swarne

o After you upgrade all of your hosts to ESX4/ESXi4, you can optionally uninstall your license server and remove the license server configuration
from vCenter Server.
o For ESXi, the vSphere Host Update Utility does not support roll back.
o You can remove the ESX 4.0 boot option from the ESX bootloader menu and perform a complete roll back to ESX 3.x. Any changes made to
the ESX 4.0 service console are lost after the rollback.

220 702
o Any changes made to VMs will persist after the rollback.
o If you upgraded the VM hardware, the VMs will not work after you perform the ESX rollback. To avoid this situation, take a snapshot of
the VM before you upgrade the VM hardware.
o Run the rollback-to-esx3 command – reconfigures the bootloader.
o Reboot the server.
o After the host boots into ESX 3.x, delete the ESX 4.0 service console VMDK folder from the VMFS datastore.
o Each time you update an ESXi host, a copy of the ESXi build is saved on your host.
o ESXi permits only one level of rollback.
o When you manually boot into the standby build instead of the current boot build, an irreversible rollback occurs.
o When the page that displays the current boot build appears, press Shift+r to select the standby build.
o Do not use vmware-vmupgrade.exe to upgrade VMs.
o Some VMs that you create on ESX4 hosts are supported on ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts. If you create a VM on ESX4 and select the typical path, the
virtual hardware version is version 7. Virtual machines with virtual hardware version 7 are not supported on ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts. Select the
custom path and select virtual hardware version 4
o If you create VMs that use paravirtualization (VMI) or an enhanced networking device (vmxnet), VMotion is not supported. In this case, you
can only move the VM to the ESX 3.x host if the VM is powered off.
o On Windows guest operating systems, you must reboot the VM a total of three times when you upgrade VMware Tools and the virtual
hardware:
1. Power on the VM.
2. Upgrade VMware Tools.
3. Reboot the VM at the end of the VMware Tools upgrade.
4. Power off the VM.
5. Upgrade the virtual Hardware.
6. Power on the VM.
7. The Windows operating system detects new devices and prompts you to reboot the VM.
8. Reboot the VM to make the devices work properly.
o During the virtual hardware upgrade, the VM must be shut down for all guest operating systems.
o When you upgrade from virtual hardware version 3 to version 7, the upgrade is irreversible, even if you take a VM backup or snapshot before
performing the upgrade. 4 to version 7 the upgrade is reversible if you take a VM backup or snapshot
o Tools for installing updates and patches to ESX/ESXi hosts:
o Host Update Utility – graphical utility for ESXi only.
o Update Manager – for ESX and ESXi,
o vihostupdate – command-line utility for
9L0-403
ESX and ESXi.
o esxupdate – command-line utility for ESX only.
o If the Host Update Utility does not meet the needs of your environment, you can customize the application the settings.config XML file,
located in %PROGRAMFILES%\VMware\Infrastructure\VIUpdate 4.0
o Run vihostupdate on ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 hosts. Run vihostupdate35 on ESX 3.5/ESXi 3.5 hosts.
o The esxupdate utility is supported as well. It is for ESX only.
o The vihostupdate command works with bulletins.
o You can use the vihostupdate utility in conjunction with offline bundles or with a depot.
o To get the build number of an ESX4 host: # vmware –l (from KB 1001179).
vSphere Basic System Administration
o VMware modules (plugins) include:
o Update Manager
o Converter Enterprise
o vShield Zones – an application-aware firewall built for vCenter Server integration. It inspects client-server communications and intervirtual-
machine communication to provide detailed traffic analytics and application-aware firewall partitioning.
o Orchestrator – a workflow engine that enables you to create and execute automated workflows.
o Data Recovery – a disk-based backup and recovery solution. Enable centralized and efficient management of backup jobs and includes
data de-duplication.
9L0-510
o Tomcat Web server is installed as part of the vCenter Server installation. The components that require Tomcat are:
o Linked Mode
o CIM/Hardware Status tab

