VMware vSphere: Advanced Troubleshooting Workshop [V6.7]

This five-day, intensive hands-on training workshop provides you with advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve competence in troubleshooting the VMware vSphere® 6.7 environment. This workshop is aimed at experienced system administrators and introduces methods and skills that use management command-line interfaces (CLIs) and VMware vSphere® ClientTM. This workshop focuses on investigating and resolving problems, analyzing log files to help you recognize log file entries that identify root causes, and configuring specific key vSphere features.

Objectives

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

• Use the command-line interface, log files, and vSphere Client to diagnose and resolve problems in the vSphere environment
• Practice Linux commands that aid in the troubleshooting process
• Analyze vSphere log files and determine the root cause of specific problems
• Troubleshoot storage problems and apply the appropriate resolution to these problems
• Troubleshoot and resolve networking problems
• Troubleshoot virtual machine problems, including migration problems, snapshot problems, and connection problems
• Identify VMware ESXi™ host and VMware vCenter Server® problems, analyze failure scenarios or misconfigurations, and rectify them
• Troubleshoot performance problems with vSphere components and apply mitigations
• Configure and manage the vSphere infrastructure to improve availability and operational stability

Intended Audience

Senior system administrators, experienced system administrators

Senior system integrators, experienced system integrators

Prerequisites

This course requires completion of one of the following prerequisites:

• VMware Certified Professional 6.5 – Data Center Virtualization (VCP6.5-DCV)
• VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V6.7] (with two years production experience)
• VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V6.7]
• VMware vSphere: Troubleshooting Workshop [V6.7]
• VMware vSphere: Fast Track [V6.7]

Equivalent knowledge and administration experience with ESXi and vCenter Server

Experience in working with a command-line interface is highly recommended, as is completion of VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V6.7].

Product Alignment

• ESXi 6.7
• vCenter Server 6.7

Course Outline

1 Course Introduction

• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives

2 Troubleshooting Tools

• Identify the tools available for troubleshooting a vSphere environment
• Explain the purpose of commonly used vSphere log files
• Use Linux commands that will assist you with troubleshooting vSphere
• Use the vim-cmd tool to manage hosts and virtual machines

3 Storage Troubleshooting

• Review the vSphere storage architecture and functionality necessary to troubleshoot storage problems
• Use ESXi and Linux commands to troubleshoot storage problems
• Analyze log file entries to identify the root cause of storage problems
• Investigate ESXi disk and storage issues
• Troubleshoot virtual machine snapshots
• Troubleshoot storage performance problems
• Troubleshoot storage all paths down and permanent device loss conditions
• Troubleshoot problems due to file locking on the ESXi host
• Configuration task: Configure iSCSI multi-pathing

4 Network Troubleshooting

• Review vSphere virtual switch architecture and functionality necessary to troubleshoot networking problems
• Use ESXi and Linux commands to troubleshoot networking problems
• Analyze log file entries to identify the root cause of networking problems
• Recover from a management network failure
• Troubleshoot VMware vSphere® vMotion® migration problems
• Configuration task: Modify network card options and drivers
• Configuration task: Migrate networking from a standard switch to a distributed switch
• Monitor the behavior of NIC teaming failover and load balancing
• Use the command line to isolate and resolve networking failures

5 System Troubleshooting

• Review virtual infrastructure architecture and functionality necessary to troubleshoot ESXi and vCenter Server problems
• Analyze log file entries to identify the root cause of virtual infrastructure problems
• Use the command line to manage and troubleshoot the vSphere virtual infrastructure
• Analyze virtual machine CPU performance
• Troubleshoot ESXi host connection problems
• Troubleshoot virtual machine power-on failures
• Troubleshoot vCenter Server connection problems
• Restart ESXi management agents and VMware vCenter® Server Appliance™ services from the command line
• Perform a file-based backup of vCenter Server Appliance
• Resolve Solution User certificate problems