Tools

VKernel accounces Chargeback 2.0 for vSphere and Hyper-V shops

Posted by Brian on Jul 27, 2010 in Hyper-V, Tools, vCenter Server, vSphere | View Comments

The release also adds support for mixed chargeback models. VKernel Chargeback 2.0 now supports both allocated and actual resource consumption models. By reporting on both measures, infrastructure teams can chargeback for actual resource consumption, allocated resources, or simply show application teams the difference in real dollars between their allocated capacity and actual usage. This cost visibility is critical to capacity management, reducing VM spral and supporting private cloud initiatives.

VKernel Capacity Analyzer goes head to head with VMware CapacityIQ

Posted by Brian on Jul 20, 2010 in Tools, VMware | View Comments

After a recent release of a comparison chart from VMware marketing it appears that VKernel is also taking the gloves off. In the past the two parties seem to be playing nice and VMware was not actively marketing the CapacityIQ product. But VMware seems to be on the attack now and is no longer going to concede this segment to third parties. I recently received the email listed below from VKernel as their response to VMware’s actions, They feel their product stands up against VMware CapacityIQ and is willing to offer administrators a challenge.

Hi There,

You may have seen a recent VMware marketing sheet comparing VMware CapacityIQ to VKernel’s products. We are flattered by their attention!

So here is our challenge: download CapacityIQ from VMware and do the same for Capacity Analyzer. See which one more accurately shows current performance bottlenecks in your VM environment or predicts future bottlenecks.

If we lose, dinner is on us from Omaha Steaks, or we will make a $100 contribution to a charity of your choice.

Either way, you will end up with a full belly or a VM environment free of performance problems.

Best regards,
Bryan Semple
CMO, VKernel
Blog: http://blog.vkernel.com

VKernel Corp.
300 Brickstone Square, Suite 503
Andover, MA 01810

Install vSphere ESX 4.0 with EDA Deployment appliance

Posted by Brian on Jun 28, 2010 in Tools, VMware, Workstation, vSphere | View Comments

I’ve seen a few other guides for this same type of install. I just wanted to put something together to save for myself. I will show you how to use the EDA deployment appliance to install vSphere in VMware Workstation. You can follow most of the same steps for a physical machine install with just a few changes.

For this I was testing things for my home lab and created this on my laptop just using Workstation 7.0. I created two virtual machines, one for the EDA appliance and one blank that will get ESX 4.0 installed from the Deployment script.

Step 1: Download the EDA appliance http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/va/89313/download

Step 2: Import the EDA virtual appliance into VMware workstation.

Step 3: After the input I had to add in a CD-Rom to the VM and attached the vSphere .iso file to the CD drive.

Step 4: You can then start up the EDA appliance and choose Reconfigure.

Step 5: Fill out your network information on the screen shown below. Then press enter or click on OK.

Step 6: You can now log into the configuration web page for the EDA appliance. In my configuration it was http://192.168.1.19
The default login for the page is root  -  root. You will be presented with several sections that will allow you to configure options for the install. I will briefly cover these parts as I did not change much on them for this test. The Post installation commands section allows you to script any custom changes or adds that you want to make for your install. The General settings section is used for basic network and disk settings for each install, this section is pretty easy to understand.

Step 7: Now you are ready to prepare the Host specific details. Refer to the image below as I describe the steps. You can either modify the sample host that is loaded by default. By clicking on the host name or selecting “new host” you will get a screen like the 2nd picture below. This will allow you to specify host name and IP addresses needed for your base install. Once created if you click on the “ks” link for the hostname you will see what the kick start file contains for commands.

Step 8: Now you will need to setup the options for the DHCP server. Upon clicking on the “configure DHCP server” link from the top menu you will be presented with the following configuration file. I highlighted a few of the important lines that I changed to work for my setup. You will need to make sure all of the normal DHCP options are set in this file.

Step 9: Now you will need to “import PXE files” so that you can boot the server that you will be installing ESX onto. You need to make sure that the ESX CD or .iso file is mounted to your EDA appliance. If the ESX disc or file is properly mounted you will see the confirmation in the top right just like the image below. Then you select the “Import PXE bootfiles” from the menu and you will see a screen like the second image below.

Step 10:  If you are using a physical server to install onto you can start now and have the machine PXE boot.
If you are going to use a virtual machine you need to create a VM with the proper OS select, disk size, memory and number of Nic’s that you wish to use. Once this is done you will see a screen like the one below you start the install. I trust that you know what settings need to be used for installing ESX into VMware workstation, if not there are plenty of good guides for it. If you are using Workstation 7.x the process is now built in and very easy to select from the OS choices.

Note: If you created multiple host install names you will get presented with the options and can type the name of the one you wish to install. I circled in red above as an example.

Updated version of VMware Guest Console (VGC) has arrived

Posted by Brian on Jun 2, 2010 in Labs, Tools, VMware | View Comments

The VGC is probably my personal favorite from VMware Labs so far. It is a simple but powerful utility with some cool features you don’t get with the standard vSphere client.  I wrote about VMware guest console in the past covering its basic features that you can read here. Listed below are the latest features to be added or updated to this little Gem. You can have a look at VMware labs and download VGC for yourself here.

1. Performance & Scalability -
   1. VM retrieval is enhanced to discover VMs in much lesser time.
   2. VGC can manage up to 315 Powered On VMs on all connected servers. Number of VMs retrieved from a server will be limited once this limit is reached.
2. Support for 64 bit Windows has been added.
3. Remote Console feature has been extended to work with VMs hosted on vCenter.
4. Workspace files created with this version of VGC will be encrypted. However, workspace files created using earlier versions are not compatible with this release.
5. VM Templates are differentiated from regular VMs.
6. Workspace files can now be loaded in VGC by double clicking the .vgc files.

RV Tools 2.9 has been released

Posted by Brian on Apr 30, 2010 in Tools, VMware | View Comments

I have written about RV Tools in the past and what a great free tool Rob has created. He has recently updates to version 2.9 with some new features. I recommend that you have a look and I know it’s a staple in my toolkit. Here are some of the updates in this new version. You can download the tool from Rob’s site here.

• On vHost tab new fields: Vendor and model.
• On vHost tab new fields: Bios version and Bios release date.
• On vInfo tab new field: VM overall size in bytes (visible when using VI API 4.0)
• On vSnapshot tab new fields: Snapshot filename and size in bytes (visible when using VI API 4.0)
• New vNic tab. The vNic tab displays for each physival nic on the host the following fields: Host, datacenter, cluster name, network device, driver, speed, duplex setting, mac address, PCI and wakeon switch.
• Layout change on vHost, vSwitch and vPort tabpages. They now all start with host name, datacenter and cluster name.
• The commandline function ExportAll extended with an extra optional parameter. It’s now possible to specify the directory where the export files are written.

Beginners guide on how to setup HP MSA 2312sa Storage array

Posted by Brian on Apr 2, 2010 in Guides, Tools | View Comments

I recently setup a HP MSA 2300 series storage array. It was the SAS model with 4 enclosure trays. I have to admit that I have not setup one of these with Fiber or iSCSI but they are very similar other than the assign to host part. In the setup guide I cover how to configure the management interfaces, create Vdisks, create volumes and then assign them to hosts. It covers different ways to setup your hot spare drives.

After reading this short document you will be able to get that new MSA array up and running quickly. I set my array up to talk to a small 3 node vSphere cluster but the setup would be the same if you were using for a Windows cluster or most other uses.

You can download the PDF of the document How to Setup MSA array here.