VM /ETC

Archive for the ‘vSphere’ Category

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Download The VMworld 2009 Presentation on IO DRS

A common question from those that did not get to attend VMware Partner Exchange 2010 has been “So, tell me about what you saw that you can’t tell everyone about!” Unfortunately, like Maverick in the movie Top Gun said, “It’s classified. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

On the other hand, more and more information is starting to surface on the web. I can neither confirm or deny that all features and version numbers will be available or released as reported, but the TechTarget folks have put together a couple of good summary articles for those who interested in a little more information on a possible future roadmap of VMware vSphere and VMware View. Check the following articles for a round up of general speculation and reaction during and after the PEX 2010 conference. Most of the sources used are credible. (That last comment will make more sense to you after you follow the links)

VMware to add memory compression, I-O resource management to next vSphere

“The next release of VMware’s vSphere will add memory compression, I/O resource management and better VMotion performance, according to attendees of last week’s VMware Partner Exchange in Las Vegas. If the company architects these features as promised, they could improve performance and resource utilization of VMware environments.”

VMware vies for virtual desktop dominance with View 4.5

“The upcoming version of VMware’s VDI software will better integrate its desktop and server virtualization software and expand the role of its ThinApp application virtualization software, all in an effort to extend its server virtualization dominance to the desktop.”

The above quotes are just the opening paragraphs of each TechTarget article. Read the rest for the details.

To use another quote from the movie Top Gun, Read the rest of this entry »

If you are looking at various options to automate virtual machine (VM) ip address reconfiguration when failing over virtual machines to a disaster recovery (DR) site, this post explains an option so simple it is beautiful. To give full credit, the Vizioncore vReplicator 2.5 Best Practices document enlightened me to the strategy of using a local only VMware vSwitch and an extra virtual NIC (vNIC) in each VM. It’s been a long time since I had a “ton of bricks” moment, but this concept crashed down on me with the realization of a configuration that works in any version of ESX, doesn’t require extra software or hardware, and better yet, doesn’t have to be scripted! Just configure some extra virtual networking and forget about it!

Here is a general outline for automating the DR ip addressing with this method:

At the Primary Site

• For these instructions assume the production vSwitch at the primary site has a Portgroup named VM Network
• Build a new vSwitch and do not attach any physical NICs (local only isolated switch). Create a Portgroup named DR Network
• For each VM you need to fail over to a DR site, add an extra vNIC and attach it to the DR Network Portgroup

At the DR Site

• Create your DR site production vSwitch, attach physical NICs and add a Portgroup named DR Network.
• Create another vSwitch and do not attach any physical NICs (local only isolated switch). Create a Portgroup named VM Network

All you have to do for this to work is

Read the rest of this entry »

VMware has extended it’s previous deadline for upgrading to VCP4 certification until the end of January 2010. Previosuly, VMware admins already holding VCP3 certification had until December 31, 2009 to upgrade to VCP4 without being required to sit (and pay for) an additional course on vSphere 4. In conjunction with the new deadline, VMware has also extended the 2 For 1 VCP-410 test re-take offer. Candidates who enroll in the Second Shot program with Pearson Vue and take their first exam before January 15, 2010 can take the exam again at no charge if needed.

The following information was taken from the VMware Certification page:

In order to accommodate participants that despite best efforts were unable to schedule their exam prior to the deadline, VMware will continue accepting the VCP3 certification as a qualification to take the VCP4 exam without requiring attending the ‘What’s New" class through January 31st 2010. We fully expect that the additional four weeks will allow remaining participants ample time to find a testing center with available seating, and will NOT be extending the deadline any further, so please take advantage of this opportunity! Regards, The VMware Technical Certification Team

Become a VCP4. Free 2nd Shot Opportunity!

VMware is allowing participating candidates who fail a VMware Certified Professional on vSphere 4 exam (exam code – VCP410) to have a free re-take. To participate you must enroll prior to taking your first attempt and no later than January 15th, 2010. You will receive a registration confirmation for a class. You will receive additional information on the date and at the time indicated in your registration. You should wait to register with Pearson VUE until you have received the additional information.

