Introduction xxi
Assessment Test xxxi
Chapter 1 What’s New in vSphere 6.7 1
Accessing vSphere 2
VMware vSphere Client 2
Application Programming Interface 8
Topology and UI Updates for VCSA 8
External Platform Services Controller 8
Update Manager 10
Storage Updates 18
Persistent Memory 19
Remote Direct Memory Access 19
vSAN 20
Security Updates 22
Virtual Machines 24
Content Library 24
Per-VM EVC 40
Summary 41
Exam Essentials 42
Review Questions 43
Chapter 2 Configuring and Administering Security in a vSphere Datacenter 47
Configuring and Administering Role-Based Access Controls 49
What Is a Privilege? 49
What Is a Task? 49
What Is a Role? 50
Assigning Permissions 54
Viewing and Exporting Group and User Permissions 70
Securing ESXi Hosts and the vCenter Server 72
Hardening ESXi Hosts 72
Hardening vCenter Server 87
Configuring and Enabling SSO and Identity Sources 88
vCenter Single Sign-On 89
Platform Services Controller 91
Configuring vCenter Single Sign-On 93
Securing Virtual Machines 96
Secure Boot 96
Virtual Machine Encryption 96
Virtual Machine Hardening 106
vSphere Network Security 117
Summary 118
Exam Essentials 118
Review Questions 119
Chapter 3 Networking in vSphere 123
Understanding vSphere Networking 124
Standard Switches 125
Virtual Distributed Switches 127
Using dvPort Groups 138
Working with Virtual Adapters 144
Custom TCP/IP Stacks 147
Long-Distance vMotion 151
Migrating Virtual Machines to or from a vDS 151
Performance and Reliability 151
Link Aggregation 152
Load Balancing and Failover Policies 153
Traffic Shaping 154
TCP Segmentation Offload 155
Jumbo Frames 155
Network Isolation 158
Automatic Rollback 159
Monitoring and Mirroring 163
Using NetFlow 164
Understanding Network I/O Control 165
Configuring NIOC Reservations, Shares, and Limits 166
Summary 170
Exam Essentials 171
Review Questions 172
Chapter 4 Storage in vSphere 177
Managing vSphere Integration with Physical Storage 178
Adding an NFS Datastore 179
Using Block Storage 186
Configuring the Software iSCSI Initiator 187
Binding VMkernels to the Software iSCSI Initiator 189
Scanning for Changes 192
Storage Filters 193
Thin Provisioning 194
Storage Multipathing and Failover 196
Configuring and Upgrading VMFS and NFS 203
Configuring VMFS Datastores 207
Raw Device Mapping and Bus Sharing 214
Configuring Software-Defined Storage 217
Virtual Storage Area Network 217
Virtual Volumes 225
Storage Policy–Based Management 229
Enabling and Configuring Storage I/O Control 230
Summary 233
Exam Essentials 234
Review Questions 235
Chapter 5 Upgrading a vSphere Deployment 239
Upgrading from vSphere 5.5 240
Upgrading a vCenter Server on Windows 244
Verify Basic Compatibility and Download the Installer 245
Prepare the Database for Upgrade 245
Prepare for Upgrading the Content Library 247
Verify Network Prerequisites, Load Balancer, and ESXI Hosts 247
Starting the vCenter on Windows Upgrade 247
Migrating to the vCenter Server Appliance 252
Upgrading Using the Command Line 252
Upgrading Using the Graphical Interface 253
Upgrading ESXi Hosts and Virtual Machines 264
Using the Update Manager Download Service 264
Using vSphere Update Manager 265
Summary 284
Exam Essentials 285
Review Questions 286
Chapter 6 Allocating Resources in a vSphere Datacenter 291
Administering and Managing vSphere 6.x Resources 293
Configuring Multilevel Resource Pools 295
Reservations, Limits, and Shares 296
Resource Pool Administration Exercises 303
Using Tags and Custom Attributes 308
Configuring vSphere DRS and Storage DRS Clusters 315
Distributed Resource Scheduler 316
Predictive DRS 318
Network-Aware DRS 320
Storage DRS 322
Establishing Affinity and Anti-Affinity 322
DRS Cluster Administration Exercises 324
Summary 342
Exam Essentials 343
Review Questions 344
Chapter 7 Backing Up and Recovering a vSphere Deployment 349
VCSA Backup and Restore 350
Backing Up Virtual Machines by Using VDP 357
Installing VDP 358
Creating Backup Jobs 361
Restoring from Backup 365
Deploying Proxy Servers 368
Replicating Virtual Machines 376
Deploying a Replication Appliance 376
Configuring Replication 378
Recovering Replicated VMs 382
Summary 387
Exam Essentials 387
Review Questions 388
Chapter 8 Troubleshooting a vSphere Deployment 393
Troubleshooting vCenter and ESXi 394
vCenter Connectivity and Services 394
vCenter Certificates 399
vCenter Log Files 399
ESXi Troubleshooting 403
ESXi Monitoring 407
Troubleshooting Storage and Networking 413
Storage Issues 413
Storage Performance 416
Storage DRS and I/O Control 417
Network Issues 418
Troubleshooting Upgrades 421
Troubleshooting Virtual Machines 421
Troubleshooting HA and DRS 425
Summary 426
Exam Essentials 427
Review Questions 428
Chapter 9 Deploying and Customizing ESXi Hosts 433
Configuring Auto Deploy 434
Enabling PXE Boot 435
Configuring DHCP 435
Configuring TFTP 436
Enabling Auto Deploy 437
Adding Deploy Rules 440
Adding a Custom Image and Profile 442
Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs 442
Employing Host Profiles 452
Creating and Using Host Profiles 453
Importing and Exporting Host Profiles 457
Advanced Profile Modifications 458
Using Answer Files 461
Summary 468
Exam Essentials 468
Review Questions 469
Chapter 10 Ensuring High Availability for vSphere Clusters and the VCSA 475
Configuring vSphere Cluster High Availability 476
HA Failures and Responses 477
Host Isolation 478
Heartbeat Datastores 479
Advanced Options 480
Configuring VMCP 482
Monitoring Virtual Machines 483
Admission Control 486
vCenter Server Appliance High Availability 499
Summary 511
Exam Essentials 512
Review Questions 514
Chapter 11 Administering and Managing vSphere Virtual Machines 519
Virtual Machine Advanced Settings 520
Virtual Machine Configuration File 522
Advanced Virtual Machine Options 528
Content Library 537
VMware Converter 546
Summary 558
Exam Essentials 558
Review Questions 559
Appendix Answers to Review Questions 565
Chapter 1: What’s New in vSphere 6.7 566
Chapter 2: Configuring and Administering Security in a vSphere Datacenter 567
Chapter 3: Networking in vSphere 569
Chapter 4: Storage in vSphere 570
Chapter 5: Upgrading a vSphere Deployment 571
Chapter 6: Allocating Resources in a vSphere Datacenter 573
Chapter 7: Backing Up and Recovering a vSphere Deployment 575
Chapter 8: Troubleshooting a vSphere Deployment 577
Chapter 9: Deploying and Customizing ESXi Hosts 578
Chapter 10: Ensuring High Availability for vSphere Clusters and the VCSA 579
Chapter 11: Administering and Managing vSphere Virtual Machines 581
Index 583
