I have grabbed a list of the new commands added to vCLI 4.1, these command will help narrow the gap that had existed between what you could run on the ESX console (COS) and what you could do via the vCLI with an ESXi host. Notice the part at the end where it lists some of the commands that cannot be executed against a vCenter server for a host in lock down mode.

• vicfg-hostops – Allows you to examine, stop, and reboot hosts and to instruct hosts to enter and exit maintenance mode.
• vicfg-authconfig – Allows you to add an ESX/ESXi host to an Active Directory domain, remove the host, and list Active Directory domain information.
• vicfg-ipsec – Supports IPsec setup.

vSphere CLI 4.1 also includes the following new functionality:

• The following options have been added to esxcli:
  • esxcli swiscsi session – Manage iSCSI sessions.
  • esxcli swiscsi nic – Manage iSCSI network interfaces.
  • esxcli swiscsi vmknic – List VMkernel network interfaces available for binding to particular iSCSI adapter.
  • esxcli swiscsi vmnic – List available uplink adapters for use with a specified iSCSI adapter.
  • esxcli vaai device – Display information about devices claimed by the VMware VAAI (vStorage APIs for Array Integration) Filter Plugin.
  • esxcli corestorage – List devices or plugins. Used in conjunction with hardware acceleration.
  • esxcli network – List active connections or list active ARP table entries.
  • esxcli vms – List and forcibly stop virtual machines that do not respond to normal stop operations.
• Some of the parity issues between vSphere CLI and the ESX service console have been resolved.
• You can now run vCLI commands using SSPI (--passthroughauth) against both vCenter Server and ESX/ESXi systems.
• Lockdown mode allows vSphere administrators to block direct access to ESXi systems. With lockdown mode enabled, all operations must go through a vCenter Server system. The following commands cannot run against vCenter Server systems and can therefore not be used in lockdown mode:
  • vicfg-snmp
  • vifs
  • vicfg-user
  • vicfg-cfgbackup
  • vihostupdate
  • vmkfstools
  • esxcli
  • vicfg-ipsec

If you want to run these commands against an ESXi system, turn off lockdown mode using the vSphere Client.

You can view the VMware vSphere Configuration files from a browser using a link formatted like the following. https://hostname/host From that link you will need to authenticate to your host and then will be able to view a list of files from the host. In the list of files presented with be configuration files and some logs.

There is another page viewable with a web browser that will show you log messages from your ESX or ESXi host. Use the following syntax for the link.  https://hostname/host/messages

In our first presentation of the day Chris Fox of VMware was in and gave an overview of the new features of vSphere 4.1. There were discussions about SIOC (Storage IO Control), NIOC (Network IO Control), VAAI the API’s for array integration were some of the most talked about features. It was also discussed that VMware ESX 4.1 classic will be the last release of the ESX flavor of Hypervisor. Sometime in 2011 there is expected to be the next major release of vSphere and it will only be available in ESXi flavor.

In the second session of the day Russ Taddiken of Compellent talked to us about their storage virtualization technology. Russ gave a presentation that explained many of the features that make Compellent a strong competitor in the storage market. He spoke about Storage Auto Tiering that has been a feature in their product for about 5 years. Some of the other points that stood out to me was CoPilot their support organization and the Portable Volume feature. With portable volume it allows for the initial data replication to be placed on an encrypted USB disk that can be shipped to a remote site that might have a slow link. You will then only have to replicate the changes rather then the entire amount. Russ also mentioned that Compellent will be in the 2nd round of Vendors that will be supporting VMware VAAI API for storage functions.

In the last session of the day Mark from VMware spent time to talk about migrating your ESX infrastructure to ESXi. He covered the different ways to convert your hosts over to VMware ESXi. There was discussion around some of the reasons for the VMware’s decision to move in the ESXi direction. An estimated 80% of patches that VMware released for the ESX classic version were related to the console (COS) due to it’s Linux base that it was built on. With ESXi the COS was removed and the amount of patching required is greatly reduced. VMware is also working in the direction of building the ability to have a stateless hypervisor. Mark spent some time showing some of the commands that are the vCLI versions of the console commands that many are used to using.

We had a pretty nice showing for this meeting and hope that our community continues to grow. We had a couple of higher profile members from the VMware community show up to the meeting. David Davis from Train Signal was in attendance at the meeting. David has created a large number for training videos from Train Signal as well as for his blog VMwareVideos.com. Thanks again to David and the Train Signal team for providing several copies of their VMware vSphere training videos that we were able to give away to our members. Also in attendance today was Justin Lauer of EMC and a vSpecialist from Chad Sakac’s vArmy Team. I’ve knowing Justin for a bit now and it’s always great to chat with him, his involvement in our VMUG community will help many.

