Virtualization Adapted Adapting Business Processes for Virtual Infrastrcuture (and vice-versa)

2010/10/28

VAAI – Netapp

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , — iben @ 15:21

New NetApp Virtual Storage Console 2.0 (VSC) integrates with VMware vSphere vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI). VAAI provides additional interfaces to enable advanced capabilities developed by VMware vSphere workflows to integrate advanced storage capabilities from NetApp and other vendors.

http://media.netapp.com/documents/wp-7106.pdf

VSC consists of three distinct capabilities:

  • Storage Console is the foundation capability, providing storage discovery, health monitoring, capacity management, and storage configuration according to best practices.
  • Provisioning and Cloning (formerly NetApp Rapid Cloning Utility) provides end-to-end datastore management-provisioning, resizing, and deletion-and rapid, space-efficient VM server and desktop cloning, patching, and updating utilizing NetApp FlexClone technology.
  • Backup and Recovery (formerly NetApp SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure) automates data protection processes by enabling VMware admins to centrally manage backup and recovery of datastores and VMs without impacting guest performance, and to rapidly recover from backups at any level of granularity-datastore, VM, VMDK, or guest file.

Provisioning and Cloning

The provisioning and cloning capability of VSC 2.0 includes all the capabilities of previous versions of RCU, including the ability to efficiently clone new virtual machines from a baseline using NetApp FlexClone technology, manage and secure storage paths, configure deduplication and thin provisioining for storage efficiency, and resize datastores.

Another significant feature is the ability to redeploy existing virtual machines to bring them up to date with the latest patches and so on. Working from a baseline virtual machine that contains the same OS and applications as your deployed virtual machines plus the desired updates, this feature allows you to quickly reconstruct your existing VMDK files while keeping the unique configuration files for each VM intact. You can also choose to maintain current customization settings or apply new settings.

baselines_902x646.jpg

Figure – Redeploying your existing virtual machines from an updated baseline.

HyTrust Appliance 2.1 Available

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — iben @ 14:36

HyTrust recently celebrated its 3-year birthday.  HyTrust was founded in October 2007 to bring secure access control and policy to virtual infrastructure, enabling wider adoption of virtualization throughout the enterprise — exactly the same focus that we have today.

It’s amazing to see what we have achieved in the last three years: great enterprise customers; solid partnerships with the major players in virtualization (VMware, Cisco, RSA, Intel and Symantec); numerous accolades, including Best of Show at VMworld; and, of course, several significant releases of HyTrust Appliance…

So we’re excited to let you know that HyTrust Appliance 2.1 is now generally available. It is chock-full of exciting new enterprise features, including protection for the control of Cisco Nexus 1000V, application-level high availability, and smart card support.  As always, we have also made 2.1 available in the Community Edition form, which can be downloaded for free here: 
http://info.hytrust.com/appliance.html

New HyTrust Appliance Capabilities At a Glance

  • Support for VMware vSphere 4.1
  • Integrated access control, policy and audit logging for Cisco Nexus 1000V CLI management (NX-OS command set)
  • Support for complex, multi-domain Active Directory environments
  • Single sign-on via Windows pass-through authentication with smart card integration
  • New ESX hardening templates including VMware Hardening Guide 4.0 and (Sarbanes Oxley) SOX hardening template
  • Application-level high availability (in addition to VMware HA/FT and federation)

If you would like to take a look at the new functionality, we have recorded demos of the new version available for your viewing pleasure.
http://info.hytrust.com/recorded_product_demo.html

For those of you currently evaluating HyTrust Appliance, we’d like to extend an added incentive to make your purchase in Q4: for a limited time, HyTrust is offering a free “jump-start” professional services package to help you get up and running quickly. Contact sales (sales@hytrust.com) for more information.

2009/10/22

VMware-ESX-versus-ESXi

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , , , — iben @ 12:06

From http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf <— look on page 98 or the VMware ESXi Configuration Guide

Network Attached Storage

ESX supports using NAS through the NFS protocol. The NFS protocol enables communication between an NFS client and an NFS server.

The NFS client built into ESX lets you access the NFS server and use NFS volumes for storage. ESX supports only NFS Version 3 over TCP.

You use the vSphere Client to configure NFS volumes as datastores. Configured NFS datastores appear in the vSphere Client, and you can use them to store virtual disk files in the same way that you use VMFS-based datastores.

*** NOTE: ESXi does not support the delegate user functionality that enables access to NFS volumes using non- root credentials.

Also see these links for more info on read only capabilities for different licenses.

http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide/docs/vSphere_Comp_Matrix.pdf

On the ViOPs site there is a comparison matrix of ESXi/ESX in case we’re asked ‘which one should I use?’.

VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison – http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015000

VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 Comparison – http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006543

RCLI is limited to read-only access for the free version of VMware ESXi. To enable full functionality of RCLI on a VMware ESXi host, the host must be licensed with VI Foundation, VI Standard, or VI Enterprise.

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/editions_comparison.html

Comparison of product offerings for vSphere 4.0 and VMware Infrastructure 3.X – http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010579

2009/08/01

VMware ESX Patch Updates and Release Levels

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , , — iben @ 11:11

VMware makes periodic updates to the ESXi Installable version you can download. This page was created to help track and locate those.

VMware Infrastructure Client
VMware Infrastructure Client

Use these numbers to determine when a system was patched last and to make sure the VMware Infrastructure Client is the right one.

Best Practice:

ESXi: Run the VMware Infrastructure Update tool from a windows management station with the VMware Infrastructure Client every month.

ESX: Use vCenter Update Manager to scan and remediate ESX hosts when new security patches are available.

