VMware vSphere 6.5 Administration Basics Ultimate

Master the basics of vSphere 6.5 administration through a comprehensive boot camp that covers virtual infrastructure concepts, preparing you for intensive hands-on learning with the Sfeir curriculum.

Schedule CVE exam with C-v at V.M. training after buying a seat; the 80-question test lasts two hours, with an ESL option for three hours and a 75 percent pass.

Explore the fundamentals of virtualization with chapter two's overview, introducing key concepts for VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics and setting the stage for hands-on management.

Introduces VMware virtualization overview, outlining three topics in chapter two: core virtualization technologies related to vSphere, desktop and other third-party options, and what's new in vSphere 6.5.

Explore VMware virtualization in chapter 2, topic 1, of the VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics ultimate course. Understand the core ideas of VMware virtualization introduced in topic 1.

Leverage vCloud Suite 7.0, built on the vSphere core, to form the cloud datacenter. Explore standard, advanced, and enterprise editions with automation, monitoring, and add-ons like VSAN and OSX.

Explore total cost of ownership comparisons with the VMware TCO comparison calculator, weighing VMware against Microsoft Hyper-V to determine break-even points and long-term savings.

Understand vSphere as a marketing umbrella and identify core technologies: ESX II virtualization on hosts and centralized management with vCenter Server and Linux-based migration, plus licensing implications across key areas.

Explain type 1 and type 2 hypervisors: type 2 runs on a host OS to create virtual machines, while type 1 installs on bare metal, covering ESX II and Hyper-V.

Compare cores, RAM, and CPU support across Hyper-V versions and vSphere releases, noting how capabilities have grown over time and that vSphere 6.5 delivers the highest performance.

Explore how horizon view centralizes management of esx hosts and enables virtual desktops, including linked clones, user personalization, and local printing and USB support.

Horizon Flex provides offline virtual desktops by running a local type 2 hypervisor on your desktop, with virtual machines managed alongside Horizon View and Flex servers.

Discover how VMware Fusion 8.5 acts as a Mac-based hypervisor, running Windows or Linux inside a VM, and featuring unity mode that hides the OS, displaying only the application.

Explore VMware Workstation Player, a free lightweight type 2 hypervisor that lets you create a single virtual machine and run it with unity mode for seamless app integration.

Compare Hyper-V and ESX, review Windows Server 2012 R2 (similar to 2016) capabilities, paravirtual drivers, supported operating systems, and Microsoft's guidance to limit Hyper-V host VMs to one or two.

Explore managing Hyper-V virtual machines with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2, a SCVMM subcomponent that requires System Center and SQL Server, with its Windows-like interface for ESXi hosts.

Desktop virtualization options like zen desktop and horizon view struggle, as most end-user environments run on back-end esxi hosts rather than zen server.

Explore what's new in vSphere 6.5 through chapter 2 topic three, an overview for this course.

Explore vSphere 6.5 update 1 features, including higher configuration maximums, the linux-based vcenter server appliance, Windows-to-vcenter migrations, encryption, secure boot, and enhanced logging.

Review the chapter’s coverage of VM virtualization and related technologies, including third-party virtualization options. Preview the what's new topics to be explored in the rest of the class.

Plan and install ESX II as part of chapter 3 in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics, outlining core steps for efficient ESX deployment.

Explore planning the ESX deployment, apply the six deployment guidelines, review the installation process, configure hostname resolution, and conclude with troubleshooting as the foundational VMware vSphere 6.5 topic.

Explore vSphere Hypervisor 6.5 (VMware ESXi), comparing trial, free, and paid editions, for 60 days, and learn installation via ISO, licensing, and how free lacks centralized vCenter management.

Explore ESXi 6.5, the hypervisor at the core of the vSphere suite, with the VM kernel translating hardware to virtual resources and the common information model for devices.

Boot ESXi from a SAN by installing an HBA card and pointing the BIOS to the SAN LUN. Benefits include blade environments and fast recovery from SAN LUN failures.

Master vSphere 6.x deployment guidelines from chapter three to guide reliable deployments and configurations in VMware vSphere environments.

Plan a vSphere deployment by evaluating guest OS choices and 32/64-bit options. Consider converting physical servers, required applications, growth, storage budgets, and features like vmotion, drs, and ha.

Plan storage capacity and performance by organizing VM disks into OS, data, and logs, using VMT files and RAID, while considering spindles, IOPS, and hardware costs.

Learn how the VMware capacity planner, an online program for partners and resellers, analyzes a physical environment, generates reports, and guides virtualization decisions.

Download the vSphere 6.x installable from VMware and install via ISO, USB, or CD; it needs a 1 gb boot partition and supports gwede partition tables, jpt, and efi/uefi boot.

Explore ESXi installation options, including CD/USB boot and manual installer prompts, scripted installs from centralized HTTP/FTP servers with PXE boot, Auto Deploy, and remote installation via management cards.

Learn how to use DCUI to configure the ESXi local management network, set a static IPv4 address, DNS, hostname, and view or reset IP settings and network options.

explains vSphere 6.x esxi image builder cli and its origins in a workflow using powershell and powercli to download iso and vib files for upgrades, Update Manager, and auto deploy.

Explore vSphere 6.x auto deploy for ESXi PXE boot, covering stateless operation, statelets cached mode, and the installation server option with a permanently stored image, requiring enterprise plus.

Explore auto deploy in vSphere 6.5, create a software depot and image profiles, then build deploy rules with boot images, host profiles, and DHCP/TFTP testing.

Configure dns settings using both the old vSphere client and the new web interface, noting dns and routing data stored in the hosts file and in the resolved files.

Ensure accurate log timestamps by enabling time synchronization for hosts and their virtual machines, using a.p 4 over UDP 123 or a domain controller as the time source.

