VMWARE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS NETWORKING

By Haareshh

What is Service Console? The service console is developed based up on Redhat Linux Operating system, it is used to manage the VMKernel What are the basic commands to troubleshoot connectivity between vSphere Client /vCenter to ESX server? VMWare Kernel is a Proprietary kernel of vmwareand is not based on any of the flavors of Linux operating systems, .VMkernel requires an operating system to boot and manage the kernel. A service console is being provided when VMWare kernel is booted. Only service console is based up on Red hat Linux OS not VMkernel. What is the use of Service Console port ? Service console port group required to manage the ESX server and it acts as the management network for the ESX.Vcenter/Vsphere Client uses the service console IP's to communicate with the ESX server. What is the use of VMKernel Port ? Vmkernel port is used by ESX/ESXi for vmotion, ISCSI & NFS communications. ESXi uses Vmkernel as the management network since it don't have service console built with it. What is the use of Virtual Machine Port Group? Virtual Machine port group is used by Virtual machine communication. How Virtual Machine communicates to another servers in Network ? All the Virtual Machines which are configured in VM Port Group are able to connect to the other machines on the network. So this port group enables communication between vSwitch and Physical Switch by the use of uplink (Physical NIC) associated with the port group. What is the default number of ports configured with the Virtual Switch? When the time of Virtual switch created, Vswitch is created with 56 ports by default. We can extend the no of ports by editing the vswitch properties. What are the different types of Partitions in ESX server? / -root Swap /var /Var/core /opt /home

/tmp

What are the security options available for ESX vswitch? Promiscuous Mode - Reject MAC Address changes - Accept Forged Transmits - Accept

What is Promiscuous Mode ? If the promiscuous mode set to Accept, all the communication is visible to all the virtual machines, in other words all the packets are sent to all the ports on vSwitch. It can be useful when you are running virtual machines with network sniffers to capture packet in that network.

What is MAC Address changes? All the virtual machines nics are provide with the MAC address at the time of creation and it is stored in .VMX file. If the packet doesn't match with the MAC address as same as in the .VMX file , it does not allow incoming traffic to the VM by setting this option as reject. If it is set as Accept,ESX accepts requests to change the effective MAC address to other than the MAC address save din the .VMX file.

What is Forged Transmits ? Which is same as the Mac Address changes setting but it worked for the outgoing traffic but the MAC address

changes setting is for incoming traffic. What is a VLAN ? A VLAN is the Virtual LAN which is used to broke down the Broadcast traffic into many logical groups. Basically, one physical switch comprise of one broadcast domain. VLAN used to separate the one broadcast domain into many small pieces to separate the networks within the broadcast domain.

What are the types of VLAN tagging in Vsphere? There are 3 types of VLAN tagging available in Vsphere. 1.Virtual Switch Tagging (VST) 2.External Switch Tagging (EST) 3.Virtual Guest Tagging (VGT) What is VST , EST & VGT? Please refer my blog post on VST , EST & VGT .

What are the Traffic Shaping policies available in the Vswitch? Traffic shaping policies are disabled by default. There are 3 different traffic shaping policy setting Average Bandwidth Peak Bandwidth Burst Size

Average Bandwidth is defined in KBPS Peak bandwidth is defined in KBPS Burst Size is defined in Kilobytes

What are the Load balancing policies available in vswitch? Route based on the originating virtual switch port ID Route based on source MAC hash Route based on IP hash

Route based on the originating virtual switch port ID - Chooses an uplink based on the virtual port where the traffic entered the virtual switch. The traffic will be always send with that same uplink until that particular uplink is failed and failed over to another NIC. Route based on source MAC hash - Choose an uplink based on a hash of the source Ethernet MAC address.The traffic will be always send with that same uplink until that particular uplink is failed and failed over to another NIC. Route based on IP hash - Choose an uplink based on a hash of the source and destination IP addresses of each packet.

What are the types for Network Failover Detection settings? Link Status only Beacon Probing Link Status only - Relies solely on the link status provided by the network adapter. This detects failures, such as cable pulls and physical switch power failures, but it cannot detect configuration errors, such as a physical switch port being blocked by spanning tree or misconfigured to the wrong VLAN or cable pulls on the other side of a physical switch. Beacon Probing - Sends out and listens for beacon probes Ethernet broadcast frames sent by physical adapters to detect upstream network connection failures on all physical Ethernet adapters in the team. In addition to link status, to determine link failure. This detects many of the failures which are not detected by Link Status.

What is the command to check the IP address along with the detailed network cards assigned to the esx server?

Ifconfig -a Output appears like this ======================================================================== lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:9365 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:9365 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:8127714 (7.7 MiB) TX bytes:8127714 (7.7 MiB) vmnic0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:29:85:0D:76

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:100772 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:5103 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:35475848 (33.8 MiB) TX bytes:402120 (392.6 KiB) Interrupt:145 vmnic1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:29:85:0D:80

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:105895 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:35894203 (34.2 MiB) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) Interrupt:129 vmnic2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:29:85:0D:8A

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:105908 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:35895750 (34.2 MiB) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) Interrupt:137 vmnic3 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:29:85:0D:94

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:105690 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:228 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:35883279 (34.2 MiB) TX bytes:13680 (13.3 KiB) Interrupt:145 vswif0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:4D:69:D1 inet addr:192.168.0.75 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:14893 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2575 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:966513 (943.8 KiB) TX bytes:230028 (224.6 KiB) vswif1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:56:4F:45:B1 BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:11042 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:717158 (700.3 KiB) TX bytes:1260 (1.2 KiB) ========================================================================= You can use "ip addr" command also to view the ip information ========================================================================= [root@ESXTEST1 etc]# ip addr 1: lo: mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00 inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo 2: vmnic0: mtu 1500 qdisc noop qlen 1000 link/ether 00:0c:29:85:0d:76 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 3: vmnic1: mtu 1500 qdisc noop qlen 1000 link/ether 00:0c:29:85:0d:80 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 4: vmnic2: mtu 1500 qdisc noop qlen 1000 link/ether 00:0c:29:85:0d:8a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 5: vmnic3: mtu 1500 qdisc noop qlen 1000 link/ether 00:0c:29:85:0d:94 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 6: vswif0: mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast qlen 1000 link/ether 00:50:56:4d:69:d1 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff inet 192.168.0.75/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global vswif0

