and enhancements that are going to make daily tasks so much easier and faster.
  • When you’ve convinced your boss and management that the upgrade to vSphere 5 is well worth their while and you’re planning on using auto deploy to create your ESXi hosts then Paul Richards’ (@eprich) posting all about 3 Design Considerations for Your vSphere 5 Auto Deploy Environment. These are really great tips and things that may seem obvious but are also easily forgotten or missed in your design planning.
  • Eric Sloof has done a brilliant list of all  the videos he has done for vSphere 5 from migrating to vSphere 5 to Storage DRS. Eric’s videos are always really great especially for someone like me who likes to see the actual steps and features before trying them out for myself. Duncan Epping has also done a list of all the vSphere 5 Coverage he has done since the announcement. These two are some of the best in the industry and their blogs are rightfully in the top ten VMware blogs in the world so the articles and videos they have created are some of the best you’ll find out there.
  • For those who are fortunate enough to have been approved to go to VMworld 2011 in Vegas this year or if you’re like me and will be tweeting and blogging about it all from the comfort of your desk then add your twitter handle to the VMworld 2011 Vegas twitter list and the bloggers list . I’ve already added my information and it makes sure your tweets and blog postings about VMworld are shown on the VMworld page and streams to make sure people can find and read your postings easily.
  • If you are going to VMworld for the first time this year then these tips for first time attendees and possibly anyone who hasn’t been for a while will be very helpful. The tips came about from a discussion on the vExpert community from a fellow vExpert asking for tips seeing as he was attending for the first time. Christopher Kusek listed all the responses that were given to Bilal Hashmi into his posting VMworld Tips, Tricks and Prize winning. Bilal also listed them and more in his  VMworld Tips by vExperts (title edited due to my not wanting four billion spam messages)
  • Just a very quick plug that I’ve now created a VCAP5-DCA & DCD Resources page to start listing all the resources that I’ll be using in my preparations once the exams are released. If you know of any materials I haven’t listed on it please leave a comment on the page and I’ll make sure it’s added.
  • Lastly is a posting by Tom Howarth on How to Report an Issue to a VMTN Moderator. This is sometimes a necessary step on the VMware communities due to people either publishing NDA information about new releases or exams. Or the occasional spam message that is unfortunately posted.

Well that’s all the things that have caught my interest in the past few weeks and the things I need to finish reading to try keep up to date. If you want to follow me on twitter my handle is @greggrobertson5.

Gregg


by 1 Comment

VCAP5-DCA & DCD Resources Page

A very quick posting to alert people that I have now started building up a VCAP5-DCA and DCD Resources page for the impending release of the VCAP5 certifications. At the moment it is fairly short due to the exams not even having reached beta but I’ve got to start somewhere and for those of us out there who will be hoping to be invited to the beta exams these resources will probably be our best preparation Smile 

As said on the page ,if you know of any other resources out there please do leave a comment or drop me a tweet on twitter on @greggrobertson5 as this is really all about helping everyone find the best resources for the exams.

Gregg