VCAP6-DCV

VCAP6-DCV

Well, here we have the main sections and objectives from VMware blueprint which in the future will move you to description of every objective.

Section 1 – Create and Deploy vSphere 6.x Infrastructure Components

Objective 1.1 – Perform Advanced ESXi Host Configuration

  • Configure and Manage Auto Deploy configurations
    • Determine use case for Stateless vs Stateful installs
    • Create / Modify rules and rule sets
    • Create and associate Host Profiles for an Auto Deploy reference host
  • Configure Kernel Boot Parameters for scripted install according to a deployment plan:
    • Modify scripted weasel install (ks.cfg)
    • Create / Modify scripted installation
  • Configure Advanced System Settings according to a deployment plan:
    • Edit System Swap / Scratch Configuration
    • Configure ESXi host to use a central Syslog Server
  • Manage/Edit the Core Dump configuration of an ESXi host

Objective 1.2 – Deploy and Configure Core Management Infrastructure Components

  • Deploy vCenter core components according to a deployment plan:
    • Deploy and Configure a Platform Services Controller (PSC):
      • Determine use case for embedded vs external PSC
      • Re-point a vCenter Server Appliance to another External PSC
    • Deploy and Configure Identity Sources for Single Sign-On:
      • Configure Single Sign-On users and groups
      • Change Default domain for Single Sign-On
      • List services registered with Single Sign-on
  • Deploy and configure vCenter Server
    • Deploy / Configure Enhanced Link Mode
  • Manage / Configure vCenter components according to a deployment plan:
    • Configure Global Permissions for vCenter services
    • Configure Dump Collector service
    • Configure the Syslog Collector / Syslog service
    • Managing vCenter Server advanced configurations

Objective 1.3 – Deploy and Configure Update Manager Components

  • Deploy / Configure Update Manager components according to a deployment plan:
    • Configure VUM Update Manager download service
    • Configure a VUM shared repository
    • Configure VUM smart rebooting
    • Manually download updates to a VUM repository
    • Create and modify VUM baseline groups
  • Perform VUM orchestrated vSphere upgrades
  • Troubleshoot Update Manager problem areas and issues
  • Utilize Update Manager to reconfigure VUM settings

Objective 1.4 – Perform Advanced Virtual Machine Configurations

  • Tune Virtual Machine disk controller configurations according to a deployment plan
  • Configure .vmx file for advanced configuration scenarios
  • Configure a virtual machine for Hot Add features
  • Upgrade virtual machine hardware and VMware Tools
  • Troubleshoot virtual machine deployment issues

Section 2 – Deploy and Manage a vSphere 6.x Storage Infrastructure

Objective 2.1 – Implement Complex Storage Solutions

  • Determine use cases for Raw Device Mapping
  • Apply storage presentation characteristics according to a deployment plan:
    • VMFS re-signaturing
    • LUN masking using PSA-related commands
  • Create / Configure multiple VMkernels for use with iSCSI port binding
  • Configure / Manage vSphere Flash Read Cache
  • Create / Configure Datastore Clusters
  • Upgrade VMware storage infrastructure
  • Deploy virtual volumes
  • Deploy and configure VMware Virtual SAN
  • Configure / View VMFS locking mechanisms
    • ATS-Only mechanism
    • ATS_SCSI mechanism
  • Configure Storage I/O Control to allow I/O prioritization
  • Configure Storage Multi-pathing according to a deployment plan

Objective 2.2 – Manage Complex Storage Solutions

  • Identify and tag (mark) SSD and local devices
  • Administer hardware acceleration for VAAI
  • Configure, administer, and apply storage policies
  • Prepare storage for maintenance
  • Apply space utilization data to manage storage resources
  • Provision and manage storage resources according to Virtual Machine requirements
  • Configure datastore alarms, including Virtual SAN alarms
  • Expand (Scale up / Scale Out) Virtual SAN hosts and diskgroups

