10) Have you ever patched the ESX host? What are the steps involved in that?

13) Have you ever installed an ESX host? What are the pre and post conversion steps involved in
that? What would be the portions listed? What would be the max size of it?
14) I turned on Maintenance mode in an ESX host, all the VMs has been migrated to another
host, but only one VM failed to migrate? What are the possible reasons?
15) How will you turn start / stop a VM through command prompt?
16) I have upgraded a VM from 4 to 8 GB RAM; its getting failed at 90% of powering on? How
do you troubleshoot?
17) Storage team provided the new LUN ID to you? How will you configure the LUN in VC?
What would be the block size (say for 500 GB volume size)?
18) I want to add a new VLAN to the production network? What are the steps involved in that?
And how do you enable it?
19) Explain about VCB? What it the minimum priority (*) to consolidate a machine?
20) How VDR works?
21) Whats the difference between Top and ESXTOP command?
22) How will you check the network bandwidth utilization in an ESXS host through command
prompt?
23) How will you generate a report for list of ESX, VMs, RAM and CPU used in your Vsphere
environment?
24) What the difference between connecting the ESX host through VC and Vsphere? What are
the services involved in that? What are the port numberss used?
25) How does FT works? Prerequisites? Port used?
26) Can I VMotion between 2 different data centers? Why?
27) Can I deploy a VM by template in different data centers ?
28) I want to increase the system partition size (windows 2003 server- Guest OS) of a VM? How
will you do it without any interruption to the end user?
29) Which port number used while 2 ESX transfer the data in between?
30) Unable to connect to a VC through Vsphere client? What could be the reason? How do you
troubleshoot?

34) Have you ever called VMWare support? Etc
To generate new certificates:
1.Put the host into Maintenance Mode.
2.In the directory /etc/vmware/ssl, back up any existing certificates by renaming them with these
commands:
[root@server root]# mv /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt /etc/vmware/ssl/orig.rui.crt
[root@server root]# mv /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.key /etc/vmware/ssl/orig.rui.key
Note: If you are regenerating certificates because you accidentally deleted them, you do not have
to rename them.
3.Reboot your host to allow it to begin using the new certificate, or restart the host services:
a.Restart hostd, using this command:
service mgmt-vmware restart
b.Restart vmkauthd, using this command:
service vmware-vmkauthd restart
4.Exit Maintenance Mode.
5.Confirm that the ESX host successfully generated new certificates by running this command
and comparing the time stamps of the new certificate files with orig.rui.crt and orig.rui.key:
[root@server root]# ls -la /etc/vmware/ssl/rui*
Notes:
37) Whats the difference between ESX and ESXi?

Q: Where are log files for VMware ESX Server written to?
A: /var/logs/vmware
Q: What do you do if you forget the root password of the Service Console?
A: You will need to boot into single-user mode from the Service Console by selecting linux from
the LILO boot menu and appending -s to your boot choice. This will boot the console into single-
user mode and will allow you to use the passwd command to change the root user password.
Q: Why do I still see processes for my virtual machine when running the ps command on the
Service Console even though my virtual machine is powered down?
A: If there is still a virtual console session running for your VM, you will still see processes
associated with it for mouse, keyboard, and screen (MKS) even though it is powered off.
Q: I accidently unmounted the VMFS volume on my ESX Server. How can I re-mount the
volume without re-booting
A: You can type mount t vmfs vmfs /vmfs
Q: What software is qualified for use with VMware 2.5.1?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_backup_guide.pdf for an up-to-date list of software
thats compatible with ESX.
Q: What SANs are compatible with ESX Server?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_SAN_guide.pdf for details on ESX-to-SAN server
compatibility.
Q: What are the certified backup tools for ESX?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/backup_tools_links.html.
Q: Can I back up my entire virtual machine from the Service Console?
A: Yes, but it is not advised. The console services should be left alone to manage the entire
virtual machine infrastructure. Its best that backups be performed by separating the applications
and data from the operating systems because backups can become quite large very quickly. You
should consider a backup of the environments that change frequently (data and applications) with
an agent specifically designed to perform this function. A backup of those virtual disks that
change infrequently and need VMFS formats should be backed up from the Service Console.
These console-based backups should be performed in a powered-down or suspended approach
(preferred), or a suspended environment using redo logs as an alternative. All backups performed
from a systems console mode must be restored in an all-or-nothing approach. Recovery for a
single file or directory can only be accomplished via a backup agent or from a backup to a SAN
environment using a variety of different recovery/restoral techniques.
Q: Im not able to connect to the Service Console over the network. What could the issue be?
A: You may have allocated the Service Console NIC to the VMkernel. Use vmkpcidivyi to
reassign the NIC to the Service Console.
Q: I have a virtual machine that did not start up correctly, but now I cant power it down from
the MUI or Virtual Center. How can I get this VM to shut down?
A: You can use the vmware-cmd utility to force a hard power down. The following syntax
should work:
vmware-cmd /path-to-vm/vm-directory/vm.vmx stop hard
Q: I find using commands to be very difficult. Why cant I use X Windows on the Service
Console?
A: You actually could run the X Windows system on the Service Console, but it will eat up
valuable resources that are needed by the system to manage all the processes related to
Virtualization. VMware specifically says not to run X Windows on the Service Console. So, its
best to just buck up and deal with it.
Q: Is there a way to mount the vmfs volumes if they accidentally get unmounted without having
to reboot?
A: Yes. You can run mountt vmfs vmfs /vmfs.
Q: How do I check the speed and duplex setting of the Service Console NIC? Also, how do I
change it if needed?
A: Youll need to cat out the eth0.info file for your type of adapter. This file can be found at
/proc/net/type-of-nic/eth0.info. To give you an example, our server has an Intel Pro 100 Nic for
the Service Console, so for us to find the speed and duplex information we would type: cat
/proc/net/PRO_LAN_Adapters/eth0.info.
Q: How long has Xen been around?
A: Since 2004, and theyre located in Palo Alto, California. Hmmwhat other virtualization
company is in Palo Alto?
Q: What is a hypervisor?
A: In VMware parlance, its the virtualization layer.
Q: Why did VMware limit its beta of ESX Server 3.0 to so few?
A: Good questionWe dont know, and we hope that VMwares future beta programs are
opened up to a larger audience.
Q: If I cant get a SAN, will local storage with a RAID device be sufficient?
A: Absolutely. You wont get some of the cooler tools like VMotion, but being virtual on local
storage is better than remaining physical.

