However, if you want to study the “official way” here’s a TASTE of what you’ll need to know:

Deploying a new VMware installation:

• Identify minimum hardware requirements
• ESX Hardware Reqs – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=13
• ESXi Hardware Reqs – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_i_vc_setup_guide.pdf#page=13
• Download, prepare and validate installation media
• Download media – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=25
• Determine appropriate ESX/ESXi configuration in a given situation
• Obtain required information for environment: IP info, LUN info, boot information, service console memory, user accounts, ntp server IP, etc.
• Verify hardware against the VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide: Server, hard drives, san, HBAs, nics, procs, etc. all on HCL
• Perform a custom installation
• Booting ESX installer – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=27
• Graphical Install – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=39
• Text Install – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=42
• Scripted Install – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=45
• Customize storage layout for given situations
• Required Partitions – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=61
• Optional Partitions – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=62
• Configure ESXi from the direct console
• Install ESXi – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_i_vc_setup_guide.pdf#page=22
• Direct Console User Interface – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_i_vc_setup_guide.pdf#page=26
• Configure ESX/ESXi NTP
• ESX NTP During Install – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=24
• Configuration tab, Time Configuration, Properties
• Manage ESX/ESXi licensing
• Compare/Contrast VMware vSphere editions
• Edition Comparison Chart – http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010579
• Manage license keys – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf#page=107

Upgrading an existing VMware installation:

• Plan a VMware vSphere upgrade
• Backup/Restore ESX/ESXi host configuration
• Backup host configuration – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=71
• Restore host configuration – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=83
• Understand Virtual Machine backup options
• VMotion, storage VMotion, vcb, converter, vdr, third party
• Determine if existing hardware meets upgrade requirements
• Hardware Requirements – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=27
• Understand VMware ESX/ESXi upgrade scenarios
• Host Upgrades – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=67
• Release Upgrade Support – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=72
• Perform upgrade to ESX 4.0
• Upgrade VMware ESX/ESXi
• About Host Updates – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=101
• Update Manager Upgrade Baseline – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_vum_40_admin_guide.pdf#page=53
• esxupdate/vihostupdate – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=104
• ESX Upgrade – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=75
• ESXi Upgrade – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=77
• Upgrade virtual machine hardware
• Virtual Hardware Upgrade – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=97
• Upgrade VMware Tools
• Tools Upgrade – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=86
• Verify success of upgrade
• Upgrade Logs – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=79
• Understand upgrade roll back options
• Roll Back an ESX Upgrade – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=82
• Roll Back an ESXi Upgrade – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf#page=83

Understand VMware security:

• Identify default security principles
• Default Roles – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf#page=214
• General Security – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf#page=179
• ESXi Lockdown Mode – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_server_config.pdf#page=168
• Understand Service Console firewall operation
• Service Console Security Level
• COS Security – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf#page=142
• Firewall Security Level – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf#page=180
• Opening/Closing ports in the firewall using the vSphere Client
• Configuration, Security Profile, Properties
• Set up user/group accounts
• Host Users/Groups – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf#page=212
• Understanding Users/Groups – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf#page=167
• Working With Users & Groups – http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf#page=170
• Determine applications needed for accessing the service console in a given scenario: vSphere client, ssh client, vCenter, VCB/VDR, Update Manager, Converter, etc.

Know these tools:

• VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide
• VMware ESX/ESXi and vCenter Server Installation Guide
• Configuration Maximums Guide
• Product Documentation
• VMware Virtualization Toolkit
• vSphere Host Update Utility
• vCenter Update Manager
• vSphere Upgrade Guide
• ESX 4 Patch Management Guide
• Product Documentation
• esxupdate
• vSphere Client
• ESX/ESXi Configuration Guides
• Product Documentation

As you can see from this sampling, you need to know a ton of stuff to pass the VCP 4. And, here’s a word of warning: not all of the test questions are answered the way that it’s done in the real world. Some of the answers are just plain wrong. The test prep materials will let you spot those questions which you’d otherwise get wrong because you know better

The HA process can determine that a VM is unreachable in a number of ways such as by network connectivity, heartbeat, or even by failure of an application. These conditions can trigger failover and thus the starting of another instance of the VM in question so that visible downtime to users is minimized.