Objective 2.3 – Troubleshoot Complex Storage Solutions

  • Analyze and resolve storage multi-pathing and failover issues
  • Troubleshoot storage device connectivity
  • Analyze and resolve Virtual SAN configuration issues
  • Troubleshoot iSCSI connectivity issues
  • Analyze and resolve NFS issues
  • Troubleshoot RDM issues

Section 3 – Deploy and Manage a vSphere 6.x Network Infrastructure

Objective 3.1 – Implement and Manage vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) Networks

  • Create and manage vSS components according to a deployment plan:
    • VMkernel ports on standard switches
    • Advanced vSS settings
  • Configure TCP/IP stack on a host
  • Create a custom TCP/IP stack
  • Configure and analyze vSS settings using command line tools

Objective 3.2 – Implement and Manage vSphere 6.x Distributed Switch (vDS) Networks

  • Deploy a LAG and migrate to LACP
  • Migrate a vSS network to a hybrid or full vDS solution
  • Analyze vDS settings using command line tools
  • Configure Advanced vDS settings (NetFlow, QOS, etc.)
  • Determine which appropriate discovery protocol to use for specific hardware vendors
  • Configure VLANs/PVLANs according to a deployment plan
  • Create / Apply traffic marking and filtering rules

Objective 3.3 – Scale a vSphere 6.x Network Implementation

  • Configure appropriate NIC teaming failover type and related physical network settings
  • Determine and apply failover settings according to a deployment plan
  • Configure and manage network I/O control 3
  • Determine and configure vDS port binding settings according a deployment plan

Objective 3.4 – Troubleshoot a vSphere 6.x Network Implementation

  • Perform a vDS Health Check for teaming, MTU, mismatches, etc.
  • Configure port groups to properly isolate network traffic
  • Use command line tools to troubleshoot and identify configuration issues
  • Use command line tools to troubleshoot and identify VLAN configurations
  • Use DCUI network tool to correct network connectivity issues

Section 4 – Configure a vSphere Deployment for Availability and Scalability

Objective 4.1 – Implement and Maintain Complex vSphere Availability Solutions

  • Configure a HA cluster to meet resource and availability requirements
  • Configure custom isolation response settings
  • Configure VM Component Protection (VMCP)
  • Configure HA redundancy settings:
    • Management network
    • Datastore heartbeat
    • Network partitions
  • Configure HA related alarms and analyze a HA cluster
  • Configure VMware Fault Tolerance for single and multi-vCPU virtual machines

Objective 4.2 – Implement and Manage Complex DRS solutions

  • Configure DPM, including appropriate DPM threshold
  • Configure / Modify EVC mode on an existing DRS cluster
  • Create DRS and DPM alarms
  • Configure applicable power management settings for ESXi hosts
  • Configure DRS cluster for efficient/optimal load distribution
  • Properly apply virtual machine automation levels based upon application requirements
  • Administer DRS / Storage DRS
  • Create DRS / Storage DRS affinity and anti-affinity rules
  • Configure advanced DRS / Storage DRS settings
  • Configure and Manage vMotion / Storage vMotion
  • Create and manage advanced resource pool configurations

Objective 4.3 – Troubleshoot vSphere clusters

  • Analyze and resolve DRS/HA faults
  • Troubleshoot DRS/HA configuration issues
  • Troubleshoot Virtual SAN/HA interoperability
  • Resolve vMotion and storage vMotion issues
  • Troubleshoot VMware Fault Tolerance

Section 5 – Configure a vSphere Deployment for Manageability

Objective 5.1 – Execute VMware Cmdlets and Customize Scripts Using PowerCLI

  • Install and configure vSphere PowerCLI
  • Use basic and advanced PowerCLI Cmdlets to manage a vSphere deployment
  • Analyze a sample script, then modify the script to perform a given action
  • Use PowerCLI to configure and administer Auto Deploy (including Image Builder)
  • Create a report from a PowerCLI script

