Ultimate VCAP5-DCD / VCAP5-DCA preparation Links

I have read so many blogs out there discussing and preparing you for VCAP5-DCD. For VCAP5-DCA I did not make any preparation except doing some tasks in my home lab as I have appeared for the BETA exam and passed it.

These blogs are no doubt not to be under rated or such for those who are getting ready as they add more value of course. Now this is not some kind of judgement about which blog is good/bad but actually the nature of content which brought me to a position where I can just suggest to read them/go through while preparing for the exams. So don't go and compare one to another. All the information available through blog posts by our community members are equally important and valuable in their own stance. To add to that this is not some kind of competition where there is a winner or the 1st rank will be given, but simply the Quality of the Content which matters.

But to me one blog just came on the surface while I was looking at the content for VCAP5-DCD

http://virtuallyhyper.com/2012/08/vcap5-dcd/

This blog site is maintained by our 3 Engineers of VMware, Jarrett, Joe and Karim. I have personally work with them on numerous occasions and the stuff they have put on the blog is top notch. They have blended the information from everywhere possible to make the flow lot smoother while you are reading. The best thing is to have the links ready for further reading if one needs to dig deeper in a subject. They have also written for VCAP5-DCA so you can check that out too.

Recently @ForbesGuthrie passed his VCAP5-DCD and he mentioned in his Tweet that he used this blog for the preparation. So this is one of the use cases I would say :-) while recommending this site.

 

Now I have not meet him yet but know him as he was one of the writers of VMware vSphere Design 4 book which help you preparing for VCAP-DCD Version 4. Now most of the content you can definitely use for Version 5 as well as far as the design methodologies and principles are concerned.

One day I was researching for some specific issue and then found about the www.thefoglite.com. This is another Top recommendation for VCAP5-DCA by Ethan Rowe (@rowe_ethan)

http://thefoglite.com/vcap-dca5-objective/

Now at the same time I don't want to miss a chance to give the credits to @JoshCoen (Blogpost) and @jaslanger (Blogpost) for their respective contributions for VCAP5-DCA.

Hopefully this will help you in preparing for both VCAPs along with other resources out there which may includes various blog sites, videos, online sessions etc. etc.

My 2c.

Good Luck to all going for VCDX  !!!!!

VMware Training and Credits

Here is the summary where you can associate the VMware Training and how many training credits that course has.

Its easy to interpret the credits into the training you can attend for the courses offered by VMware Education as of today.

If you have any question and you can visit the Education and Certification site.

http://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/www/

Enjoy learning.

Storage Integration Guides for vSphere

Vendor Integration Guides

I am putting here the links for the storage integration guide from various vendors which will help you configure and design your VMware Storage based on the vendor recommendation and best practices.

If you see any storage array not listed here, please leave the comment below and I will update it.

• HP 3PAR VMware Implementation Guide
  
  http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02663825/c02663825.pdf
• HP P4000 (LeftHand) SAN Solutions with VMware vSphere Best Practices
  
  http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA3-6918ENW.pdf
• HP Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) With VMware vSphere Configuration Best Practices
  
  http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA1-2185ENW.pdf
• EMC VNX Storage with VMware Storage
  
  http://www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/technical-documentation/h8229-vnx-vmware-tb.pdf
• EMC Symmetrix/VMAX Storage in VMware vSphere Environments
  
  http://www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/solution-overview/h2529-vmware-esx-svr-w-symmetrix-wp-ldv.pdf
• EMC CLARiiON Integration with VMware
  
  http://www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/white-papers/h1416-emc-clariion-intgtn-vmware-wp.pdf
• NetApp Storage Best Practices for VMware vSphere
  
  http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3749.pdf
• Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) in vSphere Environments Best Practices Guide
  
  http://www.hds.com/assets/pdf/optimizing-the-hitachi-virtual-storage-platform-best-practices-guide.pdf
• Dell Equallogic PS Series Storage Configuring iSCSI Connectivity with VMware vSphere 5
  
  http://www.equallogic.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10799

LACP and vSphere 5.1

LACP is the new feature introduced in new vSphere 5.1 VDS (vSphere Distributed Switch).

With that there are some articles published out by VMware for the issues involved with it.

The articles are listed below.

Enabling or disabling LACP on an Uplink Port Group using the vSphere Web Client (2034277)      

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2034277

LACP is enabled for Virtual Distributed Switch (2036296)      

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036296

Inconsistent uplink speeds disable LACP (2036303)

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036303    

LACP cannot be enabled (2034683)     

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2034683

Inactive uplinks disable LACP (2036302)  

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036302  

Duplicate packets or packet loss when using using LACP (2034807)     

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2034807

Inconsistent uplink duplex modes disable LACP (2036304)      

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036304

LACP is disabled for Virtual Distributed Switch (2036299)  

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036299  

Cannot enable LACP because of incompatible teaming policy (2036300) 

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036300  

No peer response from uplink disables LACP (2036305)     

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036305

Uplink moved out of link aggregation group (2036306)     

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036306

Uplink blocked on virtual distributed switch (2036308)      

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036308

Uplink unblocked on virtual distributed switch (2036309)     

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036309

Uplink disconnected on virtual distributed switch (2036310)    

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036310

Uplink connected on virtual distributed switch (2036311)   

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036311

@chriswahl has put up a nice video on configuring LACP here.


Enjoy working with LACP    

Critical Articles Repository for vSphere 5.1

Hi,

As everyone is now familiar about the release of vSphere 5.1 and majority of the community might have started installing/upgrading the environment with the new bits.

