Monthly Archives: August 2016

Aug 16

vSphere 6.0 Foundations – Exam Blueprint

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With 6.0 VCP you now have to take TWO tests. This Blueprint is for the FIRST of these called Foundations. It is an online, non-proctored test of the fundamentals. Here is the exam blueprint with links, all expanded.  First, here are the two exams; 2V0-620 (Foundations) and 2V0-621 (DCV)
cert-2v0-621-DCV cert-2v0-620-Foundations
+ Objective 1.1: Identify vSphere Architecture and Solutions for a given use casevSphere_6

Knowledge

  • Explain available vSphere editions and features
  • Explain the various data center solutions that interact with vSphere
  • Explain ESXi and vCenter Server architectures
  • Explain new solutions offered in the current version
  • Determine appropriate vSphere edition based on customer requirements

Tools

+ Objective 1.2: Install and configure vCenter Server

Knowledge

  • Deploy the vCenter Appliance (vCSA)
  • Install vCenter Server onto a virtual machine
  • Create an ODBC Connection to a vCenter Server
  • Given a scenario, size the vCenter Database based on requirements
  • Install additional vCenter Server Components
  • Install and configure vSphere Client / vSphere Web Client
  • Install/Remove vSphere Client plug-ins
  • Enable/Disable vSphere Client plug-ins
  • License vCenter Server
  • Determine availability requirements for a vCenter Server in a given vSphere implementation

Tools

+ Objective 1.3: Install and configure ESXi

Knowledge

  • Given a scenario, validate if an ESXi configuration meets given requirements
  • Perform a scripted installation of ESXi
  • Perform an interactive installation of ESXi using media or PXE
  • Configure NTP on an ESXi Host
  • Configure DNS and routing on an ESXi Host
  • Configure SSH and Shell access on an ESXi Host
  • Configure logs to be sent to a syslog server
  • License an ESXi host

Tools

+ Section 2: Configure vSphere Networking
+ Objective 2.1: Configure vSphere Standard Switches (vSS)

Knowledge

  • Explain vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) capabilities
  • Create/Delete a vSphere Standard Switch
  • Add/Configure/Remove vmnics on a vSphere Standard Switch
  • Configure vmkernel ports for network services
  • Add/Edit/Remove port groups on a vSphere Standard Switch
  • Determine use case for a vSphere Standard Switch

Tools

+ Objective 2.2: Configure vSphere Distributed Switches (vDS)

Knowledge

  • Explain vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) capabilities
  • Create/Delete a vSphere Distributed Switch
  • Add/Remove ESXi Hosts from a vSphere Distributed Switch
  • Add/Configure/Remove dvPort groups
  • Add/Remove uplink adapters to dvUplink groups
  • Configure vSphere Distributed Switch general and dvPort group settings
  • Create/Configure/Remove virtual adapters
  • Migrate virtual adapters to/from a vSphere Standard Switch
  • Migrate virtual machines to/from a vSphere Distributed Switch
  • Configure LACP on Uplink port groups
  • Determine use case for a vSphere Distributed Switch

Tools

+ Objective 2.3: Configure vSS and vDS Features

Knowledge

  • Explain common vSS and vDS policies
  • Describe vDS Security Polices/Settings
  • Configure dvPort group blocking policies
  • Configure load balancing and failover policies
  • Configure VLAN/PVLAN settings
  • Configure traffic shaping policies
  • Enable TCP Segmentation Offload support for a virtual machine
  • Enable Jumbo Frames support on appropriate components
  • Given a scenario, determine appropriate VLAN configuration for a vSphere implementation

Tools

+ Section 3: Configure vSphere Storage
+ Objective 3.1: Connect Shared Storage Devices to vSphere

Knowledge

  • Explain storage naming conventions
  • Explain hardware/dependent hardware/software iSCSI initiator requirements
  • Configure FC/iSCSI/FCoE storage devices
  • Describe zoning and LUN masking practices
  • Create an NFS share for use with vSphere
  • Configure/Edit hardware/dependent hardware initiator
  • Connect/Configure NFS 3.x and 4.1 NAS devices
  • Enable/Disable software iSCSI initiator
  • Configure/Edit software iSCSI initiator settings
  • Configure iSCSI port binding
  • Enable/Configure/Disable iSCSI CHAP

Tools

+ Objective 3.2: Configure Software Defined Storage

Knowledge

  • Explain Virtual SAN (VSAN) Architecture
  • Create/Delete VSAN Cluster
  • Manage VSAN disk groups
  • Monitor VSAN storage
  • Add/Remove VSAN Nodes
  • Explain benefits of NFS 4.1
  • Determine use cases for Virtual SAN configurations

