VCAP-DCA Section 4 -4.1

 VCAP-DCA 

Section 4 – Manage Business Continuity and Protect Data
Objective 4.1: Implement and Maintain Complex VMware HA Solutions

Skills and Abilities

·         Calculate host failure requirements

·         Configure customized isolation response settings

·         Configure HA redundancy in a mixed ESX/ESXi environment

·         Configure HA related alarms and monitor an HA cluster

·         Create a custom slot size configuration

·         Understand interactions between DRS and HA

·         Create an HA solution that ensures primary node distribution across sites

·         Analyze vSphere environment to determine appropriate HA admission control policy

·         Analyze performance metrics to calculate host failure requirements

·         Analyze Virtual Machine workload to determine optimum slot size

·         Analyze HA cluster capacity to determine optimum cluster size

Document download here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iJhypTI7b8

Configure Advance Cluster Settings using vMA

Here is another way to configure Advance Cluster Settings.

We can use vMA detailed here http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-11221


Once you have the script and config file. Run the command;

./configureAdvHAClusterOptions.pl --server XXXXXX --cluster XXXXXX --file ha_configs

Changing IP vMA

As I was in my LAB for VCAP-DCA study needed to change IP addres on my vMA box, here are two options which are detailed by Ray Heffer @ ET. Link below.

http://www.rayheffer.com/1173/vmware-vma-two-methods-of-changing-the-ip-address/

Here is one Option.

 Change the working directory to /opt/vmware/vma/bin/

# cd /opt/vmware/vma/bin/

Run the vmware-vma-netconf.pl script:

# sudo ./vmware-vma-netconf.pl

VCAP-DCA Section 6-6.1

 VCAP-DCA 

Section 6 – Perform Advanced Troubleshooting
Objective 6.1 – Configure, Manage and Analyze vSphere Log Files

Skills and Abilities

·         Generate vCenter Server and ESX/ESXi log bundles

·         Use vicfg-syslog to configure centralized logging on ESX/ESXi Hosts

·         Test centralized logging configuration

·         Configure the vMA appliance as a log host

·         Use vilogger to enable/disable log collection on the vMA appliance

·         Use vilogger to configure log rotation and retention

·         Analyze log entries to obtain configuration information

·         Analyze log entries to identify and resolve issues

Document download here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcpvD_QbG8g

VCAP-DCA Section 3 -3.5

 VCAP-DCA 

Section 3 – Deploy DRS Clusters and Manage Performance
Objective 3.5 – Utilize Advanced vSphere Performance Monitoring Tools

Skills and Abilities

·         Configure esxtop/resxtop custom profiles

·         Determine use cases for and apply esxtop/resxtop Interactive, Batch and Replay modes

·         Use vscsiStats to gather storage performance data

·         Given esxtop/resxtop output, identify relative performance data for capacity planning purposes

·         Use esxtop/resxtop to collect performance data

Document download here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9LrjBKQDMY

Objective 8.2 -- Administer vCenter Orchestrator – Part 2

Objective 8.2 -- Administer vCenter Orchestrator – Part 2

Objective 8.2 -- Administer vCenter Orchestrator
This is covered in this video.

·          Run a Workflow

·          Administer Actions, Tasks, Workflows and Policies

·          Administer Packages

·          Identify appropriate Workflow for a given management activity

Download document here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbu6axykX8E

Objective 8.2 -- Administer vCenter Orchestrator - Setup Lab

Objective 8.2 -- Administer vCenter Orchestrator

This video is just going over how to setup Orchestrator. As it wastnt a black and white as I thought it would be as I have never used this before.

The issue was around the database config.

Hope it helps others out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72lW5QDFgaY

VCAP-DCA Blueprint Update

There has been an updated release of the Exam Blueprint ver 1.7. Link Below

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-12751

Nort sure what has been change. Will update soon.

VCAP-DCA Section 4 - 4.4

VCAP-DCA 

Section 4 Manage Business Continuity and Protect Data
Objective 4.4 - Deploy and Maintain vCenter Server Heartbeat

A video on vCenter Heatbeat going over the skills and abilities

The PDF document used in the video can be found here
 PDF Document 1

PDF Document 2

The HD Video is here. http://vimeo.com/20976637

Section 4 – Manage Business Continuity and Protect Data from Carlos Vargas on Vimeo.

VCAP DCA Lab BrownBag @ professionalvmware.com

Lab Resheduled.

http://professionalvmware.com/2011/03/vcap-dca-live-lab-rescheduled/




If you  are looking at the VCAP-DCA Cert would suggest registering and join this Brownbag.

Details;

Date/Time: Friday, March 11, 2011 @ 7PM CST
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/689250984

The Lab

Scenario:
Your company has purchased 3 servers and an iSCSI SAN as an additional production cluster. As administrator you must complete the following tasks:

• Configure the hosts for availability and resource distribution
• Enable future growth for the hosts
• Enable power savings
• Ensure the configuration of all hosts is consistent and auditable
• Configure iSCSI to support production work loads
• In addition to iSCSI, you must also support an HA Web network segment

Direct Link: http://professionalvmware.com/2011/03/vcap-dca-lab-brownbag/

VCAP-DCA Section 5 - 5.1

VCAP-DCA 

Section 5 Perform Operational Maintenance
VCAP-DCA Objective 5.1 : Implement and Maintain Host Profiles

Skills and Abilities

•Create sub-profiles
•Use Profile Editor to edit and/or disable policies
•Use Host Profiles to deploy vDS

The PDF document used in the video can be found here PDF Document.
The HD Video is here. http://vimeo.com/20869610

 

VCAP-DCA Section 5 Objective 5.1 from Carlos Vargas on Vimeo.

Top 10 Free tools

Watch the VMworld 2010 10 Best Free Tools for vSphere Management Session

Everyone loves free tools that help you do your daily tasks.

Kendrick Coleman Has a list.

David Davis list

Top 10

1. VGC -VMware Guest Console
2. Veeam FastSCP
3. Trilead VM Explorer
4. XtraVirt RDP 
5. vEcoshell
6. vKernel Capacity View
7. vSphere Mini-Monitor
8. RV Tools
9. vFoglight Quickview (doesn't seem to be available)
10. Xangati for ESX

Enjoy trying the tools.

VCAP-DCA Section 8 - 8.3

VCAP-DCA 

Section 8 Perform Scripting and Automation
VCAP-DCA Objective 8.3 : Administer vSphere Using the VSphere Management Assitant

•Install and Configure vMA
•Add/Remove target servers
•Perform updates to the vMA
•Use vmkfstools to manage VMFS datastores
•Use vmware-cmd to manage VMs
•Use esxcli to manage Storage Multipathing
•Troubleshoot common vMA errors and conditions

The PDF document used in the video can be found here PDF Document.

The HD Video is here. http://vimeo.com/20638021

VCAP-DCA Section 8 Objective 8.3 from Carlos Vargas on Vimeo.