When you restore the standard switch, a new virtual adapter is created and the management network uplink that is currently connected to
vNetwork Distributed Switch is migrated to the new virtual switch.
o The software creates these partitions:
o One 4GB VFAT scratch partition for system swap.
o One VMFS3 partition on the remaining free space.
o The installer creates a 110MB diagnostic partition for core dumps.
o The scratch partition is not required (
640 802 Dumps
but created by default during the installation). It is used to store vm-support output, which you need
when you create a support bundle.
o Lockdown mode prevents remote personnel from logging in to the ESXi host by using the root login name. By default, lockdown mode is
disabled.
o Resetting the configuration does not remove virtual machines on the ESXi host. After you reset the configuration defaults, the virtual
machines are not visible, but you can retrieve them by reconfiguring storage and reregistering the virtual machines.
o When you perform a configuration backup, the serial number is backed up with the configuration and is restored when you restore the
configuration. The serial number is not preserved when you run the Recovery CD (ESXi Embedded) or perform the repair operation (ESXi
Installable).
o When you restore the configuration, the target host must be in maintenance mode, which means all virtual machines (including the vSphere
CLI virtual appliance) must be powered off.
o Run the vicfg-cfgbackup command with the -s flag to save the host configuration to the specified backup filename.
o When you restore configuration data, the build number currently running on the host must be the same as the build number that was running
when you created the backup file. You can override this requirement by including the -f (force) flag with the vicfg-cfgbackup
command.
o Run the vicfg-cfgbackup command with the -l flag to load the host configuration from the specified backup file.
o You can restore the ESXi Installable software by running the ESXi installation CD in repair mode. All host configuration data is overwritten by
system defaults.
o During the repair operation, your existing ESXi 4.0 Installable VMFS datastore is preserved if it is in its original location on the ESXi 4.0 boot
disk, or if it is located on another disk (separate from the boot disk). If you changed the VMFS location on the boot disk, it is preserved if it is
located beyond the 900MB partition.
vSphere upgrade guide
o When you upgrade from ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0, you can use either the vSphere Host Update Utility or vCenter Update Manager.
o EDIT – you can also use the upgrade script (esxupgrade.sh – KB 1009440). VMware doesn’t mention the option of a fresh install at any point;
they are pushing the upgrade option as much as possible. You c
640-802
an’t seem to do an upgrade with the ESX4 install CD.
o Host Update Utility is used for upgrading ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 standalone hosts to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 and for patching ESXi 4.0 standalone hosts. It is
a standalone Microsoft Windows application recommended for smaller deployments with fewer than 10 ESX/ESXi hosts, without vCenter
Server or Update Manager.
o vCenter Update Manager is for upgrading and updating ESX/ESXi hosts that are managed in vCenter Server.
o Orchestrated upgrades can be used to upgrade the VM hardware and VMware Tools.
o No VMFS upgrade is required if you are upgrading from ESX 3.x
o You must upgrade VMware Tools before upgrading virtual hardware.
o After you upgrade to vCenter Server, you cannot revert to VirtualCenter 2.x. Take appropriate backups before starting the upgrade.
o Upgrade VirtualCenter 2.x to vCenter Server 4.0:
o Make sure your database is compatible
o Have required permissions
o Take a full backup of the VirtualCenter 2.x database
o Back up the VirtualCenter 2.x SSL certificates
o Install the vSphere Client
o vCenter Converter, upgrade
o vCenter Guided Consolidation upgrade
o Upgrade to vCenter Update Manager 4.0.
o Use vCenter Update Manager to upgrade ESX 3.x hosts to ESX 4.0. (or use host update utility)
o Use vCenter Update Manager to upgrade your VMs. vCent

640 802 braindumps
er Update Manager ensures that the VMware Tools upgrade and the virtual
hardware upgrade happen in the correct order
o Upgrade your product licenses
o ESX 2.x hosts cannot be added to clusters.
o Oracle 9i is no longer supported.
o Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is no longer supported.
o To Back Up VirtualCenter 2.x:
o Make a full backup of the VirtualCenter 2.x databas

o vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group can be in different domains if the domains have a two-way trust relationship.
o The installer must be run by a domain user who is an administrator on both the machines.
o The vCenter Server installer validates that the