Tools

+ Objective 3.3: Create and Configure VMFS and NFS Datastores

Knowledge

  • Compare/Contrast supported NFS versions
  • Configure NFS storage for VMDK formatting
  • Configure storage multi-pathing
  • Compare/Contract VMFS3 and VMFS5
  • Configure Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS)
  • Extend/Expand VMFS Datastores
  • Place a VMFS Datastore in Maintenance Mode

Tools

+ Section 4: Deploy and Administer Virtual Machines and vApps
+ Objective 4.1: Create and Deploy Virtual Machines

Knowledge

  • Place virtual machines in selected ESXi Hosts/Clusters/Resource Pools
  • Configure and deploy a Guest OS into a new virtual machine
  • Configure/Modify virtual hardware:
    • CPU
    • RAM
    • Disk
    • vNIC
  • Create/Convert thin/thick provisioned virtual disks
  • Install/Upgrade VMware Tools and Virtual Hardware
  • Configure PCI Pass-through and Direct I/O
  • Configure virtual machine time synchronization

Tools

+ Objective 4.2: Create and Deploy vApps

Knowledge

  • Create/Deploy/Clone a vApp
  • Add objects to an existing vApp
  • Edit vApp settings
  • Configure IP pools
  • Suspend/Resume a vApp

Tools

+ Objective 4.3: Manage Virtual Machine Clones and Templates

Knowledge

  • Explain Cloning and Template options
  • Clone an existing virtual machine
  • Create a template from an existing virtual machine
  • Deploy a virtual machine from a template
  • Update existing virtual machine templates
  • Deploy virtual appliances and/or vApps from an OVF template
  • Import an OVF template
  • Create a Local Library
  • Create a Remote Library with/without external storage
  • Publish/Subscribe/Share Content Library
  • Deploy a virtual machine from a content library

Tools

+ Objective 4.4: Administer Virtual Machines and vApps

Knowledge

  • Explain files used by virtual machines
  • Explain common practices for securing virtual machines
  • Hot Extend a virtual disk
  • Configure virtual machine options
  • Configure virtual machine power settings
  • Configure virtual machine boot options
  • Administer virtual machine snapshots
  • Assign a Storage Policy to a virtual machine
  • Verify Storage Policy compliance for virtual machines
  • Adjust virtual machine resources
  • Differentiate between stop/shutdown/reboot/restart of a virtual machine

Tools

+ Section 5: Establish and Maintain Availability and Resource Management Features
+ Objective 5.1: Create and Configure VMware Clusters

Knowledge

  • Determine how DRS and HA are applicable to an environment
  • Create/Delete a DRS/HA Cluster
  • Add/Remove ESXi Hosts from a DRS/HA Cluster
  • Add/Remove virtual machines from a DRS/HA Cluster
  • Configure Storage DRS
  • Configure Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
  • Monitor a DRS/HA Cluster
  • Configure migration thresholds for DRS and virtual machines
  • Configure automation levels for DRS and virtual machines
  • Enable/Configure/Disable Host Power Management/Distributed Power Management
  • Enable/Disable Host Monitoring
  • Enable/Configure/Disable virtual machine and application monitoring

Tools

+ Objective 5.2: Plan and Implement VMware Fault Tolerance

Knowledge

  • Configure VMware Fault Tolerance networking
  • Given a scenario, determine an appropriate VMware Fault Tolerance configuration
  • Enable/Disable VMware Fault Tolerance on a virtual machine
  • Test a Fault Tolerant configuration
  • Determine use case for enabling VMware Fault Tolerance on a virtual machine

Tools

+ Objective 5.3: Create and Administer Resource Pools

Knowledge

  • Explain vFlash architecture
  • Explain use cases for Resource Pools
  • Create/Remove a Resource Pool
  • Configure Resource Pool attributes
  • Add/Remove virtual machines from a Resource Pool
  • Create/Delete vFlash Resource Pool
  • Assign vFlash resources to VMDKs
  • Determine Resource Pool requirements for a given vSphere implementation

Tools

+ Objective 5.4: Migrate Virtual Machines

Knowledge

  • Explain Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC)
  • Explain Long Distance vMotion
  • Explain process for vMotion/Storage vMotion migrations
  • Configure virtual machine swap file location
  • Migrate a powered-off or suspended virtual machine
  • Migrate virtual machines using vMotion/Storage vMotion

