Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to You All!

Hoping to have an exciting year with VMware....

ESXi 5.0 Update 2 has been released

I have been busy downloading new updates of vSphere 5.0. Updates include for ESXi 5.0 and vCenter Server 5.0.

VMware has announced officially that vCenter 5.0 Update 2 is able to run on Windows Server 2012.

Read the release notes of VMware below. Check for the resolved issues section the number of issues that VMware has addressed with this release.

http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsp_esxi50_u2_rel_notes.html

I dont know if its just me but I am having trouble to download the iso's. Whenever I have been trying to download the vSphere 5.0 update 2 it keeps redirecting me to vSphere 5.1.

Along with this update HP has released it's custom ESXi ISO in the below URL.

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=HP-ESXI-5.0.0-U2-20DEC2012&productId=229

Host resource counter on summary page not visible

On a production at one of customer sites showed blank on host resources,

The host was already added to the cluster...

To resolve the issue,

• Enabled the SSH service on the host.
• Connected through a putty session.
• Restarted the management services using "services.sh restart" command.

Host automatically got disconnected. Connected the host back again and voila! there it was with all the counters visible.

OVM to VMware migration project lessons learnt

I am involved in an ongoing migration of OVM 2.1.5 to VMware vSphere 5 project.

It involved having a mediate server beefed up with enough memory and storage to host all the vm's.

Most of these vm's were in production environment, and the necessary network settings had to be created on the VMware virtual infrastructure.

Mediate server mediated to test the vm's in their own VLAN's and also used Starwind's free iSCSI software which was an awesome find for us to quickly migrate the vm's from mediate server to the blade servers.

On my next post I will try and do a tutorial on how to install an Starwind iSCSI software to setup a Software  iSCSI storage.

Leave comments if you want a detailed tutorial on this.

VMware vCenter is capable of managing 3rd party hypervisors.

VMware announced its capabiltiy of managing third party hypevisors. For now Hyper-V on Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 is supported.

The relevant software can be obtained from the following link, (Scroll to the very bottom of the page.)
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=VCL-VSP510-VC-510A-EN&productId=285&rPId=3144


Before installing, ensure that these prerequisites are met:

• You have an account with administrator privileges on the vCenter Server system.
• The Windows Remote Management service is running and configured on the vCenter Server machine and on the machine where you install the vCenter Multi-Hypervisor Manager server.
• Your user account has sufficient rights to install the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package. The vCenter Multi-Hypervisor Manager installer initiates the installation of the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package.
• (If you want to use a custom certificate for vCenter Multi-Hypervisor Manager) You have all the necessary certification authorities in the Trusted Root Certification Authority on the system where you want to install the vCenter Multi-Hypervisor Manager server.

Following KBTV videos show how the vCenter Multi Hypervisor Manager Server and vCenter Multi Hypervisor Manager Client is installed.

Interoperability and Software Requirements

Supported Hypervisors

• Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008
• Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

http://www.vmware.com/support/mhm/doc/vcenter-multi-hypervisor-manager-10-release-notes.html#interop

End of availability of ESX 4.x and vMA versions 1 and 4

VMware will not provide any binaries or license keys for vSphere ESX hypervisor 4.x or vMA versions 1 and 4 after August 15, 2013.

VMware has announced the end of availability (“EOA”) of VMware vSphere ESX hypervisor 4.x and VMware Management Assistant (“vMA”) versions 1 and 4, effective August 15, 2013. As of this date VMware vSphere ESX hypervisor 4.x and vMA versions 1 and 4 will no longer be available for download from VMware and customers will no longer have the ability to download or generate license keys for use with these products.


Read more:
https://www.vmware.com/support/product-support/esx/?rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CDsQFjAC&url=http://www.vmware.com/go/esx-end-of-availability&ei=2J64UKK9MMHYrQeEg4GYBQ&usg=AFQjCNEGpGkmM8MnizAfUSkSzL5wDJjnzA

Only for VMware vExperts, VMware Certified Professionals (VCP) and VMware Certified Instructors (VCI)

VEEAM is giving away free 12 month valid NFR license to VCP's, VCI's and vExperts.

