Dec 05
VMware Training – Part 2
The next major training module was on business continuity and data protection. This module taught us how to properly configure High Availability clusters, snapshots and VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB). The VMware Consolidated Backup module was all command line based; usually the backup software vendor has already configured the scripts. The instructor actually suggested using a third-party Virtual Machine backup tool, not VCB.
The last three modules went by very quickly. We learned about the VMware Update manager and how to set it up. I would suggest not using it to update your Microsoft OS-based virtual machines, stick to Windows Server Update Services or System Center Configuration Manager. There are some nice features of VMware Update manager, like creating a snapshot before updates, but I think it is best to use your existing update management infrastructure across all physical and virtual machines.
It was a great course and I learned a lot about advanced configuration and troubleshooting techniques. I got the most out of the labs because we actually got to do all of the advanced configuration items that we might not normally do. All in all, I learned a lot about VMware ESX Server 3.5 and 3.5i and Virtual Center 2.5.