VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘virtualization’

WOW! 3 full VIRTUMANIA podcasts are now available from iTunes!

Special guest Scott Lowe joins us in this latest episode to discuss high availability options for virtual machines. Marc Farley co hosts the show and Sean Clark returns again as the guest host. The following is the podcast summary:

VIRTUMANIA Podcast Episode 3 - High Availability For Virtual Machines. Rich Brambley (@rbrambley) of VMETC and Marc Farley (@3parfarley) of3Par and StorageRap.com with guests Sean Clark (@vseanclark) ofwww.seanclark.us and Scott Lowe(@scott_lowe) of blog.scottlowe.org of EMC. Our discussion this week focuses on high availability (HA) options for applications running on virtual machines. Talk includes application clustering decisions as well as hypervisor features and third party solutions that enable HA. We also look to the future with Cisco OTV and Long Distance Vmotion. Thanks to Greg Knieriemen (@knieriemen) of Chi Corporation for this Infosmack Production.

Listen to episode 3 with the embedded player below or use the badges underneath  to always get Virtumania epsiodes immediately when published.

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

The following short list of links offer more information on a couple of the topics mentioned in VIRTUMANIA Episode 3 that I found extra interesting:

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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.

Tomorrow I leave for Texas to attend HP’s Infrastructure Software & Blades Tech Day at the HP campus in Houston, TX. HPBladesDay is taking place on February 25^th & 26th. This exclusive blogger event was outlined in the invitation email I received as follows:

“This day and a half deep dive about the blade server market, key data center trends and client virtualization will be with HP technology leaders and business executives who will discuss the company’s business advantages and technical advances.  It will also include customers’ and their own key insights and experiences and provide demos of the products.  You’ll get an insider’s tour of HP’s Lab facilities as well.”

So, for the rest of this week I’ll be tweeting, snapping photos, taking movies, and sooner or later blogging about my experiences and HP’s blades servers.

This will be my second HP blogger event. Regular readers will recall I was also lucky enough to get invited to the HP Storage Day event at the Colorado Springs HP campus last Fall.

Podcast Coverage

Greg Knieriemen, also a HPBladesday attendee and the infamous Infosmack podcast host, has asked me to record another Infosmack episode from Houston with him. GestaltIT’s fearless leader and blogger extraordinaire Stephen Foskett will also be joining us on the show as well as in Houston at HP’s event. I’m willing to bet that several other of the bloggers in attendance could end up on the podcast, so look for another great Infosmack talk next Monday when it is released.

HP’s own blogger (Around the Storage Block blog) Calvin Zito (@HPStorageGuy) will also be there. Since Zito has also recently started his own podcast, look for great coverage in all social media formats from him as well.

Twitter and Blogs

Knieriemen has already created a Twitter list.

Twitter / @Knieriemen/HP Blades Day

You can also follow HP Blade team (BladeNews) on Twitter

The official event Twitter hashtag is #HPBladesDay

Here’s a list of other bloggers attending, (but not a complete list): Read the rest of this entry »