VMware Topics Index : CLICK HERE
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/
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
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 Machine Port 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 a VLAN ?
A VLAN is a logical configuration on the switch port to segment the IP Traffic. For this to
happen, the port must be trunked with the correct VLAN ID.
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 VLAN tagging 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
For more Interview Questions on VMware Click the below link.


NOTE : I don't know answers to some of the questions in the doc, so if anyone of you aware of
the answer for any particular question, please send me an email with the question and answer. I
will update it in the doc. Email: charan@isupportyou.net

1. Explain the physical topology of Virtual Infrastructure 3 Data Centre?
a typical VMware Infrastructure data center consists of basic physical building blocks such as
x86 computing servers, storage networks and arrays, IP networks, a management server and
desktop clients.

2. How do you configure Clusters, Hosts, and Resource Pools in VI3?
A cluster is a group of servers working together closely as a single server, to provide high
availability, load balancing and high performance. A host is a single x86 computing server with
individual computing and memory resources. Resource pools are allocation of the available
resources in to pieces for the proper distribution.

3. What are resource pools & whats the advantage of implementing them?
A VMware ESX Resource pool is a pool of CPU and memory resources. Inside the pool,
resources are allocated based on the CPU and memory shares that are defined. This pool can
have associated access control and permissions. Clear management of resources to the virtual
machines.

4. Explain why VMware ESX Server is preferred over Virtual Server or Workstation for
enterprise implementation?
For better resource management as it has a virtualization layer involved in its kernel, which
communicates with the hardware directly.

5. In what different scenarios or methods can you manage a VI3 ?
Using the Virtual Infrastructure Client we can manage one esx server, using virtual center we can
manage more than 1 esx server.. and also we can use service console to manage it.
http://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid179_gci1280576_mem1,00.html

6. Explain the difference between access through Virtual Infrastructure Client (vi client), Web
access, Service Console access(ssh) ?
Using VI Client we can access the ESX server as well as Virtual Center Server also, here we can
use unix type of authentication or windows type authentication. But to access the service
console, we should use unix type of authentication preferably even though we can access the
service console through ad authentication using esxcfg-auth, but it does not support all functions
to work on, all the functions are available only with root account which is based on red hat Linux
kernel. Using the web access also we can manage virtual center as well as a single host. But all
the enterprise features are not supported.
Console access to the Service Console
The disadvantages to this mode are
you must be at the console (or connect using an IP KVM)
and
you must know Linux to accomplish your task (no GUI).
SSH to the Service Console
You can SSH to the console prompt of an ESX server and
receive the same Linux text console access as I showed
above. Telnet is not allowed. To use this method, the ESX
server must be working on the network and you must have
an SSH client on your PC to connect. Again, in this mode,
you don't get a GUI interface.
VMware Virtual Infrastructure (VI) Web Access to the ESX
Server
This is the VMware VI Web Access interface. The benefit to
using this is that you get a GUI client for your ESX server
without having to install a client on your local machine. The
downside to the web interface is that you can only perform
basic ESX functions like controlling existing machines
(start/stop/pause) and console remote access. You cannot
add new VMs, work with VM storage, or VM networks.
Still, this is a great interface if you just need to check the
status of your ESX VMs, restart a VM, or use console
remote control.
VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client (VI Client) to the
Server
The benefits to the VI client are that you have full access to
do whatever is needed on the ESX Server and you get a GUI
client to do it in. The only downside is that you must install
the VI client application to do this. However, the installation
is negligible and the VI client is the absolute best way to
administer your ESX Server.
VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client (VI Client) to the
Virtual Center Server (VC Server)
From this VI VC interface, you can manage all ESX servers, VM storage, VM networks, and
more. Virtual Center, of course, is an optional product that requires additional licenses and
hardware.
7. Explain advantages or features of VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) ?
Its a clustered file system, excellent support for sharing between ESX servers in a cluster.
Features
Allows access by multiple ESX Servers at the same time by implementing per-file locking. SCSI
Reservations are only implemented when LUN meta data is updated (e.g. file name change, file
size change, etc.)
Add or delete an ESX Server from a VMware VMFS volume without disrupting other ESX
Server hosts.
LVM allows for adaptive block sizing and addressing for growing files allows you to increase a
VMFS volume on the fly (by spanning multiple VMFS volumes)
With ESX/ESXi4 VMFS volumes also can be expanded using LUN expansion
Optimize your virtual machine I/O with adjustable volume, disk, file and block sizes.
Recover virtual machines faster and more reliably in the event of server failure with Distributed
journaling.
Limitations
Can be shared with up to 32 ESX Servers.
Can support LUNs with max size of 2TB and a max VMFS size of 64 TB as of version 4
(vSphere).
"There is a VMFS-3 limitation where each tree of linked clones can only be run on 8 ESX
servers. For instance, if there is a tree of disks off the same base disk with 40 leaf nodes in the
tree, all 40 leaf nodes can be simultaneously run but they can only run on up to 8 ESX hosts."
VMFS-3 limits files to 262,144 (218) blocks, which translates to 256 GB for 1 MB block sizes
(the default) up to 2 TB for 8 MB block sizes.
8. What are the types of data stores supported in ESX3.5 ?
iSCSI datastores, FC SAN datastores, Local VMFS, NAS and NFS