Master troubleshooting ESXi within VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics by exploring chapter three topic five techniques for diagnosing and resolving common hypervisor issues.

Access the ESXi system logs through the host web interface, open a log name to view details, or right-click to open a window or generate a support bundle for troubleshooting.

Trace the ESXi host boot sequence from the BIOS to the ESX kernel, loading drivers and low-level devices. Load configuration scripts, then daemons, and finally the DC UI.

Discover methods to reset the ESXi 6.x root password: join the host to Active Directory or use enterprise plus host profiles to set a temporary administrator password.

Identify and manage the hostd service on VMware vSphere hosts, using hostd status to monitor and restart to recover, noting it only restarts the management service, not VMs.

The purple screen of death (PSOD) on ESX signals memory-related hardware faults; capture the screen and send to VMware for diagnosis, often pointing to a faulty memory chip.

Explore planning the esx deployment and guidelines for esx ii and the surrounding environment. Demonstrate esx installation with a hands-on demo, cover hostname resolution, and troubleshoot esx ii.

Explore essential tools to administer virtual machines in a VMware vSphere 6.5 environment and master basic virtual machine management.

Explore essential third party tools and tools included with vSphere to manage your environment, plus a quick Linux command review for troubleshooting.

Gain a focused overview of third party tools in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration, aligned with chapter 4 topic one.

Learn how WinSCP 5.x.x, a free multi-client tool, connects to ESXi via SSH. Enable SSH on the host and browse host directories and VM files safely from Windows.

Use ISO programs to manipulate ISO files for Windows and Linux desktops. Mount ISOs in virtual machines, install from them, and create ISO files by dragging drivers, enhancing security.

Discover how RVTools v3.x helps VMware admins audit all VMs by exporting hardware and usage data to Excel, viewable via the V Info tab, with snapshots and disk space insights.

Explore various tools for managing your virtual environment, including third party options and a Turbin nomic trial, with links to multiple resource sites and ESX tools.

Explore ESXi management within the VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics, focusing on chapter 4 topics and practical strategies to manage ESXi effectively.

Explore management options for ESXi hosts and vCenter, including the DCUI on the physical console, ESXi shell and SSH, ESXCLI and vCLI Perl scripts, PowerCLI, and browser-based clients.

Explore the direct console user interface (dcui) for VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics, using keyboard shortcuts like F12 to power, F2 to switch screens, and Alt-F1 to the command line.

Discard the old vSphere client (VIC), which is no longer available or supported in 6.5 and cannot connect to vCenter. Use the built-in host client to manage ESXi.

Explore the management user interface for ESXi and vCenter, navigating web and flash clients, VMware documentation, and management appliances while browsing host storage, inventory, and certificates.

Explore the vSphere web client's evolution to 6.5, noting faster performance and the screen version, with the bottom recent tasks pane and bottom left recent objects.

unveil the new vSphere client 6.5 HTML5, a clarity interface rolling out across VMware products with improved functionality over update one, moving away from flash to connect to vCenter.

Explore SSH clients you can install on your desktop to access hosts, and note SSH is disabled by default in ESX versions and must be enabled through the ugly screen.

Explore datastore browsing in vSphere 6.5, navigating data stores, folders, and files across legacy and web clients, with uploads, downloads, and the VMX file's add-to-inventory option.

Explore ESXi 6.x troubleshooting options, toggle the local shell and SSH, and adjust timeouts to balance convenience with security. Learn to restart management agents when needed.

Disable ESXi 6.x host warnings by changing the advanced setting from 0 to 1, via the web interface or a hyperlink, silencing the security-hole warnings for both alerts.

Learn how command line options complement the GUI for VMware vSphere administration, with ESXi as the main method, and note Perl scripts and other commands used by tech support.

Compare windows and linux like commands from the esx command line, showing copy, move, ls, exit, and date to help windows admins navigate the esx shell confidently.

Learn common command line interface options for vSphere administration, get help with -h or --help, pipe output, and use cat, grep, and less to view and filter logs.

Master command line essentials for vmware vSphere 6.5 administration basics by practicing tab completion to list commands and complete unique paths, and using the up arrow to reuse previous commands.

Discover the built-in vi editor in esxi, its unix roots, and navigation with h j k l cursor keys, plus commands like :wq to save and :q! to quit.

Identify and resolve issues with host connections, vCenter Server connections, and VSAN components to maintain stable VMware vSphere environments.

Troubleshoot login issues by verifying host versus vCenter target, credentials, and network connectivity; inspect SSL certificates and firewalls, and ensure hostd and vCenter services run.

Explore vCenter Server 6.5 and licensing, as introduced in chapter 5, for VMware vSphere administration.

Explore seven topics in this chapter, including licensing, planning your vCenter server deployment, installation, two types of web clients, vCenter inventory, managing the vCenter server, and a troubleshooting section.

Master vSphere 6.5 licensing basics by examining chapter 5 topic one licensing and how licenses are applied within the administration workflow.

Explore how vCenter Server 6.x and ESXi host licensing is managed through the platform services controller, with embedded or external topology and access to licensing.

The essentials licensing offers a lower-cost path for up to three hosts with up to eight vCPUs per virtual machine, while essentials plus adds high availability clusters and data protection.

Explore vSphere 6.5 license types: foundation, standard, and enterprise plus, covering per socket per host licensing, foundation's four-host limit, unlimited hosts in standard, and distributed switches require enterprise plus licensing.

Explore vSphere with Operations Management Enterprise Plus as a bundled package, compare pricing and built-in reporting features, and assess its competitive edge against third-party management tools.

Discover upgrade options from enterprise to enterprise plus, with or without operations management, and save 50 percent during the promotion valid through February 2018.

Plan the center server deployment by outlining chapter 5 topics and key considerations for successful setup.

Describe vCenter server 6.5 as a central management application for Windows or Linux, linking hosts into a unified inventory and enabling data centers, folders, clusters, resource pools, with authentication.

