Enabling Service advisories for VMware vSAN and other products
One question I get a lot as a TAM is – “How can users of VMware products, such as vSAN, stay current with various service advisories?” One very simple way is to enable your my.vmware.com profile for product subscriptions. Product subscriptions allow you to choose products of interest and then you will receive emails around the various service advisories. It’s a very simple way to keep up to date and it only takes a few minutes to enable.
Here are the steps:
- Log on to your my.vmware.com portal account
- In the upper right-hand corner choose your name then click on profile
- After the profile page loads click on Subscriptions
- Under Product subscriptions, click edit
- You’ll find vSAN under ‘Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure, simply choose it and/or other products, then click on save
- From there periodically, you’ll receive information and advisories around the products you select.
Sum it up: I have had these subscription services enabled for years now and I have only received valuable and timely information and not SPAM emails.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
CompTIA Project+ PK0-003 Passed today!
Part of my current course of study at WGU was to complete the CompTIA Project+ course and exam. I’m happy to report I passed and am now Project+ Certified. If you are new to IT or are part of a project team then this course is a good perspective on how project teams could work in the business world. Though the exam wasn’t particularly difficult I could clearly see its advantages and how it could help an aspiring PM to grow in their field. The course context is more of an introduction and doesn’t get “too” heavy into the PM planning details but this course will give you the “insiders” view of project management and can help you to be more successful. Prior to taking this course, I would not have considered this certification valid in my field. However, after taking the course I can see its clear advantages and would recommend you acquire this certification. Unless you’re a very seasoned PM, you will have to study to pass — but today’s your lucky day, below are some of my tips!
Make sure you understand the following –
- Know your Organizational Project Teams, benefits, and cross functionality (Functional, ALL of the Matrix, Dedicated, etc) << Many questions on the various Matrix styles (weak, strong, etc)
- Know your basic formulas and practice them – the questions and answers are written in a way that could have you second guessing, so practice
- Know your advanced Formulas – Many folks said don’t waste your time on these as there is a 1% chance you’ll see them, well there were 2 on my test
- Know your acronyms – If you don’t know BAC, ETC, AC, PV, and so on, then you are not ready
- Understand IPECAC and what are the core tenants are for each phase
- Conflict resolution
- Charts and Arrows (PDM, CPM, ADM, Pert, fishbone, etc)
- Change Requests IDAACU < better know it well
- Estimating all types << Analogous, Bottom up, Parametric
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS and Dictionary)
- Know those logs and registers (Issues, risk, change, etc)
- Be ready for word games << many questions contained similar words to the answer, these are a dead giveaway — look for them on the test
How did I study and pass –
I start with the practice questions supplied in my WGU study guides and develop a plan of study around the problem areas. I continue this pattern until all the study guide questions are making complete sense. As I progress with my studies I start to look for simple slides on the internet to create my study guide. When test day comes I review my slides, practice my formulas, and go through some final questions. It’s a pattern I’ve done for years now and have used to pass many tests.
Below are a few of my sample study slides, if you want the whole set, 52 slides, just reach out.
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If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
VMware Home Labs: A definitive guide
For nearly 10 years, I’ve compiled lots information about my home labs. From time to time I would blog about items I was working. However, readers of my blog were starting to respond with – “We enjoy your blogs around home labs. However, it’s a bit hard contextualize this information from multiple blog posts.” And “where do I start with home labs” Most recently the VMware User Group asked me to co-record a session for home lab vs. HOL Of course, I did the Home Lab side of the recording but it got me thinking more about the listener and how I could really put a focus on Who, what, why, and how around home labs. After the recording, I realized my “Home Lab Generations page” (HLG)was in major need of an overhaul.
This is when I decided to change my Home Lags Guide to “HOME LABS: A DEFINITIVE GUIDE”. It took me a few months to transform the HLG into this new approach as it puts a strong focus on Home Lab design considerations. From there I used these design considerations to document and measure my 5 Generations of home labs dating back to 2008. In doing this I got a sense this design guide could help others to measure and plan out their home labs too.
Next Steps for the Home Lab Definitive guide:
- I’ll continue to update it as I progress my home labs
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I’ll continue to improve it over time but I’d love your feedback too
My hopes are you find this new guide useful and of value. Please post up your suggestions to help its continuous growth!
Also, if you are interested in applying these design practices to your home lab or even if you are just starting out, then reach out to me as I’d love to feature your design here on my blog!
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
Upgrading or adding New Hard Disks to the IOMega / EMC / Lenovo ix4-200d
I currently have an IOMega ix4-200d with 4 x 500GB Hard Disk Drives (HDD). I am in the process of rebuilding my vSAN Home lab to all flash. This means I’ll have plenty of spare 2TB HDDs. So why not repurpose them to upgrade my IOMega. Updating the HDDs in an IOMega is a pretty simple process. However, documenting and waiting are most of this battle.
