Hello all,
An interesting week, in that I was in the lab a lot, and heard that Veeam was vSAN certified on vSphere 6.5 U2 which took some work! But some of the work was to be ready to head out to visit with customers in the next couple of weeks, but also VMworld. I have meetings at VMworld with some of you and I am looking forward to it. If anyone else wants to talk with a Veeam product manager, I would love to meet up. BTW, here is an article Michael wrote up that talks about Veeam at VMworld.
I updated my article on creating a Linux VMware Template. That is so much easier now. I did leave the old info in case someone needs it but I will clean it up soon. I also updated my vSphere 6.7 upgrade article, and while the outstanding problem is not solved yet, I am working it with VMware. I also wrote an article about Installing the Service Discovery Management Pack and it is not working right either. VMware has confirmed my install is good, and are now going through logs to see why it is NOT reporting on services or connections. So working two VMware SR’s right now. As if I don’t already have too much work. I also got Runecast back into my lab - it is a really nice utility that I quite like. I updated (minor) my article for the new version. Also, in 1.8.1 there is no vSphere Client (HTML5) client for vSphere 6.7. But soon.
As always, I do have things to share so lets get to it. Have a great week!
Michael
Veeam Availability Orchestrator issue
If you are a Veeam VAO customer and have VAO installed and running, you have a bug that can be addressed with this article. The issue is that after some amount of time, new assets in vCenter - such as new tags, are not seen. The patch via the KB article will solve that issue. And if you have not installed VAO yet, than you should download the ISO again, as very recently it was updated. The build number has not changed however. Customers will be directly notified of this issue and if you need help or have questions don’t hesitate to reach out to Veeam support.
Reminder: VMs get corrupted on vVOL datastores after vMotion
I have shared this KB article before but I think it worth sharing again. It impacts all flavors of vSphere 6.x or ESXi 6.x. I think it worth - until it is fixed, to have your important VMs on different storage if you can so that the backups go better. I believe that a fix for this is imminent. I should mention I do in fact quite like VVols.
vSAN Stretched Cluster and Horizon View Interop Update
Cormac talks about how to fit in - best - View and stretched clusters, and pretty good info. I had not thought of this before.
Hybrid Linked Mode (HLM) now supported from onPrem to VMWonAWS
I heard that this was possible now via William by using a new appliance. Here is the release notes, and the bits. This is very cool indeed - I love the idea of having my VCSA in my local lab connected to VMC and seeing both VC’s in my web client.
Understanding vSAN Encryption - KMS Profile Addressing
Jase has a very interesting article, and if you are doing any vSAN Encryption you should likely understand it. It was an interesting read.
Brian Graf, and his VMware on AWS articles
Brian is a very good technical marketing guy and pretty darn smart too, and you should follow him if you are doing any VMware on AWS as he has a lot of cool articles on the subject which you can find here.
VMware Cloud Services on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Overview
This is a most amazing doc. Lots of really good info and it shows how secure VMC is. Good to know if you are a VMC customer or thinking about it.
VMware Cloud on AWS is GDPR Ready
I know I have a lot of European readers so this article is for you. Actually while it is for you we all get the benefit. In this article you can learn more about VMC and GDPR.
vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive ebook, now available
So this just showed on Duncan’s blog, but it is good news and I think early too. I have bought it, and yes it does still say Dutch version, but it isn’t on amazon.ca but so that is good.
vSphere 6.7 Security Features video
Mike has a video about the vSphere 6.7 security features. You always learn from Mike. This is part of vBrownBag.
Finally, the waiting is over: the VDI Design Guide is available!
You can find out more info about this design guide in this article. If you are designing VDI networks it looks pretty useful.
End of Distribution and End of General Support for VMware Software Manager
I really liked this tool and used it a lot. I knew it was going to be EOL’ed by the lack of attention paid to it. But it was a useful tool at the time - here is the official end of life info. However, we are lucky in that there is a great tool available that is similar in function. You can find it here. I use the tool, and you can find out how I installed it.
