Some questions about VMware ESXI host and vSphere client.

[Bshial]

Hey Everyone,

I'm enrolled in a Computer Network program at college and I'm taking a course based on Virtualization and most work is done through ESXI 6.0 and vSphere client. I recently had an assessment with my Prof on some basic functions on ESXI but there were some questions I didn't know how to answer such as:

• Identify VM home directory on ESX
• Understand the role of swap file, where it is created and size of the swap file
• Retrieve networking storage configuration information on ESX through CLI (Command Line)
• Identify installed network adapters (how many ways you can find the number of adapters on ESX host)
• Purpose of VM tools

I think out of the 41 assessment questions, these 5 I didn't answer and was hoping for someone to help clarify them. If you can then thanks so much. Also forgot to mention I use VMware Workstation Pro 12.0, ESXI 6.0 and vSphere, not the web browser client.

[daphnissov]

Hi,

I'll be glad to clarify (some of) them, but as these are questions from a homework assignment that are designed to increase your level of knowledge with the platform, I think we would be doing a disservice if we flat out gave you the answers. These should be answerable from the vSphere documentation, but to elaborate on them which will assist you in finding their answers:

• Identify VM home directory on ESXi. I don't know why they wrote ESX because ESX and ESXi are two different platforms and ESX is dead. This question is asking you where to find the folder in which a VM and its file reside on a given datastore through ESXi. The question is not well worded, I think. A VM is a collection of files, and those files reside in a specific location on a datastore. Find out how you identify that datastore and folder. There are methods through vCenter, ESXi directly, and multiple CLIs.
• Understand the role of swap file, where it is created and size of the swap file. This should be fairly straightforward. Each VM receives a virtual swap file with an extension of VSWP. Learn the purpose of this and where it gets created.
• Retrieve networking storage configuration information on ESX(i) through CLI. I don't know if there is a missing comma between "networking" and "storage" because otherwise the question doesn't make sense. I am assuming it is. There are various CLIs in ESXi which provide you with information for both of these, and more. The first step is to learn the various CLIs. Then, through your own use of them, discover the commands available and how to retrieve configuration information using them.
• Identify installed network adapters. Very open question with lots of answers. There are a variety of ways to identify the physical network adapters on an ESXi host using the various clients and CLIs.
• Purpose of VMtools. Also straightforward. What is VMware Tools package and why is it useful in a VMware virtualized environment? Read the documentation.

Also, since you said you don't use the web browser client, I would strongly urge you to begin right now. You need to be proficient in the web client because new functionality is there and only there. The traditional desktop client (C#, fat, thick, etc.) is gone in the next version, so no sense spending your time learning that one.

I hope this is of help to you in your studies.