There are 2 different ways you can update your IOMega: 1 via Command Line and 2 via the Web client. From what I understand the command line version is far faster. However, I wanted to document the non-command line version as most of the blogs around this process were a bit sparse on the details. I started off by reading a few blog posts on the non-command line version of this upgrade. From there I came up with the basic steps and filled in the blanks as I went along. Below are the steps I took to update mine, your steps might vary. After documenting this process I can now see why most of the blogs were sparse on the details, there are a lot of steps and details to complete this task. So, be prepared as this process can be quite lengthy.
NOTES:
- YOU WILL LOSE YOUR DATA, SO BACK IT UP
- You will lose the IOMega configuration (documenting it might be helpful)
Here are the steps I took:
- Ensure you can logon to the website of your IOMega Device (lost the password – follow these steps)
- Backup the IOMega Configuration
- If needed screen shot the configuration or document how it is setup
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Backup the data (YOU WILL LOSE YOUR DATA)
- For me, I have an external 3TB USB disk and I used Syncback via my Windows PC to back up the data
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Firmware: ensure the new HDDs and the IOMega IX4 are up to date
- Seagate Disks ST2000DM001 -9YN164
- Iomega IX4-200d (Product is EOL, no updates from Lenovo)
- After backing up the data, power off the IOMega, unplug the power, and remove the cover
- Remove the non-boot 500GB disks from the IOMega and label them (Disks 2-4), do not remove Disk 1
Special Notes:
- From what I read usually Disk 1 is the “boot” disk for the IOMega
- In my case, it was Disk 1
- For some of you, it may not be. One way to find this out is to remove disks 2-4 and see if the IOMega Boots, if so you found it, if not power off try with only disk 2 and so on till you find this right disk
- Replace Disks 2-4 with the new HDD, in my case I put in the 2TB HDDs
- Power on system (Don’t forget to plug it back in)
- The IOMega display may note there are new disks added, just push the down arrow till you see the main screen
- Also at this point, you won’t see the correct size as we need to adjust for the new disks
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Go into IOMega web client
- Settings > Disks Storage
- Choose “Click here for steps…”
- Check box to authorize overwrite
- About a minute or two later my IOMega Auto Restarted
- Note: Yours may not, give it some time and if not go to the Dashboard and choose restart
- After reboot, I noted my configuration was gone but the Parity was reconstructing with 500GB disks
- This is expected, as the system is replicating the parity to the new disks
- This step took about +12 hours to complete
- After the reconstruction, I went into the Web client and the IOMega configuration was gone. It asked me to type in the device name, time zone, email, and then it auto Rebooted
- After Reboot I noted all the disks are now healthy and part of the current 1.4TB parity set. This size is expected.
- Now that the Iomega has accepted the 3 x 2TB disks we need to break parity group and add the final 2TB HDD
- First, you have to delete the shares before you can change the parity type.
- Shared Storage > Delete both shares and check to confirm delete
- Now go to — Settings > disks > Manage Disks > Data Protection
- Choose “Without data protection
- Check the box to change data protection
- Once complete the Power off the IOMega
- Dashboard > Shutdown > Allow device to shutdown
- After it powers off, replace Disk 1 with last 2TB Disk
- Power On
- Validate all disks are online
- Go to Settings > Disks > “Click here for steps….” Then check box to authorize overwrite, choose OK.
- After the last step observe the error message below and press ‘OK’
- Go to Dashboard > Restart to restart the IOMega
- After the restart the display should show “The filesystem is being prepared” with a progress bar, allow this to finish
- Now create the Parity set with the new 2TB Disks
- First, remove all Shared folders (See earlier steps if needed)
- Second go to Settings > Disks > Manage Disks > Data Protection > Choose Parity > Next
- Choose “check this box….” then click on apply…
- After clicking apply my screen updated with a reconstruction of 0% and the display screen on the IOMega showed a progress bar too.
- Mine took more than 24+ hours to complete the rebuild.
- After the rebuild is complete then restore the config
- Finally, restore your data. Again, I used syncback to copy my data back
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
Home Lab: A List of uncommon or niche products (2021 Update)
Part of the joy of building out a home lab or virtualization workstation is finding those one-off items that enable you to build something great, cheap, and unique. Below is a list of some those niche items and distributors I’ve found along the way. I’ll continue to update this post as we go along and I encourage you post up some of your findings too!
** 2021 UPDATE **
Looking for a partially managed Home or SMB network switch? Then consider the GSS116e by Netgear. I enjoyed working with its simple web interface and immediately found value the simple to setup VLANs. One of the great selling features is the many ways it can be easily mounted, including under things!
I found these great cable labels while reading shipilev.net I plan to implement them in my lab soon!