VMware no longer supports Windows vCenter Server and recommends migrating to the Linux-based vCSA with vSphere 6.5, which offers new features and scalable deployment options.

Explore Windows vCenter database specs, including external Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, and the default PostgreSQL, plus how topology, inventory, hosts, templates, and permissions influence sizing via statistics.

Explore vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 specifications, its Susi Linux origin, scalable environments from small to large, and the maximum hosts and virtual machines in the pre-built VM package.

vCenter server virtual appliance 6.5 runs on Photon OS, delivering an all-in-one VM with no external database, supports 2000 hosts, and built-in update manager, migration, high availability, and backup.

Compare Windows vCenter and vCSA 6.0/6.5, highlighting all-inclusive features like update manager, embedded database, and backup and restore capabilities.

Understand VMware vCenter 6.5 architecture across Windows and Linux deployments, featuring platform services controller with single sign-on, core services, VM provisioning, monitoring, and a plugin enabled ecosystem for integrations.

Explore deploying the platform services controller for vCenter 6.x, including the single sign-on, license, lookup services, and certificate authority, and decide between standalone PSC or embedding with vCenter.

Explore topologies for vCenter 6.x, from all-in-one embedded deployments to PSC and vCenter designs. Learn about PSCs, standalone or external configurations, and how load balancing and replication enable high availability.

Explore how vCenter Server provides REST-based, industry-standard APIs to programmatically access vCenter data and perform common management tasks.

Learn vCenter 6.x database sizing by adjusting statistics collection levels and recognizing version differences. Use what-if scenarios to see how levels 1–4 affect storage growth.

Explore backup strategies for vCenter Server, including backing up the database, cloning the center VM, and using built-in or appliance options for restore and high availability.

Back up the vCenter Server Appliance via the VAMI interface. Choose a protocol, enter location and credentials, select components to back up, and optionally encrypt before starting a manual backup.

Learn to restore a vCenter by standing up a brand new vCenter VM, mounting the ISO, and restoring from a CSA backup using server location, credentials, and the encryption password.

vCenter Server HA provides high availability by replicating state from the active to the passive node, using a witness to redirect clients, and promoting the original to passive upon recovery.

Learn the essentials of vCenter server installation and VSAN server installation within the vSphere 6.5 administration basics course.

Install vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 with embedded PSC (Linux Photon) via a two-stage process on an ESXi host, then configure domain, SSL, site, and network settings.

Learn how to post install vCenter Server 6.0/6.5 by adding Active Directory as an identity source and granting administrator permissions to domain accounts or groups.

Explore chapter 5 topics for the web client and the vSphere client, as introduced in the VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics course.

Explore the evolution of the vSphere web client, highlighting performance improvements, faster logons and right-clicks, and the introduction of the VMRC remote console for Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Explore how the client integration plug-in enables file upload and download, Windows authentication, and remote device support in the vSphere web client, with OVF packaging and content library import/export.

Discover the vSphere web client 6.5 updates, including the new authentication plug-in, live refresh, and renamed top tabs, with four main views centered on hosts.

Identify the vSphere web client requirements, detailing both server-side needs on the vCenter server and client-side needs such as a Flash-enabled browser and Adobe Flex support.

Access the vSphere Client HTML5 in a web browser, designed to replace the Windows-based fat client and add host and cluster management.

Navigate the vSphere web client 6.5 interface to manage virtual machines, templates, data stores, and networking, log in as administrator, and launch remote or web consoles.

Identify vSphere 6.5 clients—host-based, web, html5, and the management appliance—and note that the Windows .NET client 6.0 is not supported in 6.5.

Explore the vCenter Server home page to view hosts and clusters, VM templates, storage, and networking, and observe the navigator pane updating with plug-ins such as data protection GUI.

Explore the hosts and clusters view, create data center objects, folders, and resource pools, configure CPU and memory usage limits, and review the permissions tab for each object.

Explore vCenter inventory views with the VMs and VM templates options, learn to sort by VM name, lock the first column, and customize visible columns for quick VM details.

Discover how a content library centralizes templates, appliances, and other file types in a single vCenter repository, enabling multi-center subscriptions and on-demand pull.

Discover content library 6.5 enhancements, including direct ISO mounting to VMs from the content library, guest OS customization, and improved Wii center backup and restore with high-availability support.

Create and manage content libraries in vSphere 6.5 using a guided wizard to choose local or external publishing, authentication, and storage options, then subscribe to existing libraries.

Master the essentials of managing the vCenter Server in chapter 5, topic six, as part of the VMware vSphere 6.5 Administration Basics Ultimate course.

Schedule tasks in vSphere by selecting navigator objects to expose actions like powering, cloning, migrating, and snapshotting virtual machines, with Windows task scheduler or cron as alternatives.

Explore how vSphere centralizes events across objects, and drill down to a host or VM to view its tasks and events, with related events and audit trails to troubleshoot failures.

Configure the manage tab in settings to display the message of the day for all connections, and use the sessions tab to view and end active center connections.

Explore alarms in three tabs, including new and acknowledged. Use the work in progress double arrow to save, resume, or delete tasks.

Master troubleshooting techniques for the vCenter Server and its database, focusing on practical steps to diagnose and resolve common issues covered in chapter 5 topic seven.

Refresh vCenter server and ESXi when the screen misbehaves, using the legacy Windows client or the web interface reload, and manage host services and the vCenter agent with startup policies.

Open the monitor tab to view hardware status, including sensors and alerts, and access the host event log with options to update, reset, or export as needed.

Monitor vCenter server status from the monitor tab via service health to see running services, identify problems quickly, and start, stop, or restart services via administration link or system configuration.

Be aware of the built-in timeout for the VCSA root password, set to 365 days by default; manage or set to never expire via the vCenter interface.

