Hello all,
The last two weeks was a blur. One week in Texas and one in Ohio. But I visited a lot of customers and partners and I can say that DataGravity is very lucky both in Customers and Partners. It was good to learn how they use our product, and what they would like to improve. But this was a blur so nothing made it to my blog lately, but I do have some great ideas on what I need to do and will get done.
BTW, I did a vROps install this week, or last weekend maybe, and I updated this article. And all of the articles that it references. This update was due to vROps 6.1 and the typical improvements I do as I use articles over again.
I have lots to share today and as always I hope something for everyone.
Have a great week!
Michael
New Microsoft Exchange 2013 on VSAN 6.1 Reference Architecture
Rawlinson is talking about a new Reference Architecture on Exchange 2013 running on VSAN 6.1. Some great info if you are going to do Exchange on VSAN. And, yes, that is a great idea! This TWP has best practices and optimal configuration info so most excellent.
Need SMB and NFS - managed via vSphere Web Client on VSAN?
This is sort of cool - you can have SMB and NFS on your VSAN using this tool. This was not around for me to play with when I was at VMware working on VSAN but I sure see potential value. Rawlinson has done a review of this product.
Migrating ESXi to a Distributed Virtual Switch with a single NIC running vCenter Server
William has a very interesting article, about a very unlikely situation. But it is still good reading as it is info that might be, in a different odd situation, useful. Pus, a good reminder about Ephemeral ports too.
Update vSphere Host with ESXCLI
Rob has an interesting article here about doing a command line update of an ESXi host. This is definitely good for home labs that don’t want an extra VM for VUM. I cannot wait for VUM to be inside VCSA.
Controlling NBD Traffic Flows with the ESXi Routing Table
A very interesting article by Chris Wahl that is very well done. It talks about virtual network traffic and confirming how VADP traffic will go. I love his Networking for VMware Admins book. It too is very well done indeed. I recently had the chance to say hi to him and say thanks very much for his book and I think maybe many of us should say that.
Recovering a Replicated vSphere Data Protection (VDP) virtual appliance
Jeff has a good article about how you can recover the VDP appliance and still restore from VM backups associated with it. Some good info so thanks Jeff!
Which VDI User needs more CPU or RAM?
Iwan has an article about how to monitor VDI workloads using vR Ops. He is quite correct that it is different then monitoring servers. Servers are much more predictable then VDI workloads, and VDI workloads are spiky so it is good to understand the differences and it will change how you monitor. Check out the article for more info.
Creating a Capacity & Performance Management Dashboard in vRealize Operations 6.x
A very useful dashboard and all you need to recreate it easily in your own lab. Nice article!
Troubleshooting with vROps part 1: vROps Capability
Here is the first article in a Troubleshooting series about how to use vROps as the troubleshooting tool. Make sure to check out the linked articles as they are part of the troubleshooting lessons.
vR Ops 6.x cluster expansion - how and why
It is pretty easy to get your first vROps appliance installed, configured, and running. But this will help you get the second one going - in a cluster which most production vROps should be running.
New Book - VMware vRealize Automation Handbook: Implementing Cloud Management in the Enterprise Environment
As I have mentioned before my love / hate relationship with vRA so it is very good to see that there is some additional help in the form of a handbook. I have not been able to check it out. Here is the info.
Troubleshooting vRealize IaaS SSL Certificate Registration Issue
Working with certs is always less then ideal. Another good story on issues around dealing with certs and in vRA no less.
Log Insight Agents: Client-side versus Server-side Configuration
This is good info so I am glad that Steve has done this article. One of the things that I did not know about in LI 3.0 - until Steve told me, was server-side agent groups. Very handy in fact especially since some of the content packs have some specific agent config and this makes that a little more clear and easy.
12 Reasons Why You Should Use Log Insight Agent Parsers
Another nice article from Steve on why you should use agent parsers which is an important tool to know.
VMware Photon Controller Deep Dive
If you want to learn a bit about Photon this is your article.