Add On Cards (Yes that is their name) sells a good variety of computer components, peripherals and accessories. Mobile phone peripherals. Data storage products. Data center and communication hardware including optical transceivers, DAC cables, AOC cables and fiber optic patch cables. Be advised some of their products ship from overseas which may delay arrival.
** 2020 Update **
Makes a lot of Intel NUC product modifications that make your NUC even more useful. The product I like are the NUC lid mods — Add RJ45, Wireless, TV Tuner, etc. right to your NUC! Very cool!
** OLDER ITEMS **
This place is full of all types of unique adapters and gadgets to make your home lab or workstation PC better. What I like about their product line focus is the support of cards with a PCIe x1 slot. Various server based add on cards (example 2/4 port NIC cards) typically require a PCIe x4 or x8 port. However, most home labs typically have plenty of x1 slots and very little to no support for x4 and x8. Syba seems to make a “plethora” of add on cards that support x1. The only downside is poor documentation / support.
Some products I like from them —
- 2 Port Gbe PCIe x1 card (SY-PEX24028): I own and use several of these, they seem to work quite well. Dislikes – No Jumbo frames and it uses a Realtek 8111e chips set which means you must add these drivers to support ESXi
- Another cool item they make is a M.2 to 4-port SATA III Adapter. This little RAID controller allows you to plug directly into a M.2 port and allow for 4 mort SATA devices. I think this would be handy for smaller systems (ie. NUC builds)
StarTech is really becoming a great company with a very diverse and well supported / documented product line. I think they are really starting to give Blackbox a run for their money. I really like their cable and adapter card lines.
I’ve been using their Startech Null Modem DB9 to USB to run the CLI on my Netgear manage Switch since 2012 and have yet to have an issue with it.
William Lam has blogged many times around the use of NUC style home labs with StarTech Single and Dual USB 3.0 network adapters.
Winyao is a “boutique” distributor specializing in NICs, Fibre adapters, and Transceivers. One item I find of value is their PCIe x1 Dual NIC with Intel or Broadcom chipset. Personally, I don’t know much about this company or own any of their products, but at $40-$60 per brand new adapter I wished I had found them before buying the Syba adapters.
If you are looking for your next server, workstation, media, or top of the line PC case then take a peek at Fractal Design. Founded in 2007 and based out of Sweden they have really started to dominate the custom case design market. Their innovative designs blend elegance with flexibility, which I might add is a hard combination to find. I like their Arc Midi and Arc Mini R2 line of cases for home lab build outs. However, when or if my trusty Antec Sonata from 2003 lets me down, then Fractal will be next on my list. Here is a great blog post from Erik Bussink around his use of Fractal Design for his 2014 Home Lab.
** 09/06/2017 – Here are some updates to this list **
Came across this interesting case / mod company that builds all kinds of custom cases, cables, etc to mod your PC’s. I like the Prodigy Mini-ITX case, with 2 PCI Slots and a spare slot for Disk or other mods it could be a good fit for a NAS project. However I’m not fond of the excessive top and bottom ornaments.
ASUS
ASUS came out with a great M.2 to U.2 option allowing users to interface with SAS disks. They claim this option will help users to interface with SAS SSD and get extreme performance. There are some constraints around this (cables, disks, chipsets, etc) so read up on this before you buy.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
VMworld 2017: See you in the HCI Zone!
Will you be going to VMworld 2017? If so stop by the HCI (Hyper Converged Infrastructure) Zone and learn more about the VMware Award Winning Honeywell solution I’ve been working on these past few years. I’ll be at the booth all week talking about how the Honeywell solution has revolutionized the industrial controls market by using the Dell FX2 + vSAN solution. Additionally, there be other Partners, giveaways, Podcasts, and lots of other activities. So, if you are into the HCI Ecosystem or are just interested in learning more, then the HCI Zone is the place to visit!
The HCI Zone will be located at booth #1739 on the Solutions Exchange Floor which is on the right side of the VMware booth. Look for the banner HCI Zone – Powered by vSAN
The HCI Zone hours are as follows:
- 05:00PM – 7:30PM Sunday, August 27
- 11:00AM – 06:00PM Monday, August 28
- 11:00AM – 06:00PM Tuesday, August 29
- 10:00AM – 05:00PM Wednesday, August 30
Looking forward to seeing you there!
More information around the HCI Zone can be found here — https://blogs.vmware.com/virtualblocks/2017/08/10/hci-zone-discover-possibilities/
Make vmexplorer.com great again!
It’s that time of year to vote for your favorite virtualization blog on vSphere-Land.com For those that don’t know. vSphere-Land is a great resource for VMware virtualization information. Mainly this site is known for various lists around VMware products and information. Every year they host a voting session to help promote the VMware blogging community. Soon after the voting concludes vSphere-Land post the TOP vBLOGs for 2017. This list helps to support the hard work bloggers do to support VMware community.