Review covers licensing, deployment planning, installation options (windows vs. vCSA), web client types, vCenter inventory and views, key management processes, and troubleshooting.

Explore chapter six on configuring networking to learn the fundamentals of setting up networks within the VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics course.

Explore creating and modifying virtual networks, and describe the functions of the distributed virtual switch, available only with Enterprise Plus licensing.

Create and modify virtual networks in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics. Chapter 6 topic one explains creating and modifying virtual networks.

Learn the fundamentals of virtual networking in vSphere, including virtual switches, port groups, VMkernel ports (ESX management), and uplinks, and how software-based networking in RAM connects to physical NICs.

Explore the three vSphere 6.x switch types, including the standard virtual switch on each host and the distributed switch managed by vCenter, with third‑party switches deprecated in 6.5 update 1.

Create dedicated VMkernel ports for management, vSphere replication, fault tolerance logging, and provisioning traffic, and separate IP storage such as iSCSI or NFS, with multiple uplinks for redundancy.

learn to add networking in vSphere by creating a standard virtual switch, attaching physical nics to uplinks, and configuring a VM kernel port and port group with static IP addresses.

Explore how standard virtual switches (vss) connect vms within the host ram, manage traffic by subnet, and use vmkernel ports and vlan trunking for isolation and routing.

Add more physical NICs to the virtual switch to create extra lanes for NIC teaming, boosting throughput, rather than speeding up a VM by aggregating its virtual NICs.

Learn how VMware assigns mac addresses to virtual machines, how each vm kernel port gets an ip, and how the vmx file and arp -a reveal mac/ip mappings.

Learn to customize the MAC address in VMware vSphere 6.5, switching from automatic to manual addressing, with first three octets fixed and last three parts of the 48-bit address.

Configure NIC teaming for redundancy and load distribution across multiple NICs on a virtual switch, with failover for parent and child switches and up to 32 NICs per team.

Modify vSS properties in the VIC ports tab on vSphere 6.5, noting dynamic port allocation and the GUI minus 8 indicator (128 vs 120) versus the command line binary view.

Ports are elastic and start with a certain number, then add blocks of eight as needed over time. We will discuss this elastic port growth when we reach distributed topics.

Modify vSwitch properties by adjusting speed and duplex on physical adapters, noting NIC firmware changes and how NIC type and switches like Netgear or Dell affect available options.

Explain how VLANs form broadcast domains to isolate traffic, how virtual switches tag packets by VLAN IDs at port groups, and how trunking carries multiple VLANs.

Explore three vlan implementations in VMware: virtual switch tagging, vm guest tagging, and external switch tagging. The port group vlan id 4095 accepts all tagged frames.

Configure standard vSwitch vlan tagging by editing the vmkernel port or port group and setting a vlan id, using 802.1Q tagging; native vlan 1 is not supported on standard switches.

Explore how standard virtual switches in vSphere 6.5 prevent common physical-switch attacks by not learning MAC addresses, resisting MAC flooding and double VLAN encapsulation, and not supporting spanning tree.

Learn the security policy settings for standard and distributed vSwitches, including promiscuous mode, MAC address changes, and forged transmissions, and when to enable promiscuous mode for packet capture.

Configure traffic shaping on a standard vSwitch by creating four port groups with varying max speeds to cap outbound bandwidth for VMs; disabled by default, and note distributed switch differences.

Explore standard vSwitch NIC teaming and automatic failover with two active adapters (VM NIC 1 and VM NIC 2), including load balancing, link status detection, and beaconing.

Learn the default load balancing method, route based on originating virtual port ID, where each VM sticks to its initial NIC and replies return on that NIC.

Route based on IP hash on standard switches balances traffic across multiple NICs by using source and destination to select a physical NIC, sharing the same virtual port ID.

Master the required link aggregation on the physical switch and its pair with IP hash load balancing, ensuring a single ether channel per switch and the IP hash routing method.

Understand port group failover order on a vSwitch in VMware vSphere 6.5, with active and standby NICs in parent and child port groups and how traffic only shifts on failure.

Explore configuring a standard virtual switch with eight uplinks, assigning active and standby ports across the greenport group, blue, and yellow groups to handle NIC failures.

In vSphere 6.5, define a separate default gateway for each vmkernel port and create separate stacks for vmkernel and provisioning traffic, each with its own gateway and routing table.

Override the gateway address per VMkernel adapter in vSphere 6.5, enabling provisioning and motion traffic to route over layer 3 instead of layer 2.

Configure physical switches for vSphere by disabling spanning tree on host ports, bpdu, and port security, and ensure NIC team ports share a layer-2 broadcast domain with trusted VLAN ports.

Manage a vSphere distributed switch (vDS) from a central data center, requiring enterprise plus licensing; configure uplinks, port groups, PVLANs, traffic shaping, and network IO control.

Explore vSphere 5.0 features: quality of service controls for flow types, user defined network IO controls, net flow version 5, and Portmeirion traffic duplication with link layer discovery.

Discover vSphere 5.1 distributed switch enhancements—network health checks, backup/restore, automatic rollback, MAC address manipulation, dynamic detection, and SR-IOV with up to 32 VMs per NIC.

Discover the new vSphere distributed switch features in 5.5, including layer 3 traffic filtering and marking, enhanced LACP, host-level packet captures, and default network IO controls in the web client.

Introduces network i/o control and multicast snooping in vSphere 6.0, enabling granular control down to the vNIC connected to a distributed port group on a distributed switch.

Create a vSphere distributed switch using the old client or web client. Configure uplinks and default port groups, with optional hosts and pnics.

Edit vds settings lets you configure topology, mtu, uplinks, discovery protocols, and pvlan types (promiscuous, isolated, community) for precise port group isolation and network access.

Edit the vds uplink object to rename it, reset disconnect, and adjust port policies, then enable lcp, flow monitoring, and traffic filtering on the distributed switch.

