VMware vSphere: What's New

Overview

This hands-on training course explores new features in VMware vCenter Server 5.0 and VMware ESXi 5.0. Topics include VMware vSphere® 5 installation and how to upgrade from vSphere 4.x to vSphere 5.0. vSphere 5.0 is the first version of vSphere to include only the ESXi hypervisor.

Objectives

By the end of the course, you should gain an understanding of the functions and features in vSphere 5.0 and be able to do the following:

• List and describe key enhancements in vSphere 5.0
• Upgrade a deployment from vSphere 4.1 to vSphere 5.0
• Use the vSphere Web Client to manage virtual machines
• List and describe key networking enhancements, including the ESXi firewall and new features in vNetwork distributed switches
• Upgrade and manage a VMware vSphere® VMFS-5 datastore
• Understand and configure policy-driven storage
• Create a datastore cluster and configure Storage DRS
• Use new displays to monitor vSphere High Availability cluster activity
• Use the Linux-based VMware vCenter Server Appliance
• Use Auto Deploy to install a stateless ESXi host
• Use Image Builder to modify and export an image profile

Detailed Course Outline

Module 1: Course Introduction

• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives
• Other vSphere 5 learning resources

Module 2: Introduction to VMware vSphere 5.0

• Key enhancements in ESXi, vCenter Server, and VMware vSphere® Update Manager
• Upgrade vSphere components from vSphere 4.1 to vSphere 5.0, including vCenter Server, Update Manager, and ESXi

Module 3: Virtual Machine Management

• Describe new virtual machine version 8 hardware features
• Explain virtual machine snapshot consolidation
• Describe the vCenter Solutions Manager
• Upgrade a virtual machine to version 8 hardware
• Install, register, and use the vSphere Web Client

Module 4: Network Management

• Describe the ESXi firewall
• Describe new features of vNetwork distributed switches including NetFlow, port mirroring, and Link Layer Discovery Protocol
• Describe enhancements to network I/O control, including 802.1p priority tagging and user-defined virtual machine resource pools
• Configure the ESXi firewall
• Configure and test port mirroring

Module 5: Storage Management

• Describe new storage features, including VMFS-5, Fibre Channel over Ethernet software adapters, policy-driven storage vStorage API for Storage Awareness, and VMware vSphere® Storage Appliance
• Describe enhanced features, including snapshot support for vSphere Storage vMotion, solid-state disk support, and new primitives in the vStorage API for Array Integration
• Upgrade VMFS-3 to VMFS-5
• Create user-defined storage capabilities and virtual machine storage profiles

Module 6: Scalability

• Describe scaling enhancements to resource pools and VMware vSphere® vMotion®
• Describe Storage DRS operation
• Create a datastore cluster
• Configure Storage DRS

Module 7: High Availability

• Describe enhancements to VMware Fault Tolerance and Enhanced vMotion Compatibility features
• Explain the new master-slave architecture of vSphere HA
• View the new informational displays to monitor vSphere HA cluster activity

Module 8: New VMware vSphere Deployment Alternatives

• Configure and use the Linux-based vCenter Server Appliance
• Use Image Builder to create an installation image profile
• Use Auto Deploy to deploy a stateless ESXi host