VCP-NV 2020 (2V0-41.20) Exam Prep Study Guide

September 29, 2020 | 6 minutes

I passed the VCP-NV 2020 exam (2V0-41.20) 29th September 2020. Below you’ll find a collection of links/resources to material I studied leading up to the exam. I also attended the following official VMware courses:

This is by no means a comprehensive repository for everything you’ll need to know, but I think it’s a pretty good starting point.

Section 1 – VMware vSphere Architectures and Technologies

There are no testable objectives for this section

Section 2 – VMware Products and Solutions

Objective 2.1 Describe the VMware Virtual Cloud Network Vision

Solution Overview: https://www.vmware.com/solutions/virtual-cloud-network.html
Breakdown: https://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2018/05/the-virtual-cloud-network-demystified.html/
Resource List: https://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2020/01/nsx-cloud-5-easy-resources.html/

Objective 2.2 Outline the solutions of NSX Portfolio

NSX Data Center: https://www.vmware.com/products/nsx.html
NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud: https://www.vmware.com/solutions/enterprise-networking-security/network-edge.html
NSX Cloud: https://www.vmware.com/solutions/virtual-cloud-network.html

Objective 2.3 List the use-cases for NSX Data Center

Easy to consume API for automated networking
Security through micro-segmentation, IDS/IPS, URL Filtering
Disaster recovery through network virtualisation and federation
https://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2020/04/nsx-t-3-0.html/
https://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2019/02/nsx-t-customer-advanced-solutions.html/

Objective 2.4 Explain the value proposition and features of NSX

Value of NSX Data Center: https://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2018/06/the-value-of-nsx-data-center.html/
NSX-v vs. NSX-T: https://phoenixnap.com/blog/nsx-v-vs-nsx-t-differences

Objective 2.5 Identify Physical and Virtual Infrastructure Requirements for NSX-T Data Center

Manager Cluster Requirements: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-509E40D3-1CD5-4964-A612-0C9FA32AE3C0.html
Manager VM and Host Transport Node: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-AECA2EE0-90FC-48C4-8EDB-66517ACFE415.html
NSX Edge VM requirements: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-22F87CA8-01A9-4F2E-B7DB-9350CA60EA4E.html
NSX Edge Bare Metal: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-14C3F618-AB8D-427E-AC88-F05D1A04DE40.html
Bare Metal Server: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-26D8A6AE-FC16-428D-8A11-6A581091F2CF.html
NSX-T Design Considerations: https://nsx.techzone.vmware.com/resource/vmware-nsx-t-design-guide-designing-environments-nsx-t#section6

Objective 2.6 Describe NSX Architecture and Component sub-systems

NSX-T Overview: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-10B1A61D-4DF2-481E-A93E-C694726393F9.html
NSX-T Key Concepts: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-A1BBC650-CCE3-4AC3-A774-92B195183492.html
NSX Manager Overview: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-BB26CDC8-2A90-4C7E-9331-643D13FEEC4A.html
NSX Architecture, Components: https://nsx.techzone.vmware.com/resource/vmware-nsx-t-design-guide-designing-environments-nsx-t#section2

Objective 2.7 Differentiate the functionalities of Management Plane, Control Plane, Data Plane, and Consumption Planes

Objective 2.8 Define NSX-T Data Center Terminology

NSX-T Key Concepts: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-A1BBC650-CCE3-4AC3-A774-92B195183492.html

Objective 2.9 Describe the Logical Switching Architecture and Features

Logical Switches in Manager Mode (deprecated): https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-F89C1C1F-A270-4FC9-A1CF-CB90545FB636.html
Segments: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-316E5027-E588-455C-88AD-A7DA930A4F0B.html
Segment Profiles: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-93112326-FE2F-4521-9282-505FF67DDC23.html
NSX-T Logical Switching Design: https://nsx.techzone.vmware.com/resource/vmware-nsx-t-design-guide-designing-environments-nsx-t#section3

Objective 2.10 Describe the Logical Routing Architecture and Features

Objective 2.11 Describe the NSX-T Data Center Network Services

NSX-T Network Services: https://nsx.techzone.vmware.com/resource/vmware-nsx-t-design-guide-designing-environments-nsx-t#sec4-sub6
VPN: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-A8B113EC-3D53-41A5-919E-78F1A3705F58.html
NAT: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-DDB35A76-BD12-4F09-8D88-2490E4DAA8F6.html
Load Balancing: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-F0C4A33A-2B1F-43AA-94E1-602B628AFD52.html
Load Balancer Topologies and service chaining: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-68B8B21D-1E31-4E42-8AEA-3CACA3958368.html
Distributed Load Balancing (k8s only): https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-69DF29A3-746F-4D87-B430-C0E72B672459.html