7: vswif1: mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast qlen 1000 link/ether 00:50:56:4f:45:b1 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 9: vswif2: mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast qlen 1000 link/ether 00:50:56:43:92:be brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff inet 192.168.0.96/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global vswif2 =========================================================================

what is the command to check the ESX vswitch details, port group and its ip address? Esxcfg-vswitch -l Outuput will appear like this: ========================================================================= [root@ESXTEST1 ~]# esxcfg-vswitch -l Switch Name vSwitch0 Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU 32 4 32 1500 vmnic0 Uplinks

PortGroup Name Service Console VMkernel Switch Name vSwitch1 0 0

VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks 1 1 vmnic0 vmnic0 Uplinks

Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU 64 3 64 1500 vmnic2,vmnic1

PortGroup Name VM-10.0.0 subnet

VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks 0 0 0 vmnic2,vmnic1 vmnic2,vmnic1 Uplinks

VM-192.168.0 subnet 0 Switch Name vSwitch2

Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU 64 4 64 1500 Used Ports 1 1 vmnic3 Uplinks vmnic3 vmnic3

PortGroup Name Service Console 2 Vmotion 0

VLAN ID 0

========================================================================= From the above output, we come to know that we have 3 virtual switches named vSwitch0,vSwitch1 and vSwitch2. 4 uplinks (physical nics in our esx server) Vmnic0,vmnic1,vmnic2,vmnic3. vswitch0 constains 2 port group (Service Console & VMKernel), vSwitch1 contains 2 virtual machine port group (VM10.0.0 subnet & VM-192.168.0 subnet) and Vswitch2 contains 2 port group (Service Console 2 & Vmotion) port group.

What is command to get the information about Service console ports and its IP address assigned to it? esxcfg-vswif -l Output will appear like this: ========================================================================= [root@ESXTEST1 ~]# esxcfg-vswif -l Name Address vswif0 Service Console 2 IPv4 IPv4 192.168.0.75 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.255 192.168.0.255 false true STATIC STATIC vswif1 Service Console 192.168.0.78 ========================================================================= what is the command to get the information about vmkernel ports and its ip address? esxcfg-vmknic -l Output will appear like this: ========================================================================= [root@ESXTEST1 ~]# esxcfg-vmknic -l Interface Port Group/DVPort IP Family IP Address Address vmk0 1500 vmk1 1500 MTU VMkernel 65535 65535 true true Vmotion S TSO MSS Enabled Type IPv4 STATIC IPv4 192.168.0.77 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.255 00:50:56:76:42:df 192.168.0.110 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.255 00:50:56:78:7e:73 Netmask Broadcast MAC Port Group/DVPort IP Family IP Netmask Broadcast Enabled TYPE

=========================================================================

what is the command to get the information about physical nics installed on ESX server? esxcfg-vmknic -l Output will appear like this: ========================================================================= [root@ESXTEST1 sbin]# esxcfg-nics -l Name PCI Driver Link Speed Duplex MAC Address MTU Description vmnic0 02:00.00 e1000 Ethernet Controller (Copper) vmnic1 02:02.00 e1000 Ethernet Controller (Copper) Up 1000Mbps Full 00:0c:29:85:0d:80 1500 Intel Corporation 82545EM Gigabit Up 1000Mbps Full 00:0c:29:85:0d:76 1500 Intel Corporation 82545EM Gigabit

vmnic2 02:03.00 e1000 Ethernet Controller (Copper) vmnic3 02:04.00 e1000 Ethernet Controller (Copper)

Up 1000Mbps Full 00:0c:29:85:0d:8a 1500 Intel Corporation 82545EM Gigabit Up 1000Mbps Full 00:0c:29:85:0d:94 1500 Intel Corporation 82545EM Gigabit

======================================================================== What is command to add the new virtual switch named (vswitch3) to our ESX server?

[root@ESXTEST1 sbin]# esxcfg-vswitch -a vswitch3 Now vswitch3 is created without any port group. ====================================================================== Switch Name vswitch3 64 Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU 1 64 1500 Uplinks

PortGroup Name

VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks

======================================================================== What is command to add the new port group named (mgmt)to vswitch (vswitch 3) ?

[root@ESXTEST1 sbin]# esxcfg-vswitch -A mgmt vswitch3 now port group "mgmt" is added. ========================================================================= Switch Name vswitch3 64 Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU 1 64 1500 Uplinks

PortGroup Name mgmt 0

VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks 0

=========================================================================

How to add the service console port (vswif2) to our newly created port group "mgmt" with the ip addr 192.168.0.79 ?

[root@ESXTEST1 sbin]# esxcfg-vswif -a vswif2 -i 192.168.0.79 -n 255.255.255.0 -p "mgmt"

where i is the ip address, n is subnet mask p is to mentione the port group name ========================================================================= vswif2 mgmt STATIC ========================================================================= How to add the vmkernal port (vmk2) to our newly created port group "mgmt" with the ip addr 192.168.0.83? IPv4 192.168.0.79 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.255 true

[root@ESXTEST1 sbin]# esxcfg-vmknic -a -i 192.168.0.83 -n 255.255.255.0 -p "mgmt" ========================================================================= vmk2 1500 mgmt 65535 true IPv4 STATIC 192.168.0.83 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.255 00:50:56:7b:bd:36

========================================================================= How to change the ip addresss of the existing service console "vswif2"? nano /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-vswif2. Edit the file with your new id address " 192.168.0.255" then save and exit. ====================================================== DEVICE=vswif2 HOTPLUG=yes MACADDR=00:50:56:43:92:be ONBOOT=yes PORTGROUP=mgmt BOOTPROTO=static BROADCAST=192.168.0.255 DHCPV6C=no IPADDR=192.168.0.96 IPV6INIT=no IPV6_AUTOCONF=no NETMASK=255.255.255.0 ====================================================== restart the network service for ip change to take effect: [root@ESXTEST1 sysconfig]# service network restart Shutting down interface vswif0: Shutting down interface vswif2: Shutting down loopback interface: Bringing up loopback interface: Bringing up interface vswif0: [ OK ] [ OK ] [ OK ] [ OK ] [ OK ]