Tools

+ Objective 5.5: Backup and Restore Virtual Machines

Knowledge

  • Explain VMware Data Protection sizing Guidelines
  • Describe vSphere Replication architecture
  • Install and Configure VMware Data Protection
  • Create a backup job with VMware Data Protection
  • Perform a live full/file-level restore with VMware Data Protection
  • Create/Delete/Consolidate virtual machine snapshots
  • Perform a failback operation using vSphere Replication
  • Determine appropriate backup solution for a given vSphere implementation

Tools

+ Objective 5.6: Update ESXi and Virtual Machines

Knowledge

  • Create/Edit/Remove a Host Profile from an ESXi host
  • Attach/Apply a Host Profile to an ESXi host or cluster
  • Perform compliance scanning and remediation of an ESXi host using Host Profiles
  • Install and Configure vCenter Update Manager
  • Configure patch download options
  • Create/Edit/Delete an Update Manager baseline
  • Attach an Update Manager baseline to an ESXi host or cluster
  • Scan and remediate ESXi Hosts and virtual machines using Update Manager

Tools

+ Section 6: Perform Basic Troubleshooting
+ Objective 6.1: Perform Basic Troubleshooting of ESXi and vCenter Server

Knowledge

  • Troubleshoot common installation issues
  • Monitor status of ESXi management agents
  • Determine ESXi host stability issues and gather diagnostics information
  • Export diagnostic information
  • Monitor status of the vCenter Server service
  • Perform basic maintenance of a vCenter Server database

Tools

+ Objective 6.2: Perform Basic Troubleshooting of ESXi and vCenter Operations

Knowledge

  • Verify network configuration
  • Troubleshoot common storage issues
  • Troubleshoot common virtual machine issues
  • Given a scenario, verify a virtual machine is configured with the correct network resources
  • Troubleshoot virtual switch and port group configuration issues
  • Troubleshoot physical network adapter configuration issues
  • Recognize and detect common knowledge base article solutions

Tools

+ Objective 6.3: Perform Basic Troubleshooting of Virtual Machine Operations

Knowledge

  • Troubleshoot virtual machine resource contention issues
  • Recognize and detect:
    • Fault Tolerant network latency issues
    • VMware Tools installation issues
    • Virtual machines states
    • Virtual machine constraints
    • Guest OS installation issues
  • Given a scenario, determine root cause of a storage issue based on troubleshooting information
  • Explain common virtual machine boot disk errors

Tools

+ Objective 6.4: IIdentify and Troubleshoot Basic Misconfigurations

Knowledge

  • Troubleshoot:
    • Virtual switch and distributed switches port group configuration issues
    • Physical network adapter configuration issues
    • NFS networking configuration issues
    • iSCSI software initiator configuration issues
    • HA configuration and redundancy issues
    • DRS Resource Distribution Graph
    • vMotion/Storage vMotion migration issues
  • Interpret vMotion Resource Maps
  • Given a scenario, verify a virtual machine is configured with the correct network resources

Tools

+ Section 7: Monitor a vSphere Implementation
+ Objective 7.1: Monitor ESXi, vCenter Server and Virtual Machines

Knowledge

  • Explain:
    • Common memory metrics
    • Common CPU metrics
    • Common network metrics
    • Common storage metrics
  • Configure SNMP for vCenter Server
  • Configure SMTP settings for vCenter Server
  • Create a log bundle
  • Create/Edit/Delete a Scheduled Task
  • Configure/View/Print/Export resource maps
  • Start/Stop/Verify vCenter Server service status
  • Start/Stop/Verify ESXi host agent status
  • Configure vCenter Server timeout settings
  • Identify vCenter Server connection object status
  • Create an Advanced Chart

Tools

+ Objective 7.2: Create and Administer vCenter Server Alarms

Knowledge

  • List vCenter Server default utilization alarms
  • List vCenter Server default connectivity alarms
  • List possible actions for utilization and connectivity alarms
  • Create a vCenter Server utilization alarm
  • Create a vCenter Server connectivity alarm
  • Configure alarm triggers
  • Configure alarm actions
  • For a given alarm, identify the affected resource in a vSphere implementation

Tools

+ Objective 7.3: Install, Configure, and Manage vCenter Operations Manager

Knowledge

  • Differentiate Major/Minor vRealize Operations Manager badges
  • Explain vRealize Operations Manager architecture
  • Deploy and Configure vRealize Operations Manager appliance
  • Upgrade vRealize Operations Manager
  • Understand metrics used by Major/Minor vRealize Operations Manager badges
  • Monitor vSphere environment
  • For a given alarm, identify the affected resource in a vSphere implementation

Tools