9. How can you configure these different types of datastores on ESX3.5 ?
If we have FC cards installed on the esx servers, by going to the storage option, we can scan for
the luns.

10.What is Vmware Consolidate Backup (VCB) ? Explain your work exposure in this area ?
VMware Consolidated Backup is a backup framework, which enables 3rd party tools to take
backups. VCB is used to help you backup your VMware ESX virtual servers. Essentially, VCB
is a "backup proxy server". It is not backup software. If you use VCB, you still need backup
software. It is commonly installed on its own dedicated Windows physical server.
Here are the benefits of VMware's VCB:
Centralize backups of VMware ESX Virtual Servers
Provide file-level backups of VMware ESX Virtual Servers - both full and incremental
(file level backup available to only Windows guests)
Provide image-level backups
Prevent you from having to load a backup agent on every Virtual Machine
Prevent you from having to shutdown Virtual Machines to get a backup
Provides LAN-Free backup because the VCB server is connected to the SAN through
your fibre channel adaptor
Provides centralized storage of Virtual Server backups on the VCB server, that is then
moved to your backup tapes through the 3rd party backup agent you install
Reduces the load on the VMware ESX servers by not having to load a 3rd party backup
agent on either the VMware ESX service console or on each virtual machine.
Utilizes VMware Snapshots
Basically, here is how VCB works:
If you are doing a file level backup, VCB does a snapshot of the VM, mounts the
snapshot, and allows you to backup that mounted "drive" through VCB to your 3rd party
backup software
If you are doing an image level backup of the VM, VCB does a snapshot of the VM,
copies the snapshot to the VCB server, unsnaps the VM, and allows you to backup the
copied snapshot image with your 3rd party backup software.
11. How do you configure VMware Virtual Centre Management Server for HA & DRS ? What
are the conditions to be satisfied for this setup?
HA & DRS are the properties of a Cluster. A Cluster can be created only when more than one
host added, in that case we need to configure HA & DRS as well to provide High Availability
and Load balancing between hosts and for the virtual machines.

12.Explain your work related to below terms :
VM Provisioning: Virtual Machine Creation.
Alarms & Event Management: Alarms are used to know the status of the resource usage for a
VM. Events are used monitor the tasks that are taken place on the esx servers or in the virtual
center
Task Scheduler: Task scheduler, if you want to schedule a task it will be used, for example if you
want move one vm from one host to another host or if you want shutdown/reboot a vm etc.
Hardware Compatibility List: what are the hardware that compatible with ESX OS.

13.What SAN or NAS boxes have you configured VMware with ? How did you do that ?
Storage team will provide the LUN information, with that we will add those LUNs to ESX hosts
from VM storage.

14.What kind of applications or setups you have on you Virtual Machines ?
Exchange server and Share Point, but these are for DEMO purposes, Cirtrix presentation servers
etc.

15. Have you ever faced ESX server crashing and Virtual Centre Server crash? How do you
know the cause of these crashes in these cases ?
Please send me the answer if anyone knows about this, I will update the doc.
charan@isupportyou.net
16. Will HA work if Virtual Center Server is down ?
A1) HA continues to work if VC is down - the agents are initially configured by virtual center,
but HA operations are controlled by local agents on ESX. VC does NOT monitor the ESX
servers for HA. ESX servers monitor each other.

