Why should you learn about VMware vSphere? Although the concept of virtualization has been around since the days of mainframe computing, VMware was and is the company that made virtualization a mainstay in the x86/x64 space. Originally, VMware introduced a desktop virtualization product called Workstation followed by the server virtualization products GSX and ESX and a datacenter management product called VirtualCenter. Today, the ESX and VirtualCenter products have converged into the vSphere platform. This platform allows IT administrators to get greater utilization out of existing physical servers and reduce the overall datacenter footprint, sometimes by 50 percent or more. It also provides features to allow for high availability and scaling up with a predictable level of performance. Today, vSphere is used by 100 percent of Fortune 500 companies and distributed by over 75,000 partners.¹ This means that if you intend to get a job in the IT space, whether you are working for a large organization or a big partner, you are likely to be working with vSphere. Because of this, companies look for individuals who are certified. Holding the VMware certification lets companies know that you are qualified to work with vSphere at a guaranteed level of competency.

The purpose of this book is to help you pass the Professional VMware vSphere 6.7 (2V0-21.19) exam, exam number 2V0-21.19. The exam is closely tied to a version of vSphere. This book focuses on vSphere 6.x (6.5, 6.7). The current version of the certification, VMware Certified Professional - Data Center Virtualization 2020 (VCP-DCV 2020), is based on the 6.7 release of vSphere and covers installation, configuration, and administration. VMware's information about the exam is posted at

www.vmware.com/education-services/certification/vcp6-7-dcv-exam.html

This book covers all of the objectives tested for in the exam and includes topical information, lab work, and review questions. Because this book covers many of the tasks an administrator would perform on a day-to-day basis, this book should remain a useful reference even after you have passed the exam and earned your certification.

What Is vSphere?

The datacenter virtualization platform known as vSphere consists of multiple components. At its core is ESXi, a bare metal hypervisor that allows an x86 server to be virtualized. This virtualization allows the server's compute resources, as well as attached networking and storage resources, to be utilized by virtual servers (known as virtual machines, or VMs). These VMs can each run individual workloads with defined resource settings, allowing all of the server's resources to be efficiently utilized. vSphere includes VMFS, a filesystem optimized for virtualization, and vCenter Server, a management tool used to collectively manage all of the virtualized servers in the datacenter as well as providing advanced features like vMotion (live migration), High Availability (designed to manage unplanned downtime and maximize VM uptime), and a Distributed Resource Scheduler (designed to optimize performance), just to name a few.

Who Should Buy This Book

Anybody who wants to become VCP-DCV certified will benefit from this book in multiple ways. The book covers all of the objectives on the exam and includes a large number of practice questions that can help you prepare. In addition, the book contains a collection of hands-on labs that can be performed in a vSphere environment. The labs can be done in your own environment or by using VMware's Hands-On Lab environment.

This book can also help a fledgling vSphere user increase their proficiency, both by learning about new or previously unused features and by practicing with the included labs.

Since this book focuses on the VCP-DCV certification, there is an expectation that you have enough of a background with vSphere to successfully pass the underlying vSphere Foundations exam and therefore have sufficient knowledge of the topics covered by that exam. That being said, we have done as much as possible to make this book usable to candidates who might have minimal exposure to vSphere.

How This Book Is Organized

This book consists of 11 chapters plus supplementary information: a glossary, this introduction, and the assessment test after the introduction. The chapters are organized as follows:

