The Complete vSphere for Administrators Course: From A to Z

Learn how hardware and software virtualization, plus storage, network, management, operating system, application, and service virtualization, rely on hypervisors to create virtual machines with type 1 or type 2 implementations.

Define cloud computing and its service models, and explore deployment models public, private, hybrid, and community, while noting virtualization and software defined data center concepts.

Learn to plan a vSphere installation by assessing hardware and storage needs, security requirements, and deployment options (sd cards, usb, or auto deploy) for ESXi 6.

Explore installing ESXi with in-place upgrade, fresh install, or full overwrite, preserving the datastore where appropriate, using an ISO image or CD, and pressing F11 to start the installation.

Configure and manage an ESXi host using the direct console and vSphere client, including network, DNS, time synchronization, logs, and syslog integration.

Explore the four primary ESXi access methods—direct control UI, the vSphere client, SSH, and the management user interface (Mooi)—and learn basic setup, data store management, and service considerations.

Access ESXi via the direct console and ESX shell, configure timeouts, and use the 192.168.1.1 web interface to view data stores and download the vSphere client.

Explore ESXi user management across host and vCenter, assign VM admins, configure data stores, and enable Active Directory authentication for secure, auditable access.

Learn to manage ESXi with AD integration, domain-based permissions, and admin rights; configure the firewall, lockdown mode, and logs, and explore the vSphere client for monitoring and troubleshooting.

Learn how VMware licenses vCenter and ESXi hosts, from essentials kits to core-based and edition licenses, remote office branch office licensing, and explore features like HA, DRS, and storage vMotion.

Examine remote office licensing for vSphere, including Essentials and Enterprise editions, with per 25 VRMs licensing and key vCenter deployment options and authentication methods.

Explore the vCenter architecture from the ESX host to the vCenter server, including database setup, single sign-on, core services, PSC deployment options (embedded or external), and post-install considerations.

Learn vCenter six deployment essentials, from minimum hardware and memory planning to setting up the database, PSC, and certificate authority for secure single sign-on.

Plan and install vCenter by examining deployment planning, data center sizing, the vCenter statistics framework, and backup and upgrade strategies.

Connect to vCenter via the web client to manage components, permissions, and data centers. Configure single sign-on, Active Directory integration, SSL certificates, and host deployment in a vCenter six environment.

Explore how to design and configure vSwitches in vSphere six, comparing standard and distributed switches, VMkernel ports, port groups, VLANs, redundancy, and load balancing with LCP.

Identify vSwitch components, naming conventions, and port groups, including the VM kernel port and management network. Understand port capacities, reserved VMkernel ports, uplinks, and basic security and traffic shaping settings.

Explore vSwitch traffic shaping, select load balancing methods, and enable uplink failure detection with link status and beacon probing, while relying on enterprise switch technologies for failover and port notifications.

Explore vSwitch load balancing methods, including route based on originating virtual port ID and IP hash, with notes on MAC-based routing, LACP requirements, and SR-IOV direct path potential.

Explore storage in vSphere: learn unique VMware device naming, path concepts, and multipathing with fixed, most recently used, and round-robin policies, plus vendor plugins and storage APIs.

Explore VMware’s pluggable storage architecture, path selection and round robin principles, LUN design, and storage APIs for array integration with features like full copy, thin provisioning, and linked clones.

Explore configuring iSCSI storage in vSphere with software initiator or hardware adapters, binding VMkernel ports, setting up dynamic discovery, and connecting to targets over TCP/IP.

Configure iSCSI storage in vSphere, scan and connect devices, manage paths and data stores, and extend storage with LUNs and data store extents.

Explore iSCSI storage and fibre channel in vSphere, including jumbo frames, zoning and LUN masking, along with NFS performance and the shift to virtual volumes for VM provisioning.

Wraps up by highlighting storage as a bottleneck and outlines tuning tips like jumbo frames, multipathing, and round robin, along with iscsi vs fibre channel and nas/nfs testing.

Learn how virtual appliances are preconfigured VMs, access the VMware marketplace, and practice importing, deploying, and exporting templates in the open virtualization format for vSphere.

Understand virtual machines in vSphere, including hardware like bios options, memory up to 4 TB, up to 128 vCPUs, NICs with pass-through, and vmdk and delta files.

Learn to create a VM in vSphere, choose hardware, configure memory and CPU, attach datastores and ISO, install VMware Tools, and optimize performance with hot add and system settings.

Learn to manage virtual machines in vCenter by cloning VMs and converting between VMs and templates, customize operating systems, and use content libraries.

Explore how to create and use templates, clone virtual machines, and manage snapshots in vSphere, including customization specifications and storage considerations for efficient administration.

Learn how VMware vCenter Converter converts powered-on physical machines into VMware virtual machines, including Windows, Linux, and third-party images, with cleanup before conversion and post-conversion customization.

Power on the converted virtual machine, review the task progress, and ensure VMware Tools are installed for optimal performance with virtual appliances, templates, cloning, converter, and snapshots.

Explore designing and deploying a vSphere distributed switch within a single data center, managed from vCenter, with features like net flow, private VLANs, LACP, ACLs, and centralized change control.

Learn to configure a vSphere distributed switch, set up port mirroring, define port groups and network protocol policies, and manage traffic with alarms, net flow, and LACP.

Explore vSphere management, configuring vCenter user access, roles, and permissions, and understanding vMotion options, including hot/cold migrations and vCenter to vCenter scenarios.

Master vMotion and storage vMotion in vSphere by configuring shared data stores, VMkernel ports, and data mover operations across NFS, local storage, Fibre Channel, and iSCSI.

Learn how to create and manage a vSphere cluster, migrate running VMs with vMotion and storage, and configure DRS, HA, EVC, and affinity rules to balance load and ensure availability.

Understand how memory moves from the physical layer to the virtual machine and operating system, and how transparent page sharing, ballooning, compression, swapping, and the VM kernel hashing enable overcommit.

Analyze how memory swapping and overhead affect vm performance, including vm kernel swap, VMX swap, ballooning, and host swap; explore swap file placement, and NUMA scheduling of vCPUs.

Explore configuring resource pools and vcenter alarms to manage cpu and memory reservations, limits, and shares for virtual machines under contention.

Explore real-time performance charts in the vSphere client, monitoring cluster and host CPU, memory, and readiness; configure alarms, view per VM and stack graphs, and diagnose resource bottlenecks.

Explore business continuity and high availability in vSphere, including host failure recovery, all paths down protection, heartbeat monitoring, and cluster admission control.

Explore virtual environment backups using the free vSphere data protection tool, including how change block tracking accelerates backups, deployment steps, and full plus incremental restore processes.

Deploy and configure the vdp appliance, register with vCenter, create storage, and set up a backup job to protect a vm, then review replication and restore options.

Implement disaster recovery using vSphere replication and data protection appliances, with change block tracking and recovery points. Compare replication with Site Recovery Manager and array-based replication to design recovery plans.

Learn how to patch and upgrade vSphere environments, patch vCenter before hosts, access VMware patch repositories, and use Update Manager to manage baselines, compliance, and remote remediation.

Explore how to set up vSphere Update Manager, configure baselines for VMware Tools Upgrade, hardware upgrade, and virtual appliance upgrade, and remediate patches with maintenance mode and reboots.

Choose between an in-place upgrade or a fresh install for vSphere, then upgrade vCenter and components including platform services controller, ESXi hosts, distributed switches, and VM tools using update manager.