VCAP5-DCA Beta

The VCAP5-DCA Beta exam is scheduled to be released in the next week or so. VMware has provided potential beta participants with an Exam Blueprint Guide. I plan on taking the beta exam after it is released even though I do not have a lot of time to prepare.

This page will be dedicated to some of my notes about the blueprint and beta exam. Plan to try to update it a little each day while preparing for the exam.

Updated:
05/11/2012

Prioritizing the blueprint based on what is new in vSphere 5, what I struggled with on the VCAP4, and what I don’t have a lot of experience with. I can do this!

References:
– VCAP5-DCA What’s New – Great post outlining the differences between the VCAP4-DCA and VCAP5-DCA exam blueprints.
– The Saffa Geek’s VCAP5-DCA Beta Page
– VMware vSphere 5 Documentation Center
– virtuallyGhetto – Major Enhancements in esxcli for vSphere 5
– Yellow-Bricks.com esxtop reference

My Exam Tips:
– Don’t forget vSphere vCenter Help :: Help -> Help Topics or from Help button on configuration windows
Indexed and searchable help of vCenter configuration, much quicker that searching PDFs.
– Time Management!!!
Don’t wait for tasks to complete, move on to next task. If you get stuck on something move on. A future task may require an earlier task to be completed but sometimes that can help jog your memory.
– Know where to find help in the docs.
Time is an issue so you don’t have a lot of time to browse the docs for help. If you get stuck on something know where you can find it in the vSphere Documentation.

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With the short beta window and there will not be a lot of prep time. I am working through the exam blueprint and focusing on areas/task that I need to brush up on.

Objective 1.1 – Implement and Manage Complex Storage Solutions
– Understand and apply LUN masking using PSA-related commands :: vSphere Storage Documentation Mask Paths

-Identify and tag SSD devices :: Is device tagged as SSD? esxcli storage core device list -d device_name look for Is SSD: true :: Create claim rule for device to set SSD tag esxcli storage nmp satp rule add -s SATP –device device_name –option=enable_ssd :: vSphere Storage Documentation

– Administer hardware acceleration for VAAI – vSphere Storage Documentation

– Configure and administer profile-based storage :: How-to setup storage profiles in vSphere 5

Objective 1.3 – Configure and Manage Complex Multipathing and PSA Plug-ins
– Configure Software iSCSI port binding – Now done using vSphere client. Host -> Configuration -> Storage Adapters – Properties of adapter, Add vmks to Network Configuration.
Software iSCSI is enable here also General – Configure

– Change multipath policy :: Setting Storage PSP to Round Robin Using esxcli

Objective 2.1 – Implement and Manage Complex Virtual Networks
– Configure SNMP :: use vicfg-snmp to configure ESXi hosts

– Configure Netflow

– Determine appropriate discovery protocol. CDP = Cisco, LLDP = Everyone else

Objective 3.2 – Optimize Virtual Machine Resources
– Modify large memory page settings :: Host -> Configuration -> Software -> Advanced Settings -> Mem

– Configure alternate virtual machine swap locations. VM -> Edit Settings -> Options -> Swapfile Location; Host -> Configurations -> Software -> Virtual Machine Swapfile Location; Cluster -> Edit Settings -> Swapfile Location

Objective 3.3 – Implement and Maintain Complex DRS Solutions
– Change EVC mode on an existing DRS cluster

-Configure applicable power management settings for ESXi hosts :: Host -> Configuration -> Hardware -> Power Management

Objective 3.4 – Utilize Advanced vSphere Performance and Monitoring Tools
– Configure esxtop/resxtop custom profiles:: Saving a custom resxtop configuration

– Use vscsiStats to gather storage performance data :: vscsiStats -h for usage and examples.

Objective 4.1 – Implement and Maintain Complex VMware HA Solutions
– Create a custom slot size configuration :: HA Advance Options – das.slotMemInMB to set memory slot size and das.slotCpuInMHz to set CPU slot size.

– Analyze performance metrics to calculate host failure requirements :: Yellow-Bricks.com HA Deepdive – Host Failures

Objective 5.2 – Deploy and Manage Complex Update Manager Environments
– Generate database reports using MS Excel or MS SQL

Objective 6.1 – Configure, Manage, and Analyze vSphere Log Files
– Use esxcli system syslog to configure centralized logging on ESXi hosts :: Monitoring ESXi Host Documentation – Remember when adding the log host use protocol://loghostIP:port for example udp://loghost.yourdomain.org:514 This can also be done using the vSphere Client in Host->Configuration-> Advanced Settings -> Syslog

– Test centralized logging configuration :: From TSM use logger -t TEST -p local3.notice “This is a test to syslog”

Objective 7.1 – Secure ESXi Hosts
– Setting ESXi Shell/SSH/TSM Timeout :: Host -> Configuration -> Advanced Settings -> UserVars – Set UserVars.ESXiShellTimeOut to timeout in # of seconds.

– Enable ESXi Lockdown Mode. Can be done from DCUI or vSphere Client :: Host -> Configuration -> Security Profile

– Configure SSL timeouts :: /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml add xxx and xxx (xxx = # of milliseconds to timeout) within tags. :: Configure SSL Timeouts

– Enable strong passwords and configure password policies. :: Change Default Password Complexity for the pam_passwdqc.so Plug-In /etc/pam.d/passwd

Objective 7.2 – Configure and Maintain the ESXi Firewall
– Create a custom service :: /etc/vmware/firewall/service.xml :: Creating Custom Firewall Rules in ESXi 5.0

Objective 8.1 – Execute VMware Cmdlets and Customize Scripts Using PowerCLI
– Use basic and advanced Cmdlets to manages VMs and ESXi Hosts :: get-help Cmdlet or get-help Cmdlet -examples to help through this. Pipe output from one Cmdlet to another ie to get VMs with connected CD drives: Get-VM | Where { $_ | Get-CDDrive | Where ($_.ConnectionState.Connected -eq “true” } }

Objective 8.2 – Administer vSphere Using the vSphere Management Assistant
– Add/Remove target servers – sudo vifp addserver

– Perform updates to the vMA – There is no update from vMA 4.x to vMA 5.x, a new vMA appliance must be installed. Updating the vMA 5.x appliance is done from the Web UI – https://vMAIPAddress:5480/ :: vMA Getting Started Guide (Possible Error on Blueprint – vima-update is not available on the vMA 5.x.)

Objective 9.1 – Install ESXi hosts with custom settings
– Create your own ESXi 5 installation image

– Update a host with image profiles

– esxcli software profile

Objective 9.2 – Install ESXi Hosts Using Auto Deploy
This is a new feature to vSphere 5. Hope to get it up and running in my home lab to get some time with it.

– Understanding the Auto Deploy Components

– Using vSphere 5 Auto Deploy in Your Home Lab

– Auto Deply Boot Process

– Configure Bulk Licensing