Another way is to connect to the console of the ESX server and at the shell prompt type in :esxcfg-vswif -d vswif2 This will delete the existing vswif0 and it will give the message about "nothing to flush". then type the below command esxcfg-vswif -a vswif2 -p mgmt -i 192.168.0.97 -n 255.255.255.0 ========================================================================= [root@ESXTEST1 etc]# esxcfg-vswif -d vswif2 Nothing to flush. [root@ESXTEST1 etc]# esxcfg-vswif -a vswif2 -p mgmt -i 192.168.0.97 -n 255.255.255.0 [2011-09-17 19:35:46 'Vnic' warning] Generated New MAC address, 00:50:56:43:92:be for vswif2 Nothing to flush. ========================================================================= How to change the ESX host name and default gateway?

edit the below file:

nano /etc/sysconfig/network ====================================== NETWORKING=yes HOSTNAME=ESXTEST1.lab.com GATEWAY=192.168.0.20 GATEWAYDEV=vswif0 IPV6_AUTOCONF=no NETWORKING_IPV6=no ====================================== restart the network service for ip change to take effect: [root@ESXTEST1 sysconfig]# service network restart

How to edit the ESX host file ?

nano /etc/hosts

Edit the file to make entry to your host file.

========================================== 127.0.0.1 ::1 192.168.0.75 localhost localhost ESXTEST1.lab.com ESXTEST1

========================================== How to edit the DNS entry of your ESX server?

nano /etc/resolv.conf Edit the file to make changes or to make new entry of dns for your ESX server ======================== name server 192.168.0.20 search lab.com ======================= what is the command to query the firewall ports ?

esxcfg-firewall - q How to open the port in firewall (port no 8877, tcp, incoming , name: test3 ? esxcfg-firewall -o 8877,tcp,in,test3 If you are looking for more VMware interview questions Please click I Keep reading for More Interview questions and answers !!!! You might also like: ESXi5 Command Line Reference - Networking Part1 ESX Server Networks!!!! Networks!!!!! Networks!!!!!! in ... ESXi5 Command Line Reference - Netw

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ESX 3.5 AND ESX 4.0

13:30 MOHAMMED RAFFIC

Here is the Post with the Difference between ESX 3.5 & ESX 4. I believe this would be the one of the definite questions in interview. Will working towards to bring the differences between all editions of ESX version. If you looking for Difference between vSphere 4.1 and vSphere 5. Please refer my blogpost on "Difference between vSphere 4.1 and vSphere 5"

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Features Linked Mode Host Profiles Centralized License Performance chart Events and Alarms Fault tolerance Storage VMotion VMotion Virtual CPUs per host Virtual Machines per host Logical processors per host RAM per host Maximum Service console Memory DRS VMware Data Recovery Enhanced VMotion Compatibility (EVC) VMware HA Admission Control High Availability Clustering with Windows Server 2000, 2003, 2008 Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Hosts per storage volume Fiber Channel paths to LUN NFS Datastores Hardware iSCSI initiators per host Virtual Machine Hot Add Support

ESX 3.5 No Linked Mode Support No Host Profiles Require dedicated License server Yes Yes Not Available SVMotion available only with CLI Yes 192 170 32 256 GB 800 MB Yes Backup using VCB (VMware Consolidated backup) No EVC Yes but without options to reserve failover capacity

ESX 4 Linked Mode Supportis introduced in vSphere 4.0 Host Profiles is Introduced in vSphere 4.0 License can be managed within vCenter server Lot More enhancements Lot More enhancements Available from vSphere 4.0 SVMotion available in GUI Yes 512 320 64 1 TB 800 MB Yes VMware Data Recovery and VCB support EVC is introduced in vSphere 4.0 Admission Control is improved to provide more flexible configuration options to reserve failover capacity.

Not Available Not Available 32 32 32 2 NO

Available in vSphere 4.0 Available to support MSCS on win 2008 64 16 64 4 Yes

Number of virtual CPUs per virtual machine Virtual Hardware version RAM per virtual machine virtual machine swap file Size VMDirectPath for Virtual Machines Vmkernel Service Console Concurrent remote console sessions Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning

4 4 64 GB 65532MB NO 32 Bit 32 Bit 10 No Thin Provisioning

8 7 255 GB 255GB Yes 64 bit 64 bit 40 Thin Provisioning introduced in vSphere 4.0 High-performance storage adapters that offer greater throughput and lower CPU utilization for virtual machines Available via GUI Yes Yes Available from vSphere with Enterprise Plus License Available with DVSwitch Available with DVSwitch We can use Cisco Nexus 1000v with DVSwitch Yes 10 248 4088 Yes Yes Fully supported with PMI and iLO Remote Power On

VMware Paravirtualized SCSI (PVSCSI Hot Extend for Virtual Disks Hot plug support for virtual devices VMXNET Generation 3

Not available Only Via VCLI using vmkfstools No Not Available

vNetwork Distributed Switch Private VLAN Support Network Vmotion 3rd Party Distributed Switch Support IPv6 Support NICs per VM Standard vSwitches per host Virtual NICs per standard vSwitch 8 way SMP Update Manager DPM

Not Available Not Available Not Available Not Available Yes 4 127 1016 No Only 4 way Yes Experimental

License Types

VMware Infrastructure Foundation VMware Infrastructure Standard VMware Infrastructure Enterprise

vSphere Essentials vSphere Essentials Plus vSphere Standard vSphere Advanced vSphere Enterprise vSphere Enterprise Plus

Posted in: Comparisions and Differences, ESX Version Comparisions, Interview questions

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VSPHERE 4.1 AND VSPHERE 5

I am getting lot of request from email to post the difference between the vSphere 4.0 and vSphere 5.0. Here the post for the requests and I believe this could be the definite questions in interviews and this post helps you to just quickly review the difference between the features of this 2 vSphere Releases. If you are looking for Difference between ESX 3.5 and ESX 4.0. Please refer my Blogpost "Difference between ESX 3.5 and ESX 4.0"

Features Hypervisor VMA

vSphere 4.1 ESX & ESXi Yes VMA 4.1 AAM Automatic Availability Manager Primary & Secondary Management N/W /etc/opt/vmware/AAM Yes NO Not Available Available Not Available Not Available VMFS-3 Not Available

vSphere 5.0 Only ESXi Yes VMA 5 FDM Fault Domain Manager Master & Slave Management N/W and Storage communication /etc/opt/vmware/FDM NO boot systems from hard drives, CD/DVD drives, or USB media Yes Available Available Available VMFS-5 Available

