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HP Services – Consulting & Integration

VMware ESX Certification

VCP Exam Guide

Document Version: 1.0

Date: 10 March 2005

Prepared By: Carl Greer Senior Technology Consultant HP Services

VCP Exam Guide of 26 Version 1.0 - 10 March 2005

2005 Hewlett-Packard Company

All Rights Reserved Printed in United States

This document is the property of, and is proprietary to Hewlett-Packard Company. It is not to be disclosed in whole or in part without the express written authorization of Hewlett-Packard Company. No portion of this document shall be duplicated in any manner for any purpose other than as specifically permitted herein.

Hewlett-Packard, HP, and the HP logo are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. VMware and ESX are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation.


Contents

Document Information 5

1. Introduction 6 Document Purpose 6 Limitations 6 VMware Certified Professional Program 6 Benefits of VMware Professional Certification 6

2. Certification Process 7 Steps to Certification 7 Exam Requirements 7 Post-Class Exam Prep 8 HP LAB for ESX 9 Standalone ESX Server 9

3. Certification Exam FAQ 10 What is the exam format? 10 How long do I have to complete the exam? 10 What topics are covered in the Exam? 10

4. Sample Exam Questions 11 Example VCP Exam Questions 11 Example ESX Server Management Questions 14

5. Sample Exam Questions with Answers 17 Example VCP Exam Questions 17 Example ESX Server Management Questions 22


Document Information

Reviewers and Contributors

Name Function E-mail

Carl Greer Senior Program Manager, HP Services, VCP [email protected]

Ed Crowley Technology Consultant, HP Services [email protected]

Clayton Tangen Technology Consultant, HP Services, VCP [email protected]

Andrew Bull Technology Consultant, HP Services, VCP [email protected]

Related Documents

• KB-TBD How to Build an ESX Server on a White Box by Carl Greer.

Document Change Control

Version Date Revision Description

1.0 10 March 2005 First Release


1. Introduction

Document Purpose

This guide is a training aid for those preparing to take the VMware Certified Professionals (VCP) exam by providing references to information covered on the exam and sample questions for the exam.

Limitations

Although VMware has released ESX 2.5, this guide is focused on ESX 2.1. This limitation is probably of little consequence because it is unlikely that any substantial changes have been made to the test specific to the 2.5 release, and ESX course materials tend to be somewhat dated with respect to the actual releases. Following this guide and using the tools and processes shown can greatly aid in passing the exam.

This preparation guide is not a replacement for classroom attendance or experience-based knowledge prior to taking the exam.

VMware ESX practitioners will find that knowledge of Linux and/or UNIX will make the ESX experience easier but it is not strictly required for passing the exam. The basic Linux principles presented in the VMware class materials are sufficient. Still, there are courses available in HP that will provide the user with a greater understanding of Linux which, though not strictly required to pass the exam, should be of substantial benefit to VMware ESX practitioners.

VMware Certified Professional Program

The VMware Certified Professional Program offers technology professionals the knowledge, skills, and credentials to deploy and maintain VMware virtualization technology. This program is designed for any technical individual -- partners, end-users, resellers, and consultants.

Benefits of VMware Professional Certification

• Demonstrate your VMware software technical expertise to your boss, co-workers, prospects, and customers

• Ensure superior customer service and support of VMware products • Increase customer confidence levels • Increase potential for career advancement • Use the VMware Certified Professional logo on your business card or website • Download and deploy a free copy of VMware Workstation


2. Certification Process

Steps to Certification

1. Take VMware instructor-led courses to learn best practices and gain hands-on experience. To become certified, you must take either:

• Virtual Infrastructure with ESX Server and VirtualCenter (required)

or:

• ESX Server System Management I (recommended)

• ESX Server System Management II (required)

• VirtualCenter System Management (recommended)

ATTENTION: ESX I and ESX II being phased out

At this time, the existing ESX Server System Management I and ESX Server System Management II classes are no longer offered as open enrollment courses. The current VirtualCenter System Management class will continue to be offered for students who have previously attended ESX Server System Management II.