Grab yours now at http://www.veeam.com/nfr/free-nfr-license?utm_source=lettertobloggers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nfr6.5&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokvajPde%2FhmjTEU5z16OQsWqGygokz2EFye%2BLIHETpodcMTsVlM7rYEhcSI4JkxgVAR%2FaQeYFN

Step by step installation of vSphere 5.1 Web Client

The installation is a next, next process from the vCenter Server CD. This is a tutorial setting up after installation completed.

Please note that the vSphere Web Server and the vCenter Server and SSO all were setup on the same server.

After initial installation access the vSphere Web Client administration tool by browsing to https://localhost:9443/admin-app/

This will take you to the following screen. Click on register vCenter Server.

This took me to the following screen.

After filling in the details click  the register button.

It gives the following error as in the screen shot below.

After browsing through the net, I came across the community thread  http://communities.vmware.com/thread/343085?start=0&tstart=0

According to one of the answers, I managed to overcome the major issue of getting it working.

I managed to get to the webclient using the url https://<vcenter server IP>:9443/vsphere-client/
login as the admin@system-domain. This is the account when you setup the Single Sign-On when installing the vCenter server for the first time.

Click on Administration

On the next screen select SSO Users and Groups

Click on Groups tab and select _Administrators_

Click on the blue man icon "Add Principals"

From the drop down select the vCenter server.

Select the local accounts you setup on vCenter server and click add.

After adding click ok and logout from the current session and then login as the local account on the vCenter Server. Then you will notice that the vCenter server has been registered and can work on your newly setup vSphere Web client.

VMware now can manage other Hypervisors...

VMware is now able to manage other hypervisors with its vCloud Automation Center which will be tightly integrated with vCenter Server.

With the latest aquisition of DynamicOps, VMware has strengthen its management product suite.

Hypervisors such as Hyper-V, KVM based hypervisors and Xen hypervisor.

http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vcloud-automation-center/features.html

ESXi 5.1 customized image for HP Gen8 Servers

Following is the link for customized image of ESXi 5.1 from HP which will support the Gen8 Servers.

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=HP-ESXI-5.1.0-GA-10SEP2012&productId=285&download=true&fileId=50028446&secureParam=99304e069c63b7ed48fc412c55f4a771&downloadType=dlm

You need a VMware account to download the ISO image.

vCenter 5.1 update a readme notes...

The following was extracted from http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/10/vcenter-5-1-0a-readme.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=linkedin&goback=%2Egde_51214_member_180966510                

vCenter 5.1.0A Readme

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Justin King

I was involved with a document for the release of vCenter Server 5.1.0A which when released I could not find. It wasn’t until I raised this internally that I found where the document was actually listed. This document is a readme for the vCenter 5.1.0A release and contains information that will help with vCenter Single Sign-On design and installation. I thought I would share it here as more than likely you missed it as well.

For reference the file is located in the notes section of the vCenter 5.1.0A download page and I have linked it here

vCenter Server 5.1.0a README
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.0a has been released in response to bugs and usability issues encountered by VMware customers. A number of these bugs concern installation and upgrade. This release also addresses several other bugs that did not have any workarounds. The goal of vCenter Server 5.1.0a is to provide you with a smoother upgrade path so that you can take advantage of the new features in vCenter Server 5.1 right away.

Upgrade Paths
vCenter Server 5.1.0a is not a patch release. You can upgrade to this version of vCenter Server from the following previous versions:
• vCenter Server 4.1, 4.1 Ux
• vCenter Server 5.0, 5.0 Ux
• vCenter Server 5.1 GA

vCenter Server 5.1.0a supports the same database and OS configurations as the original release of vCenter Server 5.1.

Architectural Changes
The vCenter Server 5.1 release includes significant architectural changes. You must understand these changes before attempting to freshly install or upgrade to vCenter Server 5.1 from older versions of the product. There are four separate services that constitute the vCenter Server 5.1 platform. These are:
• vCenter Single Sign On (SSO)
• vCenter Inventory Service
• vCenter Server
• vSphere Web Client

Upgrade Prerequisites
Before you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.1 determine whether your environment is right for vCenter Server 5.1 by observing the following prerequisites.

