This post was created in response to an entry in the “Blogger Block” contest. The idea for the post came from Chad King, who now has a coffee cup in route. Thanks! NetApp DataONTAP Cmdlets NetApp has released a PowerCLI snap-in to manage their devices! It is important to know: Licensing The Data ONTAP PowerShell
-> Continue reading NetApp PoshOnTap & PowerGUI/VESI
This is relevant to my interests! Specifically, TrainSignal has released a vSphere Troubleshooting course that lines up well with some of the objectives in the VCAP-DCA. Some proof-pudding: Demo 1 Demo 2 Demo 3 There is another video here. Disclosure: TrainSignal is a sponsor of this site. :
For this round, we’ll be covering the Scripting and Automation section of the VCAP-DCA Blueprint. What does that mean? It means PowerCLI, it means VMware Orchestrator and vMA. It also means some fun demo’s and interesting flash-cards. Details: Date: 1/5/2011 Time: 8PM EST Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/594210065 About the BrownBag Series The BrownBag series are an ongoing
-> Continue reading VCAP-DCA BrownBag Section 8 – Scripting & Automation
What is VMTurbo? Well, before we can deploy it, we kinda need to know what it is, right? VMTurbo is a company that provides a suite of products aimed at the management, optimization, and automation of your virtual environment. Basically, they’ve got a set of tools in a vApp, designed to make your life easier.
-> Continue reading Getting Started With VMTurbo
I’ve been suffering from a bit of what I’ll call blogger block lately. In that, I’ve been having some trouble coming up with good and/or interesting posts. With that said, I know how creative y’all are as a community, and thought I’d put together a guest post contest. A contest? Sure, the contest is this:
-> Continue reading Blogger Block! – Guest Post Contest
While this isn’t as big a problem as it used to be, Context Switches in applications can still bring a VM to it’s knees. In this post I’m going to link you to some resources as to what context switching is, how to look for it, and why excessive context switches hurts performance. What Is
-> Continue reading Context Switching, Some Resources
As we’ve been progressing down the BrownBag Series, I’ve been creating flashcards along the way. Here they are so far. Section 2 – Networking Section 3 – DRS / Performance They’re hosted at Flashcard Exchange, and will work with the MentalCase App. The best part? They’re open for folks to add and edit, so feel
-> Continue reading VCAP-DCA Flash Cards – Sections 2 & 3 Available
The version of Likewise-Open that ships with VMware’s vMA is a bit old, and for one reason or another, it may need to be upgraded outside the normal window for upgrading the vMA bits. So… here goes the update: Checking the Current Install You can check the currently installed version with an rpm -qa: $
-> Continue reading Upgrading Likewise on vMA
Recently I set upon a quest, one of grand scope and sure to bring honor to my family. Well, maybe. This quest you ask? This quest was to attach the VMware vSphere Management Appliance to Active Directory. Like any good quest, this was not without it’s challenges. First, Connect vMA to Active Directory: This is
-> Continue reading Connecting vMA to Active Directory (Troubleshooting)
In all things wonderful about life, scheduling is one of them. Unfortunately I’ve a conflict that cannot otherwise be avoided, and this will have to cancel the BrownBag for November 10, 2010. All is not lost however! The Fat Lady has not sung, and we will be returning to you in two weeks time (November
-> Continue reading Schedu-Fail – No BrownBag Nov 10, 2010
As much as I loathe love VMware’s PDF documentation, I always get the warm and fuzzies when I happen upon something like this. An online reference for the vSphere CLI (vCLI) commands. Enjoy!
After purging my vCenter database, I seemingly corrupted it (I should have taken a snapshot first). In this case, as the database was small (read: 1 host, 6 VMs) I decided to rebuild it. This is not something you’ll want to do lightly, as well, everything kinda goes away. If you do proceed with this
-> Continue reading Rebuild the vCenter 4.1 Database
My home lab vCenter is a self contained Windows 2008 R2 VM, running vCenter 4.1 on SQL Express. Last night, I ran into an issue where the vCenter service would not start, in fact, it was quite angry. Why? Well it seems after 14(ish) days I had hit the 4GB database limit. Here’s the process
-> Continue reading Pruning vCenter 4.1 Database Using SQL Express
The Problem! Was doing some work with UDA and nested ESX & ESXi installs this weekend and ran into an interesting hiccup: Or on ESXi: What? Can’t format what? But we’re working with nested ESX, it’s a VMDK, format it! I tried any number of things here: Different controller types, disk sizes, partitioning within the
-> Continue reading “Could not Format VMFS” – Nested ESX
OK, so every environment has “That Guy”… if you don’t know what I’m on about, take a look at what floated past on Twitter this evening from @vSeanClark: RT @techmute: Some people really make me wish vSphere had the option "take a snapshot when this guy logs in as an admin" <- startup idea? Well…
-> Continue reading Protecting your Virtual Machines From “That Guy”
As I have the worst luck remembering what this is each and every time I need it, I’m throwing it up here for quick reference. Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostStorage -RescanAllHba Yes, it really is that simple. You can use a few of the other Get-* search functions to narrow the list of hosts, say for all
-> Continue reading PowerCLI One-Liner Rescan All HBA’s
Ever wondered what a path failover event looks like in /var/log/vmkernel? Ever saw the event but when reading the vmkernel log you weren’t sure what exactly you were looking at? Well, VMware has recently published a KB article that describes the process in detail: Understanding the storage path failover sequence in VMware ESX 4.x
The survey results are in! In summarized form: Most of you prefer Wednesday’s, mostly in the evening. The suggestions were mostly: a) Make sure your lab works and b) Consistency. As far as format, of the options I presented (Lecture, Guest Speaker, Open Discussion, Live Lab) all weighed about equally. Finally, most of y’all are
-> Continue reading VCAP-DCA Brown Bags – Sign up now!
For those that have been asking, yes we are still doing BrownBags. I have been lapse in putting one together in a while, however. This is not because I am lazy (not entirely anyways), but rather because I care about what I’m delivering and the benefit it brings to y’all. Rather than spend a long
-> Continue reading BrownBags Update!
It seems quite a lot of folks wrote in while I was at VMworld. Normally I try to address these individually, or with a post if it would be beneficial. In this case, a commenter on one of my old VCP4 prep pages wrote to ask: “Why would you use a vApp over a Folder?”
-> Continue reading Reader Email – Why vApps?