2. Get hands-on experience with VMware products, especially ESX Server and VirtualCenter.

3. Register to take the VMware Certified Professional examination through Pearson VUE, a third-party testing center with over 3400 locations worldwide. To find a location, and register for examination, visit http://www.vue.com/vmware.

4. Take the test. When you complete it, you will be given your results at the testing center. If you have passed the test, VMware Education Services will be automatically notified within 48 hours. The Education Services team will verify that you have met the class requirements. Within 4-6 weeks, Education Services will send you a VMware Certified Professional Welcome Packet.

Exam Requirements

ATTENTION: New Version of VCP Test

From February 25 until April 30, VCP candidates will be able to choose between two different versions of the VMware Certified Professional exam. The new version is VCP-101V, for candidates who have completed Virtual Infrastructure with ESX Server and VirtualCenter. The older version is now called VCP-101E.

Currently VMware still requires attendance at either the ESX II class or the new Virtual Infrastructure with ESX Server and Virtual Center class The new class is a condensed version of the


older ESX classes (per VMware) and does not cover the same details as the older ESX II class. With the new VMware Certified Professional exam the VirtualCenter topics will be covered on the exam.

Until 30 April, 2005, there are two different versions of the VMware Certified Professional exam:

• VCP-101E ~ for Candidates who Completed ESX Server System Management II

• VCP-101V ~ for Candidates who Completed Virtual Infrastructure with ESX Server and VirtualCenter

You must pass only one of the two exams in order to be certified. You should choose the exam that corresponds to the class you took

HP has made available the ESX I and ESX II classes via the learn@hp environment. The ESX I class is a suitable replacement for the corresponding classroom course, but the ESX II course does not replace classroom learning. Nonetheless, it can help prepare for class and for study after the class prior to taking the Exam. For more details on the classes and requirements please refer to the courses listed below.

VMware ESX Server 2.1 System Management Level 1 http://tslearner.den.hp.com/redirect.asp?page=DisplayCatalogItem&item=19689

VMware ESX Server 2.1 System Management Level 2 http://tslearner.den.hp.com/redirect.asp?page=DisplayCatalogItem&item=19690

VMware VirtualCenter System Management Course http://tslearner.den.hp.com/redirect.asp?page=DisplayCatalogItem&item=19691

Post-Class Exam Prep

If you have only taken ESX Server System Management II, VMware recommends that you also take ESX Server System Management I. This course covers information included in the VCP exam that is not covered in ESX II.

Further, VMware recommends that hands on experience be developed prior to taking the exam. However, the majority of passing grades for the exam come from those that have just completed the ESX II course. This information was provided by VMware and we have evidence that class room attendance and some review of the materials prior to the exam will allow one to pass.

Hands-on experience will help both in passing the exam and do quality consulting work later. HP has locations where ESX servers are available for use by those needing to test Virtual Machine concepts. However, the best practice is to ‘play or learn’ on your own server or system.

VMware strongly recommends that you develop hands-on experience with the product outside training courses. VMware also recommends that you familiarize yourself with the documentation offered on the VMware web site.

In addition, complete the labs given in the ESX Server System Management I and ESX Server System Management II classes. Special attention should be given to the examples of best practices.

Also, Linux understanding will aid in dealing with the management of an ESX environment. Thus HP has obtained some specific Linux course materials for those not familiar with it. The VMware


ESX Server™ System Management: Command Line Skills course guide is attached for reference. The materials for this topic can be obtained upon request.

While course work and labs are great in providing an overview, the VMware exam assumes that you have some basic working knowledge of the system. That means they strongly recommend hands on experience after classes prior to taking the test. However, they also state that highest success rate is immediately after class. Thus, the recommendation would be to take the test as soon after class as possible.

The required courses are not enough to guarantee that you will pass the exam. The examination also requires you to make engineering judgments of a type that will be difficult without hands-on experience.

You can obtain hands-on experience via internal HP sites that allow you to practice ESX VM creation and by building a small test system for learning either at home or the office.

HP LAB for ESX

Note: For HP ESX Lab systems usage issues or questions - Contact David Olszewski.

