Studying for the VCP5 exam

Even though the VCP5 exam is only 5 weeks old at the time of writing, there are some amazing resources already available to help with those preparing for the exam.

I've always been an advocate of trying to prepare yourself using the official resources that VMware make available - the exam blueprint tells you what aspects of vSphere 5 you will get tested on, the exam format, number of questions, time limit, and the scoring system. The exam blueprint makes references to the official vSphere 5 documentation, which VMware validate the exam items against, and the mock exam gives a decent indication of the exam format. The VCP community forum is an excellent way of asking VCP5-related questions and getting furter information.
VCP5 homepage
VCP5 exam blueprint
VCP5 mock exam
VCP community forum
vSphere 5 documentation

Something that VMware don't publish is an expanded exam blueprint that includes all the relevant study notes, however there are a number of sites where people have done exactly that - be careful when using these study notes in case they're not accurate in comparison to the official documentation.
Forbes Guthrie's vReference documentation notes for vSphere 5
Prep Guide for VCP5.0
Andre Mauro's vInfrastructure VCP5 notes

There are a number of people in the VMware community that write and publish their own practice questions, normally as part of their own preparations - it should be noted that these do not necessarily indicate the types and styles of questions you will get in the real exam, and the accuracy of these practice exams cannot be guaranteed either.
Robert Stothard's VCP5 practice questions
Simon Long's VCP5 practice exams
Paul McSharry's VCP5 practice questions

To finish, here are a couple of exam experience blog posts from people that have taken the exam themselves - I'll post my own review once I've taken the exam myself!
Eric Sloof's VCP5 exam experience
Brian Tobia's VCP5 exam thoughts and experience

Best of luck....!

Introduction to VMware vSphere 5

Introduction to VMware vSphere 5

CLARiiON Integration With VMware ESX Server

Emc Clariion Integration with Vmware Esx Server

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/clariion_wp_eng.pdf

VLAN Configuration on Virtual Switch, Physical Switch, and Virtual Machines

VLAN Configuration on Virtual Switch, Physical Switch, and Virtual Machines

Purpose

This article describes the various VLAN tagging methods used with ESX/ESXi.

Virtual LAN (VLAN) implementation is recommended in ESX/ESXi networking environments because:

• It integrates ESX/ESXi into a pre-existing network
• It secures network traffic
• It reduces network traffic congestion
• iSCSI traffic requires isolated network

Resolution

There are three methods of VLAN tagging that can be configured on ESXi:

• External Switch Tagging (EST)
• Virtual Switch Tagging (VST)
• Virtual Guest Tagging (VGT)

External Switch Tagging

• All VLAN tagging of packets is performed on the physical switch.
• ESX host network adapters are connected to access ports on the physical switch.
• The portroups connected to the virtual switch must have their VLAN ID set to 0.
• For more information, see Sample configuration - ESX/ESXi connecting to physical switch via VLAN access mode and external switch VLAN tagging (EST Mode) (1004127).
• See this example snippet of a code from a Cisco switch port configuration:switchport mode accessswitchport access vlan x

Virtual Switch Tagging

• All VLAN tagging of packets is performed by the virtual switch before leaving the ESX/ESXi host.
• The ESX host network adapters must be connected to trunk ports on the physical switch.
• The portgroups connected to the virtual switch must have an appropriate VLAN ID specified.
• For more information, see Configuring a VLAN on a portgroup (1003825).
• For a sample of VST, see Sample configuration of virtual switch VLAN tagging (VST Mode) (1004074).
• See the following example snippet of code from a Cisco switch port configuration:switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk allowed vlan x,y,zspanning-tree portfast trunk

Note: The Native VLAN is not tagged and thus requires no VLAN ID to be set on the ESX/ESXi portgroup.

