Instructor Setup Guide

For the vClass

Lab Environment

VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V5.1]

(Version 1.0)
Sept 26, 2012
Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3
Setup Checklist .................................................................................................................... 3
Task 1: Reset the VDC kit accounts .................................................................................... 3
Task 2: Get license keys ...................................................................................................... 4
Task 3: Make lab configuration sheets available to students ............................................... 4
Getting familiar with the vClass kit layout ............................................................................ 4
Establishing an RDP session .......................................................................................................................... 5
Hardware/virtual machine configuration .......................................................................................................... 5
Software configuration .................................................................................................................................... 6
Accessing a student’s vApp ............................................................................................................................ 6

Troubleshooting hints........................................................................................................... 7
Unable to connect to desktop VM ................................................................................................................... 7

Additional resources ............................................................................................................ 7

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Introduction
This guide outlines the setup procedures to be completed before running a VMware vSphere: Optimize and
Scale course in a VMware vClass lab environment. This document assumes that the preparation steps in this
guide are to be completed by the instructor or somebody familiar with VMware virtual infrastructure.

If you are a VATC instructor, please refer to the VATC Lab Setup Guide for this course instead. This
document is located at the VMTN Technical Services Community forum.

This course uses the vClass lab environment. A vClass lab environment consists of one or more vApps. A vApp
is the virtual pod that provides the systems required to complete the lab exercises. Two students share a vApp,
but each student gets his/her own ESXi host and vCenter Server system.

If you are not familiar with using the vClass lab environment, then you must read the document named
“Embedded ESX TTT.” This document is posted in the Trainer’s Communities under the section, Training in the
VMware VDC/vClass Environment, at
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/private/pso/vdc?view=document

Setup Checklist
Here is the list of tasks to perform to set up your lab environment. The tasks are divided into required steps and
optional steps.

Required tasks:
Task 1: Reset the VDC kit accounts
Task 2: Get license keys
Task 3: Make lab configuration sheets available to students

Optional sections:
Getting familiar with the vClass kit layout
Troubleshooting hints
Additional resources

If this is your first time teaching this course, it is strongly recommended that you read the optional sections.

Task 1: Reset the VDC kit accounts

A VDC desktop is required for the students to access the vClass lab environment. Students log in to their
assigned VDC desktop. Then from the VDC desktop, students RDP to their assigned vCenter Server systems in
the vClass environment.

You must set the passwords on the student VDC accounts in order for them to be used.

To set the student account passwords for your assigned VDC kit, use the Bulk Password Control utility.

1. Use RDP to log in to the Terminal Services desktop, vdc-<kitname>-a.vmeduc.com. Log on

with your assigned kit administrator account.

2. Launch the Bulk Password Control utility, which is located in the AdminTools folder on the
VDC desktop.

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 3. Select File > Get Users > From OU.

4. Navigate down to VDC > Classrooms > Students and select your kit name
(For example, Jackal) and click OK.

5. Enable all accounts by clicking Enable Accounts.

6. Generate the same password for all users. To do this, uncheck Generate a unique
password for each user, enter the password in the field provided and click Change
Password.

PASSWORD RULES – The password must be at least eight characters in length, not contain
the user's account name or parts of the user's full name, and must contain characters from
three of the following four items: upper case letter, lower case letter, numbers and special
characters.

You can also disable accounts and unlock accounts using this tool.

Task 2: Get license keys

Get your temporary licenses using the normal procedure that is used for all class deliveries.

License keys are required for the ESXi 5.1 hosts (Enterprise Plus) and the vCenter Server systems.

Task 3: Make lab configuration sheets available to

students
In the vClass environment, two students, referred to as Student A and Student B share each vApp. Although
Student A and Student B share the same vApp, these two students work on the labs individually, unless
instructed by the lab to work as a team.

The Handout Generator (HoG) does not exist for this class because this class uses the vClass environment.
Instead, lab configuration sheets exist for Student A and Student B.

Print out lab configuration sheets for each pair of students. For example, for a class of 12 students, you will need
6 of the “A” sheets and 6 of the “B” sheets. (You can also make these sheets available as soft copies instead of
hard copies.)

Lab configuration sheets for Student A and Student B are located on the VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale
[V5.1] section of the Trainer’s Communities at
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/private/pso/vsphere/vs5/vsos5?view=documents.

Getting familiar with the vClass kit layout

If this is your first time teaching the Optimize and Scale course, it is strongly recommended that you access one
of the vApps assigned to your class and get familiar with the lab configuration.

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NOTE: Every vApp has been cloned from the same vApp source and is therefore identical to each other.

Two students share a vApp. Each student has his/her own ESXi host and his/her own desktop VM. As a result,
students can do most labs independently. At the very least, each student has a role to play in each lab.

Establishing an RDP session

Every pair of students has exactly the same configuration as every other pair of students in the classroom except
for their initial RDP login.

Student will log in to the initial RDP connection with the login ID kitname0xa or kitname0xb, where x is a number
between 1 and 6 and kitname is the name of your assigned VDC kit for the class. For example, when using the
gregorio kit, students use RDP to log in to vdc-gregorio-a.vmeduc.com with gregorio01a, gregorio01b, and
gregorio02a through gregorio06b.