HA Agent HA Host Approach HA Failure Detection HA Log File DNS Dependent on DNS Host UEFI boot support Storage DRS VM Affinity & AntiAffinity VMDK Affinity & AntiAffinity Profile driven storage VMFS version VSphere Storage Appliance

Iscsi Port Binding Storage I/O control for NFS Storage Vmotion Snapshot support Swap to SSD Network I/O control ESXi firewall vCenter Linux Support vSphere Full Client vSphere Web Client VM Hardware Version Virtual CPU per VM Virtual Machine RAM VM Swapfile size Support for Client connected USB Non Hardware Accelerated 3D grpahics support UEFI Virtual BIOS VMware Tools Version Mutlicore vCpu MAC OS Guest Support Smart card reader support for VM Auto Deploy Image Builder VM's per host Max Logical Cpu per Host RAM per Host MAX RAM for Service Console LUNS per Server

Can be only done via Cli using ESXCLI Fiber Channel VM with Snapshot cannot be migrated using Storage vMotion NO Yes Not Available Not Available Yes Yes 7 8 vCpu 255 GB 255 GB Not Available Not Available Not Available 4.1 Not Available Not Available Not Available Not Available Not Available 320 160 1 TB 800 MB 256

Configure dependent hardware iSCSI and software iSCSI adapters along with the network configurations and port binding in a single dialog box using the vSphere Client. Fiber Channel & NFS VM with Snapshot can be migrated using Storage vMotion Yes Yes with enhancement Yes vCenter Virtual Appliance Yes yes with lot of improvements 8 32 vCpu 1 TB of vRAM 1 TB Yes Yes Yes 5 Yes configure at VM setting Apple Mac OS X Server 10.6 Yes Yes Yes 512 160 2 TB Not Applicable (NO SC) 256

Metro Vmotion

Round-trip latencies of up to 5 milliseconds. Moving VM Files using moving to using dirty block tracking

Round-trip latencies of up to 10 milliseconds. This provides better performance over long latency networks Moving VM Files using I/O mirroring with better enhancements Yes with more enhancements like deeper view into virtual machine traffic through Netflow and enhances monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities through SPAN and LLDP Yes 1000

Storage Vmotion

Virtual Distributed Switch USB 3.0 Support Host Per vCenter Powered on virtual machines per vCenter Server Vmkernel Service Console

Yes NO 1000

10000 64-bit 64-bit vSphere Essentials vSphere Essentials Plus vSphere Standard vSphere Advanced vSphere Enterprise vSphere Enterprise Plus

10000 64-bit Not Applicable (NO SC)

Licensing

vSphere Essentials vSphere Essentials Plus vSphere Standard vSphere Enterprise vSphere Enterprise Plus

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VMWARE ESX AND ESXI

21:08 MOHAMMED RAFFIC

It's been a long debate that everyone has been asked by what is the difference between ESX and ESXi. Most of the admins would have asked this question during interviews and also asked by new learners of VMware virtualization. I decided to post on the topic to give architectural difference always as to compare the different level capabilities between ESX & ESXi. What is VMware ESX ? ESX (Elastic Sky X) is the VMwares enterprise server virtualization platform. In ESX, VMkernel is the virtualization kernel which is managed by a console operating system which is also called as Service console. Which is Linux based and its main purpose is it to provide a Management interface for the host and lot of management agents and other third party software agents are installed on the service console to provide the functionalists like hardware

management and monitoring of ESX hypervisor.

What is VMware ESXi ? ESXi (Elastic sky X Integrated) is also the VMwares enterprise server virtualization platform. In ESXi, Service console is removed. All the VMware related agents and third party agents such as management and monitoring agents can also run directly on the VMkernel. ESXi is ultra-thin architecture which is highly reliable and its small code-base allows it to be more secure with less codes to patch. ESXi uses Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) instead of a service console to perform management of ESXi server. ESXi installation will happen very quickly as compared to ESX installation.

Difference between ESX and ESXi ESX 4.1 is the last version availability of ESX server. After vSphere 5, only ESXi is available. This comparison based out of the VMware Article Capability Service Console Troubleshooting performed via Active Director Authentication Secure Syslog Management Network Jumbo Frames Hardware Montioring Boot from SAN Software patches and updates vSphere web Access Locked Down Mode Scripted Installtion vMA Support Major Administration command-line Command Rapid deployment via Auto Deploy Custom Image creation VMkernel Network Used for You might also like: VMWare interview questions and answers -Networking ESXi5 Command Line Reference - Networking Part1 ESX Present Service Console Enabled Not Supported Service Console Interface Supported 3 rd Party agents installed in Service console Supported in ESX Needed as smilar to linux operation system Only experimental Not present Supported Yes esxcfgNot supported Not supported vMotion,Fault Tolarance,Stoarge Connectivity ESXi Removed ESXi Shell Enabled Supported VMKernel Interface Supported Via CIM Providers Supported in ESXi Few pacthes because of small footprint and more secure Full managenet capability via vSPhere web client Present . Lockdown mode prevents remote users to login to the host Supported Yes esxcli Supported Supported Management Network , vMotion, Fault Tolarance, Stoarge Connectivity, ISCSI port binding

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VMFS 3 AND VMFS 5

This post explains you the major difference between VMFS 3 and VMFS 5. VMFS 5 is available as part of vSphere 5. VMFS 5 is introduced with lot of performance enhancements. Newly installed ESXi 5 will be formatted with VMFS 5 version but if you have upgraded the ESX 4 or ESX 4.1 to ESXi 5, then datastore version will be VMFS 3 only. You will able to upgrade the VMFS 3 to VMFS 5 via vSphere client once ESXi upgrade is Complete. This posts tells you some major differences between VMFS 3 and VMFS 5

Capability Maximum single Extend size Partition Style Available Block Size Maximum size of RDM in Virtual Compatibiltiy Maximum size of RDM in Phsical Compatibiltiy Supported Hosts versions Spanned Volume size

VMFS 3 2 TB less 512 bytes MBR (Master Boot Record) style 1 MB/2MB/4MB/8MB

VMFS 5 64 TB GPT (GUID Partition Table) only 1 MB

2 TB less 512 bytes

2 TB less 512 bytes

2 TB less 512 bytes ESX/ESX 3.X, 4.X & 5.x 64 TB (32 extends with max size of extent is 2 TB)

Upgrade path File Limit Sub-Block size

VMFS 3 to VMFS 5 30,000 64 KB

64 TB Only ESXi 5 is supported 64 TB (32 extends with any size combination) Latest Version. NO upgarde available yet. 100,000 8 KB