DRS do not work while VC is down.
A2) For DRS, the config and logic is completely in VC.
For HA, only the config is in VC. The logic is in the service consoles, and that's where the
reaction is coming from. VC will notice the HA reaction afterwards when it connects to the
service consoles the next time.
No, Why because all these futures are comes with Virtual Center only.
17. What are the situations which triggers vMotion automatically?
Resource Contention between virtual machines (DRS)
Distributed power management
Please send me the answer if anyone knows about this; I will update the doc.
charan@isupportyou.net
18. What is DRS/HA/DPM/dvSwitch/FT/vApps/vSafe/vShields ? :-)
DRS : Distributed Resource Scheduling
HA : High Availability
DPM : Distributed Power Management
dvSwitch : Distribute vSwitch Its a new feature introduced in vSphere4.0
FT : Fault Tolerance for Virtual Machines its a new feature introduced in vSphere4.0
vApps : vApp is a container same as resource pool, but it is having some features of virtual
machines, a vApp can be powered on or powered off, and it can be cloned too.
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1308457#1308457
vmSafe : VMsafe's application programming interfaces are designed to help third-party vendors
create virtualization security products that better secure VMware ESX, vShield Zones is a
security tool targets the VMware administrator.
vShield : VShield Zones is essentially a virtual firewall designed to protect VMs and analyze
virtual network traffic. This three-part series describes vShield Zones, explains how to install it
and provides useful management tips. To begin, let's get started with the basics: what vShield
Zones is and how it works.
http://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid179_gci1363051_mem1,00.html
19. What are the requirement for FT ?
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/209955

20. What are the differences between ESX and ESXi ?
ESX is an OS with full features of virtualization, ESXi is a limited features OS with 32MB
image.

21. Which are the new features introduced in vSphere 4 ? *****
1. 64-bit hypervisor - Although not everyone realized it, the hypervisor in ESX Server 3.5 was
32-bit. As a result, ESX Server 3.5 couldn't take full advantage of today's more powerful 64-bit
hardware platforms. ESX Server 4.0 uses a native 64-bit hypervisor that provides significant
performance and scalability enhancements over the previous versions. However, the new
hypervisor does require a 64-bit hardware platform.
2. Increased VM scalability - ESX Server 4.0's new 64-bit architecture provides significant
increases in scalability. ESX Server 4.0 supports virtual machines (VMs) with up to 255GB of
RAM per VM. In addition, the vSphere 4.0 Enterprise Plus edition provides support for up to 8-
way virtual SMP per VM. The other editions support up to 4-way virtual SMP. These gains are
available on both Windows and Linux guests.
3. Hot add CPU, RAM, and virtual disks - This important enhancement in vSphere 4.0 is
designed to create a dynamic IT infrastructure through the ability to add CPU, RAM, and virtual
disks to a running VM. The hot add capability lets you dynamically increase your VMs'
performance during periods of high resource demands.
4. Thin provisioning - This feature is nothing new to Microsoft virtualization users; vSphere now
offers a thin-provisioning feature that's essentially the equivalent of Hyper-V's dynamic disks.
Thin provisioning lets you create and provision a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD), but the host uses
only the amount of storage that's actually required by the VM rather than using the VHD's
allocated size.
5. VMware Fault Tolerance - Fault Tolerance is a new high-availability feature in vSphere 4.0.
Fault Tolerance works only between two systems. It uses a technology called vLockstep to
provide protection from system failure with absolutely no downtime. VMware's vLockstep
technology keeps the RAM and the virtual processors of two VMs in sync at the instruction
level.
6. vNetwork Distributed SwitchvSphere 4.0's vNetwork Distributed Switch lets you create and
share network configurations between multiple servers. The vNetwork Distributed Switch spans
multiple ESX Server hosts, letting you configure and manage virtual networks at the cluster
level. It also lets you move network configuration and state with a VM when the VM is live
migrated between ESX Server hosts.
7. IPv6 support - Another enhancement in vSphere 4.0 is support for IPv6. Many organizations
are planning to move to IPv6. vSphere's IPv6 support lets customers manage vCenter Server and
ESX Server hosts in mixed IPv4/IPv6 network environments.
8. vAppsvApps essentially lets you manage as a single entity multiple servers that comprise an
n-tiered application. Using vApps, you can combine multiple VMs, their interdependencies, and
their resource allocations together as a unit. You can manage all the components of the vApps as
a single unit, letting you power off, clone, and deploy all the vApps components in the same
operations.
9. vSphere Host Update UtilityThe new vSphere Host Update Utility lets you centrally update
your ESXi and ESX Server 3.0 and later hosts to ESX Server 4.0. The UI displays the status of
the remote updates in real time.
10. VMware vShield ZonesVMware's new vShield Zones let customers enforce network
access protection between VMs running in the virtual data center. The vShield Zones feature lets
you isolate, bridge, and firewall traffic across vCenter deployments.

22. Which are the traffic shaping options available to configure?

23. What is promiscuous mode ?
If the promiscuous mode is enabled for a switch, the traffic sent that switch will be visible to all
vms connected to that switch. I mean, the data will be broadcasted.

24. What makes iSCSI and FC diffrent ?
Addressing Scheme, iSCSI relies on IP and FC not, and the type of transfer of data also. In FC
the data transferred as blocks, in iSCSI the data transferred as files. The cabling also, FC uses
Fibre cable and iSCSI uses RJ45.