Update: We have posted a few of the slide decks from the presentations today here.

Took a couple of quick photos with an iPhone today as I forgot my camera but will do a better job in the future.

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.

A healthy set of modules looks like this:

Now, for the EVA we have problems with, it looks like this:

This problem occurred after we had this particular module fail. We received a replacement from HP and swapped it out. However, after a few days, it was marked as failed again. Again we received a replacement from HP, and swapped it out. A few days later, same result. In contacting HP a third time, I explained what had occurred. In response, I received this notification:

This is just another somewhat oddball error that we deal with on a regular basis. Now, on to the fix! To restart the controller in question, first note as per Command View which controller is in question. In my case, it is Controller A (just follow the bang indicators)

A restart of the controller should be done during your change / maintenance window (all those years of ITIL ingrained in me!). To do so, you have a few choices.

The first is via Command View:

On the controller’s page, hit shutdown, then restart and the controller (A/B).

The second is via the SSSU utility (installs as part of the Command View install):

Restart controller A, but not its peer controller:

RESTART “\Hardware\Rack 1\Enclosure 7\Controller A” NOALL_PEERS

Note that when restarting the controller, if it is the master controller the vdisks will transfer to the other controller without any downtime. In my experience with the EVAs, they are a touchy lot. I prefer using the SSSU utility for a halfway decent command line interface. Pretty powerful too. I’ll be writing up a blog posting discussing good uses for SSSU in the future.

There are a couple of different ways that you can enable AD integration ( vSphere client, vCLI, scripting or Host Profiles). In this post I will cover the method through vSphere client.

Step 1: Connect to your host directly with the vSphere client. You are also suppose to be able to do this same method when connecting to vCenter server, but I have heard mixed results. I will try once my console is updated to vCenter 4.1. You then need to click on the Configuration Tab. Then select the “Advanced Services” selection from the Software box on the lower left. Then you click on the “Properties” link that is shown in the picture below.

Step 2: You will be presented with a Directory Services Configuration window that is shown below. In the select “Service Type” drop down you will need to select “Active Directory”.  The in the Domain field you need to type in the name of your domain that you will be connecting to. Next step is to click the “Join Domain” button and you will be presented with an authentication window shown in the next step.

Step 3: In this part you need to enter in credentials that will allow you to connect and join the ESXi Host to the domain. You can enter your credentials in the format listed below (Domain\user) or use this format ( administrator@test.com). I had more luck using the second option.

Step 4: After successfully entering your logon ID your ESXi host is added to the Domain. You can see from the image below my host was added to the default computer container since I did not specify another OU for them to be placed into.

Step 5: Now that your VMware host was added to the domain you can now add users or groups to the Permissions tab. You can see below once on the Permissions area you right click and select “Add Permission”

Step 6: In this step the Assign Permissions window has opened and you need to select the Administrator role from the section pointed out in the image below. Then click the Add button on the left side to pick your User or Group from the Active Directory connection.

Step 7: You first must select your Domain from the domain drop down list at the top of the window shown below.

Step 8: Once you have select the Domain that you integrated with you will be presented with a list of Users and Groups. You should select your User/Group and press the Add button and then click OK.

Step 9:  Now that you have added your Domain account or group you will see it in the lists of users as shown below.

Step 10: Once you have completed the steps above you will now be able to close your vSphere Client connection and connect back using your newly configured Active Directory Integration. Again you have two ways to enter your Domain credentials ( Domain\user or user@domain.com)

Step 11: Once your have logged in with your domain credentials you will be able to see in the lower right corner of the vSphere Client that you have authenticated with a Domain account.

Step 12:  Now the next step was to see which ways I could all use the new AD integration. From the picture below you can see that I was able to use the Domain logon to authenticate to ESXi 4.1 TSM (Tech Support Mode) from the console and from a remote SSH connection. I was able to use my id in the format shown below to authenticate but did not have any luck use the Domain\user format for these type of logons. This have have just been something in my lab so your mileage may vary.

Step 13: Lastly I wanted to see if I could authenticate to the DCUI ( Direct Console User Interface) of ESXi 4.1 using a Domain account. I was not able to have any success logging into the DCUI with the AD account using either format listed earlier. Which is kind of weird since I was able to use the AD logon for the TSM login form the console. If you had different results form this leave me a comment with what you did different I would love to hear.