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UPGRADED VMFS 5 AND NEWLY CREATED VMFS 5

00:29 MOHAMMED RAFFIC

This post explains you the major difference between VMFS 5 datastore upgrade from VMFS 3 and newly created VMFS 5 datastore. VMFS 5 is available as part of vSphere 5. VMFS 5 is introduced with lot of performance enhancements. Newly installed ESXi 5 will be formatted with VMFS 5 version but if you have upgraded the ESX 4 or ESX 4.1 to ESXi 5, then datastore version will be VMFS 3 only. You will able to upgrade the VMFS 3 to VMFS 5 via vSphere client once ESXi upgrade is Complete. Even though the upgraded datastore will be with VMFS 5 version but there are many technical difference between upgraded VMFS 5 and newly created VMFS 5. This posts tells you some major differences between upgraded VMFS 5 and newly created VMFS 5.

Capabilities Max datastore size Maximum size of RDM in Physical Compatibility

Upgraded VMFS 5 64 TB 64 TB Continuous to use the previous block size which may be 1MB/2MB/4MB/8 MB 64 KB sub-blocks 30,000 MBR (Master Boot Record) style

Newly Created VMFS 5 64 TB 64 TB

Block Size Sub-block size File limit Partition Style

only 1 MB block size 8 KB sub-blocks 100,000 GPT (GUID Partition Table)

Partition Sector Maximum size of RDM in Virtual Compatibility Max size of file

partition starting on sector 128 2 TB less 512 bytes 2 TB less 512 bytes

partition starting on sector 2,048 2 TB less 512 bytes 2 TB less 512 bytes

VMWARE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS : DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLONE AND TEMPLATE
I have been asked by many of my friends, colleagues and also during interviews "What is the difference between Clone and Template?". Many times I was searching for the resource or content to answer the question raised by others. So Now, I decided to put some posts on this topic which i have understood to help the people to answer this particular question during their interviews.

Clone Clone creates an exact copy of a running Virtual Machine at the time of cloning process Cloning a virtual machine creates a exact duplicate copy of the virtual machine with the same configuration and installed software without performing any additional settings. You can create a clone of existing installed and Configured running virtual machine by right clicking the VM and Clone.

Template Template acts as a baseline image with the predefined configuration as per organization standards Create a template to create a master image of a virtual machine from which you can deploy multiple virtual machines You can create a template by converting a virtual machine to a template, cloning a virtual machine to a template, or cloning another template Templates are best suited for production environments where you want the mass deployment of virtual machines along with the installed OS and basic software, configured policy as per the security policy of your organization as a base Machine. Once template is deployed, you can install software depend on the role of the server like IIS,Database Templates are best suited for Mass Deployment of Virtual Machines You can convert the template back to virtual machine to update the base template with the latest released patches and updates and to install or upgrade any software and again convert back to template to be used for deployment of

VM clones are best suited in test and development environments where you want to create, test and work with exact copies of production servers without disturbing production servers by creating clone of the production virtual machine.

VM Clones are not suited for mass deployment of Virtual Machines We Cannot Convert back the Cloned Machine

virtual machines with latest patches.

.

Cloned Virtual Machine Can be powered on You cannot Clone a Virtual Machine if you have connected directly to ESX/ESXi host using vSphere Client You can customize the guest operating system of the clone to change the virtual machine name, network settings, and other properties. This prevents conflicts that can occur if a virtual machine and a clone with identical guest operating system settings are deployed simultaneously. Clone of a virtual machine can be created when the virtual machine is powered on

Templates cannot be powered on You cannot create a template of a Virtual Machine if you have connected directly to ESX/ESXi host using vSphere Client You can also Customize the guest operating system while deploying from template

Convert virtual Machine to template cannot be performed, when Virtual machine is powered on. Only Clone to Template can be performed when VM is powered on

VMWARE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - HA (HIGH AVAILABILITY)

23:03 MOHAMMED RAFFIC

What is VMware HA? As per VMware Definition, VMware High Availability (HA) provides easy to use, cost effective high availability for applications running in virtual machines. In the event of server failure, affected virtual machines are automatically restarted on other production servers with spare capacity

What is AAM in HA? AAM is the Legato automated availability management. Prior to vSphere 4.1, VMware's HA is actually re engineered to work with VM's with the help of Legato's Automated Availability Manager (AAM) software. VMware's vCenter agent (vpxa) interfaces with the VMware HA agent which acts as an intermediary to the AAM

software. From vSphere 5.0, it uses an agent called FDM (Fault Domain Manager). What are pre-requites for HA to work? 1.Shared storage for the VMs running in HA cluster 2.Essentials plus, standard, Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus Licensing 3.Create VMHA enabled Cluster 4.Management network redundancy to avoid frequent isolation response in case of temporary network issues (preferred not a requirement) What is maximum number of primary HA hosts in vSphere 4.1? Maximum number of primary HA host is 5. VMware HA cluster chooses the first 5 hosts that joins the cluster as primary nodes and all others hosts are automatically selected as secondar nodes. How to see the list of Primary nodes in HA cluster? View the log file named "aam_config_util_listnodes.log" under /var/log/vmware/aam using the below command cat /var/log/vmware/aam/aam_config_util_listnodes.log

What is the command to restart /Start/Stop HA agent in the ESX host? service vmware-aam restart service vmware-aam stop service vmware-aam start Where to located HA related logs in case of troubleshooting? /Var/log/vmware/aam What the basic troubleshooting steps in case of HA agent install failed on hosts in HA cluster? Below steps are are taken from my blog posts Troubleshooting HA

1. Check for some network issues 2. Check the DNS is configured properly 3. Check the vmware HA agent status in ESX host by using below commands service vmware-aam status 4. Check the networks are properly configured and named exactly as other hosts in the cluster. otherwise, you will get the below errors while installing or reconfiguring HA agent. 5. Check HA related ports are open in firewall to allow for the communication Incoming port: TCP/UDP 8042-8045 Outgoing port: TCP/UDP 2050-2250 6. First try to restart /stop/start the vmware HA agent on the affected host using the below commands. In addition u can also try to restart vpxa and management agent in the Host. service vmware-aam restart service vmware-aam stop service vmware-aam start 7. Right Click the affected host and click on "Reconfigure for VMWare HA" to re-install the HA agent that particular host. 8. Remove the affected host from the cluster. Removing ESX host from the cluster will not be allowed untill that host is put into maintenance mode. 9.Alternative solution for 3 step is, Goto cluster settings and uncheck the vmware HA in to turnoff the HA in that cluster and re-enable the vmware HA to get the agent installed. 10. For further troubleshooting , review the HA logs under /Var/log/vmware/aam directory.