Edit vds port group settings to cover elastic port allocation and default QoS. Configure security policies, VLAN/PVLAN options, NIC teaming, uplinks, netflow, and port block controls.

Master port binding methods in vSphere 6.5: static, dynamic, and ephemeral. Static is default with elastic allocation and permanent VM binding; dynamic is deprecated; ephemeral auto assigns ports for recovery.

Configure private VLANs by assigning primary and secondary PVLANs at the parent and apply them at the port group level.

Explore private VLANs in vSphere 6.5, detailing promiscuous, community, and isolated types and visibility between virtual machines. Select a private VLAN port group to access PV lands from the parent.

Migrate existing VM kernel ports from a standard switch to a distributed switch by selecting VM kernel ports, choosing a destination port group, and allowing automatic traffic impact analysis.

Discover network I/O control to enforce quality of service across vm, data, and other traffic types, adjust limits and shares, and apply user defined QoS at the port group level.

Configure net flow by setting up the net flow collector on distributed switch, enable port group monitoring, and deploy a vm on that port group with the solar winds collector.

Enable the distributed switch health check by configuring the managed tab settings for two options, including teaming and failover. Then monitor the health status on the monitor tab.

Back up and restore the vDS settings by exporting the distributed switch configuration (or all child objects) to a zip file, then import the settings as needed.

Explore per VM network IO control settings (NIOC) and apply granular configurations down to the per-vnic level by adjusting the individual VM's adapter settings, including reservations and limits.

Explore vSphere 6.5 ERSPAN support, including versions 2 and 3, and learn how to set up packet routing based on the host routing table through the management port default gateway.

Explore configuring ERSPAN on a distributed switch by setting port mirroring and selecting span type 2 or 3 under edit properties.

Explore configuring storage in chapter 7 of the VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics course today.

Explore this chapter’s 11 topics on storage in vSphere 6.5, covering iSCSI storage, fiber channel storage, VM data stores, VSAN, virtual volumes, and storage management solutions.

Explore the new storage features in vSphere 6.5, as presented in topic 0 of chapter 7.

Explore storage I/O control enhancements and storage policy-based management, including encryption, caching, and expanded data store and path support, plus new emulation and advanced storage formats.

Explore storage concepts in vSphere 6.5 administration basics, chapter 7 topic one, to build a foundation for managing virtual environments.

Examine storage access methods beyond datastore names by using ANSI 10 device names and path formats. See how storage presents through vm hp labels, channels, targets, and luns, including slices.

Discover the vSphere storage APIs, from multipath storage to storage awareness APIs, array integration, io filtering, data protection for backup and replication, and Site Recovery Manager for disaster recovery.

Explore storage api array integration offloading copies to the san via extended scsi commands, with block zeroing, hardware assisted locking, thin provisioning, and unmap for space reclamation.

Examine multipath concepts with multiple host paths through adapters and storage processors to access LUNs, highlighting that only one path is active at a time and round robin load balancing.

optimize storage path selection with the pluggable storage architecture, psa and psp, performing failover and health reporting using native policies: fixed, most recently used, and round robin.

Plan path selection to avoid a single bottleneck; without multipath, all traffic uses the first path. Use multiple LUNs or lines and apply round-robin with low IOPS per vendor guidance.

View and manage multipathing in the vSphere client by inspecting managed paths, selecting path types such as fixed, MRU, or round robin, and noting statuses like active and dead.

Learn to configure and manage storage devices via the web client, use multipathing, review path selection policies, and see how policies affect fiber channel paths.

Install a third-party multipathing plugin (NMP) via update manager by uploading the zip, creating a host extension baseline, and applying it to hosts or clusters, followed by reboot and remediation.

Explore all paths down (APD) and how uncontrolled storage removal can cause host hangs; learn how vCenter 5.0 introduced permanent device loss with SCSI sense codes to speed I/O downing.

Explore storage I/O control in vSphere 6.5, configure congestion thresholds to grant QoS to VMs, and set per data store and per vm shares—including fs data stores.

Learn how to enable storage I/O control (SIOC) in the vSphere web client, use the I/O injector to auto-set a 90 percent peak threshold, and assign per-VM I/O shares to prioritize workloads.

Explore sioc enhancements, including stats-only mode, threshold computation with the io injector, and in 6.5 io limits, shares, and reservations integrated into storage io control policy management to prioritize workloads.

Configuring a SIOC v2 policy involves creating one or more storage policy components, then adding them to a storage policy and applying ISO filter for VMFS data stores.

Enable monitoring for SIAC after you enable it, then go to host monitor performance advanced chart options for data storage and view three SIAC-related counters in the charts.

Scan LUNs for iSCSI and fibre channel in VMware vSphere 6.5, explain max LUN IDs and the disc max lun setting, and rescan adapters or storage via the esx cli.

Explore iSCSI storage with gui and command line in VMware vSphere 6.5, following chapter 7 topics.

Learn the iSCSI overview: initiators over an IP-based network send SCSI commands (CDBs) to access block storage, with gigabit networks and a default port of 30 to 60.

Explore iSCSI concepts for ESX/ESXi, including initiators and targets, boot options, and vmfs data stores for storing vms, templates, and iso images.

Explore the esx/esxi and iSCSI san architecture, detailing disk arrays and storage processors, LUN access, and choosing between software iSCSI or an hba with separate storage traffic.

Evaluate hardware versus software initiators, from costly HP cards to software-based approaches, and how offload-enabled NICs with jumbo frames can match or exceed traditional setups.

Enable software iSCSI multipathing by dedicating network adapters, binding VMkernel ports to the software initiator, configuring target IPs, and using the storage wizard with optional round robin and low IOPS.

Set up software initiator networking by configuring two switches with separate NICs and VM kernel ports (VM K-2 and VM K-3), showing the preferred approach over NIC teaming.

