Author: Matt Mancini
Unauthorized vmexplorer Customer / Reference guide for VMworld 2013
I’ve attended every VMworld since 2008 and over the years I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked by attendees how to find their way around or when does something open or close.
This year *BING* it hit me and I took some time to put together a customer guide combining all the good information around – Registration, HOL, Meals, Shuttle, etc…
Of course I would recommend you use the official VMworld websites, apps, etc. but if you want a simple an easy way to find information then this may work for you too.
Click on the PIC below to download the ‘Unauthorized vmexplorer guide’!
VMware Named 1 of the 10 Best Innovative Companies in the World
Great news coming out from Forbes today, VMware was ranked #3 in the world for innovation. It’s something a lot of us cloud engineers have known about for years and now this really helps to solidify VMware globally as an innovation leader!
Geeks.com – Time to Say goodbye for now
I was a bit shell shocked when I went to one of my favorite online stores, geeks.com, only to find out they had closed.
They had been open for 17 years and they were one of the first sites I trusted to buy quality products from new or used.
They had a lot of common items but every now and then they had something different or unique. It was one of the reasons why I kept coming back.
I had recommended geeks.com many times and everyone I sent there always let me know what excellent service and product they had.
Well Geeks.com – I salute you – you had a good run, I’m sorry to see you go, and I hope one day you return!
Just a quick note, if you liked geeks.com then check out http://www.pacificgeek.com/ they were very similar in product and layout.
Meet Trevor –VMware Hands-on Lab
Check out this great video around how VMware Hands-on Labs can enable you to do more with VMware products.
It really goes over the finer points on how customers can logon to HOL, check out our products/technologies, and then deliver them into your environment.
BTW — Great job Doug Baer, oops… I mean Trevor J
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk9716huKG4
What to do with old Event Lanyards?
Over these past years I’ve collected a bunch of lanyards, buttons and stuff. Mainly I collected them as an end user, VMUG leader, and now as a VMware employee. At one point my car had a custom VM license plate. I hung on to all this stuff because I really liked it or wanted to remember good times. However everything was just starting to pile up and collect dust. This past weekend I made a choice to not box them up or toss them away but do something creative which included a power staple gun. Attached to this post is my creation, they went from being a dust pile to a work of art.
It’s pretty simple to make…
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You need –
- One Rectangle Cork board (I found my at Wal-Mart)
- Power Staple Gun
- Scissors
- Enough lanyards to create a layout
- Start in the middle, place the first one on an angle, staple them to the back side, and cut off the excess
- Working out from the middle I used two straws as a spacer and placed the next lanyard on an angle. Make sure its square as any deviation will show
- From there repeat, adjust, staple, and cut
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If you have a plate you want to mount, center it, and I just used push pins to hold it up
Enjoy and Good times!
Network port diagram for vSphere 5.x
Check out this great network port diagram for vSphere 5.x. It was recently released on kb.vmware.com
This is a must have for those doing architecture and design around VMware – Enjoy!
Correlating vCenter Server and ESXi/ESX host build numbers to update levels
Some of the common questions I get from my customers are around build to update levels.
When was VMware product X released? Or I have a build number for Product X but what is version number?
These were questions I ask when I was a customer and I’d spend time using Google to search build numbers to find out want the product was.
This one article provides information on determining which build number represents which Update level.
It currently covers the following products…
- Converter
- ESXi/ESX
- Update Manager (VUM)
- vCenter Server
- VirtualCenter
- vSphere Replication Appliance
- vCenter Chargeback
- vCenter Orchestrator
- vCloud Connector
- vCloud Director
- vShield
- Site Recovery Manager (SRM)
- VMware Data Recovery (VDR)
- View
Enjoy!