Exclude filesystem partitions from alerts with vRealize Operations 6.7
This is a good example of what to exclude from alerts. It is still monitored but no need now to alert on it. Definitely a good way to minimize alerts.
Invoke-VMScriptPlus V2
Luc has an article that talks about a new function that can help you execute scripts inside Linux VMs. This is powerful functionality.
Top 10 Networking Features in Windows Server 2019: $10 Accurate Network Time
This article about time changes in Win2k19 is pretty amazing. I did not know that it was necessary to have such detailed time control and be able to show (prove) it.
Another Windows 10 SKU is on its way, this time for remote desktops
This is good news I think for virtual desktops and since there is so many of them, it might be a very big deal. Find out more in this article.
Shocking datacenter reality?
Andre has an interesting article and I think it talks a little of what you can expect from Datrium and it is quite interesting. Must be fun to sell and demo.
Why you should never again utter the word, “CIFS”
Stephen did this article, back in 2012, but I was reminded of it recently. Everyone should read it and remember. Thanks Stephen!
The hackers just arrived, and they’re already breaking Vegas
A nice read on what is going on in Vegas with Def Con. I wished I had visited when I was a security guy in the past - it would have been fun and interesting.
Supermicro Xeon D SuperServer BIOS 2.0 and IPMI 3.68 released
This article has been updated since I saw it recently in that Paul is sharing the release notes now for the 2.0 BIOS firmware. I suspect this weekend he will test it out. Then in 3 weeks - when I am home, I will do it too.
The pfSense Book is now available to everyone
I know a number of you use pfSense and so I thought it would be good to share that their book is now available.
Defining your IT Journey
An article that is about having more input to your IT Journey and some good suggestions to have that come true. Good comments too. Do you want to experience a career (and life) that someone else designs or do you want one that you are the author of it?
Quick Fix - Backup for Office 365 Self Service Recovery fails with incompatible version
Anthony has an article about an issue with respect to Office 365 and Veeam Backup for Office 365.
CMTracing across the Veeamverse
In this very interesting article you can learn how to look through Veeam logs using a Microsoft tool. It looks very interesting. I asked and it can load multiple files too.
VMware IT’s Journey with Mac Management
I share this article for a few reasons. I am happily surprised that VMware has more than 10K Macs now. I was the start of that. When I left they were around 1400. I think it is also interesting to see how Workspace ONE helps out. I sure hope Veeam figures out the cost savings of Macs and starts supporting them.
A 1Password Journey Through SOC2
In this article 1Password talks about how they are SOC2 compliant but they also talk about how they did that. Some good examples of what is possible with 1Password.
This is how blockchain could clean up the world’s oceans
I suspect that this could really contribute to cleaning up the oceans so I think a pretty good use case for blockchain. See more in this article.
Blockchain’s next use case: Peer - to - peer enterprise storage
This is in the category of way out there - blockchain and enterprise storage but learn more in Danny’s article. He makes an interesting case.
Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community
Some fascinating reading in this threat briefing. Thanks to Erin for sharing. Something to think about, and maybe follow that up thinking about what you are doing to protect your company.
USB Restricted Mode can Block iOS Device Charging
This article talks about a nice new feature in iOS - if you plug into a new battery, or jack to charge you will likely get a message that says charging will only occur after you log in. This is a very good thing. I know of airports and train stations that have had charging that also stole data, and uploaded malware when you thought you were charging. So this is a nice feature. I saw it last weekend when I plugged into a battery to charge - it was the first time I did that since the iOS update.
How to fix MacBook Pro battery life problems
This article can help you understand why your new MBP isn’t lasting 10 hours on battery. Doing all the things I shouldn’t I can generally get 8 hours life and I think that pretty darn good.
macOS Hidden Treasures: Secrets of the System Preferences Window
This article give you some good info on System Preferences. Good info if you are a Mac user.
Seven Useful macOS Tips you might not know
There is definitely tips in this list I did not know. Pretty useful actually.
Thanks for reading or skimming this far,
Michael
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