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

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