VMware vSphere: hosts, clusters, snapshots and safe maintenance
Day-to-day vSphere administration: what vCenter Server, ESXi hosts, clusters and datastores do; how vSphere HA, Fault Tolerance, vMotion and DRS keep VMs running; standard versus distributed switches and VMkernel adapters; using snapshots safely (they aren't backups); maintenance mode; and least-privilege roles and permissions.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 50 minutes
- Contents
- 3 lessons · 1 video · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 2 Oct 2026
- VMware vSphere
Skills you'll practise
- Identify vCenter Server, ESXi hosts, clusters and datastores and explain what each does
- Distinguish vSphere HA, Fault Tolerance, vMotion and DRS, including what each does when a host fails
- Use snapshots within VMware's documented limits and explain why they are not backups
- Patch a clustered host safely using maintenance mode
- Choose between standard and distributed switches and explain what VMkernel adapters carry
- Assign roles to groups on the objects they need, following VMware's best practices
Course outline
- 1.VMware vSphere essentialsVideo · 2 min
- 2.The building blocks and keeping VMs runningLesson · 17 min
- 3.Networking and snapshotsLesson · 16 min
- 4.Maintenance and accessLesson · 17 min
- 5.VMware vSphere: hosts, clusters, snapshots and safe maintenance: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 16 questions
- 6.Final exam11 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- vSphere Availability: Reduce planned downtime with vSphere (vMotion and Storage vMotion)
- vSphere Availability: vSphere HA provides rapid recovery from outages
- vSphere Availability: vSphere Fault Tolerance provides continuous availability
- vSphere Availability: Primary and secondary hosts (How vSphere HA works)
- vSphere Resource Management: Create a cluster (DRS automation levels)
- vSphere Resource Management: DRS cluster vMotion requirements
- vSphere Resource Management: Create a VM-VM affinity rule
- vSphere Resource Management: Place a host in maintenance mode
- vSphere Networking: Introduction to vSphere networking (standard switch, distributed switch, port groups)
- vSphere Networking: Setting up VMkernel networking
- vSphere Virtual Machine Administration: Using snapshots to manage virtual machines
- vSphere Virtual Machine Administration: Snapshot files and limitations
- vSphere Security: vSphere permissions and user management tasks
- vSphere Security: Best practices for vCenter Server roles and permissions
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