An ESX 2.0 system on a dual-processor ProLiant DL360 with 4GB RAM is available at https://eni04.cup.hp.com/ Logon credentials for this system are shown in Table 1.

User ID eni Password enivmware

Table 1: Lab system credentials

You may also gain access to the ESX2.0 console via SSH using putty or a similar tool, with the same login ID and password.

There are three Virtual Machines on the ESX lab system with the Virtual Machine disk files (.dsk/.vmdk) located in /vmfs/vmhba0:0:0:6. The login credentials for the Virtual Machines are shown in Table 2..

Linux user ID root Linux password admin

Windows user ID Administrator Windows password admin

Table 2: Virtual Machine credentials

Standalone ESX Server

For information on building a standalone ESX server, please consult the HP Knowledge Brief article TBD, Build Your Own White Box ESX Server by Carl Greer.


3. Certification Exam FAQ

What is the exam format? The exam consists of 80 questions. Question types include multiple-choice, single-answer, fill- in-the-blank, and true/false. Students may go back and review their responses at any time. To pass, you must answer at least 70% of the questions correctly.

The exam is presented by Pearson VUE, a third-party testing center, via a computer. The questions can be simple multiple choice or they can have text or examples that require reading before choosing the answer.

How long do I have to complete the exam? Students have 80 minutes to complete the exam.

80 Minutes is a reasonable time for the exam. There are questions that are quite easy and others that require some thought. Marking harder questions and coming back later will also aid in the time constraint. Those having taken Microsoft Certification exams will be familiar with this model.

What topics are covered in the Exam? The topics will be broken out on the exam output provided by the testing center and you can expect the questions on the exam to be scattered and not broken out by sections. Also, it is not clear whether the questions are divided evenly between sections. It is possible that some exam sections will have more questions than other sections.

Concentrating on the sections allows the person preparing for the exam to focus only on the items covered and ignore the items in the classes that are not specifically in the exam sections. As an example Scripting is covered in the class but is not covered in the exam.

The following 11 sections are included in the exam:

1. Understanding VMware Products

2. Differentiating Among VMware Products

3. Understanding the Architecture of ESX Server

4. Installing and Configuring ESX Server

5. Operating and Managing ESX Server

6. Configuring Networking Under ESX Server

7. Setting ESX Server Resource Allocation Policies

8. Administering Virtual Machines Under ESX Server

9. Monitoring and Tuning ESX Server

10. Configuring Clustering Between ESX Server Virtual Machines

11. Troubleshooting an ESX Server


4. Sample Exam Questions

Questions include example VCP questions from the VMware website, sample questions from the class, and questions obtained from VMware instructors. Answers have been provided by VMware and have not all been reviewed for correctness; the purpose of these examples is not to be a braindump, but to provide guidelines for the types of questions one may expect in the real exam.

Some questions on the exam will be of a different type than those shown here. There are sections that require you to view items or read text and then provide the answer. Those appear to be still based on the style of questions shown here, but require more careful examination.

Some questions are not optimally worded; remember to consider the VMware viewpoint for the answer. This is again much like the Microsoft Certification exams, where theirs is the only right answer, even if we know it to be suboptimal.

Finally, be sure the read the questions and answers carefully and thoroughly, for some components can be misleading as the questions are structured to require you to think.

Example VCP Exam Questions

Understand VMware Products

1. Which benefit is not gained by using virtual computing?

A. Hardware independence B. Better I/O performance C. Easier management D. All of the above are benefits of using virtual computing.

Differentiate Among VMware Products

2. All VMware virtualization products are based on similar virtualization technology invented by VMware. But there are some differences between these products. Which statement is true?

A. Both VMware GSX Server and VMware ESX Server run on top of a Linux-based kernel, but VMware Workstation cannot.

B. VMware Workstation offers remote management, but GSX Server does not. C. VMware Workstation for Linux, VMware GSX Server for Windows, and

VMware ESX Server are all installed in different ways. D. The only difference between GSX Server and ESX Server is that GSX Server

runs on a host operating system and ESX Server does not.