- Check your Active Directory (AD) domain settings
• vCenter SSO uses standard LDAP protocols to interact with AD. The machine where SSO is being deployed must have default read-only LDAP privileges (domain member default).
• Read the following Knowledge Base articles (KBs) for detailed prerequisites related to AD.
• Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 best practices (KB2021193)
• Installing vCenter Server 5.1 best practices (KB2021202)
• Required ports for vCenter Server 5.1 (KB2031843)

- Check that vCenter Server and Inventory Service Certificates are valid
• Having expired certificates in your environment is a security risk. vCenter SSO checks for certificate validity. You can find details on how to check for expired certificates and renew them in KB2035413.
• For Microsoft Windows deployments, ensure that your certificates meet minimum certificate key-length requirements. Refer to VMware KB2037082 and Microsoft Security Advisory KB2661254.

- Database Configuration 
• Know your database user and password quality policies.
• Ensure that SQL Authentication is set to Mixed Mode.
• TCP/IP must be enabled for MS SQL Server.

- Decide on the choice of Basic, HA, or Multi-site installation for SSO
You can find details that will help you decide which type of installation is applicable for your environment by reading the following:
• Installing vCenter Single Sign On in a multisite deployment (KB2034074)
• Configuring vCenter Single Sign On for High Availability (KB2033588)
• For the basic SSO installation, see the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide

- Knowledge of where your VC administrators live
• Going forward, SSO will be the single point for all user authentications.
• With vCenter Server no longer managing users it is imperative that you understand the source of your users, especially administrators.
• Depending on how you deploy SSO server (on a different machine from vCenter Server), your local OS users might not be migrated to the new environment. If this occurs, you must create new administrative users, preferably local SSO users. If your administrators are AD users, these users will be migrated to SSO provided SSO can find the AD domains.

You can find additional information in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide and vSphere Upgrade Guide.

Upgrade Strategy
Use a step-by-step approach to installation or upgrade. This approach ensures a smoother upgrade and the ability to revert to a stable state should any problems arise. VMware offers two modes of installation and upgrade for the vCenter Server platform: simple installation and the custom installation.

1. Back up your vCenter Server Database. If you are running vCenter Server in a virtual machine, take a snapshot of the vCenter Server virtual machine.
2. Use the individual installer for each service wherever possible, as opposed to the simple installer. Install SSO first and then upgrade or install the vSphere Web Client.
3. Log into the vSphere Web Client as the SSO administrator (admin@system-domain, ).
4. Verify that you can see all the AD domains for your administrators. If you cannot see some of the AD domains, use the Configuration tab to add them as described in KB2035934.
5. Assign one of the AD users as an SSO administrator. Log out and log back in using the new SSO administrator user. If you are able to connect successfully, SSO is configured correctly.
6. Upgrade vCenter Server, keeping the following in mind:
• Upgrade the Inventory Service before upgrading vCenter Server.
• As a best practice, avoid using local OS users.
• Your configured AD domains must be reachable during vCenter Server upgrades. Refer to KB2035758 for more information.
7. Handle Administrators as follows during vCenter Server upgrade:
• During vCenter Server upgrade, the installer might notify you that administrator permissions are being deleted for users who the installer could not find. This is expected behavior if local OS users were not migrated during SSO installation.
• In where local OS users were the only administrators, the installer prompts you to provide a user or group to which vCenter Server administrator privileges will be assigned. Provide a valid user or group that vCenter Server can recognize. This will be the only user or group granted administrator permissions on vCenter Server. Connect to vCenter Server using this singleton user or any user from the group. After you log into vCenter Server, you can provide administrator access to other users.
• Do not use an administrator from a child domain during setup.

If you want to use the simple installation method, be aware that users and permissions carry over from your old vCenter Server to vCenter Server 5.1 only if SSO and vCenter Server can find the Local OS Users and AD Domains during the upgrade process. If you perform an in-place upgrade and plan to install vCenter Server with SSO and IS on the same machine your existing Local OS users will persist across upgrades.

Release Notes
Be aware of the following caveats when upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1.0a. These caveats have workarounds that you can apply if you encounter problems.

