The Complete Guide to Acing Your VMware Engineer Interview

Landing a job as a VMware engineer is no easy feat. The competition is fierce and employers want only the best of the best. As a VMware engineer you’ll be responsible for designing implementing, managing, and troubleshooting complex virtualized environments using VMware products. It’s a role that requires deep technical skills as well as strong problem-solving abilities.

If you have an upcoming VMware engineer interview you need to be fully prepared to showcase your abilities. The types of VMware interview questions you’ll encounter will run the gamut from high-level concepts to very specific technical details. Read on for a complete guide to mastering your VMware interview and landing the job!

Why VMware Skills Are In Demand

Let’s start by examining why VMware skills are so sought-after in today’s IT job market VMware is the industry leader in virtualization and software-defined data center technology Its products allow companies to efficiently run multiple operating systems and applications on a single server or server cluster. This provides major cost savings, security enhancements, faster provisioning of IT resources, and simplified disaster recovery.

As companies have rapidly adopted virtualization, cloud computing, and software-defined infrastructure, demand for VMware experts has skyrocketed. IT professionals with VMware certifications and hands-on experience administering VMware environments command high salaries and have their pick of job opportunities. Developing strong VMware skills is one of the best career moves an IT pro can make today.

What VMware Engineers Do

VMware engineers design, build, and support virtual computing environments for their employers. Their primary duties include:

• Installing and configuring VMware technologies like vSphere, NSX, and vSAN
• Creating virtual machines, storage devices, and virtual networks
• Ensuring optimal performance of virtualized workloads
• Monitoring resource usage and infrastructure health
• Performing patching, upgrades, backups, and disaster recovery operations
• Troubleshooting issues and outages
• Automating routine administration tasks
• Advising management on future virtualization plans and strategies

It’s a complex role that requires expertise across compute, storage, networking, operating systems, system administration, automation, and more. Top candidates will hold VMware certifications to validate their knowledge depth.

Critical VMware Interview Topics

Let’s now review the key VMware topics you should study and prepare to discuss in your VMware engineer interview:

Virtualization fundamentals – Be ready to explain basic virtualization concepts like hypervisors, virtual machines, paravirtualization, emulation, and hardware virtualization assists. Know the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors.

vSphere – vSphere is VMware’s core virtualization platform so expect many vSphere-related questions. Know key vSphere components like ESXi, vCenter Server, vSwitches, vMotion, HA, DRS, and VMware Tools. Understand architectures for small, medium, large, and enterprise environments.

Storage – Storage is crucial in virtual environments so prepare for questions on VMFS, NFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, multipathing, and emerging storage tech like vSAN. Know how VMware storage capabilities differ from traditional SANs.

Network virtualization – Network virtualization with NSX is a huge VMware focus. Be ready to discuss NSX architecture, controllers, logical switching, logical routing, security, and integration with vSphere.

Automation and management – VMware provides many tools for automation and centralized management. Know options like vRealize Automation, vRealize Operations, PowerCLI, Host Profiles, and vCenter Orchestrator.

Security – Virtualization and cloud introduce new security considerations. Study VMware’s approach to securing the software-defined data center and features like the vSphere Security Hardening Guide.

Cloud computing – VMware is a major cloud player with vCloud Director and partnerships with all major cloud providers. Understand their cloud strategy and offerings for hybrid clouds and multi-cloud environments.

Containers and Kubernetes – Containers and Kubernetes are transforming application architectures and deployment. Be ready to discuss VMware’s support for containers and Kubernetes in vSphere integrations, PKS, and Tanzu.

Troubleshooting – Troubleshooting is critical for VMware engineers. Know best practices for resolving common VMware issues related to performance, availability, networking, storage, backups, etc.

Sample VMware Engineer Interview Questions

Now let’s look at some sample VMware interview questions you could face:

Q: What are the most important factors to consider when designing a vSphere environment?

A: Performance, availability, manageability, and adequate planning for future growth and changes. Ensure proper CPU/memory ratios, follow host maximums, design with headroom, plan networking carefully, follow VMware storage best practices, design for fast failure recovery, and automate operations.

Q: If a physical host fails, what happens to the VMs running on it?

A: With vSphere HA enabled, the VMs would automatically be restarted on other hosts in the cluster with spare capacity. A VM reboot would occur but they would be available again shortly after boot.

Q: How does VMware vMotion work? What are the requirements to use it?

A: vMotion migrates live VMs between hosts with no downtime via VMware Tools and a log shipping process. Requirements are shared storage, vCenter Server, and an underlying VMkernel with sufficient bandwidth between hosts.

Q: Can you explain the benefits of NSX networking and security virtualization?

A: NSX abstracts networking into software, allowing fast provisioning of Layer 2-7 services. Micro-segmentation and distributed firewalling enhance security. Automation and integration with vSphere simplify operations.

Q: What are some key features of the vSAN storage virtualization platform?

A: vSAN creates shared storage from direct-attached disks across hosts. Benefits include high performance, easy scalability, advanced data services, tighter integration and automation with vSphere, and lower TCO than traditional SANs.

Q: How would you troubleshoot a performance problem with a virtual machine?

A: I would use tools like vCenter, esxtop, and vRealize Operations to check for contention on host resources like CPU, memory, network, or storage. I’d ensure proper sizing for the workload, rule out excessive swapping or disk latency, and identify any bottlenecks on physical infrastructure.

These examples demonstrate the types of questions that test your working knowledge of VMware technologies as they are applied in real-world environments. Be ready to answer both broad infrastructure design questions as well as detailed troubleshooting scenarios.

Handling Technical Questions

One part of the interview will focus extensively on technical VMware knowledge. Here are some tips for tackling VMware technical questions:

• Ask clarifying questions if a question is vague or you’re unsure what is being asked.

• Think through your answer before immediately replying. Speak slowly and clearly.

• Use industry-standard VMware terminology in your responses.

• Relate your answer to actual on-the-job tasks and objectives.

• If you get stuck, ask if you can come back to that question later. Use any extra time to think through your response.

• Admit if you genuinely don’t know the answer instead of faking your way through. Offer to research the issue if it came up in a real environment.

• Keep answers reasonably high-level unless the interviewer probes for more details. Avoid overly complex, academic responses.

The goal is demonstrating you can understand, explain, and apply VMware concepts in an enterprise environment. With practice and preparation, you can absolutely ace the technical side of your VMware interview.

Asking Your Own VMware Interview Questions

While most of the interview will focus on assessing your capabilities, you’ll also have an opportunity to ask questions. Prepare a list of insightful questions focused on the company’s usage of VMware and future strategic plans. Some examples:

• How extensively are VMware solutions utilized here compared to other virtualization platforms?

• Do you utilize NSX? If so, what benefits have you seen from implementing it?

• Is there a focus on building a true software-defined data center? What challenges have you faced?

• Are there plans to adopt a hybrid cloud model or use VMware technology to manage multiple clouds?

• How is automation being used to simplify VMware administration?

• What changes or upgrades are planned for your VMware environment over the next 1-3 years?

Your questions should demonstrate a genuine interest in the role. And the answers will provide information to help you decide if the company and position are a good fit for your skills and interests.

Mastering the Non-Technical Side

While VMware knowledge is critical, strong soft skills are equally important for success. Some tips for acing the non-technical aspects of the interview:

Communication skills – Speak clearly and confidently. Listen attentively. Use industry terminology appropriately. Tailor explanations for the interviewer’s level of technical knowledge.

Teamwork – Highlight experiences working cross-functionally in IT groups. Provide examples of helping teammates and sharing knowledge. Stress a collaborative mindset.

Problem-solving – Share stories of