Configure iSCSI in vSphere by adding software adapters, setting the initiator name, binding VMkernel ports, and using dynamic discovery with CHAP to discover targets and reach 512 LUNs via multipath.

Learn to configure CHAP authentication for the VMware vSphere 6.5 software initiator at three levels—across all targets, per target IP, or per line—demonstrating granular options for secure access.

Troubleshoot your iSCSI software initiator by confirming ongoing activity and identifying persistent problems. Start by checking log files, especially the host log, for iSCSI errors or failures.

Explore VMware tested and approved iSCSI targets, verified on the compatibility site. Learn how storage is carved into LUNs and presented to the network, with HP StoreVirtual as an example.

Explore fiber channel storage concepts in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics, chapter 7 topic 3.

Explore esx/esxi and fiber channel san environments, focusing on worldwide names, 64-bit hexadecimal addresses, zoning and masking zoning, and how FCoE and fiber switches impact cost and performance.

Compare hardware and software initiators for multipathing with fibre channel. Show how two-card offload enabled adapters with jumbo frames and hybrid cards offer faster or comparable performance to HP cards.

Explore a small subset of fiber channel devices tested and approved by VMware; consult the compatibilities site for options, and note that some software FCU targets are not production supported.

Understand VMFS-5 in VMware vSphere 6.5, including per-VM storage directories, 1 mb blocks with 8 kb sub-blocks, upgrade from VMFS-3, and 2 tb per volume (up to 64 tb) limits.

Discover VMFS updates in VMware vSphere 6.5: volumes per host rise to 512, file size jumps to 62 terabytes, and VMFS3 to VMFS5 upgrades enable up to 50 terabyte volumes.

VMFS6, a vSphere 6.5 feature, improves scalability and performance over VMFS-5, supports 4k drives with 512-byte emulation, two block sizes, and affinity manager with resource pool locks.

VMFS6 uses 1 MB small blocks for files under 512 MB and 512 MB blocks for larger files, boosting efficiency; upgrade path from VMFS5 is not supported; volumes created separately.

Allocate 100 gigabytes by structuring into 64 gigabytes as small file blocks, followed by four large file blocks of eight gigs each, and finish with four gigs of small blocks.

Upgrade VMFS-3 to VMFS-5 while preserving the original 8 megabyte block size. If space allows, use the upgrade option; otherwise, perform a clean format to enable VMFS-5 for long-term use.

Do not attempt to upgrade VMFS5 to VMFS6; upgrading is not supported, so you must create a new data store instead.

Extend a VMFS datastore by adding extents to use blank space, a technique dating to volume sets or spand volumes, letting storage grow as data fills new areas.

Access the data store, use the increase option to add a new VMFS extent from free space via a wizard, and note the data volume now has two extents.

Expand an ESXi 6.x VMFS volume by resizing the SAN LUN and then expanding the data store on the host, using an EqualLogic SAN from 5 GB to 10 GB.

Identify hidden system files on a VMFS data store, specifically files ending with .s.f., and understand they are system files not to be edited as they manage pointers and indexing.

Explore NAS storage and NFS datastores in vSphere 6.5 using GUI and command line to manage storage effectively.

Discover how NFS data stores compare to VMFS LUN on SAN, including boot restrictions, VMkernel port access, and how to adjust the NFS targets limit from 8 to 256.

Learn how vSphere 6.5 adds NFS v4.1 support, enabling old route and Kerberos access, with capabilities now on the FS server or appliance; hardware acceleration and IPv6 were previously unavailable.

Explore NFS 4.1 improvements in vSphere 6.5, including IPv6 support with Kerberos and stronger encryption to enhance security and interoperability.

Enable the built-in NFS service on Windows 2003 R2 and higher, map a user to the root account, and configure NFS sharing with read or write permissions for sandbox testing.

Mount an NFS datastore to a host using the new data store wizard, selecting NFS and the version, then provide a name, folder, and server address, with optional read-only.

Explore raw device mapping (rdm) in VMware vSphere 6.5 through chapter 7 topic 6, highlighting its role in direct storage access.

Explore the two rdm compatibility modes, virtual and physical, and how they affect disk state information, snapshots, and direct san access without command filters.

Discover how to add a raw device mapping (RDM) for a VM, choose compatibility mode (virtual or physical), and note the VM uses the mapped disk like any other disk.

Solid state disks offer fast, resilient performance with high throughput and storage efficiency, and ESXi recognizes them as a distinct ssd drive type.

Learn how smart technology built into drive controllers monitors media wear, temperatures, and reallocated sectors in SSDs, and how to run reports via the command line.

Learn to manually mark a disk as flash when ESXi cannot identify an SSD. In the new web client, navigate to configure, then storage devices, and click mark as flash.

Learn to configure vSphere virtual flash resources via the web client, enabling host or per-VM read caching with up to eight local SSDs and the virtual flash file system.

Select a host in the navigator, open managed settings, and configure virtual flash resource management to add capacity and choose which listed disks, including SSDs, become part of the resource.

Configure virtual flash host swap by using the flash resource as swap space on the ESX host, providing a memory substitute when RAM is tight.

Explore advanced settings for virtual flash read cache to use SSD as an I/O caching layer for a single VM disk, enabling per-VM cache optimization.

Configure the virtual flash read cache by setting the flash resource size on a VM, then use advanced options to choose the block size for the application.

Assess performance and capacity with vFoglight for storage, part of Quest software, and view typology and graphical views. Use color indicators to spot issues and guide quick investigation.

Explore VMware virtual SAN, better known as VSAN, as presented in chapter 7 topic 9.

Learn vSAN device configuration on ESXi hosts, with direct attached storage, one SSD for IO caching, and seven spinning disks per disk group, up to five groups per host.