Dynamic Port support in Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server uses dynamic ports by default. SSO requires a fixed port to connect to SQL Server. Refer to the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide to configure SQL Server with static ports. If your datacenter policy requires dynamic ports, you can specify the port number during initial installation of SSO. If the port number may change after SQL server restarts, readKB2033516 to learn about resetting SSO to use the new port. SSO service dependency on MS SQL
When SSO is installed with local Microsoft SQL Server, the services must start in a specific order. SSO must start after SQL Server starts. If SSO starts before SQL Server starts, restart the SSO server after SQL server starts.

Non-standard UPN
Authentication fails with nonstandard UPN using Windows authentication from the vSphere Web
Client or the vSphere Client. Use the original domain name when connecting to the vCenter
Server platform and authenticate with a valid user name and password. This issue impacts
customers who use smart cards to log into either client and who also use nonstandard UPN.

Short File Names
Ensure that short filenames are enabled on your Windows operating system before creating the
folder where you plan to install SSO. If you do not, SSO installation will fail.

vSphere Web Client might appear inaccessible or plugin modules might not be visible in
the vSphere Web Client
After updating the vCenter Server Appliance to 5.1.0a, the appliance does not prompt for reboot
or automatically reboot. When the vSphere Web Client is later updated with a newer version of a
vCenter Server plug-in module found on vCenter Server, the vSphere Web Client might appear
inaccessible or the new plug-in might not be visible in the vSphere Web Client. After updating the
vCenter Server Appliance or a vSphere Web Client plug-in, reboot the vCenter Server Appliance
to complete the process.

This entry was posted in v

VMware vCloud ® Suite Upgrade Promotion

VMware vCloud Suite simplifies IT operations while delivering the best SLAs for all applications. This integrated product offering includes all the components you need to build a complete, IaaS cloud. VMware vSphere Enterprise and Enterprise Plus customers can now upgrade to the new VMware vCloud Suite at discount prices.

• Upgrade from vSphere Enterprise Plus to the most agile and secure Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform, vCloud Suite Standard for free.
• Or get everything you need for a mature IaaS cloud with vCloud Suite Enterprise for 35% off.

Promotion Rules:

This promotion is valid from September 10, 2012 until December 15, 2012 at 11:59pm Pacific Time (PT). Purchases may be made through a VMware authorized reselling partner, via the VMware website or directly with VMware. OEM partners and VMware and service providers are also eligible. This promotion cannot be combined with any other promotions or discounts for the same product.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this promotion, customers must have purchased vSphere Enterprise or vSphere Enterprise Plus as of August 27th, 2012 and have an active Support and Subscription agreement. New purchases of vSphere Enterprise or vSphere Enterprise Plus on or after August 27, 2012 are not eligible for this promotion

http://www.vmware.com/promotions/2012-vCloud-Suite-promotion.html

Much awaited patch for vSphere 5.1 has been released.

The patch addresses the issues of VMware View and PowerPath issues with this new update that has been released by VMware.

vSphere 5.1 is now compatible with VMware View 5.1.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2035268

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2034796

Cisco comes up with a Nexus 1000V Free Edition

Cisco Nexus 1000V Essential and Advanced Edition

VERSION 3  

Created on: Oct 3, 2012 3:33 PM by ekeener - Last Modified:  Oct 3, 2012 4:31 PM by ekeener

Announcement Overview

Cisco is announcing a new go-to-market (GTM) model for the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series virtual switch for Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Release 2.1 - 4.2(1)SV2(1.1). The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Release 2.1 software is being offered in two editions: Essential (free1) and Advanced (paid).

• Cisco Nexus 1000V Essential Edition: Available at no cost1, the Cisco Nexus 1000V Essential Edition provides most of the comprehensive Layer 2 networking features of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series, including VXLAN, Cisco vPath for service insertion and chaining, and VMware vCloud Director integration, as well as the operation simplification enhancements of Release 2.1 (such as the VMware vCenter plug-in, vTracker, and enhanced upgrade). This free version will enable rapid, risk-free adoption of Cisco’s virtual network technology in a single- or multiple-hypervisor environment.
• Cisco Nexus 1000V Advanced Edition: This version offers value-added security features such as Domain Host Control Protocol (DHCP) snooping, IP source guard, Dynamic Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Inspection, and Cisco TrustSec® Secure Group Access (SGA) support (a new feature in Release 2.1). The Cisco VSG zone-based virtual firewall is also included in the Advanced Edition.

