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VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 7.1

6 October 2011
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For a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page.

Objective 7.1 – Monitor ESXi, vCenter Server and Virtual Machines

See also: Objective 7.1 – Monitor ESXi, vCenter Server, and Virtual Machines.

Describe how Tasks and Events are viewed in vCenter Server (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 101).

Identify critical performance metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See also: Monitor vSphere ESX/ESXi and Virtual Machine Performance (for VCP4).

Explain common memory metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 7).

Explain common CPU metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the old Basic System Administrator guide.

Explain common network metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the old Basic System Administrator guide.

Explain common storage metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the old Basic System Administrator guide.

Compare and contrast Overview and Advanced Charts (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See also: Monitor vSphere ESX/ESXi and Virtual Machine Performance (for VCP4).

Configure SNMP for vCenter Server (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 37).

Configure Active Directory and SMTP settings for vCenter Server (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 36).

Configure vCenter Server logging options (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 38).

Create a log bundle (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 98).

Create/Edit/Delete a Scheduled Task (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 101).

Configure/View/Print/Export resource maps (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 143).

Start/Stop/Verify vCenter Server service status (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 112).

Start/Stop/Verify ESXi host agent status (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 111).

Configure vCenter Server timeout settings (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 38).

Monitor/Administer vCenter Server connections (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 28).

Create an Advanced Chart (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 13) and Understanding and Customizing VMware ESX Server Performance chart.

Determine host performance using resxtop and guest Perfmon (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 43) and ESXTOP – Yellow Bricks and VMware Tools Has Perfmon Integration.

Given performance data, identify the affected vSphere resource (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See: Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 4.1.

vCertification, VMware ,

New in vSphere 5 – VMware HA advanced options

30 September 2011
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With the new HA implemenation, something has changed also in the advanced options with new parameters, but also with some that now are no more available. For a list see Supported vSphere 5.0 Advanced Options.

One options that has been removed “das.failuredetectiontime”. The reason is well explained in Duncan’s HA Deep Dive:

I know many of you used this advanced setting to tweak when the host would trigger the isolation response, that is no longer possible and needed to be honest. If you’ve closely read my other articles you hopefully picked up on the datastore heartbeating part already which is one reason for not needing this anymore. The other reason is that before the isolation response is triggered the host will actually validate if virtual machines can be restarted and if it isn’t an all out network outage. Most of us have been there at some point, a network admin decides to upgrade the switches and all hosts trigger the isolation response at the same time… well that won’t happen anymore!

Some of the New vSphere 5 HA, DRS and SDRS Advanced/Hidden Options related with the datastore heartbeat are:

  • das.ignoreinsufficienthbdatastore – Disables configuration issues created if the host does nothave sufficient heartbeat datastores for vSphere HA. Defaultvalue is false.
  • das.heartbeatdsperhost – Changes the number of heartbeat datastores required. Validvalues can range from 2-5 and the default is 2.
vDesign, VMware none

VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 6.4

29 September 2011
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For a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page.

Objective 6.4 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS Clusters and vMotion/Storage vMotion

For HA and DRS see also: HA Deepdive and DRS Deepdive.

Identify HA/DRS and vMotion requirements (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 11) and the vSphere Resource Management guide (page 51). Basically a shared storage is required, some network configurations, and (for DRS and vMotion) a CPU compatibility or the EVC function in the cluster.

Verify vMotion/Storage vMotion configuration (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 119 and 122). For the network for vMotion a vmkernel interface is required (note that now vSphere 5 can use more interfaces). For Storage vMotion the main requirement is that the host can see both storages.

Verify HA network configuration (new in vSphere 5)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 13). Heartbeat can go through the vmkernel management interfaces (or other specific interfaces)… but now with vSphere also thought the shared storage.

Verify HA/DRS cluster configuration (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 11) and the vSphere Resource Management guide (page 51). Some new windows are now available to check HA and DRS status.

Troubleshoot HA capacity issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 31). When planning for HA you need to plan for a maximum host failure; the number of hosts that can fail before you run short on resources. When VMs can no longer start this might be due to a lack of resources (memory is quite common) with warnings like “insufficient resources to satisfy failover level”.

Troubleshoot HA redundancy issues (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 11).

Interpret the DRS Resource Distribution Graph and Target/Current Host Load Deviation (same as vSphere 4.x)

See VMware DRS Resource Distribution Chart.

Troubleshoot DRS load imbalance issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Resource Management guide (page 62).

Troubleshoot vMotion/Storage vMotion migration issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 119 and 122). Check also compatibility with snaphosts.

