For VxRail administrators — day-to-day cluster management, vSAN health and performance monitoring, maintenance, troubleshooting, cluster expansion, stretched cluster administration, and REST API operations.
›VxRail models and software stack — E, P, V, S series; ESXi, vSAN, VxRail Manager, VMware vSphere versions; understanding the joint-engineered software bundle
›VxRail management interfaces — VxRail Plugin for vCenter, VxRail Manager web UI, REST API Swagger; day-to-day admin entry points
Module 02
VxRail Deployment Options for Administration
›vCenter Server deployment options impact on admin — embedded vCenter (simpler, single point of management), external vCenter (enterprise scale, multiple clusters), implications for day-to-day admin procedures
›VxRail network deployment options — VDS distributed switch vs. standard switch admin differences; VLAN configuration for management, vSAN, vMotion, VM data; admin responsibilities for network changes
›vSAN ReadyNode validation for ongoing operations — understanding node compatibility matrix; implications when adding nodes post-deploy; VxRail Compatibility Matrix usage
Module 03
Manage the VxRail
›VxRail Plugin for vCenter Server — navigate plugin dashboards; cluster overview, node health, storage capacity; access VxRail-specific actions from vCenter interface
›Monitor VxRail vSAN cluster health and performance — vSAN health check service categories (network, storage, performance, data, cluster); interpret health status; trigger recheck
›Manage vSAN services — configure deduplication and compression; enable/disable encryption at rest; manage vSAN file services; toggle vSAN performance service
›Manage vSAN Storage Policies — create VM storage policies (FTT settings, RAID configurations); assign policies to VMs and VMDKs; check policy compliance; update policy for changed requirements
›Manage VxRail vSAN cluster availability — understand and configure FTT=1 RAID-1 vs. FTT=2 erasure coding; prepare for node maintenance mode with vSAN data evacuation; respond to vSAN component failures
›Manage vSAN HCI Mesh — configure HCI Mesh to share vSAN storage across clusters; understand mount point vSAN datastore from remote cluster; manage HCI Mesh health
Module 04
Perform Maintenance and Troubleshooting
›SolVe Online — access and use SolVe Online to generate VxRail-specific procedures (expand, upgrade, node removal); procedure steps customized to cluster software versions
›Perform cluster expansion — verify node compatibility (same series, compatible firmware); use VxRail Manager expansion wizard; monitor node join progress; verify vSAN disk group formation on new node
›Perform software upgrade — download LCM bundle; upload to VxRail Manager; run LCM pre-check; execute rolling upgrade (one node at a time to maintain availability); verify cluster health post-upgrade
›Perform log collection — generate log bundle from VxRail Manager; collect specific node logs; interpret log bundle structure; upload to Dell EMC support case
›Troubleshoot VxRail issues — use vSAN health alerts to diagnose storage issues; trace VxRail Manager logs for orchestration failures; use iDRAC hardware alerts for physical component failures
Module 05
Perform Additional Administrative Tasks
›Manage VxRail networking — modify VDS port group VLAN IDs; add new VM port groups; change NIC teaming policy; understand impact of network changes on running VMs
›Manage a Stretched Cluster deployment — understand witness VM placement; monitor inter-site link health; understand preferred and secondary site designation; recover from split-brain scenario; re-synchronize after site isolation
›Remove a node from a cluster — vSAN data evacuation mode; wait for vSAN resync; remove node from vCenter cluster; power down and physically remove; verify remaining cluster health
›VxRail REST API overview — OpenAPI/Swagger-based REST interface; API authentication; Swagger UI location on VxRail Manager; API versioning and release notes
›REST API functionality — GET endpoints for cluster health, node list, LCM upgrade status, vSAN datastore info; POST endpoints for triggering upgrades and maintenance operations
›Use the REST API to perform tasks — query cluster health programmatically; trigger LCM upgrade bundle via API; automate log collection; integrate VxRail API with Ansible or Terraform for infrastructure-as-code workflows
Earn the D-VXR-OE-23 Dell Proven Professional certification and validate your ability to administer VxRail HCI — vSAN management, cluster operations, REST API, and maintenance.