VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘planning’

Look for a new VMware KB article in the near future for this VMware VDM error.

I helped implement a VDI solution for a customer that ended up revealing an issue with VMware Desktop Manager (VDM) 2.1 and the resource pools of an ESX Cluster. The explanation of the problem to me was that the VDI desktops auto-deployed via persistent VDM pools were out of sync with the ESX resource pools they were members of, and therefore new VDI desktops could not be cloned by VDM. That’s a little confusing I know, so I’ll try to explain it better by providing the sequence of implementation steps that resulted in the issue.

Here’s how it happened. Read the rest of this entry »

Did you take the time to plan for VMware Update Manager (VUM) when designing your virtual infrastructure architecture? Planning focus is usually on VirtualCenter (VC) server’s requirements, but then, in my experience, Update Manager and it’s default local SQL 2005 Express database seem to be added on the VC server simply because the installer is prompted about VUM during the VC setup routine. This scenario can create a poor performing VUM implementation.

Recently on the VMware Performance Team’s VROOM blog, John Liang’s post titled VMware Update Manager Performance and Best Practices Paper Posted announced a new whitepaper that should be a must read for any virtual infrastructure administrator preparing to use (or already using) VUM. The .pdf is a 14 page discussion on the topics that impact VUM such as performance, networking, resource consumption, and even virus scanning.

I find a few of these recommendations interesting, and the whitepaper leaves me wondering how common using VUM for virtual machine OS patching really is. I’ve created two informal polls, so please take a second to complete them and maybe we can get a quick gauge on how VUM is commonly implemented.

[poll id="2"][poll id="3"]

The whitepaper is a quick, informative read that I strongly encourage, but the following list of best practices was copied from the whitepaper’s Conclusion section.
Read the rest of this entry »

Updated 12.08.08 – The difference between free ESXi and licensed ESXi has been a very popular topic and one of my most read posts. Now with the release of ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 3 there have been some feature changes in the free ESXi that I want to point out. I have also made a few corrections. I have left my original text for reference. Thanks go to Mike Dipetrillo for asisstance with these updates.

update 12.15.08 – the ESXi 3.5 Update 3 RCLI API was unintentionally opened. The remote administration abilities will be locked down again in the next release. Please see my updated post on this new information.

In case you’ve been “holed up” in the data center for the last month (I don’t doubt that a few admins have) and maybe haven’t heard yet, VMware now offers a free version of ESXi. Yes, VMware has made a version of it’s enterprise class, bare metal installable hypervisor available for download at no charge. There is no trial period or demo license required. There are no guest limitations on the host. So, there has to be a “gotcha”, right? Not really, but you do need to understand the differences between the free ESXi and VI ESXi (licensed) versions.

Although ESXi runs the same code and is on the same distribution schedule as ESX, VMware’s intended usage is a little different than what VMware administrators are used to, and therefore the ESXi product has some functional differences that need to be understood – especially for the free ESXi version. This post explores some of the major differences, and can hopefully help VI administrators make the correct decisions about what version of ESX to implement. I concentrate most on the differences between the free and licensed versions of ESXi as they are the most likely versions to confuse administrators used to VMware’s full ESX 3.5 enterprise solution. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are planning on re-purposing some of your existing server hardware to run the latest virtualization products or to take advantage of modern hardware optimizations for virtual hosts and machines, you need to be able to determine which of your servers already have Intel-VT or AMD-V features. Here are some utilities and commands you can use to check from both Windows and Linux operating systems.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, I spent most of my day today preparing for a VMware Capacity Planner Virtualization Assessment that I will be starting next week. In typical fashion, the client had many questions and concerns about preparing for the installation of the data collector in their environment. To answer those questions I assembled a very informative and lengthy list of common questions and answers from the official VMware FAQs and I am posting the results of that effort here at VM /ETC.

The FAQs I used to create this post seem to be only available to VAC partners who’s accredited VCPs have completed the necessary Capacity Planner services training. Upon completing the training a VCP is assigned a log in to the VMware Data Warehouse Portal where Capacity Planner data collector’s uploads are processed into consolidation scenarios. Here, from this portal, is where these FAQ documents can be downloaded. I happen to be an accredited VCP, so I have access to the FAQs. All of the FAQs clearly state they are customer documents so I am now providing this information here. I’m not sure why these documents aren’t publicly available because I am sure they would help generate more interest in Virtualization Assessment service projects.

The remainder of this post combines VMware’s information from 3 different documents – the Capacity Planner Technical, Security, and Sales FAQs. The individual documents are provided on the VM /ETC Files page and are linked at the bottom of this post. I have trimmed down or omitted most of the FAQs in this post (and it’s still a lot of info to read), but check out the full .pdfs for more details and other FAQs I left out.

I recommend you at least skim through some of these very popular Q & A’s:

• How is Capacity Planner sold?
• Why should we add Capacity Planner when we already have so many other tools installed?
• What ports need to be open?
• What operating systems does it discover?
• What impact does collection have on my network?
• What impact does collection have on my servers?
• How are the utilization figures determined?
• What are the security features within the software?

Go get a fresh cup of coffee or your favorite beverage and then enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

Lately, I have had several clients and peers ask me how to get disk usage and performance statistics from their current virtual infrastructure of ESX hosts and virtual machines . Some needed data for planning and sizing a new SAN, while others needed statistics for upgrading, adding more disks, or for optimizing multi path and VMFS performance. In one case the customer was trouble shooting poor VM performance issues. Regardless of the objectives there are some built in tools in both VirtualCenter and ESX server that can get this information for you. This post explains 2 native methods:

• Using the VI Cleint to access the Performance data in VirtualCenter
• Using esxtop from the ESX Service Console

I have included plenty of screenshots. As always, click on them for larger views. The rest of this post is in an outline format, but should be easy enough to follow. Read the rest of this entry »

In the May 2008 edition of the VMware Partners email newsletter I received this week there is news of the official availability of the VMware Certified Design Expert certification or VCDX. From the email:

Advanced Certification for VMware Infrastructure Design
The VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) is an advanced certification developed for design architects of VMware enterprise deployments. There are four core validation components for achieving this certification.

1. Must be certified as a VMware Certified Professional (VCP) on VMware Infrastructure 3
2. Pass the VMware Enterprise Exam. This exam includes live lab items and will test a higher level of skill set than the VCP exam. Check out the blueprint for this exam.
3. Pass the VMware Design Exam. This exam focuses on actual design and contains and situational questions
4. Submit, present and defend a successful VMware Infrastructure design plan

The first exam required will be available Read the rest of this entry »