When you get your kit release e-mail message, the e-mail provides the standard information: kit name, student
login IDs and passwords, and admin login ID and password. The kit release also identifies the Lab Manager
server that your kit is being hosted on (discussed later). Lab Manager servers are named wdc-lm-x.vmeduc.com,
where x is a single letter (a, b, c, etc.) Students will need the name of the Lab Manager server in order to perform
the Auto Deploy labs.

When students have connected to vdc-kitname-a.vmeduc.com with RDP, students will then initiate an RDP
session from within their kit to their assigned desktop VM, named vm-<kitname><studentloginid>.vmeduc.com,
where studentloginid is the last three characters of one of the student IDs, student01a through student06b. For
example, student01a on the gregorio kit would connect to vm-gregorio01a.vmeduc.com.

The students remain connected to their desktop VM for the duration of the class. The students do not have to
continuously switch between different desktop systems.

Hardware/virtual machine configuration

Each vApp consists of the following virtual machines, which are used during the lab exercises:

• 2 x ESXi hosts − esxi01.vclass.local and esxi02.vclass.local

• 1 x iSCSI server – iscsi.vclass.local

o tgt0:lun0 – 40GB, shared between the two ESXi hosts

o tgt1:lun0 – 55GB, private to ESXi01, used for the local datastore
o tgt2:lun0 – 8GB, private to ESXi01, used for the storage labs
o tgt3:lun0 – 8GB, private to ESXi01, used for the storage labs
o tgt4:lun0 – 55GB, private to ESXi02, used for the local datastore
o tgt5:lun0 – 8GB, private to ESXi02, used for the storage labs
o tgt6:lun0 – 8GB, private to ESXi02, used for the storage labs

• 1 x vMA appliance – vma.vclass.local

• 1 x ControlCenter server – controlcenter.vclass.local

o Main Windows 2003 server for the vApp running Active Directory, DNS, and DHCP

• 2 x Student Desktop servers – desktop01.vclass.local and desktop02.vclass.local

o Windows VMs that are pre-installed with vCenter Server. These VMs will also be used to run
the vSphere Client.

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Software configuration
Desktop01 and Desktop02 are configured identically. Each desktop VM has the following configuration:

1. The Lab Files folder, located on the desktop, contains the following folders and software:

a. vAppTemplates folder: Contains the OVF templates for CPU-HOG and RAM-HOG
b. VMware vCenter Installer: vSphere 5.1 Installer shortcut

2. The software depot (for the Auto Deploy labs) exists on the C: drive at C:\Depot\LabDepot.zip.

3. The following shortcuts located on the desktop:

a. PuTTY
b. WinSCP
c. Remote Desktop Connection
d. Windows Services program (services.msc)

4. VMware vSphere PowerCLI 5.1 is installed.

a. Verify that there is a VMware vSphere PowerCLI icon on the desktop.

5. vCenter Server 5.1 is pre-installed.

6. vSphere Client 5.1 is pre-installed.

The Control Center VM, ControlCenter.vclass.local, is accessed during the lab, Auto Deploy on a Windows
vCenter Server system. TFTP Server software has been installed on this virtual machine. The TFTP Server that
is used is a free tool from a company called Solar Winds. For details about the tool, go to
http://www.solarwinds.com/products/freetools/free_tftp_server.aspx.

Accessing a student’s vApp

How can you, the instructor, view a student’s vApp? You can view and access the virtual machines in each vApp
with Lab Manager. With the exception of the Auto Deploy lab (lab 21), the instructor is the only person who
should access Lab Manager.

To access Lab Manager:

1. Log into your kit with RDP. Log in with your assigned admin ID/password listed in the kit release e-mail
message.

2. Launch Internet Explorer and type the name of your Lab Manager server, for example, wdc-lm-
d.vmeduc.com. The name of this server is also listed in the kit release e-mail message.

3. Log in to Lab Manager with your admin ID/password that you used in step 1.

4. On the left side of the Lab Manager screen, click the Workspace link.

5. On the right side of the screen, you should see a collection of workspaces (for example, gregorio01,
gregorio02, etc.), each with a number of thumbnails. Hover over each thumbnail in turn and a message
pops up telling you which VM you are looking at. If you need to connect directly to one of the servers,
click the thumbnail and you will be presented with the VM console for that server.

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Troubleshooting hints
Unable to connect to desktop VM
If a student cannot connect to the desktop VM that he/she has been assigned, there may be a name resolution
issue with the kit. That is, you have successfully connected to vdc-kitname-a.vmeduc.com, but you cannot
successfully start a second RDP session to your desktop VM.

This is an EASY problem to resolve. And as an added bonus, you will get hands on time with Lab Manager:

1. Connect to your assigned Lab Manager server (see steps 1 through 5 above).

2. Hover over the thumbnails until you find one of the desktop VMs (Desktop01 or Desktop02) and click its
thumbnail to open the VM console.

3. Do not do anything within the console. Instead, look above the console and you will see several IP
addresses listed. The one you want is the External IP. Note down this IP address.

4. Minimize the Lab Manager window.

5. Launch an RDP session from the student’s VDC desktop and connect to the external IP address that you
noted down. The student will now be connected to the desktop VM where he/she will stay for the duration
of the course. The student can now continue to work on the labs.

Additional resources
Additional resources to help you prepare to teach the Optimize and Scale course:

1. Attend the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) session.

2. Access the vSphere 5.1 Documentation at http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-

server-pubs.html.

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