VMware App Volumes 2.9 Technical FAQ Now Available
A nice FAQ to help understand more about App Volumes.
Dell-EMC: What Storage Customers Should Do
Howard has an interesting article about what Dell and EMC customers should do in advance of the Dell EMC merger / takeover. Some interesting thoughts.
Dell PowerEdge FX2: CMC Configuration Gotchya
One of my co-workers bought recently Dell FX2 gear for us. I am a R720 kind of guy but I do like the sound of the FX2. So when saw this I thought it was good to share.
toolsmith #110: Sysinternals vs Kryptic
I am a big fan of some of the Sysinternals tools - like Autoruns and BGInfo. Here is an interesting article that uses some of the Sysinternals tools in interesting ways.
vSphere 6.0 Toolkit Update
Derek Seaman - famous dude who does the vSphere 6.0 SSL Toolkit has updated it recently. This is a very useful toolkit. Also, congrats on your new Nutanix gig. I think you will have a lot of fun there - and yes, I am a little bit late on this.
Deploying the EMC vVNX VVOLs Technical Preview
If you want to work a little with VVOLs the best way right now is to use the virtual VNX from EMC. So here is the article. This is also a good way to learn about VNX.
Recovery of a Virtual Machine Using the DataGravity Discovery Series
This article is from a cool dude at one of DataGravity’s partners. In fact a pretty good partner that I have had the pleasure to met and work with. The article highlights an issue that Daniel had and how he dealt with it using the unusual features that DG storage arrays have.
Working set sizes in the Data Center
This is a very interesting article on working set sizes and how useful they are. It also talks about the interesting new product - Architect.
Wireshark 2.0 Officially Released!
You can find notice on this here. A very useful tool is now improved.
Keeping a work “diary”
Rob has an interesting article about keeping a work diary. I keep a work task / appointment journal. But it does not work quite like Rob’s and I think his is a good idea. I may have to update things.
Short Thoughts on Security
This article has a good point. Security isn’t about being secure Rob writes. And I think he is right.
How to get started on a fictional VCDX design
For some of us that work for vendors, but still want to be a VCDX, you need to do a fictional VCDX design and that is a little harder then you might expect. Here is some good info on this subject.
VADP or Agent Based Backups
Another interesting article from Josh Odgers. I am a big fan of VADP, and I use it a lot - and with a variety of software. I have not seen all of the issues that Josh is reporting on, but there are good points mentioned. And as always, you need to use the right tool and if that means you need granularity that VADP doesn’t have, and you have something that does have that granularity, and it works well, and solves the problem, that makes it an easy choice.
A Handy GUI Tool for Working with API’s
This is an interesting article that Scott has done. I must admit I do not have a use for this tool - yet - but when I do it will be quite useful.
Online Technology Forum - Wednesday the 25th - Free
There is an amazing number of very smart people in this online event. You should check this out for more info.
Apple TV (2015) international review
If you are interested in the Apple TV this is a great article to learn more. BTW, I have had mine for a while and am very happy with it.
IPad Pro buying guide
I have seen several people with iPad Pro’s and they are very happy indeed. See here for a buyers guide - just in case! On a podcast I watched today (MacBreak Weekly) they mostly talked about drawing on it. But people I have talked with talk about consuming - movies and books, plus network diagrams!
How to use Apple Pay: The Ultimate Guide
For the people in Canada that have AMX cards, and who can actually use Apple Pay now, here is the guide you need. I am sad to say it doesn’t include me. I am waiting for Royal Bank to realize how important this is and step up. I have a bad feeling that I may need to leave Royal Bank. I have been a customer for approximately 40 years so that will be too bad. Make no mistake, Apple Pay is seriously more secure then any other means, and that is a why to protect me, and protect the bank that covers off abuse of my card, they should have already stepped up. Why they will not step up is unknown to me but it is disappointing.
Thanks for reading this far, or even skimming this far!
Michael
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