Good film about how to install PowerPath/VE

Got an excellent film about how to install PowerPath on ESX or ESXi from friends at EMC and thought it would be good to share…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDC0EQ-jM_I

VMware vSphere Firewall diagram

http://www.vreference.com/2009/09/22/firewall-diagram-updated-to-version-3/

Platespin Recon - cannot get performance counters?

Check permissions on target system:
Regedt32/hklm/currentcontrolset/control/securepipeserver/winreg. -system has full control

Hardware connectors, slots, sockets, ...

http://www.technibble.com/articlecontent/2009/07/computer-hardware-chart1.jpg

VMware Converter - P2V

Your conversion speed will vary depending on options you select during the conversion process.

VMware converter uses two types of “cloning” methods during the P2V process:

File level cloning : Performed when you make the volume smaller then original (slowest conversion speed)

Block level cloning : Performed when you maintain or make drives larger (fastest conversion speed)


If you need to see the conversion rate use the VMware Standalone. It will now report the conversion rate as well as conversion type it is using to get your data into the virtual environment.

On my last project conversion speed varied from 144GB/Hr (or 2.4GB/min block lvl copy) to 36GB/Hr (.6GB/min file lvl copy).

Installing dell openmanage 6.1 on esxi 4.0

This introduction was originally published at http://communities.vmware.com/thread/220783;jsessionid=BDA548B9B81DA124C2F62A75BC7775C6?start=30&tstart=0

...

Here are the exact steps for installing dell openmanage on ESXi 4.0. This is provided in their support site.

1) Download the appropriate RCLI (Remote Command Line Interface) package from http://www.vmware.com/http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/ depending on whether your system is running on Microsoft Windows or Linux.
2) Copy the Dell OpenManage bundle to a directory on your system.
3) Use the vihostupdate command. If you are using Microsoft Windows, navigate to the folder where you have installed the RCLI utilities to use this command. If you are using Linux, this command is installed when you install the RCLI RPM .
4) Execute the command vihostupdate --server -i -b
5) The command output displays a successful or a failed update.

You must enable CIM OEM providers on the VMware ESXi 4 system after installing the Dell OpenManage bundle to manage a system with Dell OpenManage Server Administrator.

Using vSphere Client to Enable CIM OEM Providers:
To enable CIM OEM providers using VMware vSphere Client, you need to have the vSphere Client tool installed. You can download and install the tool from https:// where is the IP address of the VMware ESXi 4 system.

To enable CIM OEM providers on the VMware ESXi 4 system using vSphere Client:
1) Log on to the VMware ESXi 4 system in which vSphere Client is installed.
2) Click the Configuration tab.
3) Under the Software section on the left side, click Advanced Settings.
4) In the Advanced Settings dialog box, click “UserVars” on the left pane.
5) Change the value of the “CIMOEMProvidersEnabled” field to 1.
6) Click OK.
7) Restart your system for the change to take effect. Use the Summary tab in vSphere Client to restart the system.

BIND 9 Configure Views To Partition External and Internal DNS Information

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-unix-bind9-named-configure-views/

DELL BladeChassis Cookbook

http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/10G+Blades+Cookbook

vCenter and MSSQL

To prepare a SQL Server database to work with vCenter Server, you generally need to create a SQL Server database user with database operator (DBO) rights. When you do this, make sure that the database user login has the db_owner fixed database role on the vCenter Server database and on the MSDB database. The db_owner role on the MSDB database is required for installation and upgrade only, and you can revoke it after installation.

If you are using SQL 2008, make sure you go to the “CMD” line and change the default ODBC from 32 to 64 Bit

Should read: If you are using Windows 2008 64 bit OS and vCenter with SQL, launch the 32 bit ODBC connector.

Create a 32-Bit DSN on a 64-Bit Operating System
You can install or upgrade to vCenter Server on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.
Even though vCenter Server is supported on 64-bit operating systems, the vCenter Server system must have
a 32-bit DSN. This requirement applies to all supported databases. By default, any DSN created on a 64-bit
system is 64 bit.
Procedure
1 Install the ODBC drivers.
n For Microsoft SQL Server database servers, install the 64-bit database ODBC drivers on your Microsoft
Windows system. When you install the 64-bit drivers, the 32-bit drivers are installed automatically.
n For Oracle database servers, install the 32-bit database ODBC drivers on your Microsoft Windows
system.
NOTE The default install location on 64-bit operating systems is C:\VMware.
2 Run the 32-bit ODBC Administrator application, located at [WindowsDir]\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe.
3 Use the application to create your DSN.
You now have a DSN that is compatible with vCenter Server. When the vCenter Server installer prompts you
for a DSN, select the 32-bit DSN.

vSphere 4 Default and CTRL-ALT-DEL

If you hit CTRL-ALT-DEL on ESX 4 console, the server will reboot even if there are running VMs and it doesn't matter if the server is not in Maintenance Mode.