Understand the Architecture of ESX Server

3. The VMware ESX Server product runs on the bare metal. Which benefit results?

A. All resources (memory, CPU, disk and network) can be used by virtual machines with exactly the same, minimal overhead.

B. ESX Server can dynamically control the resource usage of the virtual machines it runs.

C. ESX Server can run the greatest variety of guest operating systems. D. ESX Server gives superior video to virtual machines than Workstation and GSX

Server.

Install and Configure ESX Server

4. When installing ESX Server, you can create and activate a VMkernel swap file. Which is a true statement about VMkernel swap files?

A. The VMkernel swap file is used whenever a virtual machine runs out of memory. B. If you have configured a large enough Service Console swap space, the VMkernel

can use it too. C. You should create a VMkernel swap file that is at least half the size of your

server's memory. D. The size of your VMkernel swap file affects how many virtual machines you can

boot up.

Operate and Manage ESX Server

5. ESX Server includes an administrative environment called the "Service Console" or "Console OS." Which is a true statement about the Service Console?

A. The VMkernel can access files in VMFS and ext3 volumes. B. The Service Console can access files in VMFS and ext3 volumes. C. The VMkernel can access files in all types of VMFS volumes, but the Service

Console can see only public VMFS volumes. D. The VMkernel can only access files in VMFS volumes, and the Service Console

can only access files in ext3 volumes.

Configure Networking Under ESX Server

6. A virtual machine will share a MAC address with the physical NIC through which it communicates.

A. True B. False


Set ESX Server Resource Allocation Policies

7. Which resource allocation assignment cannot be made to a virtual machine?

A. A cap on the amount of network traffic received B. A cap on the use of physical memory C. A cap on the amount of memory contents that can be swapped out to the

VMkernel swap space. D. A selection of which physical processors the virtual machine may run on

Administer Virtual Machines Under ESX Server

8. You would like your running virtual machines to be shut down cleanly whenever your ESX Server is shut down. What should you do?

A. In the Options screen, select the AutoShutDown button. B. Manually edit the configuration file and insert the line: autostop = "poweroff" C. No action is needed, because you cannot shut down ESX Server when Virtual

Machines are running. D. No action is needed, because the virtual machines will automatically be shut

down when you give the shutdown command.

Monitor and Tune ESX Server

9. You are working with a virtual machine using the VMware Remote Console and you are experiencing slow performance in the screen updates. Which of these problems is the most likely cause of the delays?

A. The virtual machine is running a CPU-intensive application. B. The virtual machine was created with the wrong operating-system type. C. Another virtual machine is using the server system's resources excessively. D. Several other users are importing virtual disks and/or using Remote Console.

Configure Clustering

10. A physical machine and a virtual machine are clustered. In this situation, which of the following lines might describe the shared storage in the virtual machine's configuration file?

A. scsi1:0.name = "vmhba0:0:1:0" B. scsi1:0.name = "vmhba0:0:2:1" C. scsi1:0.name = "myvmfs:disk.dsk" D. All three lines could describe shared storage in this virtual machine's

configuration file.


Troubleshoot an ESX Server

11. Suppose that you cannot reach your ESX Server's Service Console from the network. What could you do to troubleshoot this problem?

A. Make sure that the Service Console has properly joined its domain. B. Run the vmkpcidivy command to see if all network cards are properly assigned. C. Check the information in /proc/vmware/net/config. D. All three options above could help.

Example ESX Server Management Questions

1. The VMkernel keeps a running copy of the Virtual Machine Monitor running as a helper world at all times.

A. True B. False

2. In the output of the ps command in the Console OS, you will find exactly one process associated with each powered-on VM.

A. True B. False

3. While partitioning during an initial ESX install, you cannot format the Console OS swap partition as an ext3 filesystem.

A. True B. False

4. Although the contents of the /proc/vmware filesystem can be modified on a running ESX server, it is not a good idea to do so.

A. True B. False

5. A vmnet must have at least one vmnic associated with it.

A. True B. False


6. If you lose network connectivity to the Console OS, you also lose network connectivity to all VMs on that ESX server.

A. True B. False

7. If you lose network connectivity to the Console OS, you also lose Remote Console connectivity to all associated VMs.

A. True B. False

8. It is possible for a Virtual Machine on ESX Server to access files stored on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device.