25. What is the format for iSCSI addressing ?
IP Address

26. VM's Task Manager shows performance normal, But vCenter reports high resource
utilization, what is the reason ?
Search KEY WORDS : VM's performance normal, vCenter reports high resource utilization
http://communities.vmware.com/message/897975
27. What are the different types of memory management tricks available under ESX ?
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/esx-memory-management/
http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~fabianb/classes/cs-443-s05/ESX.pps

28. What is vmmemctl ?
http://pubs.vmware.com/vi3/resmgmt/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=res
mgmt&file=vc_advanced_mgmt.11.24.html

29. How we can list pNICs & status using command line ?
ifconfig a

30. What is resource pool ? What are the use of it ?
A resource pool is a logical abstraction for flexible management of resources. Resource pools
can be grouped into hierarchies and used to hierarchically partition available CPU and memory
resources.
31. Ask about how HA works.
VMware HA provides high availability for virtual machines by pooling them and the hosts they
reside on into a cluster. Hosts in the cluster are monitored and in the event of a failure, the virtual
machines on a failed host are restarted on alternate hosts.
32. Is HA dependent on virtual center
(Only for Install)
33. What is the Maximum Host Failure allowed in a cluster
(4)
34. How does HA know to restart a VM from a dropped Host
(storage lock will be removed from the metadata)
35.How many iSCSI targets will ESX support
8 for 3.01, (64 for 3.5)
36 How Many Fiber Channel targets
(256) (128 on Install)
37 What is Vmotion
(ability to move running vm from one host to another)
38 What is virtual SMP
when and why should you give a vm multiple vCPUs - part of their answer whould be that best
pracrtice is to start with a single vCPU because of you can run into perfomance issues do to CPU
scheduling

39 Ask what version of Linux kernel does ESX run
if they are truly experienced they should say ESX is not Linux and does not use a Linux kernel -
and give them an extra poijnt if they explain that the service console runs a modified version of
Red Hat Ent 3 -

40 does HA use vmotion?
the answer is no - vm stops and restarts on ESX other host
41. what is the different when you use viclient connect to VC and directly to ESX server itself.
When you connect to VC you manage ESX server via vpxa (Agent on esx server). Vpxa then
pass those request to hostd (management service on esx server). When you connect to ESX
server directly, you connect to hostd (bypass vpxa). You can extend this to a trobleshoot case,
where connect to esx see one thing and connect to VC see another. So the problem is most likely
out of sync between hostd and vpxa, "service vmware-vpxa restart" should take care of it.
42. What was the most difficult VMWare related problem/issue you faced in a production
environment and what were the specific steps you took to resolve it?
HA issues because of dns problems, the hosts are unable to communicate together. Corrected
by adding all servers ips in each servers /etc/hosts file
VM was not powered up because the swap file was locked by another host, when I try to power
on the vm its not powering up. After releasing the lock its powered on.
43. When was the last time you called VM Support and what was the issue?
Licensing related issues.
44. What was the most performance intensive production app that you supported in VMware and
what were the some of the challenges that it posed?
In exchange sharepoint demo project, getting lot of VLAN issues. (its my experience, you can
say yours)
45. How would you determine that a perf intensive app is a good candidate? Spefically what
tools would you use to identify candidates. Specifically inside those tools what metrics would
you use?
Please send me the answer if anyone knows about this; I will update the doc.
charan@isupportyou.net
46. What is yor philosophy on how much of the data center can be virtualized? (If the
interviewer wants max virtualization, but the interviewee is not convinced that this is a good
idea, this could be a deal breaker)
Please send me the answer if anyone knows about this; I will update the doc.
charan@isupportyou.net
47. What is your opinion on the virtualization vendors (MS vs VM vs Citrix vs etc) and why?
(Just trying to figure out if the candidate is keeping up with this ever changing virtualization
market)
Please send me the answer if anyone knows about this; I will update the doc.
charan@isupportyou.net
48. I beleive another good question would be to ask the candidate to briefly describe VST, VGT
& EST mode and 802.1Q trunking. I say this because networking is such an important part of
VMware implementations and on going support.., do you really want a VMware engineer
working in your environment if they lack the knowledge of these concepts (+unless of course
they are only delegated with low level permissions for generic VM operations+)
Please send me the answer if anyone knows about this; I will update the doc.
charan@isupportyou.net
More information on these mode's can be found here: www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_vlan_wp.pdf
Also ask the candidate to explain why one mode would be used as opposed to another?,
remember that there can be numerous reasons for the use of different modes depending on your
company/client's network, security policies etc..