vcp 4
machine clocks are not more than 5 minutes apart.
o The instances can run under different domain accounts.
o Windows Server 2008 automatically configures the firewall to permit access. Launch firewall.cpl and add an exception for
C:\Windows\ADAM\dsamain.exe
o When you install vCenter Server in Linked Mode, the firewall configuration on any network-based firewalls must be modified.
o Configure Windows RPC ports to generically allow selective ports for machine-to-machine RPC communication.
o vCenter Collector service – uses port 8181 and 8182, by default.
o vCenter Web Server – uses ports 8080 and 8443, by default.
o All product licenses are encapsulated in 25-character license keys that you can manage and monitor from vCenter Server.
o vSphere Licenses – For ESX/ESXi.
o vCenter Server Licenses – For vCenter Server.
o vCenter Server 4.0 does not require a license server to manage ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 hosts. However, vCenter Server 4.0 does requires a license
server to manage ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts.
o If a vCenter Server license expires, the managed hosts become disconnected.
o If an ESX/ESXi host license expires, the VMs that reside on the host continue to run, but you cannot power on the VMs or reset them.
ESXi Installable and vCenter Server Setup Guide
o When you power on the ESXi host for the first time or after resetting the configuration defaults, the host enters an autoconfiguration phase
during which system network and storage devices are configured with defaults.
o By default, DHCP configures IP and all visible blank internal disks are formatted with VMFS so that virtual machines can be stored on the disks.
o ESXi has an interface called the direct console to:
o Configuring host defaults
o Setting up administrative access
o Troubleshooting
o Minimum hardware configurations supported by ESXi 4.0:
o 64-bit x86 CPUs.
o 2GB RAM minimum
o Supported SATA, SAS or SCSI disks
o The installer reformats and partitions the target disk and installs the ESXi 4.0 boot image.
o ESXi Installable is always installed in evaluation mode (60 days).
o ESXi Installable and ESXi Embedded cannot exist on the same host.
o Booting multiple servers from a single shared ESXi image is not supported.
o If there is no DHCP available during the install, it assigns the link lo
vmware vcp 4 cal IP address, which is in the subnet 169.254.x.x/16.
o Direct Console
Action Key
View and change the configuration F2
Change the user interface to high-contrast mode F4
Shut down or restart the host F12
Move the selection between fields Arrow keys
Select a menu item Enter
Toggle a value Spacebar
Confirm sensitive commands, such as resetting configuration defaults F11
Save and exit Enter
Exit without saving Esc
Exit system logs q
o To change the security banner > Advanced Settings window, select Annotations.
o Test Management Network:
o Pings the default gateway
o Pings the primary DNS nameserver
o Pings the secondary DNS nameserver
o Resolves the configured host name
o Restarting the management agents restarts all management agents and services that are installed and running in /etc/init.d on the ESXi host.

640 802
Typically, these agents include hostd, ntpd, sfcbd, slpd, wsman, and vobd. The software also restarts the Automated Availability Manager
(AAM) if it is installed.
o Disable the management network is if you want to isolate an ESXi host from an HA and DRS cluster, but you do not want to lose your static IP
and DNS configurations or reboot the host.

This topic introduces the components of VMware vSphere.
VMware vSphere includes the following components:
VMware® ESX and VMware® ESXi

A virtualization layer run on physical servers that abstr

vcp-410 acts processor, memory, storage, and resources into multiple virtual machines.
Two versions of ESX are available:
■

VMware ESX 4.0 contains a built-in service console. It is available as an installable CD-ROM boot image.
■

VMware ESXi 4.0 does not contain a service console. It is available in two forms: VMware ESXi 4.0 Embedded and VMware ESXi 4.0 Installable. ESXi 4.0 Embedded is firmware that is built into a server’s physical hardware. ESXi 4.0 Installable is software that is available as an installable CD-ROM boot image. You install the ESXi 4.0 Installable software onto a server’s hard drive.
VMware® vCenter Server

The central point for configuring, provisioning, and managing virtualized IT environments.
VMware® vSphere Client

An interface that allows users to connect remotely to vCenter Server or ESX/ESXi from any Windows PC.
VMware® vSphere Web Access

A Web interface that allows virtual machine management and access to remote consoles.
VMware® Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)

A high performance cluster file system for ESX/ESXi virtual machines.
VMware® Virtual SMP

Feature that enables a single virtual machine to use multiple physical processors simultaneously.
VMware® VMotion and Storage VMotion

VMware VMotion enables the live migration of running virtual machines from one physical server to another with zero down time, continuous service availability, and complete transaction integrity. Storage VMotion enables the migration of virtual machine files from one datastore to another without service interruption. You can choose to place the virtual machine and all its disks in a single location, or select separate locations for the virtual machine configuration file and each virtual disk. The virtual machine remains on the same host during Storage VMotion.
Migration with VMotion – Moving a powered-on virtual machine to a new host. Migration with VMotion allows you to move a virtual machine to a new host without any interruption in the availability of the virtual machine. Migration with VMotion cannot be used to move virtual machines from one datacenter to another.
Migration with Storage VMotion – Moving the virtual disks or configuration file of a powered-on virtual machine to a new datastore. Migration with Storage VMotion allows you to move a virtual machine’s storage without any interruption in the availability of the virtual machine.
VMware® High Availability (HA)

Feature that provides high availability for applications running in virtual machines. If a server fails, affected virtual machines are restarted on other production servers that have spare capacity.
VMware® Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)

vmware vcp 410
Feature that allocates and balances computing capacity dynamically across collections of hardware resources for virtual machines. This feature includes distributed power management (DPM) capabilities that enable a datacenter to significantly reduce its power consumption.
VMware® Consolidated Backup (Consolidated Backup)