A. True B. False

9. If multiple paths are used to connect to storage on a SAN, then the VMkernel is able to provide dynamic load balancing across those paths.

A. True B. False

10. Which of the following memory-management parameters can be changed on a running VM? (More than one may be correct)

A. Allocated memory shares B. Minimum guaranteed memory C. Maximum guaranteed memory D. Amount of memory shared with Console OS E. All of the above F. None of the above

11. The lspci command, used without options, shows devices allocated to

A. The Console OS B. The vmkernel C. Individual VMs D. All of the above


12. For a given virtual machine, there can be only one

A. .dsk file B. Virtual NIC C. Virtual floppy drive D. .vmx file

13. You can assign a raw LUN to a virtual machine. This is necessary when

A. Storing virtual machines on a SAN B. Storing virtual machines on a NAS C. Clustering within a single ESX Server machine D. Clustering between a VM in an ESX server and a physical server

14. When assigning a bond to a virtual machine, you must be sure that

A. The guest OS understands NIC teaming B. The physical NICs of the bond are of the same speed and duplex C. Network traffic-shaping is turned on for the VM D. Network traffic shaping is turned off for the VM E. None of the above

15. To successfully start a VM, the owner of that VM's configuration file must have which of the following permissions on the .dsk file for that VM:

A. Read and write B. Write and execute C. Read, write and execute D. Read

16. If your ESX Server system is heavily cpu-bound, which of the following actions might help relieve the problem? (More than one answer may be correct.)

A. Adding VMkernel swap space B. Changing vlance devices to vmxnet C. Turning off transparent page sharing D. Turning on hyperthreading E. Rebooting the Service Console


5. Sample Exam Questions with Answers

The explanations of the answers are provided as aid for studying only. The explanations are based on VMware information provided by instructors, documents and information provided in the Classes.

Example VCP Exam Questions

Understand VMware Products

1. Which benefit is not gained by using virtual computing?

A. Hardware independence B. Better I/O performance C. Easier management D. All of the above are benefits of using virtual computing.

Because virtual machines are isolated from actual hardware through virtualization, virtual computing helps achieve hardware independence. Virtual computing also helps ease management by allowing multiple systems to be combined onto fewer hardware platforms. However, virtual computing does nothing to improve I/O performance.

Differentiate Among VMware Products

2. All VMware virtualization products are based on similar virtualization technology invented by VMware. But there are some differences between these products. Which statement is true?

A. Both VMware GSX Server and VMware ESX Server run on top of a Linux-based kernel, but VMware Workstation cannot.

B. VMware Workstation offers remote management, but GSX Server does not. C. VMware Workstation for Linux, VMware GSX Server for Windows, and

VMware ESX Server are all installed in different ways.


D. The only difference between GSX Server and ESX Server is that GSX Server runs on a host operating system and ESX Server does not.

Both Workstation and GSX Server require an x86 based system running either Linux or Microsoft operating systems whereas ESX Server uses a custom kernel. Remote Management functions are available for both ESX server and GSX Server via the VMware Remote Console or VMware VirtualCenter applications. ESX and GSX Server differ in a variety of ways, e.g. ESX Server can provide 83%-to-90% of the native system performance while GSX server provides only 70%-to-90%; ESX Server can use SMP support, and support up to 80 VMs as compared to GSX Servers 64 VMs. The differing installation requirement for a Linux Workstation, a GSX server and an ESX server is the correct answer.

Understand the Architecture of ESX Server

3. The VMware ESX Server product runs on the bare metal. Which benefit results?

A. All resources (memory, CPU, disk and network) can be used by virtual machines with exactly the same, minimal overhead.

B. ESX Server can dynamically control the resource usage of the virtual machines it runs.

C. ESX Server can run the greatest variety of guest operating systems. D. ESX Server gives superior video to virtual machines than Workstation and GSX

Server.