How to Check the Version Numbers:

  1. Download the VMware Infrastructure Client from the Web User Interface.
    For example: https://ESX-HOST-IP-ADDRESS/client/VMware-viclient.exe
  2. Start the VMware Infrastructure Client
  3. Click the Help Menu
  4. Select “About”
  5. Note the Version and Build for both the Client and Server.
  6. Compare to list below to ensure they are at same release.
  7. If you update the Server you should connect to the Web User Interface and download the latest VMware Infrastructure Client.

Latest Install ISO is VMware ESXi 3.5 Installable Update 4 Build Number: 153875
Released: (2009.03.20)

ESXe350-200907401-O-SG – PATCH Build 176894 (2009.05.28) – VIC 147633 – Tools 176894 <– Latest Patch

ESXe350-200906401-O-BG – PATCH Build 169697 (2009.05.28) – VIC 147633 – Tools 169697

ESXe350-200905401-O-BG – PATCH Build 163429 (2009.05.28) – VIC 147633 – Tools 158874
ESXe350-200904401-O-SG – PATCH Build 158874 (2009.04.29) – VIC 147633 – Tools 158874
ESXe350-200904201-O-SG – PATCH Build 158869 (2009.04.10) – VIC 147633 –
ESXe350-200903201-O-UG – UPDATE Build 153875 (2009.03.30) – VIC 147633 <– Update 4
ESXe350-200903411-O-BG – PATCH Build 153840 (2009.03.20) – VIC 119801
ESXe350-200901401-O-SG – PATCH Build 143129 (2009.01.30) – VIC 143129
ESXe350-200811401-O-SG – PATCH Build 130755 (2009.12.02) – VIC 119801
ESXe350-200810401-O-UG – UPDATE Build 123629 (2008.11.17) – VIC 119801 Update 3

The typical way to apply patches to ESXi hosts is through the VMware Update Manager. For details, see the VMware Update Manager Administration Guide.

ESXi hosts can also be updated by downloading the most recent “O” (offline) patch bundle from http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/download/ and installing the bundle using VMware Infrastructure Update or by using the vihostupdate command through the Remote Command Line Interface (RCLI). For details, see the ESX Server 3i Configuration Guide and the ESX Server 3i Embedded Setup Guide (Chapter 10, Maintaining ESX Server 3i and the VI Client) or the ESX Server 3i Installable Setup Guide (Chapter 11, Maintaining ESX Server 3i and the VI Client).

Note: ESXi hosts do not reboot automatically when you patch with the offline bundle.

Reference:

http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/s3portal.portal?_nfpb=true&_windowLabel=SearchPatch&SearchPatch_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2Fpatchupdate%2FfindPatchByProductVersion&_pageLabel=s3portal_pages_downloadPatch_page&version=3.5&product=ESXi%20(Embedded%20and%20Installable)

2009/06/15

Installing ESX or ESXi on older hardware

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , — iben @ 16:13

I recently had opportunity to install VMware ESX on some old Dell hardware. These notes helped me move through the process.

VM-Help database of links: http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm

How to enter nocheckCPUIDLimit on ESX with screen shots – http://communities.vmware.com/message/1136449#1136449
This is a two step process. Once for initial install from cd-rom and once for rebooting off hard drive. I did have to tweak it as it did not work 100% as advertised (see BrennanB post on April 27th).

Please let me know what other links worked for you and your old hardware.  Be sure to update vm-help with any feedback too!

I b e n

2009/04/07

ESX versus ESXi – feature comparison – Dell Open Manage

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , — iben @ 11:55

The following information was obtained from Dell’s web site:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/eslvmwre/Systems_Mngmnt/ESXi_MNGMNT/HTML/body.htm

Monitoring Comparison between ESX and ESXi

Systems Management
Feature Description: Inventory
Processor Information including brand, processor version, current speed, core count, model, stepping information, 64-bit support, HyperThreading (HT), Virtualization Technology (VT), Demand Based Switching (DBS), and Execute Disable (XD).
Cache information including status, level, max size, installed size, type, location, write policy, set associativity, and error correction.

ESX Classic
All of the above Inventory information is available through OpenManage Server Administrator.

Processor brand, processor version, current speed, core count, model, and stepping information is also available in IT Assistant

ESXi
Only Processor brand, processor version, current speed, core count, and model available using the VI Client.

2009/03/25

Pano Logic Cube Video Resolution Settings

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — iben @ 10:50

When logging into a PanoLogic virtual desktop console for the first time…

The default display resolution was 1024×768 standard 4:3 XGA

The HP w1707 LCD monitor has a native resolution of 1680×1050@60Hz 16:10 WSXGA+

Using the pano logic control panel I was only able to set the max resolution to 1440×900@69Hz 16:10 WSXGA

http://www.panologic.com/

List of Supported Reslutions: http://help.panologic.com/2.6/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm#href=Introduction/Supported_Monitor_Resolutions.html

2009/03/09

TCP Wrappers for ESX Classic

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , , — iben @ 08:50

Here’s an example hosts.allow:
#begin
sshd:management.host.com:allow
sshd:ALL:deny
xinetd:management-host-ip-or-fqdn-hostname:allow
xinetx:ALL:deny
httpd:management-host-ip-or-fqdn-hostname:allow
httpd:ALL:deny
#eof
But even this may be too simple.

Reference:
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/…/tnc/dell_vmware_certified_deploy.pdf

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/182964?tstart=0
What this will do is allow all hosts to ssh into the system while only allowing VI client connections from the virtualcenter server. This means you pretty much have to go through virtualcenter to manage the system.

Powered by WordPress