Lastly I will be trying some of the others methods that I listed at the beginning for setting up the AD integration when I have some time. I will be sure to link them to this article. If you are curious you can see a very simplified version of this in the VMware KB article.

]]> http://www.virtualizetips.com/2010/07/configure-vmware-esxi-4-1-for-active-directory-integration/feed/ 0 http://www.virtualizetips.com/2010/07/vcap-dca-exam-to-remain-focused-on-esx-4-0/ http://www.virtualizetips.com/2010/07/vcap-dca-exam-to-remain-focused-on-esx-4-0/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:58:56 +0000 Brian http://www.virtualizetips.com/?p=432 For at least the near term the newly released VCAP exam for Administrators will remain focused on vSphere ESX and ESXi 4.0.  This was confirmed with John Hall and announced on the Bi Weekly brown bag study sessions hosted by Cody Bunch of Professions VMware. This kind of gives a mixed signal when it comes to VMware exams. Previously it was reported that the VCP exam’s would always be based on the most recent version of the product available. This meant that sometime this fall the VCP would be updated to reflect the changes in ESX 4.1. But the announcement that the VCAP will stay on vSphere 4.0. This decision must be due to the huge investment of time spent developing the new VCAP certifications and not having enough time to switch gears with the recent release.

VMware User Group Members,

As announced earlier this year, VMware is supporting the establishment of an independent, customer-led, customer-driven global VMware User Group (VMUG). The VMUG Steering Committee has been focused on forming the structure for this new organization and we are pleased to announce the inaugural VMware User Group Board of Directors.

The board is comprised of a group of experienced VMUG leaders whose knowledge, expertise and vision will provide an invaluable contribution to the VMUG organization. There is much for this Board of Directors to accomplish, as we look forward to the formal launch of the independent VMUG at VMworld in San Francisco this coming August.

The board has developed a VMUG mission statement to reflect the new organization:
The VMware User Group is an independent, global, customer-led organization, which maximizes members’ use of VMware and partner solutions through knowledge sharing, training, collaboration, and events.

The VMware User Group is a user community—of the users, for the users, by the users. Through an independent global VMUG, we believe we can strengthen our collective VMware and VMUG value proposition with expanded collaboration, member programs, and benefits.

As a VMUG member, your feedback and ideas will be critical to improving the VMUG experience and taking it to the next level. We believe that some of the benefits of the new model will be:

• Tap into new VMUG member benefits and programs, such as Special Interest Groups and VMware technical education offerings
• Increase your value to your organization by becoming the recognized VMware subject matter expert through knowledge and contacts gained through VMUG
• Gain more direct access to VMware subject matter experts
• Become part of a global, collective customer voice, impacting VMware products/services

While we are planning the official launch of the new group for August, there are several ways VMUG is already driving value to the members:

• The VMUG Voice—VMUG’s monthly newsletter—will provide news and updates for members
• New member recruitment activities at all VMware events
• Development of new onsite program for VMUG Regional Events
• VMware Technical Sponsors have been assigned to all VMUG Local Groups
• VMUG members will receive the discounted “Early Bird” pricing throughout the VMworld registration period

As we work to establish an independent VMUG, we want you to know that your voice will be heard. To that end, the VMUG Board of Directors is conducting a short survey of our members to better understand the members’ vision for VMUG and define the VMUG value proposition. It should only take about ten minutes of your time and all results will be kept completely confidential. In addition, all survey respondents can enter to win an Apple iPad—just complete the survey by July 30.

We look forward to hearing your feedback and ideas about the new organization. Please direct all communications to memberservices@myvmug.org or 1.800.606.8695.

Together we look forward to launching the new VMUG at VMworld and we hope to see you there!

Sincerely,
The VMware User Group Board of Directors

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

So as you can see, we have a total Capacity (which is correct and accurate), and the Occupancy. The information listed is correct, and it’s refreshing. Now, for the problematic Disk Group (and please ignore the name as it was before my time).

Here we see the correctly calculated Capacity, but lo! What’s this? What on earth is going on with that Occupancy? It seemingly continues to grow a bit here and there as we take snapshots of various. HP doesn’t know what’s wrong either. When we upgrade from Command View 9.0 to 9.1, it did not fix the issue either. The big problem here is that we have to figure out how much space is actually used since we’ll never get alerted. It is a pain. I can turn to Replication Solutions Manager to obtain the correct size by simply adding all the luns (easy way to view them, as opposed to Command View), so that’s the workaround. Not very satisfying if you consider how much money was spent on these beasts.