Assuming all the necessary Downloads are done and now the planning must have started for setting up the new components.

Here are some of the critical article which will make your install/upgrade process smoother. Go through them if possible to avoid any last minute surprises and stay away from any Gotchas.

Installing/Upgrading (Including SSO) KB Articles:

• Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 best practices (2021193)
• Installing vCenter Server 5.1 best practices (2021202)
• Installing or Upgrading to ESXi 5.1 best practices (2032756)
• Methods of Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 (2021188)
• Methods of installing vCenter Server 5.1 (2032885)
• Methods of installing ESXi 5.1 (2032782)
• Methods of upgrading to ESXi 5.1 (2032757)
• Overview of upgrading from vCenter Server 5.0 to vCenter Server 5.1 (2032283)

vCenter Single Sign On KB articles:

• Comparing behaviour of vCenter Single Sign On with earlier versions of vCenter Server (2032135)
• vCenter Single Sign On FAQ (2034918)
• Installing vCenter Single Sign On in a multisite deployment (2034074)
• Setting up Apache load balancing software with vCenter Single Sign On (2034157)
• Configuring vCenter Single Sign On for high availability (2033588)

Troubleshooting Single Sign On (SSO) KB articles:

• Troubleshooting Single Sign on (SSO) issues in vCenter Server 5.1(2033137)
• Troubleshooting the configuration of vCenter Single Sign On within the vCenter Server 5.1 Appliance (2033152)
• Troubleshooting VMware Single Sign-On configuration and installation issues in a Windows server (2033880)
• Troubleshooting failed log in attempts to the vSphere Web Client in vSphere 5.1 (2034506)
• Troubleshooting SSL certificate updates and Single Sign On (2033240)
• Troubleshooting vCenter Single Sign On when it does not start (2034517)

vSphere 5.1 Logs related KB articles:

• Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESXi using the Web Client (2032892)
• Location of vCenter Single Sign On (SSO) logs (2033430)
• Using the Log Browser to view, search, and export Logs for troubleshooting (2032888)

Other vSphere 5.1 new features KB articles:

• Understanding Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs with Auto Deploy (2032881)
• Enabling vSphere Distributed Switch Health Check in the vSphere Web Client (2032878)
• Understanding vSphere 5.1 network rollback and recovery (2032908)
• Retaining resource pools when disabling VMware DRS Cluster(2032893)
• Required ports for vCenter 5.1(KB 2031843)

  

Other vSphere 5.1 new Storage/Networking/Fault KB articles:

• Enabling vSphere Distributed Switch Health Check in the vSphere Web Client (2032878)
• Understanding vSphere 5.1 Network Rollback and Recovery - Disabling Network Rollback (2032908)
• Enabling or disabling LACP on an Uplink Port Group using the vSphere Web Client(2034277)
• The impact of VXLAN overlay networks on netqueue behavior(2032810)
• Booting ESXi with Software FCoE(2032363)
• Exporting, importing, and restoring Distributed Switch configurations using the vSphere Web client(2034602)
• ESXi / ESX hosts with visibility to RDM LUNs being used by MSCS nodes with RDMs may take a long time to boot(1016106)
• iSCSI and Jumbo Frames configuration on ESX/ESXi(1007654)
• Troubleshooting the ESXi Dump Collector service in vSphere 5.0(2003042)
• Host warning for ESXi Shell and SSH appear on a ESXi 5.1 host(2034841)
• ESXi / ESX hosts with visibility to RDM LUNs being used by MSCS nodes with RDMs may take a long time to boot(1016106)
• Installing async drivers on ESXi 5.x(2005205)
• Consolidating snapshots(1007849)
  
  VMware Data Protection:
  
  
• VMware Data Protection (VDP) FAQ(2016565)
• Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Data Protection(2033910)
• Required ports for vSphere Data Protection 5.1(2034929)
• Maintenance services status is in stopped state after deploying VMware vSphere Data Protection(2034780)
• Check list for escalating a support request for VMware Data Protection (VDP)(2034087) 
•  
• VMware vCloud Director:
  
  
• Installing vCloud Director 5.1 best practices (2034092)
• Upgrading to vCloud Director 5.1 best practices (2034980)
• Installing vShield 5.1 best practices (2034173)
• Upgrading to vShield 5.1 best practices (2034699)
• Network port requirements for vCloud Director 5.1 (2034426)
• Supported web browsers in vCloud Director 5.1 (2034554)
• Installing and configuring a vCloud Director 5.1 database (2034540)
• Supported guest operating systems in vCloud Director 5.1 (2034491)
• Accessing and using the vShield 5.1 REST API (2034410)
• Hardening vShield 5.1 virtual appliances (2034358)
• Upgrade paths from vSphere editions to VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 (2032390)
• Cannot upload the upgrade bundle while upgrading from vShield Manager 5.0 to 5.1 (2034804)
• Stopping a vApp in vCloud Director fails with the error: InternalServerErrorException: Failed to purge object (2034802)
• VXLAN support in vShield Manager (2034749)
• Duplicate packets or packet loss when using using LACP (2034807)
• Audit logging of vShield Edge does not work correctly in vShield Manager 5.1 (2034801)
• Unable to remove a host from the vCenter Server inventory belonging to a VXLAN prepared cluster (2034808)
• After upgrading to vSphere 5.1 vShield Endpoint stops functioning (2031655)
• Collecting diagnostic information for ESX/ESXi hosts and vCenter Server using the vSphere Web Client http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2032892
•