Objective 2.12 Explain the Edge Architecture and Features

NSX-T Logical Routing, Edge Nodes: https://nsx.techzone.vmware.com/resource/vmware-nsx-t-design-guide-designing-environments-nsx-t#sec4-sub3
Edge Node & Service Design: https://nsx.techzone.vmware.com/resource/vmware-nsx-t-design-guide-designing-environments-nsx-t#sec6-sub4
NSX-T Edge Networking Setup: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-370D06E1-1BB6-4144-A654-7AF2542C3136.html
NSX-T Edge Installation Methods: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-E9A01C68-93E7-4140-B306-19CD6806199F.html

Objective 2.13 Explain the NSX Security Architecture and Features

Objective 2.14 Identify the supported integration platforms of NSX-T (Containers, Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, DevOps tools, 3rd Party etc.)

NSX Cloud: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-2A410298-6E09-4951-80D9-42D42F4F9D72.html
OpenShift Container Plugin: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/ncp-openshift/GUID-1D75FE92-051C-4E30-8903-AF832E854AA7.html
Kubernetes Container Plugin: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/ncp-kubernetes/GUID-52A92986-0FDF-43A5-A7BB-C037889F7559.html
NSX-T 3rd Party Supported solutions: https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=nsxt&details=1&releases=512&page=1&display_interval=10&sortColumn=Partner&sortOrder=Asc
vRA & NSX-T: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/8.1/Using-and-Managing-Cloud-Assembly/GUID-9AC61682-75D5-4576-8BB9-E654156FA02E.html

Section 3 - Planning and Designing

– There are no testable objectives for this section

Section 4 – Installing, Configuring, and Setting Up a VMware vSphere Solution

Objective 4.1 Outline the installation and preparation workflow of NSX-T Data Center

Objective 4.2 Deploy and Configure NSX-T Data Center Environment

NSX Manager Install: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-A65FE3DD-C4F1-47EC-B952-DEDF1A3DD0CF.html
Add a Compute Manager: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-D225CAFC-04D4-44A7-9A09-7C365AAFCA0E.html#GUID-D225CAFC-04D4-44A7-9A09-7C365AAFCA0E
Create a manager cluster: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-B89F5831-62E4-4841-BFE2-3F06542D5BF5.html
Configure a cluster VIP: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-A8DF27CC-B3A6-45F2-856D-4278A7DBC98E.html
Disable snapshots on NSX managers: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-EA2D6B2D-A8A9-4B63-8201-4D51FED95121.html
Edge install methods: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-E9A01C68-93E7-4140-B306-19CD6806199F.html
- Create NSX Edge Node: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-53295329-F02F-44D7-A6E0-2E3A9FAE6CF9.html#GUID-53295329-F02F-44D7-A6E0-2E3A9FAE6CF9
- Create NSX Edge Cluster: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-898099FC-4ED2-4553-809D-B81B494B67E7.html#GUID-898099FC-4ED2-4553-809D-B81B494B67E7
IP pool for VTEPs: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-E7F7322D-D09B-481A-BD56-F1270D7C9692.html
Create Transport Zones: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-F739DC79-4358-49F4-9C58-812475F33A66.html#GUID-F739DC79-4358-49F4-9C58-812475F33A66
Configure Managed host Transport Nodes: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-0E4F8397-AD9E-40C8-9B71-B2CEF53A2AD4.html#GUID-0E4F8397-AD9E-40C8-9B71-B2CEF53A2AD4

Objective 4.3 Configure Hypervisor Networking [vSphere and KVM] for NSX-T Data Center

Create Transport Zones: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-F739DC79-4358-49F4-9C58-812475F33A66.html

KVM

KVM configuration workflow: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-4200878F-DC59-4BE1-967C-374E5C985B9A.html
Install 3rd Party Packages: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-B48076FC-99C3-46C9-A27B-44BF74609972.html
Verify Open vSwitch Version
Install NSX-T VIBs

vSphere

Managed host install: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-0E4F8397-AD9E-40C8-9B71-B2CEF53A2AD4.html#GUID-0E4F8397-AD9E-40C8-9B71-B2CEF53A2AD4

Objective 4.4 Configure and manage Logical Switching Features

Objective 4.5 Configure and manage Logical Routing Features

Objective 4.6 Configure NSX-T Edge Nodes and Edge Cluster

Edge install methods: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-E9A01C68-93E7-4140-B306-19CD6806199F.html
- Create NSX Edge Node: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-53295329-F02F-44D7-A6E0-2E3A9FAE6CF9.html#GUID-53295329-F02F-44D7-A6E0-2E3A9FAE6CF9
- Create NSX Edge Cluster: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-898099FC-4ED2-4553-809D-B81B494B67E7.html#GUID-898099FC-4ED2-4553-809D-B81B494B67E7