Feature that provides a centralized facility for agent-free backup of virtual machines. It simplifies backup administration and reduces the impact of backups on ESX/ESXi performance.
VMware® vSphere SDK

Feature that provides a standard interface for VMware and third-party solutions to access the VMware vSphere.
VMware® Fault Tolerance

When Fault Tolerance is enabled for a virtual machine, a secondary copy of the original (or primary) virtual machine is created. All actions completed on the primary virtual machine are also applied to the secondary virtual machine. If the primary virtual machine becomes unavailable, the secondary machine becomes active, providing continual availability.
vNetwork Distributed Switch (DVS)

Feature that includes a distributed virtual switch (DVS), which spans many ESX/ESXi hosts enabling significant reduction of on-going network maintenance activities and increasing network capacity. This allows virtual machines to maintain consistent network configuration as they migrate across multiple hosts.
Host Profiles

Feature that simplifies host configuration management through user-defined configuration policies. The host profile policies capture the blueprint of a known, validated host configuration and use this to configure networking, storage, security, and other settings across multiple hosts. The host profile policies also monitor compliance to standard host configuration settings across the datacenter. Host profiles reduce manual steps involved in configuring a host and can help maintain consistency and correctness across the datacenter.
Pluggable Storage Array (PSA)

vmware vcp 410

A storage partner plug-in framework that enables greater array certification flexibility and improved array-optimized performance. PSA is a multipath I/O framework allowing storage partners to enable their array asynchronously to ESX release schedules. VMware partners can deliver performance-enhancing multipath load-balancing behaviors that are optimized for each array.

The default root password is mypassword.
o /boot and vmkcore are physical partitions. /, swap, /var/log, and all the optional partitions are stored on a virtual disk called esxconsole-
/esxconsole.vmdk. The virtual disk is stored in a VMFS volume.
o You cannot define the sizes of the /boot, vmkcore, and /vmfs partitions when you use the graphical or text installation modes. You can define
these partition sizes when you do a scripte
Passed VCP410 d installation.
o ESX Required Partitions
Mount Point Type Size Location
/boot ext3 1.25GB of free space and includes the /boot and vmkcore
partitions. The /boot partition alone requires
1100MB.
Physical partition
N/A swap 600MB recommended minimum 1600MB maximum. Virtual disk in a VMFS volume
/ ext3 Based on the size of the /usr partition. By default, the
minimum size is 5GB and no /usr partition is defined.
Virtual disk in a VMFS volume
N/A VMFS3 For VMFS volumes hosting esxconsole.vmdk: 1200MB and
an additional 10GB. VMFS2 is supported in read-only
mode to import legacy VMs.
Physical partition.
N/A vmkcore See /boot Physical partition
o ESX Optional Partitions
Mount Point Type Recommended Size Location
/home ext3 512MB Virtual disk in a VMFS volume
/tmp ext3 1024MB Virtual disk
/usr ext3 Missing in PDF Virtual disk
/var/log ext3 2000MB Virtual disk. The graphical and text
installers create this partition by
default.
o vihostupdate command applies software updates to ESX4/ESXi4 hosts and installs and updates ESX/ESXi extensions (use vihostupdate35 on
ESX 3.5/ESXi 3.5 hosts.)
o The esxupdate utility is for ESX only.
o You can use the vihostupdate utility in conjunction with offline bundles or with a depot
o vSphere Databases:
o Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express – up to 5 hosts and 50 VMs. If the machine has Microsoft SQL Native Client installed, remove it before
installing vCenter Server with the bundled database. If the machine has MSXML Core Services 6.0 installed, remove it before installing
o Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – Windows XP, apply MDAC 2.8 SP1 to the client. Use the SQL Native Client driver (version 9.x) for the client.
Ensure that the machine has a valid ODBC DSN entry. Remove MSXML Core Services 6.0 before
o Microsoft SQL Server 2008 – Windows XP, apply MDAC 2.8 SP1 to the client. Use the SQL Native Client driver (version 10.x) for the client.
Ensure that the machine has a valid ODBC DSN entry.
o Oracle 10g – If necessary, first apply patch 10.2.0.3 (or later) to the client and server. Then apply patch 5699495 to the client. Ensure that
Passed VCP 4

