vSphere 4: Course Guide, ESX, and Storage is a free online course that is specially designed as an introductory course for anyone interested in virtual machines (VMs). The course uses the popular VMware computing virtualization platform for descriptions of tools used in other virtual machine types and they have far-reaching benefits for all types of data and users. One of which is the role VMs play in saving data through multiple automatic backups and rapid disaster recovery techniques. Increased diversity and complexity of data has given rise to the global explosion of data around us causing a need for more company computer systems per employee which further increases overhead cost. VMs can be used to solve this problem by allowing multiple systems to operate from the same console and at the same time.

The fundamental workings of virtual machines can be properly mastered through different key concepts analyzed in this course and you will acquire relevant practical skills for troubleshooting various errors that may be encountered in vSphere 4. If you are more advanced, this course can serve as a refresher on aspects related to the usability of ESX servers and their many components. This vSphere course also provides two alternatives for manipulating the different tools and many services of ESX for vSphere. These alternatives are the Command Line Interface (CLI) and the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Discussions then include the multiple possible approaches to the usability of virtual machines such as a data center view for a user connected by a keyboard and screen into a data centre mainframe. By the end of your studies, you will be able to categorize different guidelines for deploying vSphere 4, the ways of managing an ESX server, and the benefits of the multiplicity of operating systems on single machines along with a good overview of what the global standards for virtualization are. The course content specifically also explores the commands used for different operating systems run on VMs, covering Microsoft’s Windows and the Unix-based Linux which will help you be well-rounded and ready for multiple operating system (OS) problems encountered on the most common OSs.

Virtual computing and virtual machines has made managing IT networks significantly better and easier. If you are in IT management, network security or IT infrastructure or work with virtual machines then you should enrol for this course and learn about the planning, installation, and management of vSphere 4 and ESX 4.