VMware vSphere Administration

Configure the ESXi host management network by setting a static IPv4 address, subnet mask, gateway, DNS, and hostname, then apply changes and reboot to finalize the configuration.

Connect the ESXi host using the vSphere web client, verify the management network is reachable, log in, and view host hardware details including CPUs and uptime.

Create a new virtual machine on the ESXi host, name it, select Windows Server 2019 64-bit, allocate 30 GB storage, set CPU sockets, and connect to the datastore and network.

Understand how VMware stores virtual machine files in the datastore, including configuration files, raw disk data, snapshot and suspended state files, RAM and lock files, and templates.

Understand how VMware snapshots preserve the current state and data of a virtual machine, including disk, memory, and devices, and that they are not backups.

Learn to create and manage virtual machine snapshots in VMware vSphere, including whether to capture memory and how disk provisioning modes affect snapshot scope.

Configure and manage VMware ESXi networking by creating standard vSwitches, setting uplinks, defining port groups and VLANs, and applying security and traffic policies to optimize performance and isolation.

Explore storage fundamentals for VMware vSphere administration, including SAN, NAS, and file-level and block-level storage, with LUNs, RAID, and protocols such as SMB/CIFS, NFS, iSCSI, and FC.

Understand direct attached storage (DAS) concepts, including how front-panel disks connect to servers, the role of disk enclosures and raid controllers, and external boxes for extended SAS or SCSI storage.

Learn how a storage area network connects servers and storage using storage pools, targets and hosts, with storage controllers and protocols like fibre channel or iscsi, plus host bus adapters.

Configure windows server 2019 as nas storage by installing file and storage services via server manager, enabling the required roles, and verifying storage services and targets.

Create a vmkernel network for storage communication and configure manual ip settings so the storage initiator can reach storage on the same subnet or a different subnet.

Create a network file share on Windows storage by creating a folder, enabling sharing, setting read-write permissions, and applying security settings for anonymous logon and Linux access.

Learn to configure an NFS datastore in vSphere by creating and mounting an NFS share on an ESX host, including the case-sensitive path, version, and capacity.

Enable the iSCSI initiator on an ESXi host, note that software iSCSI is disabled by default, then generate the iqn and configure the storage target.

Create a virtual disk, convert it to an iSCSI LUN, and present it to an ESXi host by configuring a target and adding the host initiator for access.

Configure the iSCSI initiator on the ESXi host by binding the VMkernel to the storage network, configure dynamic targets, then rescan to reveal the LUN.

Learn to configure a connected LUN as a datastore in ESXi, create and format a new datastore from available disks, and acknowledge data-loss warnings during setup.

Learn to increase datastore capacity on an ESXi host by expanding the existing datastore or adding a new storage pool, with live, data-loss-free extension of virtual disks.

Understand VMware vCenter Server 7.0 for centralized management of a virtual infrastructure, with platform service controller consolidation, deployment as Windows or appliance, and PostgreSQL or Oracle or Microsoft SQL options.

Log onto the vCSA appliance to configure the vCenter Server infrastructure, organize data centers and folders, and add hosts while monitoring health and updates from the center console.

Understand how to clone a virtual machine and use templates to rapidly deploy many independent copies from a primary VM, with optional customization and secure provisioning.

Create and manage customization specifications for Windows and Linux to assign unique host names during VM cloning, preventing conflicts, and store settings centrally for scalable deployments.

Learn to clone a powered-off virtual machine in vSphere, choosing clone, clone to template, or clone as template, and customize hardware, OS, and network settings.

Learn to create a virtual machine template from an existing VM and deploy new virtual machines from that template, including selecting data center, host, datastore, and applying a customization specification.

Explore how to migrate virtual machines across hosts and datastores, using hot and cold migrations to support maintenance, load balancing, and hardware upgrades.

Migrate virtual machines between hosts in the same data center, ensuring processor compatibility, accessible datastores, and matching network groups for seamless operation.

Execute hot migration of a virtual machine between hosts using vMotion with no interruption, ensuring same data center, matching processor family, and enabled vMotion on both VMkernel networks.

Explore vSphere monitoring and performance tools, including health status, performance charts for CPU, memory, and storage, and configurable alerts and alarms.

Learn how vSphere clusters pool ESX resources to balance load and provide failover, using active and passive hosts to keep mission-critical apps continuously available.

Learn to create a vSphere cluster in a datacenter, add two hosts by DNS name, and see how the cluster groups CPU, memory, and storage.

Learn how vSphere DRS balances cluster workloads through resource scheduling, load balancing, and VM placement, using vMotion migration and automation levels from manual to fully automated.

Understand how vSphere HA pools VMs and hosts into a cluster, elects a primary master, and restarts VMs on alternate hosts during failures.

Learn to configure vSphere HA by enabling cluster monitoring, setting host failure responses, and tuning datastore and heartbeat settings to automatically restart or migrate VMs during host or datastore failures.