• Chapter 1, “What's New in vSphere 6.7,” describes features that are new to vCenter Server, vSphere Operations, security, availability, storage, networking, developer and automation interfaces, and Host Lifecycle Management enhancements.
• Chapter 1, “Configuring and Administering Security in a vSphere Datacenter,” focuses on access to a vSphere environment and hardening of that environment, including how to configure and administer role-based access control, securing ESXi and vCenter Server, configuring and enabling SSO and identity sources, and securing vSphere virtual machines.
• Chapter 1, “Networking in vSphere,” focuses on configuring policies and networking features and verifying vSphere networking proper operations. This chapter also shows you how to configure Network I/O Control (NIOC).
• Chapter 1, “Storage in vSphere,” shows you how to set up storage for a vSphere implementation, including managing vSphere integration with physical storage, configuring software-defined storage, configuring vSphere Storage Multipathing and Failover, performing VMFS and NFS configurations and upgrades, and setting up and configuring Storage I/O Control (SIOC).
• Chapter 1, “Upgrading a vSphere Deployment,” is all about performing ESXi host and virtual machine upgrades, performing vCenter Server upgrades (Windows), and migrating vCenter Server to the VCSA.
• Chapter 1, “Allocating Resources in a vSphere Datacenter,” focuses on configuring multilevel resource pools and configuring vSphere DRS and Storage DRS clusters.
• Chapter 1, “Backing Up and Recovering a vSphere Deployment,” describes the process of backing up vSphere components, including configuring and administering the vCenter Server Appliance backup and restore operations, configuring and administering vCenter Data Protection, and configuring vSphere Replication.
• Chapter 1, “Troubleshooting a vSphere Deployment,” will show you how to troubleshoot major vSphere components, including vCenter Server and ESXi hosts, vSphere storage and networking, vSphere upgrades and migrations, virtual machines, HA and DRS configurations, and fault tolerance.
• Chapter 1, “Deploying and Customizing ESXi Hosts,” focuses on configuring Auto Deploy for ESXi hosts and creating and deploying host profiles.
• Chapter 1, “Ensuring High Availability for vSphere Clusters and the VCSA,” is all about configuring vSphere HA Cluster features and configuring vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) HA.
• Chapter 1, “Administering and Managing vSphere Virtual Machines,” will show you how to create and manage vSphere virtual machines and templates, create and manage a Content Library, and consolidate physical workloads using VMware vCenter Converter.

Each chapter begins with a list of the VCP-DCV objectives that are covered in that chapter. The book doesn't cover the objectives in the order in which they are present in the exam, since the order is subject to change and exam items are randomly placed during the exam itself. At the end of each chapter, you'll find a couple of elements you can use to prepare for the exam:

• Exam Essentials This section summarizes important information that was covered in the chapter. You should be able to perform each of the tasks or convey the information requested.
• Review Questions Each chapter concludes with approximately 20 review questions. You should answer these questions and check your answers against the ones provided after the questions. If you can't answer at least 80 percent of these questions correctly, go back and review the chapter, or at least those sections that seem to be giving you difficulty.

To get the most out of this book, you should read each chapter from start to finish and then check your memory and understanding with the chapter-end elements. Even if you're already familiar with a topic, you should skim the chapter; vSphere is complex enough that there are often multiple ways to accomplish a task, so you may learn something even if you're already competent in an area.

Bonus Contents

This book is accompanied by an online learning environment that provides several additional elements. The following items are available among these companion files:

• Sample Tests All of the questions in this book appear in our proprietary digital test engine—including the 30-question assessment test at the end of this introduction and the over 200 questions that make up the review question sections at the end of the chapters. In addition, there are two 55-question practice tests.
• Electronic “Flashcards” The digital companion files include 68 questions in flashcard format (a question followed by a single correct answer). You can use these to review your knowledge of the VCP-DCV exam objectives.
• Glossary The key terms from this book, and their definitions, are available as a fully searchable PDF.

Conventions Used in This Book

This book uses certain typographic styles in order to help you quickly identify important information and to avoid confusion over the meaning of words such as on-screen prompts. In particular, look for the following styles:

• Italicized text indicates key terms that are described at length for the first time in a chapter. (Italics are also used for emphasis.)
• A monospaced font indicates the contents of configuration files, messages displayed at a text-mode Linux shell prompt, filenames, text-mode command names, and Internet URLs.
• Italicized monospaced text indicates a variable—information that differs from one system or command run to another, such as the name of a client computer or a process ID number.
• Bold monospaced text is information that you're to type into the computer, usually at a Linux shell prompt. This text can also be italicized to indicate that you should substitute an appropriate value for your system. (When isolated on their own lines, commands are preceded by nonbold monospaced $ or # command prompts, denoting regular user or system administrator use, respectively.)

In addition to these text conventions, which can apply to individual words or entire paragraphs, a few conventions highlight segments of text:

Objective Mapping

Table I.1 contains an objective map to show you at a glance where you can find each VCP-DCV exam objective covered.