VMware High Availability requires Virtual Center to setup and configure, but once it is configured, the VC machine can be removed (for example if it crashes) and the ESX hosts will continue to operate the HA environment.

DRS takes advantage of VMotion so that it can move a VM between two servers without incurring downtime. In the automatic mode, an algorithm will determine the optimal deployment of virtual machines based upon the min/max settings you dictate, while the manual and semi-automatic modes allow you to have a finer grained level of control over VM movement.

In configuring DRS, you will create various logical structures in the Virtual Center interface such as “datacenters”, “clusters” and “resource pools”. Each of these logical constructs operates with DRS to control which hosts are allowed to run which VMs and which VMs can consume what resources. I’ll get more into these ideas in the detailed information pages.

VMotion requires shared storage that can be accessed by all of the ESX hosts which will be expected to run a VM. When you do a hot migration between hosts using Virtual Center, the VM is placed into snapshot mode, the memory of the VM transferred to the new location, and then snapshot mode is removed thus allowing the new host to write to the virtual machine’s files.

This ability to move VMs which are executing is the basis for the DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) as VMs can be rearranged on different ESX hosts to meet various CPU and memory requirements.

In addition to truly shared storage, VMotion requires a gigabit network and VMware Virtual Center.

The VMware Certified Professional exam doesn’t focus extensively on VCB, at least as of the 3.5 update. It is good to have an idea of how it works and some of the requirements (such as the shared SAN) but an in-depth knowledge is not usually necessary.

Imagine if you have a set of three ESX hosts, each running a few virtual machines. If one of the ESX hosts needs to be brought-down to add some RAM, you would open the Virtual Center interface and migrate the running VMs off of the host that needs work. Assuming you have shared storage such as iSCSI or a SAN, this can be done seamlessly without any interruption in access to the VM! Your users would never see the server drop offline. Imagine not having to schedule downtime for a virtual server with users — that’s what VMotion allows thanks to Virtual Center — and that’s just part of the story.

Virtual Center is run as a separate machine in addition to the ESX hosts. VC can be run in a virtual machine if desired, or you can run it on a standalone box. VC runs inside of Windows 2003 and will use a built-in version of MS SQL server or you can point it to a MS SQL server installation which is preferrable. Once VC is installed, you connect using the VI Client just as you would to an ESX host except that by connecting to the Virtual Center server, you can manage multiple hosts, VMotion, HA, and DRS.

If ESX is the engine of the Virtual Infrastructure “car”, Virtual Center is the driver’s seat with the controls and displays.

ESX is actually its own operating system. You boot a server from the CD and it installs ESX to the hard drive. The server then boots this ESX operating system. There is not any other operating system present as there is with Microsoft’s HyperV or products such as VMware Workstation. The fact that ESX is running directly on the “bare metal” means that it can offer performance and reliability that’s much higher than another product which must “talk” through a host operating system to get to the hardware. The down side to this is that ESX has its own drivers for the hardware so there is a fairly restricted set of hardware that it will run on. For example, you must have a supported SCSI disk controller.

ESX is available in a full version known currently as ESX 3.5 and also a free, reduced complexity version known as ESX 3i. 3i will run from a USB key or other form of storage but it seeks to reduce complexity by removing the Service Console which is a powerful command-line access method used to tweak, configure, and debug the regular ESX. Either version of ESX can be managed by Virtual Center.

You can think of ESX as the engine in the Virtual Infrastructure car. It does the heavy-lifting and actually provides the virtualization services.

By using both ESX and VC, you gain some significant functionality such as VMotion which lets you move a live, running virtual machine between ESX hosts with no interruption. You can imagine how handy this is when you need to do server maintenance or are having trouble on a particular host. VMotion also allows things like HA (High Availability) where Virtual Center will automatically start and stop virtual machines should an ESX host become disconnected from the network, for example. DRS, or Distributed Resource Scheduling, is another component enabled by Virtual Center and this allows the server administrator to allocate minimum and maximum CPU and RAM resources to a VM, thus ensuring minimum service levels or perhaps controlling a server and its users from consuming an unacceptable amount of resources.

VI3 is the over-arching term for the core VMware enterprise products and what the VMware Certified Professional exam covers.