Module 8: Data Protection
VADP (vStorage APIs for Data Protection) requires no software installation because it is built into ESXi.
Hardware version 7 or later can support CBT ( Changed Block Tracking), “-ctk.vmdk”
Data Recovery Appliance
Virtual Machine Snapshot Consistency
Backing up vCenter Server: vCenter Server database, VMWare VCMSDS (ADAM), SSL certificate and vpxd.cfg file
Backing up ESXi Host Configuration Data: vicfg-cfgbackup
Module 9: Access and Authentication Control
ESXi Firewall
Lockdown mode disable all direct root access to ESXi machines
AD integration authentication
vShield Edge, App, Zones and Endpoint
Roles and Permissions
Permissions defined explicitly for the user on an object take precedence over a user’s group permission on that same object
Module 10: Resources Management and Monitoring
3 layers of memory in vSphere: Application, Guest OS, Host
.vswp is created when RAM overcommitment
Memory Reclamation Techniques:
– Transparent page sharing
– Ballooning mechanism forces VM to use their own paging areas (vmmemctl)
– Memory compression
– Page VM memory to out to disk
Virtual SMP (Symmetric Multi Processing): Logical processors provide the core with the ability to schedule one thread of execution. VMKernel maps the vCPU to an available logical processor.
Hyperthreading enables a core to execute two threads, or sets of instructions, at the same time
CPU load balancing: VMKernel intelligently manages processor time to guarantee the load is spread smoothly across processor cores in the system
Shares (a value that specified the relative priority or importance of a VM’s access to a given resource), Limits, and Reservations
A resource pool is a logical abstraction for managing resources, can be used on standalone hosts or clusters enabled for DRS (Distributed Resources Scheduler)
Resources Pool Attributes: Shares, Reservation, Limits and Expandable reservation
Monitor resources usage: CPU/ Memory/ Disk/ Bandwidth
CPU ready time can be affected by Overall CPU user and Number of resource consumers.
Memory: Ballooning activity/ Host’s swap-in and swap-out rates
Disk: Throughput and latency between VM and storage
– Kernel command latency (for best performance, it should be 0~1 ms)
– Physical device command latency (should be less then 15 ms)
Using Alarms (trigger and action)
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