49. If you are interviewing for a consultant role it would also be a good scenario to provide a
brief overview of a fictional network and ask the candidate to do a whiteboard draft of how the
network would be layed out if say the ESX servers have 6 NIC's or 8 NIC's etc.. etc...
Please send me the answer if anyone knows about this; I will update the doc.
charan@isupportyou.net
50. What are notable files that represent a VM?
.vmx configuration settings for VM
.vmxf configuration settings used to support an XML-based VM configuration API
.vmtx configuration settings for a Template VM (replaces the .vmx file)
.vmdk virtual disk file. (Note: if a thick disk is used, a flat.vmdk file that represents the actual
monolithic disk file will exist but will be hidden from the vSphere Client.)
.nvram non-volatile memory (BIOS)
.vswp swap file used by ESX/ESXi per VM to overcommit memory, i.e. use more memory
than physically available. This is created by the host automatically when powering on a VM and
deleted (default behavior) when powering off a VM. Swap files can remain and take up space if a
host failed prior to shutting down a VM properly. Normally the swap file is stored in the location
where the VM configuration files are kept; however the location can be optionally located
elsewherefor example, locally for performance reasons and if using NAS/NFS, local swap
should be used.
.vmss suspend file (if placed into suspend power mode)
.vmsd for snapshot management
.vmsn snapshot file
51. Host Profiles
What licensing is required for Host Profiles? Available with vSphere Enterprise Plus edition.
52 Can Host Profiles work with ESX/ESXi 3.x hosts?
No. Only starting with ESX/ESXi 4.0.
53 Can Host Profiles be used with a cluster running both ESX and ESXi hosts?
Yes, but remember to use an ESX host and not an ESXi host to create a profile for use.
In theory, Host Profiles should work with mixed host clusters, as it translates ESX to
ESXi, but be careful as there are enough differences between ESX and ESXi that can lead
you to make self-inflicted errors when applying Host Profiles. The easiest method is to
create clusters that are homogeneous and maintain two different profiles for these two
types of clusters.
54 Can Host Profiles work when using the Cisco Nexus 1000v?
No, because Host Profiles was designed with the generic vNetwork Distributed Switch.
The Cisco Nexus 1000v switch gives administrators finer-grained control of the
networking beyond what Host Profiles can apply.
55. What are host profiles?
A set of best practiced configuration rules, which are can be applied to entire cluster or to an
individual host. So that all the hosts in sync with each other, this will avoid vmotion, drs and ha
problems.
56. Could not power on VM: no swap file
My ESXi 3.5 machine runs 8-10 VMs (Win2k3 and WinXP) normally. At the moment, 5 of
them are complaining that they cannot Power On. They seem to start and then complain "Could
not power on VM: no swap file". I had a look with the data browser. It's a small installation, so
the vswp files ought to be in the same directory as the vmx file (I did not inttionally put them
anywhere else). Of course I don't see a vswp file there because the machine is not running. I
don't know enough about the vmx file structure to identify if anything is wrong in the
specifications. I have downloaded one of the vmx files and attached it here. Please either tell me
what to change in that vmx file, or suggest another approach to get the machines to start.
57. What are the available Storage options
for virtual machines ? Raw device mappings,
VMFS
http://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid179_gci1318776_mem1,00.html
58 .What are the differences between Virtual and Physical compatibility modes when mapping
the Raw Devices to virtual machines?
You can configure RDM in two ways:
Virtual compatibility modethis mode fully virtualizes the mapped device, which appears to the
guest operating system as a virtual disk file on a VMFS volume. Virtual mode provides such
benefits of VMFS as advanced file locking for data protection and use of snapshots.
Physical compatibility modethis mode provides access to most hardware characteristics of the
mapped device. VMkernel passes all SCSI commands to the device, with one exception, thereby
exposing all the physical characteristics of the underlying hardware. In this mode, the mapping is
done as follows, when we create a mapping, the configuration stored in a file and that file is
stored with the vm files in datastore. This file points to the raw device and makes it accessible to
the vm.
59 .What are RDM Limitations?
RDM limitations
There are two types of RDMs: virtual compatibility mode RDMs and physical compatibility
mode RDMs. Physical mode RDMs, in particular, have some fairly significant limitations:
No VMware snapshots
No VCB support, because VCB requires VMware snapshots
No cloning VMs that use physical mode RDMs
No converting VMs that use physical mode RDMs into templates
No migrating VMs with physical mode RDMs if the migration involves copying the disk
No VMotion with physical mode RDMs
Virtual mode RDMs address some of these issues, allowing raw LUNs to be treated very much
like virtual disks and enabling functionality like VMotion, snapshotting, and cloning. Virtual
mode RDMs are acceptable in most cases where RDMs are required. For example, virtual mode
RDMs can be used in virtual-to-virtual cluster across physical hosts. Note that physical-to-virtual
clusters across boxes, though, require physical mode RDMs.
While virtual disks will work for the large majority of applications and workloads in a VI
environment, the use of RDMs--either virtual mode RDMs or physical mode RDMs--can help
eliminate potential compatibility issues or allow applications to run virtualized without any loss
of functionality.
I previously posted some questions related to VMware already. And the post has very good
response. You can read it here - http://www2.isupportyou.net/2010/06/vmware-interview-
questions-tips.html
Other links on my blog.
How to access ESX Server in Different ways? What are the major differences in these?
Virtual Center : Centralized Administration of Virtual Infrastructure
VMWare Interview Questions & Tips Part -I
How to fix HA errors in VMware ESX Server?
How to install Virtual Center 2.5/ vCenter 4.0 in a simple steps?
Unable to power on the Virtual Machine, How to fix it?
What is vMotion? How it Happens?
What is VMware Consolidated Backup and How it is used ?
Virtualization : Basics
VMware Virtual Networking
VMware ESX Server : Virtualization Expert
Virtual Machine : Provisioning
How to access ESX Server in Different ways? What are the major differences in these?
Virtual Center : Centralized Administration of Virtual Infrastructure
VMware Workstation : A Virtual Friend
How to Setup VMware Infrastructure using VMware Workstation?
VMware Storage : A Place to store VMs
VMFS : Virtual Machine File System
VMware Storage : How to configure Datastore's using FC SAN?
Question : ESX installation inside VMware workstation problems.
Openfiler : Opensource iSCSI SAN Server
VMware Storage Configuration Using iSCSI SAN
VMware Storage : RDM: Raw Device Mappings
vSphere : Completeness of Virtualization
vSphere : PowerCLI Getting Started
VMware Storage : NFS Datastore's
How to fix HA errors in VMware ESX Server?
POSTED BY:CHARAN BAISETTY | AT:12:11 AM Be the first to
comment!
1. Make sure all the hosts in the cluster are able to resolve each other by host name.
2. If they were not able to do so, check the DNS settings.
3. Best solution is to add all the hosts names and ip addresses into
/etc/hosts file on all ESX servers in the cluster. Put the ESX server in
maintenance mode before doing any changes.
4. Exit from the maintenance mode and try to reconfigure the HA on all
the ESX hosts one by one, that's it your problem will be fixed.