Objective 4.7 Configure NSX-T Data Center Network Services [Layer-3]

Objective 4.8 Configure NSX Security Features

Objective 4.9 Configure Service Insertion with NSX-T Data Center

East-West Service Insertion

High-level config tasks: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-3D41D4B3-BFA1-4B9B-9CBB-0028724576B0.html
Deploy a service: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-891363D9-D7D6-418B-9C81-33F2A42EA665.html
Add redirection rule: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-BCCA4FBB-053B-440B-AE91-66D1B6E13AE2.html
Remove a service: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-7E105CD3-DED5-4371-944C-EF3B496C057C.html

North-South Service Insertion

High-level config tasks: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-B62D904D-C7BE-460D-B3F2-B092B6DB643A.html
Deploy a service: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-53D6C480-7AD3-4B23-922D-430C89992B57.html
Add redirection rule: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-66C6A85E-55C7-4CCC-B7C8-2CCCD537117A.html
Remove a service: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-6D04B9BB-69D1-43AD-9067-2B075865F27C.html

Section 5 – Performance-tuning and Optimizing Upgrades

– There are no testable objectives for this section.

Section 6 – Troubleshooting and Repairing

Objective 6.1 Identify the default log file locations of NSX-T Data Center components

Objective 6.2 Compare and Contrast Tools Available for Troubleshooting

NSX Intelligence: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-Intelligence/index.html
vRealize Network Insight: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vRealize-Network-Insight/index.html
NSX-T CLI Reference: https://vdc-download.vmware.com/vmwb-repository/dcr-public/cc42e3c1-eb34-4567-a916-147e79798957/8264605c-a5e1-49a8-b603-cc78621eeeab/cli.html
Port-mirroring: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-3834C92A-6571-4B1C-BD6E-82AF8B4728A6.html

Objective 6.3 Troubleshoot Common NSX Installation/Configuration Issues

Installation issues: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-7B99BED9-66E3-4EED-9D69-ABBE87F9F748.html
vCenter Logs: /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log
NSX log directory and files: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-406AF9C3-E8F7-447A-8E3D-92AFB9D5E973.html

Objective 6.4 Troubleshoot Common NSX Component Issues

NSX Monitoring Dashboards: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-379814A2-11AE-4085-93FA-CE399FEAD8B0.html
Compliance Codes: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-32B9FB01-6376-40C0-B631-1F20B8FF7452.html#GUID-32B9FB01-6376-40C0-B631-1F20B8FF7452
Installation issues: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/installation/GUID-7B99BED9-66E3-4EED-9D69-ABBE87F9F748.html
NSX log directory and files: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-406AF9C3-E8F7-447A-8E3D-92AFB9D5E973.html

Objective 6.5 Troubleshoot Common Connectivity Issues

Objective 6.6 Troubleshoot Common physical infrastructure Issues

Section 7 – Administrative and Operational Tasks in a VMware vSphere Solution

Objective 7.1 List Operations Tasks in a VMware NSX Environment (syslog, backup/restore etc.)

Configure backups: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-E6181BF1-2CB7-4870-B508-BFAF5B47D702.html
Restore from backup: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-9749F041-15E5-4662-85E7-756D4B071C17.html
Configure remote logging: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-8085C57D-681A-4435-83A3-CB21C98F4A93.html?hWord=N4IghgNiBcIM4E84QPYHMQF8g

Objective 7.2 Configure roles and permissions for NSX-T Data Center environment

Objective 7.3 Generate Log bundles

Collect Support Bundles: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-73D9AF0D-4000-4EF2-AC66-6572AD1A0B30.html

Objective 7.4 Monitor a VMware NSX Implementation

NSX System Monitoring: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-E3657F90-7291-4CE1-A52E-3D44490CED52.html
Monitor Edge Nodes: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-F8D0DC34-74DB-4DCC-B15B-93A2FFBA3A7D.html
Working with events and alarms: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-2C022ED8-075E-48F1-8F0C-648F038AF68A.html
Monitor using vRLI: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-8E3CA63B-71F8-4F47-88A6-DC5FA714DE8B.html
Monitor using vROPs: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-B5D2C332-E996-46F1-A776-BA6E8B058239.html
Monitor using vRNIC: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-7E5F74FB-14A5-41B9-B806-E6B9AC30BF00.html
Network Monitoring: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.0/administration/GUID-33584FA9-78D0-40CD-975A-6363D13E5293.html

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About Stellios Williams

Senior Cloud Solutions Architect - Service Providers VMware

This is my personal tech related blog for anything private and public cloud - including homelabs! My postings are my own and don’t necessarily represent VMware’s positions, strategies or opinions. Any technical guidance or advice is given without warranty or consideration for your unique issues or circumstances.

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