Module 1: Course Introduction

• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives

Module 2: Introduction to vSphere and the Software-Defined Data Center

• Explain basic virtualization concepts
• Describe how vSphere fits into the software-defined data center and the cloud infrastructure
• Explain how vSphere interacts with CPUs, memory, networks, and storage
• Recognize the user interfaces for accessing the vCenter Server system and ESXi hosts
• Describe the ESXi host architecture
• Navigate the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) to configure an ESXi host
• Recognize ESXi host user account best practices
• Install an ESXi host
• Use VMware Host Client™ to configure ESXi host settings
• Describe how to proactively manage your vSphere environment using VMware Skyline

Module 3: Virtual Machines

• Create and provision a virtual machine
• Explain the importance of VMware Tools™
• Install VMware Tools
• Identify the files that make up a VM
• Recognize the components of a VM
• Recognize virtual devices supported by a VM
• Describe the benefits and use cases for containers
• Identify the parts of a container system

Module 4: vCenter Server

• Describe the vCenter Server architecture
• Discuss how ESXi hosts communicate with vCenter Server
• Deploy and configure vCenter Server Appliance
• Use vSphere Client to manage the vCenter Server inventory
• Add data center, organizational objects, and hosts to vCenter Server
• Use roles and permissions to enable users to access objects in the vCenter Server inventory
• Back up vCenter Server Appliance
• Monitor vCenter Server tasks, events, and appliance health
• Use VMware vCenter Server^® High Availability to protect a vCenter Server Appliance

Module 5: Configuring and Managing Virtual Networks

• Create and manage standard switches
• Describe the virtual switch connection types
• Configure virtual switch security, traffic-shaping, and load-balancing policies
• Compare vSphere distributed switches and standard switches

Module 6: Configuring and Managing Virtual Storage

• Identify storage protocols and storage device types
• Discuss ESXi hosts using iSCSI, NFS, and Fibre Channel storage
• Create and manage VMFS and NFS datastores
• Explain how multipathing works with iSCSI, NFS, and Fibre Channel storage
• Recognize the components of a VMware vSAN™ configuration

Module 7: Virtual Machine Management

• Use templates and cloning to deploy new virtual machines
• Modify and manage virtual machines
• Create a content library and deploy virtual machines from templates in the library
• Use customization specification files to customize a new virtual machine
• Perform vSphere vMotion and vSphere Storage vMotion migrations
• Describe the Enhanced vMotion Compatibility feature
• Create and manage virtual machine snapshots
• Examine the features and functions of VMware vSphere^® Replication™
• Describe the benefits of VMware vSphere^® Storage APIs – Data Protection

Module 8: Resource Management and Monitoring

• Discuss CPU and memory concepts in a virtualized environment
• Describe what overcommitment of a resource means
• Describe methods for optimizing CPU and memory usage
• Use various tools to monitor resource use
• Create and use alarms to report certain conditions or events

Module 9: vSphere Clusters

• Describe the functions of a vSphere DRS cluster
• Create a vSphere DRS cluster
• Monitor a vSphere cluster configuration
• Describe options for making a vSphere environment highly available
• Explain the vSphere HA architecture
• Configure and manage a vSphere HA cluster
• Examine the features and functions of VMware vSphere^® Fault Tolerance
• Describe the function of the vSphere^® Cluster Service

Module 10: vSphere Lifecycle Management

• Recognize the importance of vCenter Server Update Planner
• Describe how VMware vSphere^® Lifecycle Manager™ works
• Describe how to update ESXi hosts using baselines
• Validate ESXi host compliance using a cluster image
• Describe how to upgrade VMware Tools and VM hardware
• Describe VMware vSphere^® Lifecycle Manager™ and VMware vSAN™ integration

Lab Outline:

Labs are designed to assure learners a whole practical experience, through the following practical activities:

• Lab 1: Accessing the Lab Environment
• Lab 2: Configuring an ESXi Host
• Lab 3: Creating a Virtual Machine
• Lab 4: Installing VMware Tools
• Lab 5: Adding Virtual Hardware
• Lab 6: Adding vSphere Licenses
• Lab 7: Creating and Managing the vCenter Server Inventory
• Lab 8: Configuring Active Directory: Joining a Domain
• Lab 9: Configuring Active Directory: Adding an Identity Source 
• Lab 10: Users, Groups, and Permissions
• Lab 11: Using Standard Switches
• Lab 12: Accessing iSCSI Storage
• Lab 13: Managing VMFS Datastores
• Lab 14: Accessing NFS Storage
• Lab 15: Using a vSAN Datastore
• Lab 16: Using VM Templates: Creating Templates and Deploying VMs
• Lab 17: Using Content Libraries
• Lab 18: Modifying Virtual Machines
• Lab 19: vSphere vMotion Migrations
• Lab 20: vSphere Storage vMotion Migrations
• Lab 21: Working with Snapshots
• Lab 22: Controlling VM Resources
• Lab 23: Monitoring Virtual Machine Performance
• Lab 24: Using Alarms
• Lab 25: Implementing vSphere DRS Clusters
• Lab 26: Using vSphere HA
• Lab 27: Using vSphere Lifecycle Manager

The primary audience for this course is as follows:

• System administrators
• System engineers