Also, new this year voters must pick 12 blogs from the list then rank them. They also will have a choice to choose in various categories (Top Female blog, best podcast, etc) This task can be a bit overwhelming and if you are struggling to find twelve blogs I would suggest looking at some of the blogs and seeing which ones align better to your goals. Example — If you’re into scripting I might suggest William Lam’s Blog, or for vSAN maybe Cormac Hogan.
Why Vote for vmexploer.com? I’ve run this blog since 2010 and have helped countless amounts of IT folks along the way. If you’ve found any of my blogs useful over these past years then I would appreciate a vote and with 12 to choose from please include vmexplorer in your list. Vote for vmexplorer as #1 would even be better. The list of blogs to choose from can be a bit daunting, best way to find mine is to do a page search for my last name or blog name vmexplorer.com
To Vote, simply start by going to this link — http://topvblog2017.questionpro.com/
Voting will close on 06/30
Again, thank you for your support and I’m looking forward to more years of blogging!
vSAN – Working with the vSAN HCL Database
The vSAN HCL DB is a local file enabling vCenter Server to validate your vSAN hardware deployment. This local DB file contains information around the supported products on the VMware compatibility guides. Part of the vSAN Health checks is validating the age of the vSAN HCL DB file. The initial release of the health feature ships with a copy of the vSAN HCL DB, which was current when released. This copy of the database will become outdated over time. The file can be updated via an internet connection or through manual download (See KB’s below). However, if the HCL DB file is not updated and is 90 days past you will see a warning and at 180 days past you’ll receive an error. These alerts in no way will affect your vSAN cluster as they are merely non-impactful alarms.
You can find this check by clicking on your vSAN Cluster > Monitor > Virtual SAN > Health and then expand Hardware compatibility (See the PIC below). Under Hardware compatibility, you will see various checks that validate your installation. The ‘vSAN HCL DB up to date’ is the check that will alarm when needed.
You might be thinking –
“I validated my vSAN deployment against the HCL & VCL’s when it was initially built, so why do I need to recheck it over and over?” There are a few good reasons why this validation is important. First off – New firmware and drivers are validated on a routine basis, keeping on top of these will help to ensure your vSAN cluster is able to work optimally and is less problematic. Second – Just because a component was listed on the VGC, doesn’t necessarily mean it will stay on the VGC. Allowing vSAN to self-check itself not only will save you time but will identify any potential issues.
“My vSAN cluster doesn’t have an internet connection and I am pretty good about keeping up to date on the VGC. Do I really need these checks, and if not how can I disable them” Frist off I would not recommend disablement but there may be a need for this. It could be very true that your company does a good job of manually checking the VCG but automating these check would only help your efforts and would be more efficient. However, there are some deployments where automated checks may not be desirable. For those cases follow this guidance to disable: Cluster > Manage > Virtual SAN > General > Internet Connectivity > Disable Auto HCL update
For more information around the vSAN HCL DB, including how to disable and update, please see the following KB’s
- vSAN Health Service – Hardware compatibility – vSAN HCL DB Auto Update (2146132) << Great information on disablement
- vSAN Health Service – vSAN HCL Health – vSAN HCL DB up-to-date (2109870) << Good information on the checks basic functions
In this PIC I’m showing where you can locate the vSAN HCL DB Check status.
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
VSAN – vSAN 6.6 Release resources
Here is a great list of vSAN 6.6 release resources. Enjoy!
Quotes / Webinars:
- Press Release Partner Quotes Supporting Launch: http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vsan-partner-quotes.html
- On-demand Launch Video – Registration Link: Modernize Your IT with vSAN Innovations
- VMUG Webinar: What’s New Technical Deep dive (Tuesday, April 18, 2017)
Blogs:
- What’s New Blogs: https://blogs.vmware.com/virtualblocks/2017/04/11/whats-new-vmware-vsan-6-6/
- Native Data-at-Rest Encryption: https://blogs.vmware.com/virtualblocks/2017/04/11/vsan-6-6-native-data-at-rest-encryption/
Web Assets / Documentation :
- What’s New Page: http://www.vmware.com/products/whats-new-virtual-san.html
- vSAN 6.6 Datasheet (PDF): http://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vsan/vmware-virtual-san-datasheet.pdf
- vSAN Customer Page: http://www.vmware.com/products/virtual-san/customers.html
- Storage Hub: https://storagehub.vmware.com/
- Security Infographic: http://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vsan/vmware-vsan66-security-infographic.pdf
VSAN – What’s new in vSAN 6.6 Video Demo
What a great video posted by Duncan and VMware! In a short 10 minute video, he is able to hit upon some of the new features within vSAN 6.6
vmexplorer 