Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

• Describe the Virtual SAN architecture
• Identify Virtual SAN features and use cases
• Configure Virtual SAN networking components
• Configure a Virtual SAN cluster
• Deploy virtual machines on a Virtual SAN datastore
• Configure virtual machine storage policies
• Perform ongoing Virtual SAN management tasks
• Outline the tasks for upgrading to Virtual SAN 6.2
• Use the Virtual SAN health service to monitor health and performance
• Monitor Virtual SAN with VMware ESXiâ„¢ commands and the Ruby vSphere Console
• Configure a stretched cluster and observe failover scenarios
• Describe Virtual SAN interoperability with VMware vSphere® and other products
• Plan and design a Virtual SAN cluster

Outline

1. Course Introduction
   • Introductions and course logistics
   • Course objectives
   • Describe the software-defined Data Center
2. Storage Fundamentals
   • Define common storage technologies
   • Identify characteristics of storage devices: magnetic and flash-based devices
   • Identify and explain various types of storage architectures
   • Identify SAN performance factors
3. Introduction to Virtual SAN
   • Describe the Virtual SAN architecture and components
   • Describe the differences between the Virtual SAN hybrid and all-flash architectures
   • Describe the space-efficiency features of Virtual SAN
4. Virtual SAN Configuration
   • Identify physical network configuration requirements
   • Configure Virtual SAN networking
   • Configure a Virtual SAN cluster
   • Test and validate the Virtual SAN configuration and functionality
5. Virtual SAN Policies and Virtual Machines
   • Explain how storage policies work with Virtual SAN
   • Define and create a virtual machine storage policy
   • Apply and modify virtual machine storage policies
   • Discuss the vsanSparse snapshot format
   • Explain the considerations for vsanSparse snapshots
6. Managing and Operating Virtual SAN
   • Manage hardware storage devices
   • Manage hardware device failures
   • Identify vCenter Server alarms for Virtual SAN events
   • Configure fault domains
   • Upgrade to Virtual SAN 6.2
7. Monitoring and Troubleshooting Virtual SAN
   • Use vSphere Web Client to detect issues
   • Use the Virtual SAN health service to monitor health and performance
   • Monitor Virtual SAN with VMware vRealize® Operations Managerâ„¢
   • Use ESXi commands to monitor the Virtual SAN environment
   • Monitor Virtual SAN with Ruby vSphere Console and Virtual SAN Observer
8. Stretched Clusters and Two-Node Clusters
   • Describe the architecture for stretched clusters and two-node clusters
   • Create a stretched cluster using a two-node configuration
   • Configure VMware vSphere® High Availability and VMware vSphere® Distributed Resource Schedulerâ„¢ for a stretched cluster
   • Demonstrate stretched cluster failover scenarios
9. Interoperability with vSphere Features
   • Identify vSphere features and VMware products that interoperate with Virtual SAN
   • Describe how Virtual SAN interoperates with third-party products and solutions
10. Designing a Virtual SAN Deployment
    • Understand Virtual SAN design considerations
    • Plan and design Virtual SAN clusters
    • Identify the design and sizing tools for Virtual SAN
    • Describe Virtual SAN use cases

Target Audience

Storage and virtual infrastructure administrators who want to use software-defined storage with Virtual SAN.

Prerequisites

This course requires completion of one of the following prerequisites:

• Storage administration experience on block or file storage devices
• Understanding of concepts presented in the VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V6] course
• Experience with working at the command line is helpful.

The course material presumes that a student can perform the following tasks with no assistance or guidance before enrolling in this course:

• Use VMware vSphere® Web Client
• Create and manage VMware vCenter Server® objects, such as Data Centers, clusters, hosts, and virtual
  machines
• Create and modify a standard switch
• Connect an ESXi host to NAS, iSCSI, or Fibre Channel storage
• Create a VMware vSphere® VMFS datastore
• Use a wizard or a template to create a virtual machine
• Migrate a virtual machine with VMware vSphere® vMotion®
• Migrate a virtual machine with VMware vSphere® Storage vMotion®

If you cannot complete all of these tasks, VMware recommends that you complete the VMware vSphere:

• Install, Configure, Manage [V6] course before enrolling in VMware Virtual SAN: Deploy and Manage.