You can dynamically adjust the VMs’ priorities to CPU, memory, and disk bandwidth by using the shares and minimum and maximum settings Further, resources of VMs can be affected by the Service Console not having enough memory, sharing of storage adapters between the Service Console and VMkernel, and poor memory configuration in the VMkernel . The number of guest operating systems varies from release to release, but ESX server supports the fewest guest operating systems today. Because ESX uses a custom kernel, unlike Workstation and GSX Server which are hosted on the server operating system, it cannot realize the full benefit of the hardware environment of that server and must use the defaults supplied by VMware.


Install and Configure ESX Server

4. When installing ESX Server, you can create and activate a VMkernel swap file. Which is a true statement about VMkernel swap files?

A. The VMkernel swap file is used whenever a virtual machine runs out of memory. B. If you have configured a large enough Service Console swap space, the VMkernel

can use it too. C. You should create a VMkernel swap file that is at least half the size of your

server's memory. D. The size of your VMkernel swap file affects how many virtual machines you

can boot up.

VMs rely upon the creation of a VMkernel swap file to allow for memory overcommit only as a last resort, because ESX will use the balloon driver to free up memory from other VMs first. Swap space configured for the Service Console is not available to the VMs as the service console provides for memory overcommit to the service console only. Creation of a VMkernel swap file that is one to two times the ESX Server’s total RAM is required in order to use that memory for swapping.

Operate and Manage ESX Server

5. ESX Server includes an administrative environment called the "Service Console" or "Console OS." Which is a true statement about the Service Console?

A. The VMkernel can access files in VMFS and ext3 volumes. B. The Service Console can access files in VMFS and ext3 volumes. C. The VMkernel can access files in all types of VMFS volumes, but the Service

Console can see only public VMFS volumes. D. The VMkernel can only access files in VMFS volumes, and the Service Console

can only access files in ext3 volumes.

VMkernel is a custom operating environment which only knows how to access one type of file system, VMFS. VMFS is optimized for storing Virtual Machines (large files). Every VMFS LUN is visible from within the Service Console mounted in / vmfs as well as all of the ext3 files that are created and managed by the Service Console.

Configure Networking Under ESX Server

6. A virtual machine will share a MAC address with the physical NIC through which it communicates.

A. True B. False


ESX Server assigns MAC addresses for virtual NICs based on a hash which includes the Server IP, the VMware vendor id and is computed at power on.

Set ESX Server Resource Allocation Policies

7. Which resource allocation assignment cannot be made to a virtual machine?

A. A cap on the amount of network traffic received B. A cap on the use of physical memory C. A cap on the amount of memory contents that can be swapped out to the

VMkernel swap space. D. A selection of which physical processors the virtual machine may run on

Network inbound traffic is not controllable by the VM NIC and must be controlled by switch management or router flow controls. A cap on physical memory is set by maximum values for the VM. Setting the sched.max.maxmemctl parameter the vmmemctl driver specifies the maximum amount of memory that can be reclaimed in swapping situations from a VM. Also by setting the processor affinity you can control the VM usage of specific processor in a single processor environment or groups of processors in an SMP environment.

Administer Virtual Machines Under ESX Server

8. You would like your running virtual machines to be shut down cleanly whenever your ESX Server is shut down. What should you do?

A. In the Options screen, select the AutoShutDown button. B. Manually edit the configuration file and insert the line: autostop =

"poweroff" C. No action is needed, because you cannot shut down ESX Server when Virtual

Machines are running. D. No action is needed, because the virtual machines will automatically be shut

down when you give the shutdown command.

ESX server provides shutdown options in the form of buttons in the options menu for each VM and by using entries in the configuration file for the VM: however, AutoShutDown is not one of the buttons . By default, all virtual machines are powered off when the system shuts down, which does not cleanly shutdown the running VM. Thus, to cause the VM to cleanly shutdown the systems must be set to shutdown the quest operating system by editing configuration file to include the autostop = “poweroff”


Monitor and Tune ESX Server

9. You are working with a virtual machine using the VMware Remote Console and you are experiencing slow performance in the screen updates. Which of these problems is the most likely cause of the delays?