Interpret vMotion Resource Maps (similar as vSphere 4.x)

Topology maps are a easy way to show you the network and storage connection from an to hosts and/or VMs. As stated above there are some requirements to the use of vMotion live storage, networking etc. A first and easy check is to look at the topology maps and see if these requirements are met. Maps can be found when selecting a server and than selecting the tab Maps.

Identify the root cause of a DRS/HA cluster or migration issue based on troubleshooting information (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See all the previous references and also Perform Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS. For HA failover see also the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 34).

vCertification, VMware ,

VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 6.3

28 September 2011
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For a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page.

Objective 6.3 – Perform Basic vSphere Storage Troubleshooting

Verify storage configuration (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 45). A minimum of storage enterprise knowledge is also required.

Troubleshoot storage contention issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 45) and vSphere Storage guide (page 24).

Troubleshoot storage over-commitment issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Storage guide (page 183) and VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 3.1 (in the thin provisioning points).

Troubleshoot iSCSI software initiator configuration issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Storage guide (page 107). Also a networking check could be useful.

Troubleshoot Storage Reports and Storage Maps (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See Using VMware vSphere Storage Views.

Identify the root cause of a storage issue based on troubleshooting information (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 45).

vCertification, VMware, vStorage ,

VCP5 Transcript

27 September 2011
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Some hours ago I have received an e-mail from VMware Technical Certification Team to my VCP5 certification in my official transcript:

The VMware education transcripts will now include your VMware technical certifications.
Your online transcripts will reflect your VMware Certified Professional on vSphere 5 status as soon as you:
–  Confirm your shipping address
–  Consent to transcript release
–  Accept the VMware Certification Agreement

With this, all certifications are now correctly listed in the transcript… and I can take a breack… until next new certifications :) Some welcome kits are still missing (also my VCDX4 kit), I’ve already send and email to the certification staff and seems that they will arrive in the next weeks.

Note that the rumor about the Workstation license was correct: with the new VCP5 certification is included a VMware Workstation 8, with the follow note:

DISTRIBUTION OF VMWARE WORKSTATION 8 LICENSES FOR VCP5s WILL START OCTOBER 20, 2011

vCertification ,

News in vSphere 5 – Who is in? Who is out?

26 September 2011
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With the new version of VMware vSphere there are some small and big changes: some products and features were removed, but also some new features were addes (for the 140 new features of vSphere 5 see: vSphere 5.0 Features and Duncan’s 50 out of 140 vSphere 5 Features Challenge).

Who is out:

Who is in (for a complete list see previous links):

  • vCenter Server for Linux: distribuited as a virtual appliance (vCenter Server Virtual Appliance)
  • the Web Client is a possible multiplatform replace (in several tasks) for the vSphere client (still only for Windows platform)
  • AutoDeploy
  • Central collector for hosts log and core dump
  • Storage DRS and Storage Profiles
VMware , , , , ,

vExpert Spotlight

23 September 2011
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On the VMTN Blog (the official blog of the VMware Community) today there is my “vExpert Spotlight”:

How did you get into IT in  the first place?

I’ve started (a lot of years ago) with a Commodore 64, but only with my first experience on a PC (with MS-DOS) I understand that this passion would also be my possible work area. During University, I also played with Linux distributions and this gave me a better understanding of Operating Systems and networking. Things are really change. Now start in IT is simpler and cheaper (I remember how expensive my first PC was and how difficult it was to find good books or good documentations).

How did you get into working with VMware and becoming a 2011 vExpert?

As most people I’ve started of course with VMware Workstation and honestly not with the ESX 1.0 (I remember that was not possible, at least in my Country) to have an evaluation or trial version.

My first virtualization project (for academic purposes) was building a virtual honeynet with Linux UML (it was the end of 2001). My first virtualization project based for a production system virtualization solution was instead with VMware ESX 2.5.

After that I’ve follow a lot of virtualization projects and recently (around three ago) I’ve started also to give some contribution to the VMTN Community. This probably has open new perspectives, outside the limits of my Country and my native language (that isn’t English). For example, I’ve tried to applied with success to the VCDX3 path and also to vExpert 2010 and 2011.

What would you tell someone who wanted to get a job like yours to do?

In the IT field and especially in the virtualization area there is a lot to do. The required knowledge is quite huge, but worst (or better. it depends) there are a lot of changes so you cannot stand still. You have always to learn new things. For those reasons I also think that in this kind of job the collaborations is really important. You can be great, but you can greater in a group of good people.

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