Configure a vsan cluster as hyper-converged storage inside hosts, using three hosts to form a san, with vm disks and files stored as objects via policy and vasa.

Discover the VSAN architecture with a minimum three-host cluster, each hosting an SSD and spinning disks, scalable to the full cluster, where SAN storage is shared across all hosts.

Discover vSAN version 6.2 with ESXi 6.0 update, featuring dedup and compression, raid options, improved swap efficiency, thin provisioning, IOPS QoS, and clustering service support for Microsoft SFP and Oracle.

Explore vSAN 6.5 and VSA, with z-axis support, all-flash deployments, and licensing tiers standard, enterprise, and enterprise plus, plus three-node and witness-based two-node cluster options.

Explore vSAN version 6.6, the April debut with over 25 new features, including vSAN encryption, local protection for stretched clusters, enhanced repairs, and ESXi command-line options.

Explore vSphere virtual volumes (VVols) in topic 10 of chapter 7, clarifying their purpose and terminology within the VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics.

Understand the vvols architecture: the host talks to the storage array via protocol endpoints, storing vm files as objects in containers with policy based management via the vasa provider.

Learn vCenter and joined hosts with vSAN, IPv6 not supported, protocol endpoints require iSCSI activation, and storage containers stay within a single array.

Explore native virtual volumes replication in vSphere 6.5, enabled by vSphere API for storage awareness and VASA 3.0, allowing replication from one site to another.

Review the compatibility site to identify VVols certified storage vendors, note provider versions, and understand how Dell, HP, EMC, NetApp, IBM, and Hitachi support VVols alongside legacy san and luns.

Summarizes chapter 7 storage topics, covering storage features, storage concepts, fiber channel san, vmfs data stores, ssds and flash read cache, storage and management solutions, and hyper-converged storage for virtualization.

Explore chapter 8 and answer common questions about venoms in this introduction. Discover key concepts and practical insights presented clearly.

Explore creating a virtual machine, building templates and clones, and using virtual appliances, while managing V-Amp container objects and EMS, then cover startup, shutdown, snapshots, and troubleshooting.

Create a virtual machine in VMware vSphere 6.5 by following chapter 8 topic one, outlining essential steps to configure a VM.

Discover how VM hardware is composed, from Phoenix BIOS and hardware versioning to RAM, USB, serial ports, SCSI and IDE controllers, PCI direct path I/O, and multi-display support.

Explore the evolution of vNIC types from VMXNET and VMXNET2 through VMXNET3, including VMXNET Enhanced, and understand how VMXNET3 provides the fastest throughput and jumbo frame support with VMware Tools.

Explains how a new VM creates a directory on the data store with the VMX configuration file, descriptor and data files, swap and log files, and suspension and snapshot considerations.

Explore vmdk provisioning options—thin, lazy zeroed, eager zeroed—and their impact on data store space, with lazy zero as default and sparse used for delta files in vmfsx.

Explore how a virtual disk uses a standard flat data file and a descriptive file, defaults to thick provision lazy zero, and how resizing requires moving files to change provisioning.

Access VM consoles in vSphere 6.5 and send ctrl-alt-del via keyboard or VM menu. Toggle full screen with ctrl-alt-enter and manage clipboard enablement via KB article, noting resets after upgrades.

Explore VMRC and web console options in vSphere 6.5: install VMRC, set a default console, and open remote or web consoles directly from the VM thumbnail gear.

Installing VMware Tools brings essential drivers, improved mouse behavior, and guest power management, enabling proper shutdown or restart and reliable snapshotting via the guest OS menu or summary bar.

Compare and clarify VMware tools versions 5 and earlier versus 5.1/5.5/6.0, highlighting restricted administrator access, upgrade timing in maintenance windows, and backward compatibility with pre-installation.

Explore how VMware Tools 10.1 and 10.0.12 separate operating system packages, reveal installation type and build details, and enable out-of-band updates via the VMware site.

Create multiple virtual machines, templates, and clones within VMware vSphere 6.5, mastering efficient VM provisioning and deployment workflows.

Customizing the os lets you tailor any os from Vista on up, with open source files included in vCenter copies. You can clone a vm or deploy from a template.

Create a new customization specification with the customization specification manager, generating Windows or Linux answer files, guiding name, network, licensing, admin credentials, and domain settings.

Explore virtual appliances within the VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics ultimate course, Chapter 8, Topic three.

Discover virtual appliances, pre-configured VMs packaged in open virtualization format (OVL) for cross-platform use, with export from ESX and import into Workstation or Fusion.

Import virtual appliances into vSphere using the deploy wizard, from internet or local files, then name the VM, assign storage and network, configure IP, and power on after deployment.

Learn to store templates in a content library by importing items or cloning templates, naming them, and understanding it clones to an old V.F. package to become an appliance.

Customize a guest OS with a wizard and an answer file while powered off; in vSphere 6.5, finish via content library template deployment in a single step.

Store a single template in any data center object or the content library. Deploy it across all data center objects worldwide.

Explore configuring and using vApps within VMware vSphere 6.5, focusing on setup, management, and practical use of apps in a virtualized environment.

Create vapps from a cluster via a wizard, set cpu and memory limits, then power on, edit settings, assign tags, set alarms, export to a template, and clone.

Enable hot add for CPU and RAM in virtual machines by pre-enabling in the VM options, then expand CPU and memory in virtual hardware and check hot add boxes.

Explore the virtual hardware tab to configure cpu sockets and cores per socket, and set reservations, limits, shares; enable hardware virtualization and manage disks, adapters, and CD-ROM options.

Add a USB controller, attach host-based or locally mounted USB devices to the virtual machine, and view the new hardware in the guest and Device Manager with VMware approval.

Learn how to configure vm properties options tab, including general settings, version upgrades, remote console limits, tools upgrades, time sync, power management, boot options (bios/efi), and fiber channel npv basics.

