Microsoft 74-409 Study Guide

General Preparation Material

• Skills Measured (Microsoft Learning)
• Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center (Microsoft Virtual Academy Course)
• Study resources 74-409 Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center (Marius Sandbu Blog)
• Microsoft – Preparing for free exam 74-409 Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center (Bjorn Houben)
• Study Guide for 74-409:Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center (Roman Levchenko)
• Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster and Hyper-V Mini-Posters
• Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster and Companion References
• Poster: Networking in Virtual Machine Manager
• Microsoft Private Cloud Guided Labs (TechNet Evaluation Center)
• Virtualization IT Camp Online (Videos Introducing Hyper-V, Host & VM Configuration, Clustering & Resiliency, VM Mobility and Backup & Replication)

Virtual Labs

• TechNet Virtual Lab: Microsoft Virtualization with Windows Server 2012 & System Center 2012 R2 – Part 1
• TechNet Virtual Lab: Microsoft Virtualization with Windows Server 2012 & System Center 2012 R2 – Part 2

Learning Plans and Classroom Training

• 20409A: Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center (5 Days)

 Microsoft System Center free ebooks from Microsoft Press

• Explore free ebooks written by the experts at Microsoft Press

Prep resources by objective 

1  Configure Hyper-V

1.1  Create and configure virtual machine settings

• Hyper-V Dynamic Memory Overview
• Hyper-V Dynamic Memory Configuration Guide
• Hyper-V Resource Metering Overview
• Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Integration Services
• Generation 2 Virtual Machine Overview
• Virtual Machine Connection - Enhanced Session Mode Overview
• Configure a RemoteFX 3D Adapter

1.2  Create and configure virtual machine storage

• Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disk Format Overview
• Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) Architecture explained
• VHD Performance Whitepaper
• Create Virtual Hard Disks
• Virtual Hard Disk Sharing Overview
• Configure a Shared Virtual Hard Disk
• Storage Quality of Service for Hyper-V
• Configure Storage Quality of Service
• Create Differencing disks
• Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Overview
• Implement Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel
• Online Virtual Hard Disk Resizing Overview
• Configure Online Virtual Hard Disk Resize
• Hyper-V Support for Large Sector Disks Overview
• Checkpoints (includes and overview and articles on Creating, Managing, Editing, Removing and Restoring Checkpoints)
• Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) Operations Explained

1.3  Create and configure virtual networks

• Hyper-V Virtual Switch Overview
• Hyper-V Network Virtualization Overview
• Configure Virtual Networks
  Getting Started Writing a Hyper-V Extensible Switch Extension
• Everything you wanted to know about SR-IOV is Hyper-V (8 Part Guide, very in-depth and interesting)
• Hyper-V R2: MAC Address Management
• Hyper-V and Dynamic MAC Address Regeneration
• Configuring Virtual Networks
• What's New in Hyper-V Virtual Switch in Windows Server 2012
• What's New in Hyper-V Virtual Switch in Windows Server 2012 R2
• Configuring Hyper-V Virtual Networking in Windows Server 2012
• Why R2? Software Defined Networking with Hyper-V Network Virtualization
• Understanding Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Networking Changes (covers Virtual Networking, SR-IOV, QoS, Extensible Switches - good overview)
• NIC Teaming Overview

2  Configure and Manage Virtual Machine High Availability

2.1  Configure failover clustering with Hyper-V

• What's New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2
• Failover Clustering (A large section covering Storage, Quorum, CSV, Guest Clustering, Cluster-Aware-Updating, Shared Virtual Hard Disks)
• Deploy a Hyper-V Cluster
• Network Recommendations for a Hyper-V Cluster in Windows Server 2012
• Deploy an Active Directory-Detached Cluster (Clusters Without Network Names)
• How to Create a Cluster in a Restrictive Active Directory Environment
• Cluster Shared Volumes and Optimize

2.2  Manage failover clustering roles

• Using Guest Clustering for High Availability
• Deploy a Guest Cluster Using a Shared Virtual Hard Disk

2.3  Manage virtual machine movement

• Virtual Machine Live Migration Overview
• Virtual Machine Storage Migration Overview
• Configure Live Migration and Migrating Virtual Machines without Failover Clustering
• Step-By-Step: Completing Storage Live Migration in Hyper-V
• Live Migrate, Quick Migrate, or Move a Virtual Machine from Node to Node
• Draining Nodes for Planned Maintenance with Windows Server 2012
• Shared Nothing Live Migration on Windows Server 2012
• Importing & Exporting Hyper-V VMs in Windows Server 2012 R2
• Simplified Import Overview
• Virtual Machine Network Health Protection
• Windows Server 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Recovery from Network Disconnects
• P2V Conversions
• How to Deploy a Virtual Machine by Converting a Virtual Machine (V2V) 

3  Implement a Server Virtualization Infrastructure

3.1  Implement virtualization hosts

• Preparing the Fabric in VMM (Includes Host Groups, VMM Library, Networking and Storage)
• Adding and Managing Hyper-V Hosts and Scale-Out File Servers in VMM
• Capability Profiles in SCVMM 2012
• Adding Physical Computers as Hyper-V Hosts or as Scale-Out File Servers in VMM
• Managing VMware ESX Hosts
• Managing Citrix XenServer

 3.2  Implement virtual machines

• Creating and Deploying Virtual Machines in VMM
• Understanding Virtual Machine Placement and Ratings in VMM
• Configuring Availability Options for Virtual Machines
• Custom Placement Rules and Availability Sets
• Creating Profiles and Templates in VMM
• Creating Service Templates Using VMM Service Template Designer (Blog)
• Hardware Profiles in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM: Build Your Private Cloud (Series)
• Guest OS Profiles in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM: Build Your Private Cloud (Series)
• Application Profiles in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM: Build Your Private Cloud (Series)
• Virtual Machine Templates in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM: Build Your Private Cloud (Series)
• Service Templates in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM: Build Your Private Cloud (Series)
• Creating and Deploying Services in VMM
• Virtual Hard Disk Sharing Overview
• Configure a Shared Virtual Hard Disk
• Shared VHDX Files - My Favourite New Feature in Windows Server 2012 R2
• Using Guest Clustering for High Availability
• Deploy a Guest Cluster Using a Shared Virtual Hard Disk
• How to Create a Guest Cluster by Using a Service Template in VMM

3.3  Implement virtualization networking

• Step-by-Step: Hyper-V Network Virtualization
• Hyper-V Network Virtualisation for Scalable Multi-Tenancy (Video)
• Configuring Networking in VMM
• Virtual Networking in VMM 2012 SP1
• Logical Switch deployment with Virtual Network Adapters for host management in VMM 2012 SP1
• Networking in VMM 2012 SP1 – Logical Networks (Part I)
• Configuring Networking in System Center 2012 R2 (Virtual Lab)

3.4  Implement virtualization storage

• Configuring Storage In VMM
• Managing Virtual Fibre Channel in VMM
• Storage Management with System Center 2012 R2 (Virtual Lab)
• Scale-Out File Server for Application Data Overview

3.5  Manage and maintain a server virtualization infrastructure

• Configuring Dynamic Optimisation and Power Optimisation in VMM

4  Monitor and Maintain a Server Virtualization Infrastructure

4.1  Plan and implement a monitoring strategy

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4.2  Plan and implement a business continuity and disaster recovery solution

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What's New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2