Click here to enroll in the 2nd Shot Program. Vouchers will only be sent to those who have completed the prerequisites for VCP4 (see below). Please direct any questions about this program to certification@vmware.com. You must take your first exam on or before January 22nd to allow for the 7 day wait between attempts.

Visit www.PearsonVUE.com/VMware/Upgrade for the full list of participation instructions. If you have previously enrolled in the 2nd Shot Program and already received your voucher, the expiration has been automatically extended.

Check out this previous VM /ETC post for a quick list of links to help you prepare for the VCP-410 exam.

Forget the feature matrix with all the check marks. Forget the price comparison and the price per virtual machine or cost per application. For the sake of consideration, assume an “apples to apples” scenario and focus on VMware and Microsoft virtualization solutions, vSphere Enterprise (or Plus) and Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V, as production implementation projects. Put yourself in the shoes of someone responsible for implementing both virtual infrastructures and following best practices. Forget bias. Forget allegiance. Build the best virtual infrastructure design based on the prerequisites and requirements of each solution. Build it with the best interest of the company who will administer and support it going forward.

There is a lot to consider in the first paragraph, and as any consultant would say, the final decision depends on what other objectives the solution will need to satisfy besides just serving as server infrastructure. Again, for the sake of consideration, I’m going to zoom in on the server infrastructure and leave the “other” out of the implementation.

Again, for the sake of consideration, can the difference between choosing to implement production virtual infrastructure with VMware or Microsoft be simplified to a aligning with either companies strategic vision? I’ll attempt to make that case in this post.

For the sake of being open and honest before I continue, I’ll state up front that I personally have yet to implement a production Hyper-V environment, but as a consulting engineer working for a large Microsoft partner, I’ve sat in certification training, experimented a little in the home lab, and have been looking very closely at the implementation services needed to deploy Hyper-V for customers recently.

This post holds my thoughts on some major implementation differences as I understand them today. Please point out where I have missed the mark or help me consider other factors that I may have missed.
Read the rest of this entry »

Shortly after VMworld  I posted about my experience using vCloud Express. One of the things that I expected to see but found missing from the solution was the ability to perform virtual machine (VM) uploads and downloads between my own vSphere infrastructure and the hosted VMware environment. To be able to move my workloads (running on VMware VMs) from my private data center to the cloud or visa versa was an expectation I had based on the federated and private cloud discussions I’ve listened to over the past year. I expected to be able to at least manually export or import an OVF, but unfortunately did not find that capability while testing.

Before continuing allow me the liberty to reference a common expression - Can’t see the forest for the trees:

“An expression used of someone who is too involved in the details of a problem to look at the situation as a whole”

VMware has created the opposite scenario described in this expression with their concept of the Cloud. That is, VMware has allowed us to visualize what the forest will be before we have the trees. Of course, they had to. Was anyone besides Amazon talking Cloud before that, and if they were, was anyone even considering allowing companies to create their own internal clouds? I’d have to say VMware put the concept in my head. All I can say for sure is that I know I wasn’t listening to Cloud discussions before VMworld 2008.

Getting back to my vCloud Express testing and expectations, I was finally looking at the trees instead of the forest. I have since found some interesting information about how these trees are growing (if you will). To complete my reference, some of the details about VM transfer between private and public clouds are revealed by a VMware project has been privately referred to as Project Redwood. Read the rest of this entry »

vCenter Client Shortcuts by Bouke Groenescheij is post worth book marking by VMware admins who want to speed up their administration and management of vSphere. Check out the entire post for many, many more shortcuts than those listed here, but I am high-lighting some of the key navigational shortcuts for my own reference later (and making sure I have a backup link to Groenescheij’s post!).

The following screen shots show the Ctrl+Shift keystroke combinations to move between the most common VI Client management views:

Other Ctrl+Shift Navigational shortcuts Read the rest of this entry »