VMware vSphere : Troubleshooting

This lab-intensive course focuses on providing system administrators with the advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve competence in troubleshooting the VMware vSphere™ virtual infrastructure. In this course, you will spend most of the time diagnosing and rectifying configuration problems created on VMware® ESX™/ESXi hosts and VMware vCenter™ Server systems. Upon completion of this course, you can take the examination to become a VMware Certified Professional.

Course Objectives

•  At the end of the course, you should be able to
• Use the VMware vSphere Client and service console commands to configure or diagnose and rectify problems on ESX
• Use the vSphere Client and the VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) appliance to configure or diagnose and rectify problems on ESX and ESXi hosts
• Use ESXi technical support mode to diagnose and rectify problems on ESXi
• Create and use a network sniffer to capture and display virtual switch network traffic
• Use the vSphere Client and command-line tools to troubleshoot VMware VMotion™, VMware Storage VMotion, VMware High Availability, VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler, and virtual machine power-on problems  

Module 1: Course Introduction

Module 2: ESXi Command-Line Troubleshooting Methods

• Install and use the vMA
• Learn common vSphere Command-Line
• Interface commands and syntax
• Configure ESXi technical support mode and SSH access

Module 3: ESX, ESXi, and vCenter Server Log Files

• View ESX, ESXi, and vCenter Server log files
• Configure a centralized ESX/ESXi log host

Module 4: Network Troubleshooting

• Identify and configure vNetwork components
• Configure and use a network traffic sniffer

Module 5: Management Troubleshooting

• Troubleshoot vSphere management components  

Module 6: Storage Troubleshooting

• View, configure, and diagnose storage access problems
• Configure iSCSI authentication and digests

Module 7: vMotion Troubleshooting

• Troubleshoot VMotion and Storage VMotion errors

Module 8: VMware Infrastructure Troubleshooting

• Troubleshoot DRS Cluster errors with shares, pools, and limits
• Troubleshoot HA Cluster errors with slot calculations, admission control, and host monitoring
• Review virtual machine power on requirements
• Troubleshoot virtual machine power on failures

Module 9: vSphere 4 DRS Cluster Troubleshooting

Complete a final multi-hour, multi-problem troubleshooting exercise