Virtual Guest Tagging

• All VLAN tagging is performed by the virtual machine.
• You must install an 802.1Q VLAN trunking driver inside the virtual machine.
• VLAN tags are preserved between the virtual machine networking stack and external switch when frames are passed to/from virtual switches.
• Physical switch ports are set to trunk port.
• For more information, see Sample configuration of virtual machine VLAN tagging (VGT Mode) (1004252).
• See this example snippet of code from a Cisco switch port configuration:switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk allowed vlan x,y,zspanning-tree portfast trunk
  
  

Using vSphere Management Assistant(vMA) to collect ESX and ESXi logs

Purpose

The VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) can be configured to accept logs from your ESX and ESXi host. For more information about downloading, installing, and configuring vMA, see the vSphere Management Assistant Documentation.

Resolution

Configuring your VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) appliance to collect the logs from an ESX/ESXi host:

1. Run this command to add the ESX/ESXi host to the vMA appliance:
   
   # sudo vifp addserver [ESX/ESXi IP or HOSTNAME]
   
   You are prompted for the root password for the target system.
2. Run this command to view the list of ESX/ESXi hosts connected to the vMA appliance.
   
   # sudo vifp listservers
   
3. Run this command to enable the vilogger interface and to configure vMA to collect log files from the target ESX/ESXi or vCenter Server hosts according to the specified log policy:
   # vilogger enable --server [ESX/ESXi IP or HOSTNAME] --numrotation <ROTATION: 1 to 1024> --maxfilesize <SIZE in MB: 1 to 1024> --collectionperiod <PERIOD in seconds: 10 to 3600>
   Where is the ESX/ESXi IP or HOSTNAME  is the IP address or hostname of the ESX/ESXi host.
   
   For example, the command with default values is:
   
   # vilogger enable --server [ESX/ESXi IP or HOSTNAME] --numrotation 5 --maxfilesize 5 --collectionperiod 10

In the vMA 4.x versions, the logs are located at /var/log/vmware. In earlier vMA versions, the logs are located at /var/log/syslog. 

Each host managed by the vMA appliance has a subdirectory within /var/log/vmware. Each of these subdirectories, in turn, contains the log files, such as hostd.log, messages.log, vmkernel.log, vmkwarning.log, and vpxa.log.

To read the log files, you can use commands such as tail -f. For example, to read the contents of the vpxa.log file, run this command:

# tail -f /var/log/vmware/<FQDN of Host>/vpxa.log

To customize the options for the vilogger command, see the vilogger Daemon and Log Management Commands section of the vSphere Management Assistant Guide.

Additional Information

The syntax of the vilogger command is:

vilogger <command>

Where <command> can be one of the following:

• enable         [--server <SERVER>]
                 [--logname <LOGNAME>]
                 [--collectionperiod <PERIOD in seconds: 10 to 3600>]
                 [--numrotation <ROTATION: 1 to 1024>]
                 [--maxfilesize <SIZE in MB: 1 to 1024>]
  
      
• disable        [--server <SERVER>]
                 [--logname <LOGNAME>]
                 [--force]
• list           [--server <SERVER>]
                 [--logname <LOGNAME>]
• updatepolicy   [--server <SERVER>]
                 [--logname <LOGNAME>]
                 [--collectionperiod <PERIOD in seconds: 10 to 3600>]
                 [--numrotation <ROTATION: 1 to 1024>]
                 [--maxfilesize <SIZE in MB: 1 to 1024>]
  
         
• help | --help | -h  [<command name>]

To increase disk space on an installed vMA appliance refer to How to increase/resize vMA Disks.

Cisco plans virtual switch for Hyper-V in Windows Server 8

Cisco is collaborating with Microsoft to bring its virtual switch to Hyper-V next year when Windows Server 8 is released. While Cisco’s Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switch already supports VMware software, Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 does not get the same love. The new support for Hyper-V will only apply to the forthcoming Windows Server 8, which introduces greater ability to integrate third-party modules than its predecessor, according to Cisco.


Click here for Full Story

Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches : Install and Upgrade Guides

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/prod_installation_guides_list.html