the machine has a valid ODBC DSN entry.
o Oracle 11g – Ensure that the machine has a valid ODBC DSN entry.
o Even though vCenter Server is supported on 64-bit operating systems, the vCenter Server system must have a 32-bit DSN. This requirement
applies to all supported databases. By default, any DSN created on a 64-bit system is 64 bit. On a 64-bit system use
C:\WINDOWS\SYSWOW64\odbc32.exe.
o vCenter Server must have a computer name that is 15 characters or fewer. The data source name (DSN) and remote database systems can
have names with more than 15 characters.
o To prepare a SQL Server database to work with vCenter Server, you generally need to create a SQL Server database user with database
operator (DBO) rights.
o If you use SQL Server for vCenter Server, do not use the master database.
o When using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition with vCenter Server, do not name the instance MSSQLSERVER.
o The vCenter Server performs a silent installation of vCenter Orchestrator. If you install vCenter Server on an IPv6 operating system, the
vCenter Orchestrator module is not supported.
o The vSphere Host Update Utility is for updating and
vcp 410 patching ESXi 4.0 hosts and upgrading ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0.
o You can join multiple vCenter Server systems to form a Linked Mode group.
o Linked Mode global data includes:
o Connection information (IP and ports)
o Certificates
o Licensing information
o User roles

o The evaluation period is 60 days and begins as soon as you power on the ESX machine, even if you start in license mode initially.
o The installer creates three basic partitions: /boot, vmkcore and VMFS. The service console VMDK file contains swap, and /var/log, by default,
and any other partitions that you specify.
o The media depot is a network-accessible location that contains the ESX installation media. You can use HTTP/ HTTPS, FTP, or NFS to access the

VCP-410 questions
depot.
o Scripted installation – you must point to the media depot in the script by including the install command with the nfs or url option.
o Interactive installation – include the askmedia boot option.
o The boot options list appears when you boot the installer and press F2.
o Bootstrap Commands for ESX Installation
Command Description
askmedia Allows you to interactively select the location of the ESX installation media. This option is required if the
image is hosted at an HTTP, FTP, or NFS location.
BOOTIF Accepts the format for the boot network adapter as supplied by PXELINUX.
gateway= Sets this network gateway as the default gateway during the install.
ip= Specifies a static IP address to be used for downloading the script and the installation media. The IPAPPEND
option is also supported if you PXE boot the installer.
ks=cdrom:/ Performs a scripted installation with the script at , which resides on the DVD in the DVD-ROM drive.
ks=file:// Performs a scripted installation with the script at , which resides inside the initial ramdisk image.
ks=ftp://// Performs a scripted installation with a script located at the given URL.
ks=http:/// Performs a scripted installation with a script located at the given URL.
ks=https:/// Performs a scripted installation with a script located at the given URL.
ks=nfs:/// Performs a scripted installation with the script located at on a given NFS server.
ks=usb Performs a scripted installation with the ks.cfg script in the root directory of the USB flash drive attached to
the host. If multiple flash drives are attached, the installer cycles through each one, mounting and
unmounting them until the file named ks.cfg is found.
ks=UUID::/ Performs a scripted installation with a script located on the ext partition with the given UUID.
ksdevice= Same as netdevice
nameserver= Specifies a domain name server as the nameserver during the install.
netdevice= Tries to use a network adapter when looking for an installation script and installation media. Specify
as a MAC address (for example, 00:50:56:C0:00:01). If not specified and files need to be retrieved over
the network, the installer defaults to the first discovered network adapter. The IPAPPEND option is also
supported if you PXE boot the installer.
netmask= Specifies subnet mask for the network interface that downloads the installation media.
noapic Flags the kernel to use the XTPIC instead of the APIC.
text Starts the ESX installer in text mode.
VCP-410 dumps

url= Looks for the installation media at the specified URL. When you are PXE booting the installer, the url=
command only works with earlier versions of SYSLINUX. The command does not work with
SYSLINUX/PXELINUX version 3.70 and higher.
vlanid= Configures the VLAN for the network card.
o PXE Boot the ESX Installer:
1. Install TFTP server software that supports PXE booting.
2. Put menu.c32 file in an accessible place
3. Install PXELINUX.
4. Configure the DHCP server.
5. Create the kernel image and ramdisk directory by copying the vmlinuz and initrd.img files from the /isolinux directory on the ESX
installation DVD to a supported location.
6. Create the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg directory on your TFTP server.
7. Create a PXE configuration file. PXE configuration file in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
o In an interactive installation, omit the ks= option.
o ESX 3.x supported a hybrid installation. You could supply an incomplete ESX installation script, and the installer prompts you for the missing
parts. ESX 4.0 does not support this.
o Install ESX interactively or by using a script. For interactive installation, you can use graphical mode or text mode.
o The installer erases all content on the selected storage device.
o Installing ESX on a USB device is not supported.
o VMFS2 volumes are not recognized by the ESX 4.0 installer.
o The installation log is /var/log/esx_install.log.
o The installation script can reside in one of the following locations:
o Default installation script
o FTP
o HTTP/HTTPS
o NFSPassed VCP-410
o USB flash drive
o Local disk
o The installer creates a /root/ks.cfg script, which reflects the choices you made in the interactive installation.
o Installation media contains the following default installation scrip