Extracted from: https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-31313

More ideas coming into reality in VMware

OVM 3.0 to vSphere 5 migration

I just came back from a successful migration of Windows guests to vSphere 5.

Windows migration was a no brainer to migrate. Following were the steps followed.

• Perform a Windows Server backup with the system state.
• Created a virtual machine with more disk space than configured.
• Created an additional hard disk to store the backup taken.
• And did a system restore with the backup.
• Voila! the machine is created. Only the IP settings was not propogated.

There were some linux guests running on the OVM platform that has to be migrated. There are some concerns on relying on the converter to do this migration.

• When converting a Linux operating system, vCenter Converter does not maintain Logical Volumes (LVMs) on the resulting virtual machine.

• When using vCenter Converter Standalone 4.x to convert a supported Linux guest operating system that has LVMs, the resulting virtual machine does not contain the LVM setup.

• During conversion of powered-on Linux machines, Converter Standalone does not recognize Linux source volumes if they are mapped directly on a hard disk 
• Workaround: Linux source volumes that are not managed by LVM must be located in a partition so that Converter Standalone can recognize them during cloning of powered-on Linux sources.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1019398

https://www.vmware.com/support/converter/doc/conv_sa_50_rel_notes.html#resolvedissues

ALERT: vCenter Server Services hang on startup after upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1

VMware has become aware of an issue where:

After upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1, the VMware VirtualCenter Server service fails to start

The VMware VirtualCenter Server service will not successfully stop or start.

The final log in the vpxd.log file shows:

CoreDump: Writing minidump

You see a backtrace near the very bottom of the vpxd.log file which begins with the following:

2012-09-13T11:53:46.802+02:00 [04468 info 'vmmoVm' opID=SWI-c5103928] [VmMo::SetComputeCompatibilityDirty] vm vm-5345 is marked dirty

2012-09-13T11:53:46.786+02:00 [05112 warning 'win32vpxdOsLayer_win32' opID=SWI-56f04b9c] [VpxUnhandledException] Backtrace

For further information, updates, and resolution to this issue, refer to KB article: vCenter Server Services hang on startup after upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 (2035623).

Courtesy of: http://blogs.vmware.com

Multiple vCPU support for FT is coming...

Just concluded a VMware partner briefing now and it was announced an  update to new vSphere 5.1 is due in a week or two.

It's going to bring the multiple vCPU support or FT while addressing known issues with the vSphere 5.1.

As anticipated it will support 4 vCPU's.

VMware has announced that vSphere 5.1 does not support any of the View versions as of yet.

VMware announces on the kb article 2035268 to hold on to the upgrade if your enterprise is using View.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2035268

vSphere 5.1 is not supported with any versions of VMware View

Symptoms

• VMware vSphere 5.1 is not currently supported with any versions of VMware View.

Resolution

Do not upgrade vSphere above the supported versions listed in the VMware View 5.1 Release Notes.

vSphere 5.1 is in the process of being certified against VMware View. To be alerted when this article is updated, click Subscribe to Document in the Actions box.

vSphere 5.1 Auto Deploy: Stateless caching and Stateful Install elucidated....

Ever since the vSphere 5.1 was released it was mentioned that a new feature was added for Auto Deploy feature. I was curious to know what this feature was and how it could help to ease installation.

Following post describes the feature in details and in which way you should setup the BIOS for using this feature in Auto Deploy. Its worth a read...

http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/09/vsphere-5-1-auto-deploy-stateless-caching-and-stateful-installs.html

