About this Course

This hands-on training course builds your skills with VMware® vCenter Configuration Manager™ (VCM). It will provide you with the knowledge and skills to install and configure VCM, navigate the user interface, manage compliance, and perform administrative and configuration tasks against your virtual infrastructure. This course is also a strongly recommended prerequisite for the VM-CMOS course.

Audience Profile

The primary audiences for this course are as follows:

• Virtual infrastructure administrator
• IT managers

At Course Completion

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

• Understand the position of VCM in the VMware management solution set
• Recognize the role of VCM in enterprise configuration and change and compliance management
• Use the VCM console to configure VCM for management of VMware vSphere® systems
• Navigate the VCM console Collect data from vSphere systems from the VCM console
• Manage vSphere system compliance with VCM
• Generate reports in VCM C
• reate custom reports in the VCM console
• Perform VCM administration tasks to manage VCM setup and collection of data, user access, VCM jobs, and alerts
• Discuss the installation options for VCM and perform a basic VCM installation

Prerequisites

• Experience in performing basic administration tasks on VMware vSphere® ESXi™ hosts, VMware® vCenter Server™, VMware vCloud® Director™, VMware® vShield™, and virtual machines
• System administration experience in a Windows, Linux, or Solaris environment

Course Outline

Lesson 1: Course Introduction

• Introductions and course logistics
• Course objectives
• VCM overview

Lesson 2: Configuration, Compliance, and Change Management

• Provide a high-level overview of VCM and its position in the VMware management solution set
• Discuss some of the common challenges customers face in IT configuration, compliance, and change management
• Describe the key features of VCM and how they benefit IT departments managing configuration, compliance, and change

Lesson 3: Components and Processes

• Understand the system architecture
• Describe and discuss the CARMA concept
• Database
• Collector
• Processes

Lesson 4: Configuration for Virtual Infrastructure Systems

• Identify and use VCM user interface components
• Describe and configure management agents
• Add and configure settings for vCenter Server, vCloud Director, and vShield systems
• License vSphere systems
• Collect data from vSphere systems
• Manage certificates
• Set up an alternative Managing Agent machine

Lesson 5: Using the Upper Console

• View dashboards
• View and manage alerts
• Change management in the virtual infrastructure
• Use the Virtual Infrastructure node

Lesson 6: VMware vSphere System Compliance Management

• Describe compliance analysis
• Create a rule group
• Create a rule group filter
• Create a rule group compliance condition
• Create and run a compliance template

Lesson 7: Working with Reports

• List vSphere system–related reports available in VCM
• Generate custom reports with the Report wizard
• Manage reports

Lesson 8: Basic Settings and Configuration

• Work with general settings
• Configure settings for integration with VMware® vCenter™
• Operations Manager™ and the VMware vSphere® Client™ VCM plug-in
• Configure virtualization settings

Lesson 9: Creating Collection Filters

• Describe collection filters
• Create collection filters
• Create collection filter sets and collection filter set groups

Lesson 10: User and Role Management

• Discuss how VCM access is controlled by access rules and roles
• Create access rules and use them in a role
• Manage access rules and roles
• Add and manage VCM logins

Lesson 11: Job Management

• Describe the function of the Job Manager
• View a running job
• Add a job
• Schedule a job
• Edit a job

Lesson 12: Alert Management

• Add an alert rule
• Discuss and input alert configuration