VM /ETC

Archive for the ‘virtualization’ Category

The VIRTUMANIA continues with Episode 2! Rick Vanover joins Marc and I again along with very special guest Jason Boche, the Virtualization Evangelist, for a recorded discussion about DR options in virtualized environments. The following is the podcast summary:

VIRTUMANIA Podcast Episode 2 – Virtulization Makes DR Easy. Rich Brambley (@rbrambley) of VMETC and Marc Farley (@3parfarley) of 3Par and StorageRap.com with guests and Rick Vanover (@rickvanover) of RickVanover.com and Jason Boche (@jasonboche) of Boche.net/blog. This week’s episode includes discussion about how virtualization has changed disaster recovery and site failover, explores various virtual machine backup and replication products, compares storage mirroring to purely physical solutions in the past, and thinks about DR technologies in the future. Thanks to Greg Knieriemen (@knieriemen) of Chi Corporation for this Infosmack Production.

Before, between, and after the important stuff we also have some fun with Virtumania Bucks, the ongoing danger of nipples in the data center (yes, we go there again!), and a new nickname for Greg Knieriemen.

Listen to the podcast with the embedded player or subscribe to get a weekly copy so you can listen when convenient.

Check out the VM /ETC VIRTUMANIA Page to listen to past episodes as well as episodes of Infosmack.

The following links offer more information on some of the VM Backup and DR products mentioned in VIRTUMANIA Episode 2:

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The vSphere Enterprise Plus vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) has been heralded as, and I might add lives up to it’s reputation of, an administrator’s time saver and single point of virtual networking configuration and visibility across many ESX/ESXi 4 hosts. However, the vDS presents some administrative challenges unique from the traditional vNetwork Standard Switch (vSS) that admins are used to. Specifically, since the vCenter 4 Server actually maintains the vDS configuration, some extra design thinking needs to be built into a vSphere 4 environment where a vDS will be used. If vCenter 4 Server itself will be a virtual machine in the environment with a vDS, the design gets even more involved.

There are a few possible problems to consider. In this post I’ll first cover (with the help of a several others) general VM and vCenter vDS networking issues, but along the way I’ll explore thoughts about designing around a vDS for keeping vCenter as a VM.

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Managing and troubleshooting ESXi 4 can be a little alien when an administrator is used to the Service Console of ESX Classic. Specifically, troubleshooting remote connectivity to the ESX management interface after adding a second NIC involves local esxcfg-vswitch commands on ESX, but with ESXi the esxcfg commands are only available via the RCLI. Problem is you can’t use the RCLI if you lost remote management connectivity! Luckily, the local ESXi GUI lets you reconfigure your mistake and re establish remote connections.

Hit F2 on the ESXi Console and enter the System Configuration Menu

  Choose to Configure Management Network > Network Adapters

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http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010718 explains the normal way for disabling and removing a VMware ESX/ESXi vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS or DVS or VDS – LOL), but when I recently tried to do so I received the following error:

“The resource ‘1′ is in use. DVS [vDS Name] port 1 is reserved by to entity <not-found.> vnic 4000, type:vmVnic”

The screen shot shows the actual error I received.

After thinking about that message, I decided to check to see if any ports were in fact being used on the vDS. Although PortID 1 dvPortGroups did not show it being used as expected, other PortIDs were, in fact, in use. See image below.

I tried messing around with disabling the ports (blocking was the terminology in the vSphere Client, I believe) but I still could not delete the vDS. It was Saturday and I had family stuff to do so I reluctantly gave up at the time. However, 3 days later I was able to easily remove it via the Remove link on vDS Configuration screen just like I was supposed to be able to do all along. Needless to say I was a bit perplexed.

After researching I discovered that

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I am proud to announce a new podcast I will be hosting on a weekly basis – VIRTUMANIA!

VIRTUMANIA is an Infosmack Production that will try to focus on the operational and administrative viewpoints of all things virtualization, so expect a different guest list of bloggers, architects, administrators, and consultants with each recording.

VIRTUMANIA episodes will be announced as new posts here on VM /ETC. Be sure to subscribe to the VM /ETC RSS feed in your favorite RSS reader or download the show each week from the podcast’s RSS feed. Of course, you can subscribe to the VIRTUMANIA podcast on iTunes. Finally, download or listen to each episode from the embedded player on the VM /ETC VIRTUMANIA Page.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the first episode of VIRTUMANIA!

VIRTUMANIA Podcast Episode 1 – Virtualbox, Type 2 Hypervisors, and Security Nipples.

Rich Brambley (@rbrambley) of VMETC and Marc Farley (@3parfarley) of 3Par and StorageRap.com with guests Sean Clark (@vseanclark) of SeanClark.us and Rick Vanover (@rickvanover) of RickVanover.com. This week’s episode includes discussion about Sun Virtulabox, Teleportation, comparing all type 2 hypervisors, and Oracle’s master virtualization plan. Thanks to Greg Knieriemen (@knieriemen) of Chi Corporation for this Infosmack Production.

Listen Now:

Download

I can’t thank Greg Knieriemen and Marc Farley enough for the patience, advice, and support necessary to get this podcast off the ground. For those that don’t already know, Greg and Marc host the already widely popular Infosmack podcast covering servers, storage, and virtualization news. Tapping into their insights and experiences while planning this podcast have been, and will continue to be invaluable to me. Special thanks to Marc for the Virtumania theme music and Greg for recording and post editing each episode.

HP Blades Day ended for me with another opportunity to be a guest on an Infosmack podcast. Episode 40 was recorded mid afternoon on the last day of the event with an all-star lineup. Here’s the official podcast summary from the episode’s web page (linked above):

“Infosmack Podcast Episode 40 – HP Blades Day Wrap Up. Greg Knieriemen of Chi Corporation and Marc Farley of 3Par and StorageRap.comwith guests Rich Brambley of VM/ETC, Simon Seagrave of TechHead, Stephen Foskett of Gestalt IT, Chris M. Evans of The Storage Architect and Devang Panchigar of Storage Nerve. This week’s podcast is a special wrap up from the HP Blades Day in Houston, Texas.

Disclosure: The participants on this podcast were provided travel and accommodations by HP.”

Like when I’ve been on Infosmack before, here’s an embedded player to listen to the latest episode now.

For those wanting to know a little bit more about some of the most important topics we were discussing in Episode 40 check out the following links:

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The final day of HP Blades Day consisted of some quick morning sessions and then the Factory Express and HP Pod tour. The guided explanation of the HP server assembly process was clearly the pinnacle of 2 days that was already filled with many highlights.

Here’s a 30 second video of some of my photos from Friday.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

For more information about HP’s Factory Express program that let’s each customer “choose how your solution is built, tested, integrated, shipped and deployed” check out this video.

For more information about the HP POD “ship to order datacenter” check out this video.

If you’d like to see all my photos from Wednesday through Friday check out my full HP Blades Day photo album. I’ll eventually add the HP Blade Day photo album to my Photos page here on VM /ETC as well.

Disclosure – I toured the HP Houston, TX facilities during an all expenses paid blogging event hosted by HP.