Stateless Caching Mode
The Auto Deploy stateless caching mode was implemented to help address availability concerns with the PXE boot infrastructure and Auto Deploy server.  With stateless hosts, if the PXE boot failed, or if the Auto Deploy server was unavailable, the host would not be able to boot until the outage was corrected.  However, with stateless caching, if a host cannot boot due to a problem with the PXE environment or Auto Deploy server, it is able to fall back to booting off a cached image saved to a dedicated boot device.  After booting from the cached image, the administrator is able to use the host to help troubleshoot and identify why the PXE boot might have failed.
The stateless caching mode is very similar to the stateless mode, in that during normal operation the host PXE boots from the Auto Deploy server.  However, the difference is that with stateless caching, an additional step is taken where the software image running in memory is cached (saved) to a dedicated boot device (local disk, SAN, USB).  This cached image then acts as a backup from which the host can boot in the event there is a problem with the PXE boot or Auto Deploy infrastructure.
Unlike the stateless mode, stateless caching requires a dedicated boot device for each vSphere host.  In addition, users must configure the host’s BIOS settings to first attempt to boot over the network and, if that fails, to fall back to booting from disk.
With stateless caching, if there is a localized outage that affects the PXE boot infrastructure (DHCP or TFTP server) or the Auto Deploy server but does not affect the vCenter Server instance, by using the cached image the host will be able to boot and the administrator able to manually reconnect to the vCenter Server.
Note: Stateless caching does not protect against a vCenter Server failure. Always protect a vCenter Server by running it in a vSphere cluster protected by VMware vSphere High Availability (VMware HA) or VMware vCenter server Heartbeat (vCenter Server Heartbeat).
Stateful Install Mode
Auto Deploy stateful install mode enables administrators to leverage the Auto Deploy infrastructure to provision new vSphere hosts.  With stateful install, users perform a one-time PXE boot of a new host from the Auto Deploy server.  Following the one-time PXE boot, all subsequent reboots will take place from the dedicated boot disk.
Setting up stateful installs is similar to configuring stateless caching.  The difference is the BIOS boot order configured on the server.  Where stateless caching is set to boot from the network first and fall back to the local disk only when the PXE boot fails, with stateful installs the host is configured to always try to boot from the local disk first and boot from the network only when no boot image can be found on the disk.  With Auto Deploy stateful install mode, a new host will perform an initial one-time PXE boot using the Auto Deploy infrastructure to configure the host.  After the initial boot, all subsequent reboots take place using the boot device.
With stateful installs, the Auto Deploy infrastructure is being leveraged as a provisioning tool similarly to how scripted installations or kickstart might be used. The advantage to Auto Deploy stateful install is that users are able to rapidly deploy hosts without having the need to create and maintain custom scripts.  The software to be installed is determined using the Auto Deploy rules engine, and the host is configured using the vCenter host profiles and therefore doesn’t rely on external scripts.
With stateful installs, users leverage the Auto Deploy infrastructure to provision new hosts but forgo most of the benefits of stateless or stateless caching because after the vSphere hosts have been deployed, they must be maintained, patched and updated individually.

SRM 5.1 vSphere Replication supports fail and reprotect

VMware confirms that the new vCenter Site Recovery manager has added Reprotect and Failback feature with vSphere Replication. Previously it was only possible with Storage Array based Replication


What's New

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.1 adds the following new features and improvements.

• SRM 5.1 supports reprotect and failback with vSphere Replication. Previously, you could only perform reprotect and failback on array-based protection groups. In SRM 5.1 you can perform reprotect and failback on vSphere Replication protection groups.

• The SRM Server in SRM 5.1 is now a fully 64-bit application.

• Improved handling of datastores in the all paths down (APD) state. If SRM detects that a datastore on the protected site is in the all paths down (APD) state and is preventing a virtual machine from shutting down, SRM waits for a period before attempting to shut down the virtual machine again. The APD state is usually transient, so by waiting for a datastore in the APD state to come back online, SRM can gracefully shut down the protected virtual machines on that datastore.

• Improved disk resignaturing for VFMS disks.

For more refer: http://www.vmware.com/support/srm/srm-releasenotes-5-1-0.html

Enhanced vMotion is only possible through vSphere Web Client

Enhanced vMotion is only possible when you access the Virtual Infrastructure through New vSphere Web Client. The C# based vSphere client does not cater this feature.

VMware 4.0 to 5.0 Upgrade

Concluded a successful project in one of our prominent customers.

This was a practical scenario which involved following steps. The vSphere 4 was setup by a previous employee and it had to be upgraded to vSphere 5.

Pre assessment tasks involved.

• Taking an inventory of the vm's
• Taking an inventory of datastores.
• Taking an inventory of the vswitches, network adapters and their MAC addresses. There were VLAN's involved.
• IP details and DNS and netbios names.