A. The virtual machine is running a CPU-intensive application. B. The virtual machine was created with the wrong operating-system type. C. Another virtual machine is using the server system's resources excessively. D. Several other users are importing virtual disks and/or using Remote Console.

VMware Remote Console utilizes a web-based MUI (Management User Interface) for interacting with the VMware Service Console and neither the VMs’ CPU performance nor the VMs operating system type should have any impact on the Service Console performance as long as the ESX server has been configured with appropriate resources for the Service Console. However, when several users use the Remote Console at the same time or when the Service Console is providing support in the form of disk I/O while importing virtual disks its limited resources can cause screen updates to appear slow.

Configure Clustering

10. A physical machine and a virtual machine are clustered. In this situation, which of the following lines might describe the shared storage in the virtual machine's configuration file?

A. scsi1:0.name = "vmhba0:0:1:0" B. scsi1:0.name = "vmhba0:0:2:1" C. scsi1:0.name = "myvmfs:disk.dsk" D. All three lines could describe shared storage in this virtual machine's

configuration file.

Clustering requires that the systems have an additional shared storage to implement the failover environment. The shared storage is defined using the strict vmhba (virtual machine host bus adaptor) naming convention: vmhba<w>:<x>:<y>:<z>, where <w> is the HBA ID assigned by ESX Server, <x> is the SCSI target ID, and <y> is the SCSI LUN ID and <z> is the partition number, where the entire LUN is made available for usage by using the convention that partition 0 (zero) implies the whole disk; Therefore ‘vmhba0:0:2:1 which defines a partial disk, ‘myvmfs:disk.dsk” which defines useful label for the storage but is not always available when cluster systems reboot are not correct to use when defining shared storage for clustering


Troubleshoot an ESX Server

11. Suppose that you cannot reach your ESX Server's Service Console from the network. What could you do to troubleshoot this problem?

A. Make sure that the Service Console has properly joined its domain. B. Run the vmkpcidivy command to see if all network cards are properly

assigned. C. Check the information in /proc/vmware/net/config. D. All three options above could help.

The Service console does not utilize Active Directory and join domains. The vmkpcidivy tool can validate that the eth0 network card, upon which the Service Console depends, is correctly assigned. The /proc/vmware/net/config directory does not exist.

Example ESX Server Management Questions

1. The VMkernel keeps a running copy of the Virtual Machine Monitor running as a helper world at all times.

A. True B. False

The VMM runs only as long as either a VM is powered on or a Remote Console connection exists.

2. In the output of the ps command in the Console OS, you will find exactly one process associated with each powered-on VM.

A. True B. False

Each VM is represented by one or more processes on the Service Console: The parent process and one or more child processes to help manage the VM.

3. While partitioning during an initial ESX install, you cannot format the Console OS swap partition as an ext3 filesystem.

A. True B. False

All swap partitions used either in the Service Console or the VMkernel must be formatted as “swap” file type to be used successfully.


4. Although the contents of the /proc/vmware filesystem can be modified on a running ESX server, it is not a good idea to do so.

A. True B. False

The /proc/vmware filesystem is provided for as a real-time means of accessing the performance characteristics of the ESX server and specifically designed to allow for real time changes to parameters that can affect the whole system performance.

5. A vmnet must have at least one vmnic associated with it.

A. True B. False

VMs can utilize three types of Virtual Network switches, vmnet, vmnic and bond, in multiple combinations, and a vmnic connection is not always required.

6. If you lose network connectivity to the Console OS, you also lose network connectivity to all VMs on that ESX server.

A. True B. False

Typically the Service Console utilizes a non shared adaptor eth0 and if that connectivity is no longer available due to NIC failure, the connectivity to the VMs on other installed NICs might not be affected.

7. If you lose network connectivity to the Console OS, you also lose Remote Console connectivity to all associated VMs.

A. True B. False

VMware Remote Console is a web-based MUI (Management User Interface) for the Service Console. Therefore, when network connectivity is lost to the Service Console you will lose Remote Console activity to all associated VMs. Since the VMs use different NICs (VMnics) they will not loose network connectivity.