What is the maximum number of hosts per HA cluster? Maximum number of hosts in the HA cluster is 32

What is Host Isolation? VMware HA has a mechanism to detect a host is isolated from rest of hosts in the cluster. When the ESX host loses its ability to exchange heartbeat via management network between the other hosts in the HA cluster, that ESX host will be considered as a Isolated. How Host Isolation is detected? In HA cluster, ESX hosts uses heartbeats to communicate among other hosts in the cluster.By default, Heartbeat will be sent every 1 second. If a ESX host in the cluster didn't received heartbeat for for 13 seconds from any other hosts in the cluster, The host considered it as isolated and host will ping the configured isolation address(default gateway by default). If the ping fails, VMware HA will execute the Host isolation response

What are the different types isolation response available in HA?

Power off All the VMs are powered off , when the HA detects that the network isolation occurs Shut down All VMs running on that host are shut down with the help of VMware Tools, when the HA detects that the network isolation occurs.If the shutdown via VMWare tools not happened within 5 minutes, VM's power off operation will be executed. This behavior can be changed with the help of HA advanced options. Please refer my Post on HA Advanced configuration Leave powered on The VM's state remain powered on or remain unchanged, when the HA detects that the network isolation occurs. How to add additional isolation address for redundancy? By default, VMWare HA use to ping default gateway as the isolation address if it stops receiving heartbeat.We can add an additional values in case if we are using redundant service console both belongs to different subnet.Let's say we can add the default gateway of SC1 as first value and gateway of SC2 as the additional one using the below value

1. Right Click your HA cluster 2. Goto to advanced options of HA 3. Add the line "das.isolationaddress1 = 192.168.0.1" 4. Add the line "das.isolationaddress2 = 192.168.1.1" as the additional isolation address To know more about the Advanced HA Options What is HA Admission control? As per "VMware Availability Guide", VCenter Server uses admission control to ensure that sufficient resources are available in a cluster to provide failover protection and to ensure that virtual machine resource reservations are respected. What are the 2 types of settings available for admission control?

Enable: Do not power on VMs that violate availability constraints Disable: Power on VMs that violate availability constraints

What are the different types of Admission control policy available with VMware HA? There are 3 different types of Admission control policy available.

Host failures cluster tolerates Percentage of cluster resources reserved as fail over spare capacity Specify a fail over host How the Host Failures cluster tolerates admission control policy works?

Select the maximum number of host failures that you can afford for or to guarantee fail over. Prior vSphere 4.1, Minimum is 1 and the maximum is 4. In the Host Failures cluster tolerates admission control policy , we can define the specific number of hosts that can fail in the cluster and also it ensures that the sufficient resources remain to fail over all the virtual machines from that failed hosts to the other hosts in cluster. VMware High Availability(HA) uses a mechanism called slots to calculate both the available and required resources in the cluster for a failing over virtual machines from a failed host to other hosts in the cluster. What is SLOT? As per VMWare's Definition, "A slot is a logical representation of the memory and CPU resources that satisfy the requirements for any powered-on virtual machine in the cluster." If you have configured reservations at VM level, It influence the HA slot calculation. Highest memory reservation and highest CPU reservation of the VM in your cluster determines the slot size for the cluster. How the HA Slots are Calculated?

I have written a post about how the HA slots are calculated. How to Check the HA Slot information from vSphere Client? Click on Cluster Summary Tab and Click on "Advanced Runtime Info" to see the the detailed HA slots information.

What is use of Host Monitoring status in HA cluster?

Let's take an example, you are performing network maintenance activity on your switches which connects your one of th ESX host in HA cluster. what will happen if the switch connected to the ESX host in HA cluster is down? It will not receive heartbeat and also ping to the isolation address also failed. so, host will think itself as isolated and HA will initiate the reboot of virtual machines on the host to other hosts in the cluster. Why do you need this unwanted situation while performing scheduled maintenance window. To avoid the above situation when performing scheduled activity which may cause ESX host to isolate, remove the check box in " Enable Host Monitoring" until you are done with the network maintenance activity.

How to Manually define the HA Slot size? By default, HA slot size is determined by the Virtual machine Highest CPU and memory reservation. If no reservation is specified at the VM level, default slot size of 256 MHZ for CPU and 0 MB + memory overhead for RAM will be taken as slot size. We can control the HA slot size manually by using the following values. There are 4 options we can configure at HA advanced options related to slot size das.slotMemInMB - Maximum Bound value for HA memory slot size das.slotCpuInMHz - Maximum Bound value for HA CPU slot Size das.vmMemoryMinMB - Minimum Bound value for HA memory slot size das.vmCpuMinMHz - Minimum Bound value for HA CPU slot size

How the "Percentage of cluster resources reserved as failover spare capacity" admission control policy works?

In the Percentage of cluster resources reserved as failover spare capacity admission control policy, We can define the specific percentage of total cluster resources are reserved for failover.In contrast to the "Host Failures cluster tolerates admission control policy", It will not use slots. Instead This policy calculates the in the way below

1.It calculates the Total resource requirement for all Powered-on Virtual Machines in the cluster and also calculates the total resource available in host for virtual machines. 2.It calculates the current CPU and Memory Failover capacity for the capacity. 3.If the current CPU and Memory Failover capacity for the cluster < configured failover capacity (ex 25 %) 4.Admission control will not allow to power on the virtual machine which violates the availability constraints.

How the "Specify a failover host" admission control policy works?

In the Specify a failover host" admission control policy, We can define a specific host as a dedicated failover host. Whenisolation response is detected, HA attempts to restart the virtual machines on the specified failover host.In this Approach, dedicated failover hist will be sitting idle without actively involving or not participating in DRS load balancing.DRS will not migrate or power on placement of virtual machines on the defined failover host.

What is VM Monitoring status? HA will usually monitors ESX hosts and reboot the virtual machine in the failed hosts in the other host in the cluster in case of host isolation but i need the HA to monitors for Virtual machine failures also. here the feature called VM monitoring status as part of HA settings.VM monitoring restarts the virtual machine if the vmware tools heartbeat didn't received with the specified time using Monitoring sensitivity.

