vExperts for 2013 have been announced and I am honored to join the list of such respected virtualization experts. Hopefully I can continue to provide valuable information to the community. If there are topics you want to see covered at a community event or in a in-person meeting, let me know. Thanks all for your support and pressure to apply for the vExpert list. See you all at VMworld!
Congratulations to the 579 others that are on this list from around the world. Looking through the list I see a lot of familiar names because of the knowledge you have shared through blogs, events and other venues. I look forward to learning from you all again this year. The full list of vExperts for 2013 can be found here:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2013/05/vexpert-2013-awardees-announced.html
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Showing posts with label VMware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VMware. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
ESXi Active Directory Integration
Worked with a customer today to setup AD authentication providers for ESXi access. Every time he tried to login into the server using his AD credentials he received an error stating his username or password invalid. At first I just thought he couldn't type, but after the third and fifth try I figured there had to be something wrong.
I popped into the Authentication Providers and everything looked good. The server was configured to use Active Directory and I confirmed in ADUC that the computer account had been created.
I then popped into the DNS and Routing section to ensure the domain and DNS was setup properly. It looked something like this.
You will notice in the figure above that the Domain setting is empty. The admin guide states that this needs be configured in order for the host to join the domain (http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-esxi-4-1-installable/server_config/t_configure_directory_service.html ). A quick jump into the properties to update the domain field (you will need to remove the server from the domain before changing this) and it was populated.
Sorry about the graphic (had to remove the names to protect the innocent?), but if you look closely you will see there are now a few letters in the Domain field.
I popped into the Authentication Providers and everything looked good. The server was configured to use Active Directory and I confirmed in ADUC that the computer account had been created.
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| ESX Authentication Services |
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| ESX DNS and Routing - No Domain |
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| ESX DNS and Routing - With a Domain |
Ok, so we fixed the settings to make it compliant with the admin guide settings and then we opened the vSphere and client, punched in the host name, clicked the box (should have done this the first time) to pass the session credentials to the host and......
Unknown username or bad password!
What gives? The host is configured correctly and successfully joined the domain. I took a look at how he was logged in and noticed that the Windows 2000 domain name was different than the FQDN for the domain (ie: domain\username and the FQDN was domain.somewhere.com). On a whim I said, try this, domain.somewhere.com\username, and bada-bing, we were in. So, it seems linux is linux and doesn't know about the NetBIOS name, go figure, and the FQDN that is used in host DNS and Routing settings needs be used to successfully pass the credentials through. The nice little check box for passing credentials is out, but at least you can login with your AD account. Of course you will really hate your really.long.domain.that.normally.is.just.one.word. Have fun!
BTW, you can add a host to any Organization Unit in your domain by specifying "domain.com/ou name/another ou" (without the quotes) as the Domain in the Domain Settings section of the Directory Services Configuration dialog box.
Monday, January 31, 2011
EMC VAII
EMC Array Integration
There are a number of free, yes free, tools available from EMC to assist with managing ESX host's shared storage. All of the tools are available on powerlink.emc.com. These vSphere plugins allow you to create and configure LUNs from end-to-end on an EMC array. The Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) tools come in the following flavors:
| File Name | Description |
| EMC_VSI_for_VMware_vSphere_Unified_Storage_Management.zip | Used for storage management functions, such as creating a LUN that is presented to all hosts. |
| emc-vsi-pm-4.0.0-vmware-vsphere-WINDOWS-x86.zip | Used for Path Management of vSphere ESX hosts. This allows you to set the default path policy for all ESX hosts. |
| emc-vsi-spm-4.0.0-vmware-vsphere-WINDOWS-x86.zip | Used for Storage Pool management. This allows integration with the new CX4, VNX and Celerra storage pools. |
| emc-vsi-sv-4.0.0-vmware-vsphere-WINDOWS-x86.zip | Used for gaining visibility into the storage components behind a VM and/or ESX host. This allows you to easily see what storage resources are being used to support the VM. |
There is an order of installation that should be followed to workaround a known issue with the MSI installer package.
Install in this order:
- NavisphereCLI
- emc-vsi-sv-4.0.0-vmware-vsphere-WINDOWS-x86.zip
- emc-vsi-spm-4.0.0-vmware-vsphere-WINDOWS-x86.zip
- emc-vsi-pm-4.0.0-vmware-vsphere-WINDOWS-x86.zip
- VSI Unified Storage Management Plug-in 4.0.0.45
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Exchange 2010 and VMware HA
Ok, so I have seen multiple different places confirming that Microsoft is not supporting VMware High Availability for Exchange 2010 DAG clusters. What I want to know is why? I don't see how HA is going to affect the cluster or servers functionality.
HA doesn't do anything to the running VM or change it in any way. It simply reboots the machine if the hosting server sustains a hardware failure (Or, if VM monitoring is turned on and the heartbeat fails). So, question is how is this any different than rebooting a physical server that is part of a DAG after it sustains a blue screen or hardware issue? Granted the VM will boot faster than a physical server, but what will go wrong if anything?
DAC will keep the server from mounting its databases if the owning server cannot be contacted. PAM and SAM should also keep the server from trying to become the active owner of the database after it reboots.
Anyone have insight on this? Also, I have seen others stating that VMotion/DRS will also not be supported. Same question there, this does not change the server, however there is the possiblity of a slight network blip during the move. Thoughts or knowledge of why this is their stance?
It is easy enough to turn these features off, but why lose these awesome features if you don't have to. I will most likely leave them on, and use them, unless I see them really break something.
HA doesn't do anything to the running VM or change it in any way. It simply reboots the machine if the hosting server sustains a hardware failure (Or, if VM monitoring is turned on and the heartbeat fails). So, question is how is this any different than rebooting a physical server that is part of a DAG after it sustains a blue screen or hardware issue? Granted the VM will boot faster than a physical server, but what will go wrong if anything?
DAC will keep the server from mounting its databases if the owning server cannot be contacted. PAM and SAM should also keep the server from trying to become the active owner of the database after it reboots.
Anyone have insight on this? Also, I have seen others stating that VMotion/DRS will also not be supported. Same question there, this does not change the server, however there is the possiblity of a slight network blip during the move. Thoughts or knowledge of why this is their stance?
It is easy enough to turn these features off, but why lose these awesome features if you don't have to. I will most likely leave them on, and use them, unless I see them really break something.
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