Project Plan in a high level involved:

• Powering off non critical vm's
• vMotion vitual machines to single host.
• Installing ESXi 5on a host on two new HDD's.
• Configure ESXi host.
• Install vCenter Server 5 on a vm.
• Configure vCenter Server.
• Unregister vm's from old hypervisor and register new hypervisor.
• Upgrade the hardware version on vm's.
• Testing vm settings.
• Install ESXi 5 on the other host.
• Configure ESXi 5.
• Format and install vCenter Server 5 on the physical machine.
• Configure vCenter Server 5 and HA/DRS cluster.

The downtime was a 4 hour window. We achieved it within the given time.

vSphere 5.1 Whats New Official PPT Slides

The follwoing slides are the official slides for whats new in vSphere 5.1.

http://www.4shared.com/file/SlCj6L6b/vSphere_51_Whats_New_Presentat.html

My Study Material List for VCAP-DCD

I thought of listing out what materials I would use to prepare for my VCAP-DCD exams.

I will be updating this list quite often, so make sure to come back and check for the list.


1. VCAP-DCD 5 Blueprint
2. Trainsignal - Designing Virtual Infrastructure Design Video's
3. vSphere 5 Design Workshop - Student Manual and lab guides
4. vSphere Design e-book - (I believe it's Scott Lowe's)
5. vSphere 5 Clustering Technical Deep Dive e-book

Additional Reading:
6. Mastering vSphere 5
7. vSphere 5.1 Clustering Technical Deep Dive

VMworld 2012 Session NET2207: VMware vSphere Distributed Switch Technical Deep Dive:

While the VMware vSphere Distributed Switch has been around since vSphere 4, vSphere 4.1 and 5.0 have added a number of enhancements. This session will provide a technical deep dive into the vSphere Distributed Switch, including design and deployment considerations, configuration, migration steps, tuning and troubleshooting. Special attention will be paid to migrating an existing production environment from the standard vSwitch to the vSphere Distributed Switch with little or no disruption. Extended features such as network I/O control, network resource pools, and load-based teaming will be discussed in depth, with use cases and recommendations given. Finally, methods and tools for troubleshooting network connectivity and performance problems will also be highlighted. A live lab environment will be included, making for a very interactive session.

VMware vSphere 5.1 known issues...

VMware vSphere 5.1 Known Issues

VMWARE VSPHERE 5.1 KNOWN ISSUES : UPDATED 9/14

VMware released vSphere 5.1 at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco and with any new product release there are usually bumps on the road, compatibility issues and things that just don’t work. VMware vSphere 5.1 is no exception.

I have been part of many beta tests for other companies as well as several vSphere editions going back to 3.x. Not every configuration and product can be tested. The beta process does catch a lot of issues. The day software goes live without any issues every time, a lot of people will be without work..

I have decided to catalog a few of the known issues with the vSphere 5.1 release.

Perhaps the larges issue is that VMware View and vSphere 5.1 are not compatible yet.

vSphere 5.1 and VMware View (all versions of View)  

VMware vSphere 5.1 is not currently supported with any versions of VMware View.

Do not upgrade vSphere above the supported versions listed in the VMware View 5.1Release Notes.

vSphere 5.1 is in the process of being certified against VMware View. To be alerted when this article is updated, click Subscribe to Document on the link above in the actions box

VMware vSphere 5.1 KB articles

VMware complied several of the 5.1 KB articles in a recent blog post on VMware Support Insider blog

Increased Restart time with vCenter Server 5.1

This issue only impacts the start/re-start time for vCenter Server. It does not affect the ongoing operations after vCenter Server has started. In fact, due to improvements to the vCenter Server database, the use of vSphere Web Client, the Inventory Service cache, customers will notice significant performance improvements in vCenter Server 5.1. 

VMware vSphere 5.1 and EMC VMAX arrays.

Sphere 5.1 changes the behavior of VAAI Hardware Accelerated Locking (aka ATS) to no longer work with transient (sometimes on/sometimes off) ATS behavior, and older (i.e. non-current) versions of Enginuity will fail to create VMFS-5.