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Posted in: High Availability, Interview questions

VMWare HA Advanced Options VMWare HA Slots Calculation VMware Interview Questions & Answers -VMware Fault Tolerance

VMWARE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS -VMWARE FAULT TOLERANCE

17:33 MOHAMMED RAFFIC

What is VMware Fault Tolerance? VMware Fault Tolerance is a component of VMware vSphere and it provides continuous availability to applications by preventing downtime and data loss of Virtual machines in the event of ESX server failures.

What is the name of the technology used by VMware FT? VMware FT using a technology called vLockstep technology What are requirements and Limitattions for ESX hosts & infrastructure components to run FT protected virtual machines in Vsphere 4 & 4.1? Please refer my blog post on ESX Host -Infrastrcuture Requirements & Limitations for VMware Fault Tolerance to see the ESX requirements for VMware FT. What are Requirements and Limitations for Virtual Machine to Enable FT ? Please refer my blog post on Virtual Machine Requirements for VMware Fault Tolerance

How do i check my host for FT compatibility from vSphere client? One way from vSphere client is to run the cluster complaince check from profile compliance tab of your cluster. The below checks as specified below will be performed as part of the compliance check.

Validate that Fault Tolerancelogging NIC speed is at least 1000 Mbps. Validate that power management is supported on the host Validate that Fault Tolerance logging is enabled. Validate that VMotion NIC speed is at least 1000 Mbps. Validate that all the hosts in the cluster have the same build for Fault Tolerance Validate that the host hardware supports Fault Tolerance. Validate that VMotion is enabled. Validate that at least one shared datastore exists

Another way is to check the summary tab of the ESX/ESXi host, "Host Configured for FT" yes or NO.

If " Host Configured for FT" is No. It will display the items required for that particular ESX for FT to work.

What is FT Logging Traffic? FT logging is the one of option in VMkernel port setting which is similar to enable vmotion option in the vmkernel port. when FT is enabled for the virtual machine, all the inputs (disk read.. wirte,etc..) of the primary virtual machine are recorded and sent to the secondary VM over via FT logging enabled VMkernel port. How to Enable FT Logging in VMkernel Port? GO the ESX host -> Configuration-> Networking -> Properties of Virtual switch with the VMkernel portgroup configured Click on VMkernel Port -> click on Edit -> General tab -> select the Fault Tolerance Logging -> click on OK.

How do you configure or enable FT for the virtual machine ? FT can be enabled only per virtual machine basis not at the cluster or ESX level. Right-click the virtual Machine -> Fault Tolerance -> Turn on Fault Tolerance

How does the FT enabled virtual machine will be differentiated with non FT VM's in vSphere client? FT Enabled Virtual machine will appear in Dark Blue colour as compared to non-protected virtual machines.

By default, Only Primary virtual machine will appear under the cluster and ESX host. To take a look at the secondary VM , Go to Virtual Machines tab of the Cluster or Host.

How Does VMware Fault Tolerance Work? When you enable Fault Tolerance for the virtual machine, a secondary virtual machine will be created to work with the primary virtual machine in which you have enabled FT. The primary and secondary virtual machine resides on a different ESX hosts in the cluster. Whatever the events or actions performed by the primary VM will be transmitted via gigabit Ethernet network to be replayed by the secondary virtual machine using VLockstep technology. Eventhough both the primary and secondary virtual machines appear as a single entity and access a common disk, both running with the single IP address, MAc address but writes are only performed by the primary virtual machine.The primary and secondary virtual machines sends heartbeat between each other frequently with millisecond intervals to the check for the availability. If either of the virtual machine loses the heartbeat, other virtual machine will take over the primary virtual machine role immediately.

Graphics Thanks toVMware.com

What happens when you enabled Fault Tolerance for your virtual machine? When you enable Fault Tolerance for the virtual machine, a secondary virtual machine (live shadow image of the primary) will be created to work with the primary virtual machine in which you have enabled FT. The primary and secondary virtual machine resides on a different ESX hosts in the cluster. What will happen when the ESX host of primary VM failed? When a failure is detected on the primary VM's ESX host, the secondary virtual machine which is running on the another ESX server in the same cluster will takes the place of the first one with the least possible interruption of service. If vCenter is down, will the FT work? vCenter server is only required to enable FT on the virtual machine.once it is configured, vCenter is not required to be in online for FT to work. FT failover between primary and secondary will occure even if the vCenter is down. How does Vmware FT differs from VMware HA?

1.VMware HA is enabled per cluster basis but FT is enabled per VM basis. 2. In case of ESX host failure, virtual machines in the failed host are restarted and powered-on on the other active hosts in HA cluster. So the restart duration of the virtual machine is the downtime for the virtual machine in HA cluster. But in FT enabled virtual machine, there is no downtime. In case of host failure, secondary VM will become primary and continuing the execution from the exact point where the primary VM is left off or failed. It happens automatically without data loss, without downtime and with a little delay. Users will not see any interruption. How do you see the summary status of the FT enabled virtual machines in the ESX host from vsphere client? Click on Summary tab of the ESX host -> Fault tolerance information and VM counts will be displayed

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Posted in: Interview questions, VMware FT

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1. VMWare Kernel is a Proprietary Kenral and is not based on any of the UNIX operating systems, it's a kernel developed by VMWare Company. 2. The VMKernel can't boot it by itself, so that it takes the help of the 3rd party operating system. In VMWare case the kernel is booted by RedHat Linux operating system which is known as service console.

