VCP4 vSphere Study Notes

It looks like this year is going to be a busy one for me and many other Virtualisation engineers alike. Not only will we have to take the VCP vSphere upgrade exam but it looks like VMware are going to release a new certification called Master VCP. For me the VCP vSphere upgrade is a must if I'm to keep up to date with all of the latest features. The Master VCP exam is optional… but i have opted to aim towards certification before the end of 2009. The Master VCP exam is still in the design stage so it will be a while till it is fully available to the general public but I've decided to start early and make sure i give myself plenty of time to gather together plenty of study material and other useful info that may help me when I'm ready to sit the exams. The only thing that im still unsure of is, Do you have to take the VCP vSphere upgrade exam if you going to take the Master VCP exam? or will the Master superseed the VCP? For those who you who don't know anything about the Master VCP have a look at the posts below.

And for those of you who don't know anything about the VCP vSphere upgrade exam have a look below for some further information.

I will be using this page as a repository for all the study material that find over the coming months, similar to my VCDX study notes page. I hope that this will help both myself and anyone else reading The SLOG to move closer to passing the VCP vSphere 4 Exam The final release of the VCP on vSphere 4 exam will be available publicly on August 1st, 2009. Note: The resources i am listing on this page are to aid either the VCP vSphere exam or the Master VCP exam. Below is a list of the resources i have found so far.

As you may have read, i have been asked to take the vSphere 4 VCP Beta Exam which i will be sitting on July 17th. So that gives me 14 days to prepare. Below is a copy of the vSphere 4 VCP Exam Blueprint which i am going to use as a study guide for the next 14 days. I am going to try and go through each bullet point making sure i cover everything. Whenever i find a document, blog post, video which is related to that section i will try and post links so that anyone else who is taking the exam in the future will be able to use this to help their revision. If you have something you think would be useful to me and the readers of this page please feel free to Contact me.


VCP4 Practice Exams

I have produced 4 practice exam's to help me learn the latest features and configuration maximums available VMware vSphere 4. Please feel free to use it as much as you like. If you think an answer to a question is incorrect or you would like to contribute some questions to the exam please feel free to Contact Me. If you want to be notified whenever questions are added to the practice exam Follow Me on Twitter.

 


 

VCP4 Exam Blueprint Study Notes

Section 1 – Plan, Install and Upgrade VMware ESX/ESXi

Objective 1.1 — Install VMware ESX/ESXi on local storage Knowledge

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Objective 1.2 – Upgrade VMware ESX/ESXi Knowledge

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Objective 1.3 – Secure VMware ESX/ESXi Knowledge

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Objective 1.4 – Install VMware ESX/ESXi on SAN Storage Knowledge

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Objective 1.5 – Identify vSphere Architecture and Solutions Knowledge

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Section 2 – Configure ESX/ESXi Networking Objective 2.1 – Configure Virtual Switches Knowledge

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Objective 2.2 – Configure vNetwork Distributed Switches Knowledge

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Objective 2.3 – Configure VMware ESX/ESXi Management Network Knowledge

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Section 3 – Configure ESX/ESXi Storage Objective 3.1 – Configure FC SAN Storage Knowledge

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Objective 3.2 – Configure iSCSI SAN Storage Knowledge

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Objective 3.3 – Configure NFS Datastores Knowledge

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Objective 3.4 – Configure and Manage VMFS Datastores Knowledge

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Section 4 – Install and Configure vCenter Server Objective 4.1 – Install vCenter Server Knowledge

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Objective 4.2 – Manage vSphere Client plug-ins Knowledge

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Objective 4.3 – Configure vCenter Server Knowledge

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Objective 4.4 – Configure Access Control Knowledge

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Section 5 – Deploy and Manage Virtual Machines and vApps Objective 5.1 – Create and Deploy Virtual Machines Knowledge

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Objective 5.2 – Manage Virtual Machines Knowledge

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Objective 5.3 – Deploy vApps Knowledge

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Section 6 – Manage Compliance Objective 6.1 – Install, Configure and Manage VMware vCenter Update Manager Knowledge

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Objective 6.2 – Establish and Apply ESX Host Profiles Knowledge

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Section 7 – Establish Service Levels Objective 7.1 – Create and Configure VMware Clusters Knowledge

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Objective 7.2 – Enable a Fault Tolerant Virtual Machine Knowledge

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Objective 7.3 – Create and Configure Resource Pools Knowledge

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Objective 7.4 – Migrate Virtual Machines Knowledge

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Objective 7.5 – Backup and Restore Virtual Machines Knowledge

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Section 8 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting and Alarm Management Objective 8.1 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting for ESX/ESXi Hosts Knowledge

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Objective 8.2 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting for VMware FT and Third-Party Clusters Knowledge

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Objective 8.3 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting for Networking Knowledge

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Objective 8.4 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting for Storage Knowledge

  • Identify storage contention issues
  • Identify storage over-commitment issues
  • Identify storage connectivity issues
  • Identify iSCSI software initiator configuration issues
  • Interpret Storage Reports and Storage Maps

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Objective 8.5 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS and VMotion Knowledge

  • Explain the requirements of HA/DRS and VMotion
  • Verify VMotion functionality
  • Verify DNS settings
  • Verify the service console network functionality
  • Interpret the DRS Resource Distribution Graph and Target/Current Host Load Deviation
  • Troubleshoot VMotion using topology maps
  • Troubleshoot HA capacity issues
  • Troubleshoot HA redundancy issues

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Objective 8.6 – Create and Respond to vCenter Connectivity Alarms Knowledge

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Objective 8.7 – Create and Respond to vCenter Utilization Alarms Knowledge

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Objective 8.8 – Monitor vSphere ESX/ESXi and Virtual Machine Performance Knowledge

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