VMware vSphere 5.1 and EMC PowerPath V/E 

PowerPath/VE customers, hold off vSphere 5.1 upgrades (GA was yesterday).   Hotfix P02 from EMC is in days, and so is the expected VMware fix, follow the above link for more details on Chad Sakac’s blog post

VMware vSphere 5.1 and Synology DSM 4.1   

Stephen Foskett found an issue with the most recent release of DSM 4.1 and vSphere 5.1

It’s possible to mount both NFS and iSCSI datastores, but when you try to build or power on a VM, everything begins to halt when it needs to write to disk. If everything runs in memory (like mounting an ISO and beginning an OS installation), but when it comes to install the OS to disk, it begins to crawl. I checked the vmkernel log and here is what is shown. You can see that after I power on the VM, it gets binded to a port but when it tries to read from disk, there are all sorts of errors 

Update Manager 5.1 reports the compliance status as Incompatible when scanning or remediating ESXi 5.x hosts that belong to an HA cluster 

I personally ran into this issue when upgrading my lab - see Update Manager 5.1 Release Notes

CA Signed SSL Certificates may cause trouble with the upgrade process of vCenter.

From Michael Webster’s blog at http://longwhiteclouds.com/

I have heard unconfirmed reports of difficulties with the upgrade process of vCenter particularly with registering Inventory Service and SSO with vCenter when using CA Signed SSL Certificates. As I’m using CA Signed Certificates in my lab environment I will update this article when I have completed my upgrade.

Troubleshooting SSL certificate updates and Single Sign On (2033240)
vCenter Single Sign On installer reports: Error 29155. Identity source discovery error (2034374)

ESXi cannot distinguish between EagerZeroedThick & LazyZeroedThick
From Cormac Hogan’s Blog

ESXi cannot distinguish between thick provision lazy zeroed and thick provision eager zeroed virtual disks on NFS datastores with Hardware Acceleration support

 When you use NFS datastores that support Hardware Acceleration, the vSphere Client allows you to create virtual disks in Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed (zeroedthick) or Thick Provision Eager Zeroed (eagerzeroedthick) format. However, when you check the disk type on the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box, the Disk Provisioning section always shows Thick Provision Eager Zeroed as the disk format no matter which format you selected during the disk creation. ESXi does not distinguish between lazy zeroed and eager zeroed virtual disks on NFS datastores.

Links for more informations
vSphere 5.1 Important Upgrade Considerations by Michael Webster VCDX #66

Extracted from: www.varrow.com

vSphere 5.1 poster

Now you can pause and resume a task in the vSphere Web Client

Pause and Resume a Task in Progress in the vSphere Web Client You can pause many tasks in the vSphere Web Client and later resume them from the Work in Progress pane.

Procedure

1. In a dialog box or wizard, click the minimize button. The task is paused and minimized to the Work in Progress pane. Any changes that you have made in the dialog box or wizard are saved, but not yet applied to the object you are working with.

2. When you are ready to resume the task, click it in the Work in Progress pane. The dialog box or wizard opens and you can resume the task from where you left off.

VMworld 2012 goes hip-hop... FUNNY :D

Installing vSphere Web Client 5.1

vSphere Client Vs. vSphere Web Client

vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client

All administrative functions are available through the vSphere Web Client. A subset of those functions is available through the vSphere Client.

Comparing the Two Clients

vSphere Client	vSphere Web Client
■ Locally installed application. ■ Windows operating system only. ■ Can connect to vCenter Server or directly to hosts. ■ Full range of administrative functionality except new features introduced in vSphere 5.1.	■ Web application. ■ Cross platform. ■ Can connect to vCenter Server only. ■ Full range of administrative functionality. ■ Extensible plug-in-based architecture.
Users: Virtual infrastructure administrators for specialized functions.	Users: Virtual infrastructure administrators, help desk, network operations center operators, virtual machine owners.

The vSphere Client uses the VMware API to access vCenter Server. After the user is authenticated, a session starts in vCenter Server, and the user sees the resources and virtual machines that are assigned to the user. For virtual machine console access, the vSphere Client first uses the VMware API to obtain the virtual machine location from vCenter Server. The vSphere Client then connects to the appropriate host and provides access to the virtual machine console.

Users can use the vSphere Web Client to access vCenter Server through a Web browser. The vSphere Web Client uses the VMware API to mediate the communication between the browser and the vCenter Server.

Courtesy of: www.vmware.com