Course Introduction

• Introduction and course logistics

• Course objectives

Introduction to vSAN

• Describe vSAN architecture

• Describe the vSAN software components: CLOM, DOM, LSOM, CMMDS, and RDT

• Identify vSAN objects and components

• Describe the advantages of object-based storage

• Describe the difference between all-flash and hybrid vSAN architecture

• Explain the key features and use cases for vSAN

• Discuss the vSAN integration and compatibility with other VMware technologies

Planning a vSAN Cluster

• Identify requirements and planning considerations for vSAN clusters

• Apply vSAN cluster planning and deployment best practices

• Determine and plan for storage consumption by data growth and failure tolerance

• Design vSAN hosts for operational needs

• Identify vSAN networking features and requirements

• Describe ways of controlling traffic in a vSAN environment

• Recognize best practices for vSAN network configurations

Deploying a vSAN Cluster

• Recognize the importance of hardware compatibility

• Ensure the compatibility of driver and firmware versioning

• Use tools to automate driver validation and installation

• Apply host hardware settings for optimum performance

• Use VMware vSphere® Lifecycle Manager™ to perform upgrades

• Deploy and configure a vSAN cluster using the Cluster QuickStart wizard

• Manually configure a vSAN cluster using VMware vSphere® Client™

• Explain and configure vSAN fault domains

• Using VMware vSphere® High Availability with vSAN

• Understand vSAN cluster maintenance capabilities

• Describe the difference between implicit and explicit fault domains

• Create explicit fault domains

vSAN Storage Policies

• Describe a vSAN object

• Describe how objects are split into components

• Explain the purpose of witness components

• Explain how vSAN stores large objects

• View object and component placement on the vSAN datastore

• Explain how storage policies work with vSAN

• Define and create a virtual machine storage policy

• Apply and modify virtual machine storage policies

• Change virtual machine storage policies dynamically

• Identify virtual machine storage policy compliance status

vSAN Resilience and Data Availability

• Describe and configure the Object Repair Timer advanced option

• Plan disk replacement in a vSAN cluster

• Plan maintenance tasks to avoid vSAN object failures

• Recognize the importance of managing snapshot utilization in a vSAN cluster

Managing vSAN Storage Space Efficiency

• Discuss deduplication and compression techniques

• Understand deduplication and compression overhead

• Discuss compression only mode

• Configure erasure coding

• Configure swap object thin provisioning

• Discuss reclaiming storage space with SCSI UNMAP

• Configure TRIM/UNMAP

vSAN Security Operations

• Identify differences between VM encryption and vSAN encryption

• Perform ongoing operations to maintain data security

• Describe the workflow of data-in transit encryption

• Identify the steps involved in replacing Key Management Server

vSAN HCI Mesh

• Understand the purpose of vSAN HCI Mesh

• Detail vSAN HCI Mesh technology and architecture

• Perform mount and unmount of a remote datastore

vSAN File Service and iSCSI Target Service

• Understand the purpose of vSAN File Services

• Detail vSAN File Services architecture

• Configure vSAN File Shares

• Describe vSAN iSCSI Target Service

vSAN Stretched and Two Node Clusters

• Describe the architecture and uses case for stretched clusters

• Detail the deployment and replacement of a vSAN witness node

• Describe the architecture and uses case for two-node clusters

• Explain storage policies for vSAN stretched cluster

vSAN Cluster Maintenance

• Perform typical vSAN maintenance operations

• Describe vSAN maintenance modes and data evacuation options

• Assess the impact on cluster objects of entering maintenance mode

• Determine the specific data actions required after exiting maintenance mode

• Define the steps to shut down and reboot hosts and vSAN clusters

• Use best practices for boot devices

• Replace vSAN nodes

vSAN Cluster Monitoring

• Describe how the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) enables VMware to improve products and services

• Use VMware Skyline Health for monitoring vSAN cluster health

• Manage alerts, alarms, and notifications related to vSAN in VMware vSphere® Client™

• Create and configure custom alarms to trigger vSAN health issues

• Use IOInsight metrics for monitoring vSAN performance

• Use a vSAN proactive test to detect and diagnose cluster issues

vSAN Troubleshooting

• Use a structured approach to solve configuration and operational problems

• Apply troubleshooting methodology to logically diagnose faults and optimize troubleshooting efficiency

• Use VMware Skyline Health to investigate and help determine failure conditions

• Explain which log files are useful for vSAN troubleshooting

vSAN Express Storage Architecture

• Understand the purpose of vSAN Express Storage Architecture

• Describe the vSAN Express Storage Architecture components

• Identify storage policy differences

• Understand compression and encryption operation differences