Knowledge

• Identify custom installation options
  
• Identify ESXi Image Builder requirements
  

Skills and Abilities 

• Create/Edit Image Profiles
  
• Install/uninstall custom drivers
  
• Configure advanced boot loader options
  
• Configure kernel options
  
• Given a scenario, determine when to customize a configuration
  

Continue reading →

Knowledge

• Identify vMA prerequisites
  
• Identify vMA specific commands
  
• Determine when vMA is needed
  

Skills and Abilities 

• Install and configure vMA
  
• Add/Remove target servers
  
• Perform updates to the vMA
  
• Use vmkfstools to manage VMFS datastores
  
• Use vmware-cmd to manage VMs
  
• Use esxcli to manage ESXi Host configurations
  
• Troubleshoot common vMA errors and conditions
  

  Continue reading →

Knowledge

• Identify configuration files related to network security
  
• Identify virtual switch security characteristics

Skills and Abilities

• Add/Edit Remove users/groups on an ESXi host
  
• Customize SSH settings for increased security
  
• Enable/Disable certificate checking
  
• Generate ESXi host certificates
  
• Enable ESXi lockdown mode
  
• Replace default certificate with CA-signed certificate
  
• Configure SSL timeouts
  
• Configure vSphere Authentication Proxy
  
• Enable strong passwords and configure password policies
  
• Identify methods for hardening virtual machines
  
• Analyze logs for security-related messages
  
• Manage Active Directory integration
  Continue reading →

Knowledge

• Identify vCLI commands and tools used to troubleshoot vSphere networking configurations
• Identify logs used to troubleshoot network issues

Skills and Abilities

• Utilize net-dvs to troubleshoot vNetwork Distributed Switch configurations
• Utilize vSphere CLI commands to troubleshoot ESXi network configurations
• Troubleshoot Private VLANs
• Troubleshoot vmkernel related network configuration issues
• Troubleshoot DNS and routing related issues
• Use esxtop/resxtop to identify network performance problems
• Analyze troubleshooting data to determine if the root cause for a given network problem originates in the physical infrastructure or vSphere environment
• Configure and administer Port Mirroring
• Utilize Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) and ESXi Shell to troubleshoot, configure, and monitor ESXi networking

Continue reading →

Knowledge

• Identify resxtop/esxtop metrics related to memory and CPU
• Identify vCenter Server Performance Chart metrics related to memory and CPU

Skills and Abilities

• Troubleshoot ESXi host and Virtual Machine CPU performance issues using appropriate metrics
• Troubleshoot ESXi host and Virtual Machine memory performance issues using appropriate metrics
• Use Hot-Add functionality to resolve identified Virtual Machine CPU and memory performance issues
  Continue reading →