vCompute – aggregate resources
o vStorage – enables the most efficient use and management of storage
o vNetwork – simplify and enhance networking
o Fault Tolerance – a secondary copy. Actions completed on the primary VM are also applied to the secondary VM. If the primary VM becomes
unavailable, the secondary machine becomes active, pro
VCP-410 exam viding continual availability.
o Distributed Virtual Switch (DVS) – spans many hosts reduction of maintenance and increasing network capacity.
o Host Profiles – host configuration management through user-defined configuration policies. Captures the blueprint and monitors compliance.
o Pluggable Storage Array (PSA) – greater array certification flexibility and improved array-optimized performance. A multipath I/O framework.
o Cluster – aggregate computing and memory resources of a group of physical x86 servers sharing the same network and storage arrays.
o Resource pools – partitions of computing and memory resources from a single host or a cluster. can be hierarchical and nested.
o Storage VMotion – enables the migration of VMs from one datastore to another datastore without service interruption
o Fault Tolerance (FT) – uses vLockstep technology, continuous availability by protecting a VM (the Primary VM) with a shadow copy (Secondary
VM) that runs in virtual lockstep on a separate host.
o vNetwork Distributed Switch (dvSwitch) – functions as a single virtual switch across all associated hosts.
o dvPort (distributed virtual port) – a port on a DVS that connects to a host’s service console or VMkernel or to a VM’s network adapter.
o vApp – has the same basic operation as a VM, but can contain multiple VMs or appliances.
o Web Access cannot be used to access a host running ESXi 4.0.
o Web Access is turned off by default for ESX hosts.
Getting Started with ESX
o ESX Service Console is held in the esxconsole.vmdk partition.
o vCenter Server uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express for small deployments with up to 5 hosts and 50 VMs.
o If SQL Native Client is already installed, uninstall SQL Nati

VCP-410 exam questions ve Client before you begin the vCenter Server installation.
o vCenter server must belong to a domain rather than a workgroup. Otherwise it’s not able to discover – using such features as vCenter Guided
Consolidation Service. The computer name cannot be more than 15 characters.
o vCenter Server cannot be an Active Directory domain controller.
o The Domain user account should have the following permissions:
o Member of the Administrators group
o Act as part of the operating system
o Log on as a service
ESX and vCenter server installation guide
o ESX4 will only install and run on servers with 64-bit x86 CPUs. They require a 2GB RAM minimum.
o vCenter Server must have 2 CPUs and 3GB RAM.
o The vCenter Server has a service called VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices. This service requires 128MB to 1.5GB of additional
memory.
o You can use a 32-bit Windows for up 200 hosts. A 64-bit Windows can have 200-300 hosts.
o The vSphere Client requires the Microsoft .NET 3.0 SP1 Framework.
o vCenter server required firewall ports:
Port Description
80 Redirects requests to HTTPS port 443.
389 LDAP port number for the Directory Services for the vCenter Server group. Needs to bind to port 389, even if you are not joining this
vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group.
443 Listen for connections from the vSphere Client.
636 For vCenter Linked Mode, this is the SSL port of the local instance
902 Uses to send data to managed hosts. Managed hosts also send a regular heartbeat over UDP port 902 to the vCenter
902/903 Ports used by vSphere Client to display VM consoles.
8080 Web Services HTTP. Used for the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices.
8443 Web Services HTTPS. Used for the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices.
o If ESX will not use an NTP server, make sure that the server hardw
VCP-410 study guide
are clock is set to UTC in the BIOS (EDIT: As a matter of best practice you
should always set ESX server’s hardware clocks to UTC)
o IPv6 is not supported for ESX installation
o The service console must be installed on a VMFS datastore that is resident on a host’s local disk or on a SAN disk that is masked and zoned to
that particular host only