NOTE : DO NOT FORGET TO PUT THE ESX SERVER IN MAINTANANCE MODE
BEFORE CHANGING ANYTHING ON IT.


What is Virtual Center ?
Virtual Center is a management interface for ESX Virtual Infrastructure. Using Virtual Center
you can manage all the ESX servers from a single point, in a simple words its a centralized
administration point for VMWare ESX environment.
How do you connect to the Virtual Center?
Using the Virtual Infrastructure Client.
What are the requirements for Virtual Center?
1. Windows 2003/2008 Operating System
2. SQL 2005/2008 Database installed
3. IP Address
4. Proper Licensing to enable all the futures of Virtual Center.
How do you Install it ?
1. Make sure Windows 2003 OS is installed correctly.
2. Install SQL 2005/2008 on the same machine.
3. Create a database named vmware by using Database creation wizard from SQL
Management Studio
4. Create a Login name vmware from SQL MS, and give access to the vmware database that
you just created.
5. Create an ODBC connection in System DSN
6. Start the VC installation, at the point of Database selection, use the existing system DSN to
enable VC to store its details in vmware database.
7. At this stage, the installer checks the access to the vmware database using the ODBC (system
DSN) connection. If it is authenticated successfully, the installation completed without any
problems. Other wise check the ODBC Settings, VMWare User Access, VMWare Database
Options and make sure everything was correct.

If you need more details mail me at isupportyouin@gmail.com, i will send you the doc.
Thats it, Thanks for your support. Keep visiting my blog.

Unable to power on the Virtual Machine, How to fix it?
POSTED BY:CHARAN BAISETTY | AT:11:05 AM 4 Comments so far
If the virtual machine is running in a cluster of esx hosts, some times it wont power on. Why
because, the files that are associated with that VM are locked by the host at the time of running.
So when you try to vmotion the vm from one host to another host, the first host releases those
files and again locked by the second host.
So what is meant by locking here, and why it is happening?
Locking is nothing but, the registration of a vm with a host. this happens everytime when the vm
is hosted on a host. this is helpful to prevent the access to the same vm for remaining hosts in the
cluster.
Why the vm fails when trying to power it on?
When the files associated with that VM are locked by a host it wont powered on. At that time,
you must unregister the vm from the host using vmware-cmd utility.

Thats it, Thanks for visiting my blog.

In this article i would like to discuss about vMotion. This is an extra-ordinary future of the
VMware Product. Which made VMware the industry leader.
So What is vMotion?
Moving a virtual machine from an ESX host to another while it is running. You will get a very
minimum downtime for the virtual machine with this if everything configured properly. If you
want to do some maintenance tasks on one ESX server in the cluster, you can vMotion all the
virtual machines running on it to other ESX server which has the enough resources available.
Instead of giving lot of explanation for this topic, lets see this video from VMware, i bet you will
definitely become a fan of VMware with this video. :)
This video recorded by me to show VMotion and Storage VMotion
ISUPPORTYOU YouTube Channel
I hope this article informative for you, please subscribe to get the articles like to your inbox
directly.

VMware - Interview Questions & Tips 2
VMware - Fix HA errors
VMware - How to install Virtual Center
VMware - Unable to power on VM
VMware - VMotion
VMware - Consolidated Backup
Common - Understanding DNS
VMware - Virtualization Basics
VMware - Virtual Networking
VMware - ESX Server - Virtualization Expert
VMware - Virtual Machine - Provisioning
VMware - How to access ESX Server
VMware - Virtual Center - Centralization of Virtualization
VMware - Workstation - Virtual Friend
VMware - A way to setup VMware Infrastructure
VMware - Storage
VMware - VMFS - Virtual Machine File System
VMware - Storage - How to Configure Guide
VMware - ESX Installation Inside Workstation
VMware - Openfiler - Open Source ISCSI SAN Solutions
VMware - Storage - Configuration using iSCSI
VMware - Storage - RDM
VMware - vSphere
VMware - PowerCLI - Getting Started
VMware - PowerCLI - Part I
VMware - Storage - Configuration using NFS
VMware - Cloud Computing - An Example
VMware - PowerCLI - Part II
VMware - Snapshots - Part 1
Common - Job Interview Questions
VMware - High Availability
VMware - ISU Lab1 - Building VMware Infrastructure
VMware - Snapshots - Part2
VMware - Workstation - Networking in detail
VMware - Host Profiles
VMware - Useful Videos
VMware - Useful Documents

