VMware vSphere: What’s New [V5.5 to V6]

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

• List and describe the importance of key features and enhancements in vSphere 6.0, 6.5, and 6.7
• Use VMware vSphere® Client™, VMware Host Client™, and the VMware vCenter® Server Appliance™ shell to view and configure the vSphere environment
• Migrate a vCenter Server system for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7
• Determine the proper upgrade path for a vCenter Server instance and upgrade vCenter Server to version 6.7
• Use the appropriate method to upgrade an ESXi host
• Create a multisite content library for synchronizing virtual machine templates, vApps, ISO images, and scripts across vCenter Server instances
• Deploy virtual machines from a content library
• Increase ESXi security by enabling lockdown mode on an ESXi host
• Upgrade virtual machines to the latest virtual hardware and VMware Tools™ version
• Configure NFS- and iSCSI-backed virtual volumes to provide a common storage platform, independent of the underlying storage hardware
• Create storage policies and use them with virtual machines and virtual volume datastores
• Register a key management server with vCenter Server and create an encrypted virtual machine
• Create a distributed switch and use VMware vSphere® Network I/O Control to allocate bandwidth for a virtual machine
• Activate VMware vCenter Server® High Availability

• System architects, system administrators, IT managers, VMware partners, and individuals responsible for implementing and managing vSphere architectures

1 Course Introduction
• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives

2 Management Enhancements
• Differentiate the vSphere clients
• Use vSphere Client to view the vSphere environment
• Use VMware Host Client to view the vSphere environment
• Describe the vSphere 6.0, 6.5, and 6.7 enhancements to vCenter Server Appliance
• Describe the new features of vSphere 6.7
• Discuss methods for vCenter Server Appliance Backup and Restore
• Manage a vCenter Server Appliance by using the command-line shell interface
• Describe how vCenter Server High Availability works
• Describe how VMware Platform Services Controller™ high availability works
• Configure and test vCenter Server High Availability
• Summarize the purpose of content libraries in a vSphere environment
• Create a local content library
• Subscribe to a published content library
• Deploy virtual machines from a content library

3 vCenter Server Upgrade and Migration
• Determine the appropriate upgrade path for a vCenter Server deployment
• Upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance instance to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7
• Upgrade a vCenter Server instance to vCenter Server 6.7
• Determine the appropriate migration path for a vCenter Server deployment
• Describe the new migration features of vCenter Server 6.7
• Migrate a vCenter Server instance for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7
• Describe Platform Services Controller High Availability deployment options
• Describe Enhanced Linked Mode with embedded Platform Services Controllers
• Use Embedded Linked Mode to link multiple vCenter Server systems
• Use Cross SSO Domain repointing to move and consolidate vCenter Server systems from different domains into one domain

4 ESXi Upgrade and Enhancements
• Determine the appropriate upgrade method for an ESXi host
• Describe the procedure for upgrading an ESXi 5.5, 6.0, or 6.5 host to an ESXi 6.7 host
• Discuss the additional features to support hot-plug and SMART solid-state drives
• Describe the new capabilities of Host Profiles introduced in vSphere 6.5
• Describe the vSphere 6.7 Quick Boot feature
• Describe the VMware vSphere® Update Manager™ EAM integration
• Describe vSphere 6.7 persistent memory feature
• Describe how Per-VM Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) provides greater VM mobility
• Discuss how virtual machines and applications to leverage high-performance physical GPU hardware
• Discuss how Instant Clone technology enables the rapid deployment of similar virtual machines

5 Virtual Machine Enhancements
• Discuss how virtual hardware 11, 13, and 14 extend virtual machine resource configurations
• Describe how the VMXNET3 adapter optimizes network traffic
• Discuss how hot-add memory is distributed across NUMA nodes in vSphere 6.x
• Describe the benefits of VMware vSphere® Integrated Containers™
• Upgrade Virtual Machines

6 Storage Enhancements
• Describe vSphere 6.x support for NFS
• Describe VMware vSphere® VMFS6 datastore
• Explain the advantages of SEsparse format for environments where many tenants share storage
• Discuss support for 4Kn (4K native) storage devices
• Explain how VMware vSphere® API for Storage Awareness™ can ensure that a VM’s storage requirements are met
• Describe the interoperability enhancements to VMware vSphere® Storage DRS™ and VMware vSphere®
Storage I/O Control
• Describe how vSphere Storage DRS and Storage I/O Control improves adherence to configured maximums and reservations
• Describe the VMware vSAN enhancements
• Describe how VMDK data operations are offloaded to storage arrays through VMware vSphere® API for Storage Awareness™
• Describe per-virtual machine, policy-based policy management

7 Security Enhancements
• Use encryption in your vSphere environment
• Encrypt virtual machines in your vSphere environment
• Explain how to back up encrypted virtual machines
• Enable encrypted vSphere vMotion migration
• Discuss the improvements to lockdown settings
• Describe the addition of smart-card authentication
• Explain the changes that enhance user accountability
• Describe secure boot support for ESXi hosts
• Describe the security enhancements introduced in vSphere 6.7
• Enable Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 mode in your vSphere environment
• Enable a virtual TPM device in your vSphere environment
• Discuss support for Virtualization Based Security (VBS) in your vSphere environment
• Deploy enhanced vCenter Server events and alarms and vSphere logging
• Describe the vSphere features for monitoring vCenter Server Appliance
• List the VMware certificate management components
• Describe certificate use changes in vSphere 6.0
• Describe the primary services provided by the VMware Certificate Authority component
• Contrast using VMware certificate authority (CA) with using and external CA

8 Network Enhancements
• Use Network I/O Control
• Upgrade Network I/O Control to version 3
• Enable network resource management on VMware vSphere® Distributed Switch™
• Configure bandwidth allocation for system and virtual machine traffic based on shares and reservation
• Discuss IPv6 support in vSphere 6.x
• Explain how the gateway per vmknic feature works and how it is configured
• Explain the new ERSPAN headers supported in vSphere 6.5 and how they are configured
• Describe the areas where performance improvements were made in vSphere 6.5

9 Availability Enhancements
• Describe the TCP/IP stack for vSphere vMotion that was introduced in vSphere 6.0
• Explain the changes that make vSphere vMotion migrations across high-latency networks possible
• Discuss the requirements for migrating a virtual machine across vCenter Server instances
• Explain how VMware vSphere® Fault Tolerance in vSphere 6.0 supports virtual machines with multiple virtual CPUs
• Describe how vSphere Fault Tolerance maintains the secondary virtual machine in a ready state
• Explain the mechanism by which the primary virtual machine is determined
• Discuss the improvements made in handling all paths down (APD) and permanent device lost (PDL) conditions
• Describe the increased scalability of vSphere HA
• Explain the additional compatibility supported by vSphere HA
• Explain the enhancement of vSphere HA admission control and orchestrated restarts
• Describe advanced vSphere DRS options
• Increase VM and workload uptime with Predictive DRS
• Discuss how Proactive HA helps reduce VM downtime
• Reduce the need for vSphere HA with Proactive HA