To disable this yourself:

1. Edit /etc/inittab. Any text editors will do- I like nano but vi works just as well.
2. Search for "CTRL-ALT-DELETE" or "ctrlaltdel"
3. Comment out the line "ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now" with a # symbol.

It should look like:

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE

# ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

4. Save and exit the file.
5. To make this take effect without a reboot, run the command:

init q

Automating vSphere ESX4 host installations

http://blog.laspina.ca/ubiquitous/tag/esx-4-0

20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know

20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know

VMware vSwitch and Cisco switch configuration

These are field configurations that have been in-use for years and have their origin from both VMware and Cisco Best Practice documents regarding VMware integration. We use these configurations as reference when working with customer’s network teams in setting up any new Cisco network equipment for VMware.

Standard trunk port Best Practice switchport configuration:

interface GigabitEthernet#/#
description <<** ESX Host #/# **>>
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,#,#,#
switchport mode trunk
switchport nonegotiate
spanning-tree portfast trunk
exit

Standard ether-channel Best Practice switchport configuration:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Etherchannel is only applicable if all the interfaces bound to the channel are going to the same physical switch OR that all of the interfaces are going to different physical switches which are stacked together (with an actual stacking cable, not an ISL.) If you are running these interfaces to two separate network switches, you cannot Etherchannel them and they should be configured as above rather than the example below.

interface port-channel #
description <<** ESX EC# **>>
switchport
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,#,#,#
switchport mode trunk
interface GigabitEthernet#/#
description <<** EC#/INT# **>>
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,#,#,#
switchport mode trunk
channel-group # mode on
interface GigabitEthernet#/#
description <<** EC#/INT# **>>
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,#,#,#
switchport mode trunk
channel-group # mode on
exit

NOTE: It is also worth mentioning that it is assumed the member ports (those with channel-group # mode on as above) will inherit their configuration from the channel-group but it is sometimes necessary to replicate that configuration to their individual switchport configurations as above.

Capacity Planning Tools

Platespin Recon
VMware Capacity Planner
CIRBA
LANAMARK

A couple important (ALUA and SRM) notes for VMware and EMC Storage

http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2009/09/a-couple-important-alua-and-srm-notes.html

FreeBSD and multiple gateways

Question: How to add multiple gateways to a FreeBSD?
Answer: No you can not do this (at least directly) on FreeBSD. FreeBSD don't support multiple gateways.
Workaround solution: If you have a server with 2 set of IPs and each set have there own gateway.

• First, you must select one of the gateway to be a default gateway.
• Then, You need ipfw (or any FreeBSD firewall solution),
  Check that your kernel support ipfw, if not, recompile your kernel with the following options(IPDIVERT and DUMMYNET is not required, but if you add IPFW/IPFW2 it better to also add these two options)

  #Firewall & NAT & DummyNet 
  options         IPFIREWALL
  options         IPDIVERT
  options         IPFIREWALL_DEFAULT_TO_ACCEPT
  options         IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE
  options         IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE_LIMIT=100
  options         DUMMYNET
  options         IPFW2
  

  add the following rule to your ipfw rules set.

   ipfw add rule_no fwd second_gateyway_ip ip from ip_of_this_gateway to not me
  

  For example, I have 2 ip set (10.0.0.100,10.0.0.101,10.0.0.102 for gateway 10.0.0.254) and (192.168.0.77,192.168.0.78 for gateways 192.168.0.254). I chose 10.0.0.254 as the default gateway. So, my ipfw rules are

   ipfw add 100 fwd 192.168.0.254 ip from 192.168.0.77 to not me
        ipfw add 110 fwd 192.168.0.254 ip from 192.168.0.78 to not me

Source: http://freebie.miraclenet.co.th/server/

Články o administraci CISCO switchů

http://www.samuraj-cz.com/clanky-kategorie/cisco-admin/

Článek o konfiguraci CISCO a ESX teamingu
http://www.samuraj-cz.com/clanek/vmware-esxi-a-nic-teaming-aneb-pripojeni-pres-vice-sitovek/

Configure BIND DNS to Answer Active Directory Queries

How to configure BIND DNS to Answer Active Directory Queries ...
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/Networking/Configure_BIND_DNS_to_Answer_Active_Directory_Queries

Quick Setup:
If you have an Address Record (A) that identifies your server name like this:

dc1.example.com. A 111.222.333.444

Then your SRV records for this DC would be as follows

_ldap._tcp.example.com. SRV 0 0 389 dc1.example.com.
_kerberos._tcp.example.com. SRV 0 0 88 dc1.example.com.
_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.example.com. SRV 0 0 389 dc1.example.com.
_kerberos._tcp.dc._msdcs.example.com. SRV 0 0 88 dc1.example.com.

HA “Deepdive”

Article at http://www.yellow-bricks.com/vmware-high-availability-deepdiv/ very deeply describe VMware HA functionality.

Article clearly explains:

• Primary and Secondary nodes
• Isolation Response
• Slot sizes/Admission Control
• Advanced settings

Mike Liverick's virtualisation blog

http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/

Training videos for vSphere4:
http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/?page_id=1442