All backed-up VMs are stored in a de-duplicated store.
o Data Recovery supports the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS),
o Data Recovery can concurrently back up a maximum of eight VMs.
o Maximum of eight restore jobs can run at the same time.
o No more than two backup destinations simultaneously.
o The backups use the changed b
VCP-410 dumps
lock tracking functionality on the ESX hosts.
o To maximize de-duplication, back up similar VMs to the same destination.
o Valid vSphere licensing includes: Essential Plus, Advanced, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus licenses.
o Each Data recovery backup appliance can protect a total of 100 VMs
o VSS produces consistent shadow copies by coordinating with business applications, file-system services, backup applications, fast-recovery
solutions, & storage hardware. VSS support is provided with VMware Tools. VMware provides a VSS Requestor & a VSS Snapshot Provider
(VSP). The Requester component is available inside a supported guest & responds to events from an external backup application. The
Requestor also controls the progress of backup operations inside the guest and interacts with the VSP. The Requestor is instantiated by the
VMware Tools service when a backup process is initialized. The VSP is registered as a Windows service & notifies Data Recovery of providerspecific
events during a VSS backup.
o VSS is supported on:
o Windows Server 2003, 32 bit & 64 bit
o Windows Vista, 32 bit & 64 bit
o Windows Server 2008, 32 bit & 64 bit
o For VMs with Windows operating systems that do not support VSS, VMware Tools uses the default LGTO SYNC driver. For other guest
operating systems, VMware Tools uses crash-consistent quiescing.
o Data Recovery is designed to support de-duplication stores that are up to 1TB & each backup appliance is designed to support the use of two
de-duplication stores. Data Recovery does not impose limits on the size of de-duplication stores or number of de-duplication stores, but if
VCP-410
more than two stores are used or as the size of a store exceeds one terabyte, performance may be affected.
o You can store backups on any virtual disk supported by ESX. Data Recovery also supports Common Internet File System (CIFS) based storage
such as SAMBA.
o The Data Recovery plug-in connects to the backup appliance using port 22024.
o First time logging on to the backup appliance, the default credentials are username: root, password: vmw@re.
o By default, backup jobs run at night on Monday through Friday & at any time on Saturday & Sunday. Data Recovery attempts to back up each
VM in a job once a day during its backup window.
o Complete a restore rehearsal to confirm that a VM is being backed up as expected & that a successful restore operation would complete as
expected.
From Mike Laverick’s notes:
o De-duplication process operates by analyzing the VM to be backed up & breaking it up into smaller variable blocks size chunks which are
anywhere between the range of 2KB to 64KB.
o The de-duplication process cannot be disabled; the data is also encrypted to prevent malicious interception of the data.
o De-duplication data is stored as 1GB files in the VMwareDat
VCP-410 braindump aRecovery folder.
o Backup of individual files contained inside the VM is currently “experimental”.
o Both VCB & vDR cannot backup the end-user generated snapshots.
o vDR can utilize tape but you need a 3rd party solution.

To restore a VM: vcbRestore -s
o Identify the folder that will store the VM: vcbUtil -c vmfolders
o Use vcbResAll to restore all the VMs from the archive you created using vcbSnapAll.
Appendix B – Restoring VMs from ESX Server 2.5.x to ESX Server 3.x
Supplementary Documentation
vSphere Management Assistant Guide (vMA)
VCP-410 exam questions

o The vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) is a VM that includes a Linux distribution, the vSphere command-line interface, & the vSphere SDK
for Perl. vMA allows administrators to run scripts or agents that interact with ESX/ESXi & vCenter systems without having to explicitly
authenticate each time. vMA can also collect ESX/ESXi & vCenter logging information and store the information on vMA for analysis.
o vMA comes preconfigured with two accounts, vi-admin & vi-user.
o You can use the vima-update utility from inside vMA to download updates & VMware components, including the operating system.
Configuration file: /etc/vmware/esxupdate/vimaupdate.conf
o You can move files from the ESX/ESXi host to the vMA console (and back) using the vifs command.
o vMA also includes an authentication component (vi-fastpass) & a logging component (vi-logger).
o When you add an ESX/ESXi system as a target server, vi-fastpass creates two users with obfuscated passwords on the target server:
o vi-admin (administrator privileges)
o vi-user (read-only privileges)
o After the target server has been added, you must initialize vi-fastpass. Use one of the following methods:
o Run vifpinit.
o Call LoginByFastpass in a Perl or Java program.
o vi-logger consists of a log daemon (vilogd) that collects & processes log files & the vilogger CLI that supports logger configuration.
o By default, vilogd places the logs in /var/log/vmware. To specify a different log location, change the /etc/vmware/viconfig/vilogdefaults.xml
file.
o You can use vMA to target ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 or later, ESX/ESXi 4.0, or vCenter Server 4.0 systems.
o The root user account is disabled on vMA. To run privileged commands, use sudo. By default, only vi-admin can run commands that require
sudo.
o You cannot upgrade from VIMA 1.0 to vMA 4.0. You must deploy the vMA 4.0 OVF instead.
o You cannot use the vi-user account until you have specified a password.
o The vi-user account has limited privileges on target ESX/ESXi systems & cannot run any vilogger commands or any commands that require
sudo execution.
o On vCenter Server targets, vi-user is not supported.
o Add Target Servers:
o sudo vifp addserver
o Initialize vi-fastpass: vifpinit
o Verify that the target server has been added: vifp listservers
VCP-410 study guide
o If the name of a target server changes, you must remove the target server using vifp removeserver with the old name, then add the server
using vifp addserver with the new name.
o Running vifpinit always initializes all current target servers. If you add multiple servers in sequence, you do not have to call vifpinit for each
server.
o The directory /opt/vmware/vima/samples contains examples in Perl & Java.
o Commands with options:
o vifpinit
o vifp (administrative interface)
o addserver
o removeserver
o rotatepassword
o listservers
o vilogger (logging interface)
o enable
o disable
o updatepolicy
VCP-410 questions

