Deploying VMware^® vSphere: Hands-On

What is this course about?

In this course, you gain the skills to virtualize your organization's infrastructure. Through extensive hands-on exercises, you learn how to deploy and configure a highly available virtual infrastructure with VMware vSphere including vCenter Server and VMware ESXi Server.

Who will benefit from this course?

This course is valuable for anyone interested in implementing ESXi Server and/or vCenter, including:

• IT infrastructure architects
• System administrators
• System engineers
• Datacenter operators

What background do I need?

Experience with Windows or Linux system administration and networking knowledge is assumed. For example, you should know how to:

• Create and administer users, groups and shared network resources
• Configure networking resources, such as routers, switches and firewalls
• Specify hardware requirements for server operating systems and applications running on those servers
• Remotely access and administer computers in a network environment

How is this course different from Course 170?

Course 170, Virtualization Technologies: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, is not product specific and covers the concepts of virtualization in general, including the basics of ESXi. Course 171 focuses on the suite of products included in VMware vSphere, their installation, deployment, configuration and optimization.

Why should my organization implement VMware vSphere?

VMware vSphere is a powerful suite of software tools that enable organizations to optimize and manage IT environments through virtualization. The main components of vSphere are ESXi Server, Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) and vCenter Server.

VMware vSphere, when effectively deployed, can:

• Increase hardware utilization and reduce hardware costs
• Reduce the physical space required for your datacenter
• Decrease the power and cooling requirements of your datacenter
• Reduce labor costs by simplifying and automating IT operations
• Increase application availability to the datacenter customers
• Improve the responsiveness to business needs with instant provisioning and dynamic optimization of applications and environments

Does this course help me prepare for VMware Professional Certification?

No, this course does not prepare you for the VMware Professional Certification and instead focuses on the practical and vendor-independent implementation of VMware vSphere. While this course does cover a significant amount of content required to become a VMware Certified Professional, it is not a VMware authorized course.

What version of VMware is used in this course?

This course uses VMware vSphere 5, which is a suite of products and includes:

• ESXi Server, version 5
• vCenter Server, version 5
• VMware Consolidated Backup

Which operating systems are used in the course?

Several operating systems are used in this course. The foundation is ESXi 5 Server. You will also learn to deploy virtual machines with various guest operating systems, such as Windows 2003-2008/ and Linux.

How much time is spent on each topic?

How much of this course is hands-on?

Approximately 50 percent of this course is spent in hands-on exercises which provide experience designing and deploying a vSphere-based virtual infrastructure. Exercises include:

• Designing and implementing virtual switch plans and policies
• Installing and configuring ESXi and the vCenter Server
• Creating and cloning Virtual Machines from the vSphere Client
• Moving a live VM using VMotion
• Converting virtual machines to templates
• Creating and managing resource pools

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

The following courses may be of interest:

• 170, Virtualization Technologies: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction provides the skills to implement VMware and Microsoft virtual machine technologies
• 289, Disaster Recovery Planning: Ensuring Business Continuity provides the knowledge to create, document and test continuity plans for your organization
• 961, Windows Server® 2008 Administration: Hands-On provides the skills to maintain, troubleshoot and secure Windows Server 2008
• 468, System and Network Security: A Comprehensive Introduction offers the skills to analyze your exposure to security threats and protect your organization's systems and data
• 940, Securing Web Applications, Services and Servers: Hands-On provides the knowledge to implement and test secure Web applications in your organization