Over the last period I’ve noticed that a lot of customers aren’t aware of BIOS settings that can be changed as a best practice for VMware ESX(i)/vSphere environments. In this article I want to outline some of these best practices specifically based on HP Hardware, but feature-like options are available within other vendors as well. [...]
BIOS settings in a VMware ESX(i)/vSphere Environment
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on December 6, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/12/06/bios-settings-in-a-vmware-esxivsphere-environment/
Automating ESXi Deployment with UDA 2 and bash script
Recently I’ve been asked to deploy a huge amount of ESXi 4.1 Hosts using the Ultimate Deployment Appliance (UDA 2). Let’s start off by saying that the UDA is a fantastic tool but for mass deployment without user-intervention you really don’t want to manually create a template for each host and you so I figured that bash scripts could help [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on September 17, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/09/17/automating-esxi-deployment-with-uda-2-and-bash-script/
Running vMA 4.1 on VMware Workstation
After importing the new vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) 4.1 on my VMware Workstation 7 environment I noticed that it boots with a memory crash error, an “unable to access resume device” message and eventually ends with a kernel panic. The memory crash error seems like something that can be ignored and which is covered by several blog articles [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on July 28, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/07/28/running-vma-4-1-on-vmware-workstation/
Setting up vSphere ESXi 4.1 Scripted Installation
Scripted installation is a new feature for ESXi which is introduced with the release of vSphere 4.1. In this article I’m describing the setup of my home lab in which I use this new feature. Please be advised that this article assumes some basic understanding of Windows and ESX and gives you some guidelines which you can [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on July 21, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/07/21/setting-up-vsphere-esxi-4-1-scripted-installation/
My VCDX Defend Experience
Let’s directly start with the most important news; I’ve passed my VMware VCDX defend and got VCDX Number #040! Very Cool!! The story: two weeks ago I travelled to Munich to do the final and biggest step in the VCDX Certification path – Present and Defend your Design & Implementation Plan. In preparation to this [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on March 31, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/03/31/my-vcdx-defend-experience/
Microsoft Cluster Service support on vSphere (iSCSI)
Lately a customer asked me about Microsoft Cluster Service support on a vSphere iSCSI environment. The VMware Documentation for vSphere and vSphere Update 1 states: Before you set up MSCS, review the list of functionality that is not supported for this release, and any requirements and recommendations that apply to your configuration. The following environments and [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on March 19, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/03/19/microsoft-cluster-service-support-on-vsphere-iscsi/
Using LeftHand Snapshot techniques within a VMware Environment
I recently got a question from the backup architect asking me about LeftHand snapshot techniques to make backups of VM’s. The current storage design classifies VM’s based on their Recovery Point Objective (RPO) per LUN as shown in the overview below. Within this storage design it could be a good solution if we automate LeftHand [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on February 27, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/02/27/using-lefthand-snapshot-techniques-within-a-vmware-environment/
How to quickly discover a "VM to Resource Pool" mapping
Everyone knows the situation in where a (s)VMotion asks you to select a Resource Pool. I would love to see that VMware automatically selects the current VM’s Resource Pool but unfortunately we have to make a selection since it defaults to the cluster. When we leave it to default it obviously causes the VM to [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on January 29, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/01/29/how-to-quickly-discover-a-vm-to-resource-pool-mapping/
SCSI Bus Sharing on the VM Boot Disk SCSI Card
Lately I’ve been asked to review a PID (Project Initiation Document) for a new File Server project based on Linux/GFS v2 (General File System) hosted on VMware vSphere. I noticed that the PID was talking about a dynamic File Server that could (and even would) grow towards 100 TB storage space. That number immediately set [...]
Posted by Kenneth van Ditmarsch on January 18, 2010
http://virtualkenneth.com/2010/01/18/scsi-bus-sharing-on-the-vm-boot-disk-scsi-card/
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