o list
o vifplib (library)
o vilogger interface – collect log files from the target ESX/ESXi or vCenter Server hosts.
o The vifplib library allows you to programmatically connect to vMA targets using Perl or Java.

Makes the VM snapshot available to the third-party software.
o The backup software performs an ordinary backup of the VM snapshot moving the data to a backup medium.
o The backup software calls the post-backup script:
o Unmounts the VM snapshot from the backup proxy.
o Takes the VM out of snapshot mode.VCP-410
o Types of VCB backups:
o Image-level backup
o File-level backup
o Full file backup
o Differential backup
o Incremental backup
o VCB proxy:
o Windows 2003 SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit)
o Windows 2003 R2 (32-bit or 64-bit)
o Windows 2003 SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit)
o Windows 2008 – Server Core (command line) not supported.
o Disable automatic drive-letter assignment to newly seen volumes:
o diskpart
o automount disable
o Clean out entries of previously mounted volumes: automount scrub
o VCB configuration file: C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\config\config.js
o You need to specify a user name.
o Use the same password you use for logging in to the vCenter host or ESX Server host.
o If you do not specify the password, VCB checks if the password is set in the registry.
o You can configure VCB to use Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) for authentication.
o When VCB communicates with the vCenter server or ESX Server host, it can transfer data over an encrypted SSL connection or use an
unencrypted network channel.
o VCB supports a maximum of 60 concurrently mounted VMs disks.
o In the Hot-Add mode, you need to create a shadow VM for VCB to use internally. The shadow VM has the same name as your virtual VCB
proxy with the (VCB-HELPER) suffix added.
o If you are using VCB in the Hot-Add mode, in addition to the VCB User role, you need to create the VMware VCB Proxy role.
o You cannot perform a file-level backup simultaneously with an image-level backup for the same VM.
o When you perform a first backup for a VM, the VM has to be powered on, otherwise the backup fails.
o You do not need to power on a VM if your integration module is configured to use VM display names instead of IP addresses or DNS names.
o VMware VSS Component. Guest operating systems:
o Windows Server 2003 32-bit/64-bit
o Windows Vista 32-bit/64-bit
o Windows Server 2008 32-bit/64-bit
o VCB uses the VMware VSS component to create quiesced snapshots of the VM volumes.
o 2003 – VSS snapshots are application-consistent.
o Vista & Windows Server 2008, the snapshots are file-system consistent.
o SYNC Driver
VCP-410 braindump
o XP 32-bit
o 2000 Server 32-bit
o 2003 32-bit
o SYNC driver holds incoming I/O & flushes all dirty data to a disk, making snapshots file-system consistent.
o Locations of Custom Quiescing Scripts:
o Pre-freeze – C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\backupScripts.d or /usr/sbin/pre-freeze-script – All scripts are invoked in ascending
alphabetical order with freeze as the first argument.
o Post-thaw – C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\backupScripts.d or /usr/sbin/post-thaw-script – All scripts are invoked in
descending alphabetical order with thaw or freezeFail as the first argument.
o Cleaning Up After a Failed Backup Job: run vcbCleanup at the end of your backup cycle.
Appendix A: Using Service Console to Back Up & Restore VMs (valid for ESX4?)
o /etc/vmware/backuptools.conf configuration file to set the most common parameters
o You can use vcbMounter to back up an entire VM in the service console. The vcbMounter utility creates a quiesced snapshot of the VM &
exports the snapshot into a set of files, which can be later us
VCP-410 exam ed to restore the VM.
o To search for a particular VM & get information about it, use vcbVmName.
o You can back up a VM to a local directory or to a remote server using scp.
o Use vcbSnapAll to create an archive of groups of VMs in the service console. The vcbSnapAll utility has the same functionality as vcbMounter,
but, in addition, can identify groups of VMs.