#vBrownBag Episodes

AutoLab 1.0 released

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Hi everyone, it’s Alastair again with more AutoLab news.  Today we have released version 1.0 of the AutoLab which is a huge leap.  As you may have seen on my Demitasse blog the AutoLab has a sponsor, Veeam are helping make the AutoLab better.  In AutoLab 1.0 we not only have the complete vSphere lab in a box but now also the ability to add Veeam Backup and Replication and Veeam ONE into the lab. This allows evaluation testing and training on these products without deploying onto your production vSphere.

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Serial Over USB on OSX via Screen!

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Had to configure a Cisco firewall for the first time in literally YEARS today and ran into a few small hurdles. Mostly, my MacBook doesn’t have a serial port nor a HyperTerminal like program. Never fear, however, there are USB to Serial adapters out there that have OSX drivers… that’s where we meet challenge the
-> Continue reading Serial Over USB on OSX via Screen!

AutoLab automation uncovered, PowerShell

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It’s Alastair here with the latest AutoLab automation post, this one is a little about the PowerShell automation that helps bring the pieces together. The first AutoLab automation post is here, the second here and the third here.

One of my favourite automation tools for vSphere is the PowerCLI snapin to Microsoft PowerShell. If you are a Windows guy working in Virtualization then you should get to know PowerCLI.  I consider myself a real beginner with PowerCLI, I use it when I have a task to repeat but it’s not where I work all day.  There are some awesome scripters who are more comfortable on a command prompt than with a GUI, these are the guys whose scripts I have hacked to make my script and you can start by doing the same.  If you are a skilled scripter you may despair at my scripts, feel free to email me to recommend better ways.

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vSphere on Open Compute – Part 2, Make it Hurt!

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It’s been longer than I’d have liked to put some stress on the OCP box. For some history my home lab, thanks to some kind folks, inherited a G1 Intel OCP Platform. I’ve posted about it a few times: Open Compute and vSphere 5: https://vbrownbag.comm/2012/03/open-compute-platform-vsphere-5/ The lab setup: https://vbrownbag.comm/2012/04/vsphere-on-open-compute-part-1-lab-setup/ In that second post I promised
-> Continue reading vSphere on Open Compute – Part 2, Make it Hurt!

#vBrownBag Follow-Up – VCAP-DCA 1.2 & 1.3

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This week Hersey Cartwright (@herseyc) finished up the VCAP5-DCA series (I think), by rounding out Objective 1.2 and 1.3. VCAP-DCA Objective 1.2 & 1.3 Slides Video Show Notes So, @chriswahl has put together an AMAZING study guide… get it here. More #vBrownBag Goodness iTunes: http://t.co/07DGNQsTFeedburner: http://t.co/2Fic71ZW

#vBrownBag – July 18, 19 – Follow-Up

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Last week the US vBrownBags had Josh Atwell pulling double duty on hosting and presenting the vBrownBag covering the VCAP-DCA Blueprint Objective 8.1. He also had the pleasure of announcing the VMware Communities Tech Talks powered by the vBrownBags at VMworld US (more on this in a bit). The APAC vBrownBags also knocked it out
-> Continue reading #vBrownBag – July 18, 19 – Follow-Up

VMworld Tech Talks powered by #vBrownBags

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You heard it first tonight on the #vBrownBag with Josh Atwell. The entire #vBrownBag will be on the ground at VMworld San Francisco and we’ll be rocking out some awesome sauce in the communities lounge. How awesome? Well, all week at VMworld we will be having a number of Lightning Tech Talks with folks who
-> Continue reading VMworld Tech Talks powered by #vBrownBags