Home Lab – Adding freeNAS 8.3 iSCSI LUNS to ESXi 5.1
About a half a year ago I setup my freeNAS iSCSI SAN, created 2 x 500GB iSCSI LUNS and attached them to ESXi 5.1. These were ample for quite a while. However I have the need to add additional LUNS…. My first thought was – “Okay, Okay, where are my notes on adding LUNS…” They are non-existent… Eureka! Its time for a new blog post… So here are my new notes around adding iSCSI LUNS with freeNAS to my ESXi 5.1 Home lab – As always read and use at your own risk
J
- Start in the FreeNAS admin webpage for your device. Choose Storage > Expand Volumes > Expand the volume you want to work with > Choose Create ZFS volume and fill out the Create Volume Pop up.
When done click on Add and ensure is show up under the Storage Tab
. 
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On the left-hand pane click on Services > iSCSI > Device Extents > View Device Extents. Type in your Extent Name, Choose the Disk Device that you just created in Step 1 and choose OK
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Click on Associated Targets > Add Extent to Target, Choose your Target and select the new Extent
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To add to ESXi do the following… Log into the Web Client for vCenter Server, Navigate to a host > Manage > Storage > Storage Devices > Rescan Host
If done correctly your new LUN should show up below. TIP – ID the LUN by its location number, in this case its 4
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Ensure your on the Host in the left Pane > Related Objects > Datastores > Add Datastore
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Type in the Name > VMFS Type > Choose the Right LUN (4) > VMFS Version (5) > Partition Lay out (All or Partial), Review > Finish
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Setup Multi-Pathing – Select a Host > Manage > Storage > Storage Devices > Select LUN > Slide down the Devices Details Property Box and Choose Edit Multipathing
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Choose Round Robin and Click On Okay
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Validate all Datastores still have Round Robin enabled. 2 Ways to do this.
- Click on the LUN > Paths. Status should read Active I/O for both paths
- Click on LUN > Properties > Edit Multipathing – Path section Policy should state – Round Robin (See PIC in Step 8)
Summary – These steps worked like a charm for me, then again my environment is already setup, and hopefully these steps might be helpful to you.
Free Instructional Video: vCloud Director Concepts and Architecture
The following URL will take you to 13 recorded sessions. They deliver an overview of VMware vCloud Director concepts and architecture, installation, creating Provider Resources, creating Organizations, creating and populating Catalogs, building a vApp, creating vShield Edge Firewall Rules, creating site-to-site VPNs, and more. Enjoy!
http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=36740&ui=www_edu
My Commodore 64 Never lets me down
I got a call today from 000-000-0000, a person with a strong accent says “Hello Sir, I am from Technical support. Our servers have alerted us that there is a virus on your computer”
Matt: “Oh, my really? A Virus what should I do?” < Said in my best non-technical dorky voice
Strong Accent(SA): “You must on your keyboard press Window Key R.”
Matt: “So I press Windows Key R? Where is the windows key?”
SA: “Windows key is next to the Control key on your right side of your keyboard.”
Matt: “Okay, Control, Control, Control Key, where are you?”
SA: “Did you Press it?”
Matt: “I don’t see a Windows Key.
I do see a key that looks like a
C with an = sign, is that the one?”
SA: “No, its next to the CTRL key.”
Matt: “OH, CTRL, there it is. Okay Pressing C= and R. Okay, a Blue screen opens, it says LOAD”*”,8,1. Now what do I do?”
SA: “Did you press Windows R? You need to press CTRL and R.”
Matt: “OH, CTRL and R. Okay, Pressing, okay a Blue screen appears. Its says LOAD”*”,8,1.”
SA: “Are you sure you pushed CTRL?”
Matt: “Yes, I did. The blue screen says, Commodore 64, 38911 Bytes Free.”
SA: “Are you on a Windows Box?”
Matt: “Did you think I was using a windows PC? No I’m on a Commodore 64, and its not prone to those Windows Viruses.”
SA: “Oh, what is a Commodore 64?”
Matt: “It’s this really great system, but it can’t divide by zero very well.”
SA: “Oh….. Long pause… ”
Matt: “You should try one.”
SA: Hangs up
Next time you call trying to scam a technical professional… Make sure they didn’t grow up with a Commodore computer!
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