VMware Recent Interview Questions Part 2
Posted in Interview Questions, Misc, VMware By onecloudsol On August 14, 2014
One of the students attends the interview recently and came with these questions, its pleasure to
provide the answers to these questions and it helps to many people.
How many ESXi hosts u have in ur organization? Or size of your infrastructure?
It depends on your experience or organization, for example I can say we have 60 ESXi hosts and
10 clusters. It consists of almost 7000 machines.
What is virtualization? Why you choose VMware?
Virtualization is providing to run multiple operating systems on a single hardware.
Virtualization is the single most effective way to reduce IT expenses while boosting efficiency
and agilitynot just for large enterprises, but for small and midsize businesses too.
VMware is the leader in Server virtualization and it has very good features when we are
comparing to other vendors who will provide server virtualization.
What type of licensing and editions having in VSphere 5.x?
VMware vSphere licensing is depending on physical CPU sockets and it has different types of
editions
Essentials: It will come with 3 ESXi host with upto 2 processors each and 1 Virtual Center and
will have only basic hypervisor
Essentials Plus: It will come with 3 ESXi host with upto 2 processors each and 1 Virtual Center
and will comes with vSphere hypervisor, vMotion, HA, Data Protection and vSphield Endpoint,
Replication.
Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus refer to
http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/compare
What are the Differences between vSphere 4.x and vSphere 5.x?
You can find the answer for this one in previous posts.
Administrator needs to access ESXi host through putty by remotely, but he is not able to
access what you will do in this situation?
First, ping the ESXi host IP/hostname. If ping works fine check 22 port is open or not.
Second, Enable the SSH service from configuration tab, security profile and start the SSH
service
What are the vCenter 5.1 pre-requisites?
It requires 64 bit windows OS and with 2 cpus and should be in a domain with static IP.
Memory should be 4GB RAM at least, Disk Storage minimum 4GB. Compatible Database
Servers (SQL, IBM DB2, Oracle)
Whats the agent when you are accessing ESXi host and from vSphere Client and also
through vcenter Server and how you are going to restart from command line?
hostd is the agent for ESXi host when you are connecting from vSphere client.
vpxa is the agent when you are connecting from vCenter.
/etc/init.d/hostd restart
/etc/init.d/vpxa restart
How you configure in time in ESXi host?
GUI and configuration NTP server
Can you explain Difference between physical and virtual switch?
Virtual switch works like physical switch only but its not configurable.
What are the differences between vmfs3&vmfs5?
You can find the answer for this one in previous posts.
How to add LUNS to ESXi?
Go to the storage options from configuration tab on ESXi host and then add storage choose the
lun.
What are Virtual machine files?
You can find the answer for this one in previous posts.
Can you explain which virtual machine versions you are using?
We are using virtual machine version 8 and 9 as we have ESXi 5.0 and ESXi 5.1
How can you go to BIOS setting for VM?
We have to select Boot Options Force BIOS Setup from Virtual machine settings. When you
restart the machine it will take into the BIOS settings.
Explain about HA process?
Selection of Master-slave servers
What is the Agent used in HA?
FDM-Fault Domain Manager
What is the DRS and Automation levels?
DRS is a cluster level feature for load balancing purpose, if virtual machine is looking for
resources(out of resources on ESXi) then It will migrate from one ESXi host to another ESXi
host.
Automation levels are Manual, Partially automated, Fully automated.
HA works without vCenter?
Yes, because of HA will works by using master and slave relationship in cluster. ESXi hosts is
sending/receiving heartbeats by using fdm agent.
Can DRS works without vCenter?
Ans is No because DRS is managed by vCenter
What are the ESXi log files?
ESXi 5.1 Host Log Files, we can say at least couple of them
Logs for an ESXi 5.1 host are grouped according to the source component:
/var/log/auth.log: ESXi Shell authentication success and failure.
/var/log/dhclient.log: DHCP client service, including discovery, address lease requests
and renewals.
/var/log/esxupdate.log: ESXi patch and update installation logs.
/var/log/lacp.log: Link Aggregation Control Protocol logs.
/var/log/hostd.log: Host management service logs, including virtual machine and host
Task and Events, communication with the vSphere Client and vCenter Server vpxa agent,
and SDK connections.
/var/log/hostd-probe.log: Host management service responsiveness checker.
/var/log/rhttpproxy.log: HTTP connections proxied on behalf of other ESXi host
webservices.
/var/log/shell.log: ESXi Shell usage logs, including enable/disable and every command
entered.
/var/log/sysboot.log: Early VMkernel startup and module loading.
/var/log/boot.gz: A compressed file that contains boot log information and can be read
using zcat /var/log/boot.gz|more.
/var/log/syslog.log: Management service initialization, watchdogs, scheduled tasks and
DCUI use.
/var/log/usb.log: USB device arbitration events, such as discovery and pass-through to
virtual machines.
/var/log/vobd.log: VMkernel Observation events, similar to vob.component.event.
/var/log/vmkernel.log: Core VMkernel logs, including device discovery, storage and
networking device and driver events, and virtual machine startup.
/var/log/vmkwarning.log: A summary of Warning and Alert log messages excerpted from
the VMkernel logs.
/var/log/vmksummary.log: A summary of ESXi host startup and shutdown, and an hourly
heartbeat with uptime, number of virtual machines running, and service resource
consumption
/var/log/Xorg.log: Video acceleration.
What is the critical issue you resolved?
It depends on how much you have expertise on particular module. Explain one scenario which
discussed in the classes.