8. It is possible for a Virtual Machine on ESX Server to access files stored on a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device.

A. True


B. False

A VM can access network based devices if the appropriate drivers are loaded and NAS devices utilize NFS over IP.

9. If multiple paths are used to connect to storage on a SAN, then the VMkernel is able to provide dynamic load balancing across those paths.

A. True B. False

ESX provides for multipath SAN connections to provide for Failover connectivity utilizing Cluster solutions, not for dynamic load balancing.

10. Which of the following memory-management parameters can be changed on a running VM? (More than one may be correct)

A. Allocated memory shares B. Minimum guaranteed memory C. Maximum guaranteed memory D. Amount of memory shared with Console OS E. All of the above F. None of the above

The /proc/vmware /vm environment does not support changing maximum guaranteed memory and Console OS memory. For these parameters, the maximum is set at VM creation time and can only be changed if the VM is shut down and the Console OS memory is not managed by the procfs environment.

11. The lspci command, used without options, shows devices allocated to

A. The Console OS B. The vmkernel C. Individual VMs D. All of the above

The lspci command displays information about all PCI busses and connected devices in the system and is part of the Service Console environment. Neither individual VMs nor the VMkernel have access to this command.


12. For a given virtual machine, there can be only one

A. .dsk file B. Virtual NIC C. Virtual floppy drive D. .vmx file

The VMFS file system defines a .dsk disk as the virtual disk file for a VM, many of which may be associated with a VM just as there can be more than one disk with a server based system. Virtual NICs can be assigned to a VM much like they can be added to a PCI bus on a regular system. Virtual floppy drives can be .img files used by the system as separate and distinct floppies. There may be only one configuration file, called the .vmx file, for each VM.

13. You can assign a raw LUN to a virtual machine. This is necessary when

A. Storing virtual machines on a SAN B. Storing virtual machines on a NAS C. Clustering within a single ESX Server machine D. Clustering between a VM in an ESX server and a physical server

Raw LUN or physical disks are used for direct access to the physical disk partition stored on the LUN. Normally one would use VMFS and a virtual disk connection for SAN access. NAS storage is not supported for Virtual Machines and does not use LUN connectivity, but rather uses NFS over IP for disk access. The raw LUN is principally used where a physical server, which does not support VMFS, and a VM must connect.

14. When assigning a bond to a virtual machine, you must be sure that

A. The guest OS understands NIC teaming B. The physical NICs of the bond are of the same speed and duplex C. Network traffic-shaping is turned on for the VM D. Network traffic shaping is turned off for the VM E. None of the above

The bond type of network connection is provided for use in teaming of NICs according to the 802.3ad specification and does not require that the NIC features be the same. It will use only those capabilities of the NICs which are common to the team when bonded. Failover provided by the bond is transparent and does not require special OS drivers or knowledge. Network traffic shaping support in the bond can be used or not used depending on the situation.


15. To successfully start a VM, the owner of that VM's configuration file must have which of the following permissions on the .dsk file for that VM:

A. Read and write B. Write and execute C. Read, write and execute D. Read

VMs are files in the ESX environment and as such file permissions can limit access to a VM or disable running a VM. ESX requires read and write permissions used for VMs’ .dsk files. The Execute permission has no effect on virtual disk files.

16. If your ESX Server system is heavily cpu-bound, which of the following actions might help relieve the problem? (More than one answer may be correct.)

A. Adding VMkernel swap space B. Changing vlance devices to vmxnet C. Turning off transparent page sharing D. Turning on hyperthreading E. Rebooting the Service Console

VMkernel swap space provides only the ability to allow more swapping to occur when memory is overcommitted and has no effect on CPU usage. Similarly, rebooting the Service Console, which will cause the ESX server to restart, will have no direct effect on the problem, except to cause the VMs to all stop running. Changing the NIC configuration from vlance to vmxnet enables a high performance idealized NIC instead of the generic version. Turning off transparent page sharing forces the system to stop scanning memory, freeing up CPU cycles. Hyperthreading splits a single processor into two logical processors, increasing the CPU cycles available.