Learn how to resize a virtual disk in vSphere 6.5 by increasing the VM's hard drive, then extend the Windows C drive to use newly allocated space.

Learn to extend a partition using Dell's extpart tool from the command line, view free space with diskpart, and extend the C drive without reboot.

Use gparted live cd to extend partitions by resizing and moving them, boot from the iso, apply changes, and reboot the vm or server.

Reclaim free space with Raxco PerfectStorage using smart zero fill and SCSI unmap in virtual provisioning. Get 25 percent off by mentioning the term V.M. training.

Rename a virtual machine by right-clicking its name in the inventory. During live storage motion or cold migration, the vm's folder, files, and internal references are automatically updated.

Enable automatic startup and shutdown of virtual machines on a host in vSphere, noting it is off by default and disabled when the host joins a cluster; set startup order.

Configure vm startup and shutdown order in vSphere 6.5, switch from manual to automatic startup, adjust startup delays, and set the default shutdown action to power off.

Explore virtual machine snapshots in vSphere 6.5 administration, covering best practices for managing, creating, and using snapshots to safeguard configurations and data.

Use virtual machine snapshots for testing, not backups, and keep them within 72 hours, using delta disk files and optional memory captures; revert or commit as you test.

Take a vSphere 6.5 snapshot by naming and describing it with a date-time prefix, replace slashes with dashes, and choose between quiescing the file system or snapshot memory.

The snapshot manager lists three snapshots, two with RAM indicating a running VM, and the non-ram snapshot would be powered off. Delete and delete all options are available.

Delete a snapshot based on its position in the chain; later snapshots are removed instantly, while front-of-the-chain deletions merge deltas into the flat file before removal.

Master virtual machine troubleshooting and best practices for VMware vSphere 6.5 administration, enabling efficient problem resolution and reliable virtualization management.

Troubleshoot vm problems by examining host physical resources and guests' OS and application issues, adjust virtual settings, and use network and diagnostic tools to verify connectivity and boot issues.

Compare virtual machines to physical servers, showing virtual machines use fewer resources. Start small with a virtual machine and scale resources as needed; apply nic teaming and remove unused ports.

Explore VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics as you cover virtual machine creation and components, templates and clones, virtual appliances, configuration and resources, startup and shutdown, snapshots, and troubleshooting.

Explore chapter 9 security and permissions in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics, outlining core access controls, roles, and permission management for secure virtual environments.

Explore four topics in chapter 9, including controlling user access and passwords, XCI 80 integration, managing firewalls, and handling security certificates.

Learn to control user access and passwords in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics ultimate, covering essential access management concepts.

ESXi account security locks out after ten failed logins for two minutes; SSH or SDK access supported, not via DCUI or ESXi shell; passwords require seven characters across three classes.

Enable security configuration on a standalone esx host through advanced settings or by editing the past budy file. The screen shows an AOL passphrase as a set of passwords.

Explore esxi 6.5 high security enhancements, tracking the actual administrator user for audit trails. Review smartcard authentication, flexible lockdown modes, and user interface exceptions list for secure access.

Open security profile, edit lockdown mode, choose among three options, and add user exceptions; strict lockdown stops the DC service and blocks host access except for users like Jeff.

Explore vSphere 6.5 security enhancements, including vm level encryption, secure boot for esx host and guest os, enhanced multi-factor authentication, and encrypted vmo improving audit trails.

VM encryption is embedded in the hypervisor and implemented through VM storage policy in vCenter. By selecting a VM policy, you encrypt the VM's on-disk files regardless of power state.

Explore the VMware vSphere encryption workflow, detailing the steps for a new VM versus an existing encrypted or unencrypted VM.

vMotion encryption enables live VM migration over the network with encryption between hosts, using options disabled, opportunistic, or required, and applies if on-disk encryption exists.

Secure boot validates the ESXi boot process by checking that digitally signed packages and installation bundles are properly signed.

Assign permissions by pairing a group or user with a role on an inventory object, enabling propagation down tree. Follow practices: grant to groups, not users, and give minimum rights.

Discover VMware vSphere roles, including default administrator, read-only, and no access, with pre-created sample roles lacking users. Create custom granular roles, such as power on or off a VM.

Explore how to integrate ESXi with Active Directory to streamline authentication and centralized management within VMware vSphere 6.5 environments.

Active Directory authentication services lets you join an ESXi host to a domain, enabling AD login. Use a proxy to cache credentials for diskless or auto deploy setups.

Learn how to assign ESXi permissions directly to Active Directory users by creating an AD group like ESX Space Admins, which grants administrator role across all domain-joined hosts.

Explore chapter 9 topic three on managing firewalls in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration basics. Apply firewall management practices within the VMware vSphere environment.

Discover the ESXi firewall engine, not based on iptables, enabled by default and blocking all traffic except for management services; it's service oriented and stateless, configured via firewall directory files.

Explore essential tcp and udp ports for a vCenter deployment, highlighting key ports and security considerations, with a reference to a knowledge base article for the full port list.

Learn to configure the ESX firewall via the vSphere web client, view firewall services and TCP or UDP ports and directions, and know whether a daemon runs, including IP connections.

Master the essentials of managing security certificates in VMware vSphere 6.5 administration, covering chapter 9 topics and practical certificate handling.

Enable data encryption by default for all connections; set the host firewall to high. It uses 2048-bit RSA, 256-bit encryption, SSL, and SSH for VM kernel communications.

Discover how vSphere 6.0 to 6.5 changes consolidate a larger number of services under a smaller set called solutions users, with each solutions user holding a certificate.

Explore security-focused content by following the screen links to articles and videos for extra information, as other classes cover more in-depth topics.

Review chapter 9 and cover four topics: controlling user access and passwords, ESX SSI A.D. integration, managing firewalls, and managing security certificates.