3. The service console is developed based up on Redhat Linux Operating system, it is used to manage the VMKernel

4. To restart webaccess service on vmware service vmware-webaccess restart this will restart apache tomcat app

5. To restart ssh service on vmware service sshd restart

6. To restart host agent(vmware-hostd) on vmware esx server service mgmt-vmware restart 7. Path for the struts-config.xml /usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-5.5.17/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/ - See more at: http://www.01world.in/p/vmware-admin-interview-questions.html#sthash.hRKU2TEE.dpuf

8. To start the scripted install the command is esx ks=nfs:111.222.333.444:/data/KS.config ksdevice=eth0 location device name

9. Virtual Network in Simple. Virtual Nic(s) on Virtual Machine(s) -----> Physical Nic on the ESX Server (Virtual Switch - 56 Ports) -----> Physical Switch Port Should be trunked with all the VLANS to which the VM's need access All the ESX servers should be configured with Same number of Physical Nics (vSwitches) and Connectivity also should be same, So that vMotion succeeds All the Virtual Machines are connected to one vSwitch with Different VLANS, this means the Physical Nic(vSwitch) needs to be trunked with the same VLANS on the Physical Switch Port - See more at: http://www.01world.in/p/vmware-admin-interview-questions.html#sthash.hRKU2TEE.dpuf

10 What are the three port groups present in ESX server networking 1. Virtual Machine Port Group - Used for Virtual Machine Network 2. Service Console Port Group - Used for Service Console Communications 3. VMKernel Port Group - Used for VMotion, iSCSI, NFS Communications

11. What is the use of a Port Group? The port group segregates the type of communication. 12. What are the type of communications which requires an IP address for sure ? Service Console and VMKernel (VMotion and iSCSI), these communications does not happen without an ip address (Whether it is a single or dedicated)

13. In the ESX Server licensing features VMotion License is showing as Not used, why? Even though the license box is selected, it shows as "License Not Used" until, you enable the VMotion option for specific vSwitch 14. How the Virtual Machineort group communication works ? All the vm's which are configured in VM Port Group are able to connect to the physical machines on the network. So this port group enables communication between vSwitch and Physical Switch to connect vm's to Physical Machine's

15. what is vlan ? A vlan is logical configuration of group of segment 16. Does the vSwitches support VLAN Tagging? Why? Yes, The vSwitches support VLAN Tagging, otherwise if the virtual machines in an esx host are connected to different VLANS, we need to install a separate physical nic (vSwitch) for every VLAN. That is the reason vmware included the VLANtagging for vSwitches. So every vSwitch supports upto 1016 ports, and BTW they can support 1016 VLANS if needed, but an ESX server doesnt support that many VMs. :) 17. What is Promiscuous Mode on vSwitch ? What happens if it sets to Accept? If the promiscuous mode set to Accept, all the communication is visible to all the virtual machines, in other words all the packets are sent to all the ports on vSwitch If the promiscuous mode set to Reject, the packets are sent to inteded port, so that the intended virtual machine was able to see the communication.

18. What is MAC address Changes ? What happens if it is set to Accept ? When we create a virtual machine the configuration wizard generates a MAC address for that machine, you can see it in the .vmx (VM Config) file. If it doesn't matches with the MAC address in the OS this setting does not allow incoming traffic to the VM. So by setting Reject Option both MAC addresses will be remains same, and the incoming traffic will be allowed to the VM.

19. What is Forged Transmits ? What happens if it is set to Accept ? When we create a virtual machine the configuration wizard generates a MAC address for that machine, you can see it in the .vmx (VM Config) file. If it doesn't matches with the MAC address in the OS this setting does not allow outgoing traffic from the VM. So by setting Reject Option both MAC addresses will be remains same, and the outgoing traffic will be allowed from the VM. 20. What are the core services of VC ? VM provisioning , Task Scheduling and Event Logging 21. Can we do vMotion between two datacenters ? If possible how it will be? Yes we can do vMotion between two datacenters, but the mandatory requirement is the VM should be powered off. 22. What is VC agent? and what service it is corresponded to? What are the minimum req's for VC agent installation ? VC agent is an agent installed on ESX server which enables communication between VC and ESX server. The daemon associated with it is called vmware-hostd , and the service which corresponds to it is called as mgmt-vmware, in the event of VC agent failure just restart the service by typing the following command at the service console " service mgmt-vmware restart " VC agent installed on the ESX server when we add it to the VC, so at the time of installtion if you are getting an error like " VC Agent service failed to install ", check the /Opt size whether it is sufficient or not. 23. How can you edit VI Client Settings and VC Server Settings ? Click Edit Menu on VC and Select Client Settings to change VI settings Click Administration Menu on VC and Select VC Management Server Configuration to Change VC Settings 24. What are the files that make a Virtual Machine ? .vmx - Virtual Machine Configuration File .nvram - Virtual Machine BIOS .vmdk - Virtual Machine Disk file .vswp - Virtual Machine Swap File .vmsd - Virtual MAchine Snapshot Database .vmsn - Virtual Machine Snapshot file .vmss - Virtual Machine Suspended State file .vmware.log - Current Log File .vmware-#.log - Old Log file 25. What are the devices that can be added while the virtual Machine running In VI 3.5 we can add Hard Disk and NIC's while the machine running. In vSphere 4.0 we can add Memory and Processor along with HDD and NIC's while the machine running

26. How to set the time delay for BIOS screen for a Virtual Machine? Right Click on VM, select edit settings, choose options tab and select boot option, set the delay how much you want.

27. What is a template ? We can convert a VM into Template, and it cannot be powered on once its changed to template. This is used to quick provisioning of VM's. 23. What to do to customize the windows virtual machine clone,? copy the sysprep files to Virtual center directory on the server, so that the wizard will take the advantage of it. 24. What to do to customize the linux/unix virtual machine clone,? VC itself includes the customization tools, as these operating systems are available as open source. 25. Does cloning from template happens between two datacenters ? Yes.. it can, if the template in one datacenter, we can deploy the vm from that template in another datacenter without any problem. 26. What are the common issues with snapshots? What stops from taking a snapshot and how to fix it ? If you configure the VM with Mapped LUN's, then the snapshot failed. If it is mapped as virtual then we can take a snapshot of it. If you configure the VM with Mapped LUN's as physical, you need to remove it to take a snapshot.

27. What are the settings that are taken into to consideration when we initiate a snapshot ? Virtual Machine Configuration (What hardware is attached to it) State of the Virtual Machine Hard Disk file ( To revert back if needed) State of the Virtual Machine Memory (if it is powered on) 28. What are the requirements for Converting a Physical machine to VM ? An agent needs to be installed on the Physical machine VI client needs to be installed with Converter Plug-in A server to import/export virtual machines 29. What is VMWare consolidated backup ? It is a backup framework, that supports 3rd party utilities to take backups of ESX servers and Virtual Machines. Its not a backup service. 30. To open the guided consolidation tool, what are the user requirements ? The user must be member of administrator, The user should have "Logon as service" privileges - To give a user these privileges ,open local sec policy, select Logon as service policy and add the user the user should have read access to AD to send queries