Link Dump – 7/18/2012

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Links! Lots of them. Here we go again: http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/2012/07/17/whats-not-so-new-in-vsphere5-part2-vm-management/ Not Virt specific, but applies to all vendors/products/brands in the virt space: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/07/its-easier-to-love-a-brand-when-the-brand-loves-you-back.html Oh NOES you’ve been haxed! –  https://shouldichangemypassword.com/ ESXi Builds in AutoLab – https://vbrownbag.comm/2012/07/autolab-automation-uncovered-esxi-builds/ Windows Builds in AutoLab – https://vbrownbag.comm/2012/06/autolab-automation-uncovered-windows-builds/ vCenter Ops Fundamentals Class – http://virtualization.info/en/news/2012/07/vmware-vcenter-operations-manager-fundamentals.html VCAP-DCA5 is now available – http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com/2012/07/vcap5-dca-registration-is-now-open.html Is CLI
-> Continue reading Link Dump – 7/18/2012

AutoLab automation uncovered, ESXi builds

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Hi, it’s Alastair again, this is the third post uncovering the automation that is in the AutoLab. If you don’t know what the AutoLab is then head to my AutoLab announcement post. If you missed the first article on AutoLab automation then you can head there now, then read the second post before returning here.

A rather important part of the AutoLab are the ESXi servers.  The server basic builds are automated using a PXE server and the Weasel installer that has been part of ESXi since 4.1. Weasel doesn’t require PXE, it is perfectly happy with CDROM or USB boot, the AutoLab uses PXE to allow central management which makes scaling easier. PXE requires two services, a DHCP service and a TFTP service. In the AutoLab both are provided by the DC VM, the DHCP service is the standard Windows DHCP and the TFTP service is the Jounin TFTP server. 

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#vBrownBag – VCAP5-DCA Objective 1.2 & 1.3 (@herseyc)

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UPDATE! EHERMAGERD I Broke the #vBrownBags. This show has been rescheduled for next week. Sorry for the inconvenience. Wednesday, we will have Hersey Cartwright back to round out the VCAP5-DCA objective 1 material. Details Date/Time: Wednesday 7/11 @ 7P CST Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/613559281 The #vBrownBags are also on iTunes/RSS: iTunes: http://t.co/07DGNQsT Feedburner: http://t.co/2Fic71ZW

Getting Started with pSphere on OSX

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Always on the search for new skills and new ways to work with vSphere & Virtualization, I’ve been turned on to pSphere (Python bindings for vSphere). However, getting this up and going on my Mac was not as straight forward as I’d have thought. Note: I’m not sure what is strictly required here, these are
-> Continue reading Getting Started with pSphere on OSX

Link Dump – End of June

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Holy links Batman! What follows below are a collection of links from the semi-regular closing of tabs to reclaim memory. Also, most of them are virtualization/VMware related!   Rails apps at scale – http://www.bluebox.net/news/2012/06/managing-real-wold-rails-apps-at-massive-scale-part-i/ With the various outages last week, a DR piece – http://www.itworld.com/business/282852/disaster-recovery-1975-how-att-reconnected-170000-phone-lines The UnConference – http://vninja.net/virtualization/vmworld-session-reject-club/ More UnConference – http://www.virtualnetworkdesign.com/vbrownbags/vbrownbag-unconference/ Piston Cloud
-> Continue reading Link Dump – End of June

#vBrownBag–Week Off, but Awesome Nonetheless

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This week’s US #vBrownBag coincides with a US holiday of great importance, thus, we’ll be taking a pass this week in favor of celebrating the birthday of our great nation. That said, I do still have some awesome #vBrownBag related news. USB Keys! So, what’s so cool about these keys (besides the fact that they’re
-> Continue reading #vBrownBag–Week Off, but Awesome Nonetheless

#vBrownBag UnConference–Join Us!

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Did you get an e-mail similar to this recently? Dear Cody, Thank you for your interest in speaking at VMworld 2012. We received a record number of submissions this year and were only able to accept ~12%.  Unfortunately, we are not able to accept your session proposal, but we greatly appreciate and value the time
-> Continue reading #vBrownBag UnConference–Join Us!