Objective 5.2 – Implement and Maintain Host Profiles

  • Use Profile Editor to edit and / or disable policies
  • Create and apply host profiles
  • Use Host Profiles to deploy vDS
  • Use Host Profiles to deploy vStorage policies
  • Import / Export Host Profiles
  • Manage Answer Files
  • Configure stateful caching and installation for host deployment

Objective 5.3 – Manage and analyze vSphere log files

  • Generate vSphere log bundles
  • Configure and test centralized logging
  • Analyze log entries to obtain configuration information
  • Analyze log entries to identify and resolve issues
  • Configure logging levels for vSphere

Objective 5.4 – Configure and manage Content Library

  • Create a Global User
  • Create a Content Library
  • Subscribe to a Content Library
  • Configure a Content Library for space efficiency
  • Synchronize a subscribed Content Library

Section 6 – Configure a vSphere Deployment for Performance

Objective 6.1 – Utilize Advanced vSphere Performance Monitoring Tools

  • Configure esxtop / resxtop custom profiles
  • Evaluate use cases for and apply esxtop / resxtop Interactive, Batch and Replay modes
  • Use vscsiStats to gather storage performance data
  • Use esxtop / resxtop to collect performance data
  • Given esxtop / resxtop output, identify relative performance data for capacity planning purposes

Objective 6.2 – Optimize Virtual Machine resources

  • Adjust Virtual Machine properties according to a deployment plan:
    • Network configurations
    • CPU configurations
    • Storage configurations
  • Troubleshoot Virtual Machine performance issues based on application workload
  • Modify Transparent Page Sharing and large memory page settings
  • Optimize a Virtual Machine for latency sensitive workloads
  • Configure Flash Read Cache reservations

Section 7 – Configure a vSphere 6.x Environment for Recoverability

Objective 7.1– Deploy and manage vSphere Replication

  • Configure and manage a vSphere Replication infrastructure:
    • Isolate vSphere Replication network traffic
    • Enable data compression of vSphere Replication traffic
  • Configure and manage vSphere Replication of virtual machines
  • Analyze and resolve vSphere Replication issues:
    • Storage configuration
    • Multiple point in time snapshots
    • Enabling vSphere Replication on VMs

Objective 7.2 – Deploy and Manage vSphere Data Protection

  • Create, edit and clone a vSphere Data Protection backup job
  • Modify a preconfigured backup job.
  • Backup and restore a Virtual Machine (file level restore, full VM backup)
  • Create a replication job according to a deployment plan
  • Configure a Backup Verification job to ensure integrity of restore points

Objective 7.3 – Backup and Recover vSphere Configurations

  • Backup and restore distributed switch configurations
  • Backup and restore resource pool configurations
  • Export Virtual Machines to OVA/OVF format
  • Use a Host profile to recover an ESXi host configuration

Section 8 – Configure a vSphere 6.x Environment for Security

Objective 8.1 – Manage authentication and end-user security

  • Add/Edit Remove users on an ESXi host
  • Configure vCenter Roles and Permissions according to a deployment plan
  • Configure and manage Active Directory integration
  • Analyze logs for security-related messages
  • Enable and configure an ESXI Pass Phrase
  • Disable the Managed Object Browser (MOB) to reduce attack surface

Objective 8.2 – Manage SSL certificates

  • Configure and manage VMware Certificate Authority
  • Configure and manage VMware Endpoint Certificate Store
  • Enable / Disable certificate checking
  • Generate ESXi host certificates
  • Replace default certificate with CA-signed certificate
  • Configure SSL timeouts according to a deployment plan

Objective 8.3 – Harden a vSphere 6.x Deployment

  • Enable and configure ESXi Lockdown mode (Strict / Normal)
  • Configure a user on the Lockdown Mode Exception Users list
  • Customize SSH settings for increased security
  • Enable strong passwords and configure password policies
  • Configure vSphere hardening of virtual machines according to a deployment plan