Copyright © 2013 - IT Solutions 2000 Ltd and Michael Webster +. All rights reserved.
Important! Issue after upgrading to vCenter 5.1 Update 1
April 30, 2013
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VMware vCenter 5.1 Update 1 was released a few days ago with a number of great enhancements and fixes. Unfortunately there was also an issue discovered. In some circumstances if you have an admin user account with more than 19 groups assigned within AD you would be prevented from logging into the web client. VMware has released an alert article on the VMware Support Insider Blog - ALERT: Login issue after updating to vCenter 5.1 Update 1 and it urges you to check KB 2050941 (Cannot log in to vCenter Server using the domain username/password credentials via the vSphere Web Client/vSphere Client after upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1) for further information and for updates. I expect that this issue will be fixed fairly rapidly and then everyone will be able to upgrade to get all of the benefits included in the vCenter 5.1 Update 1 release. Keep an update on the KB for details. I would also recommend that you review Derek Seaman‘s blog article (VMware vSphere 5.1 Update 1..is it for you?) on the 5.1 Update 1 release and the other product releases that are related. He’s done a great job of giving a high level overview of all the different components that have been recently updated. Once the issue is resolved I will let you know via this blog and also give you a rundown on the highlights from a business critical applications perspective. Note: VMware is currently recommending that customers with SSO configured with multiple domain-based identity sources along with vCenter Server domain user accounts that are associated with a large number of groups (>19) should not upgrade to vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1.
Categories: VMware
vCenter 5.1 Update 1, VMware
Important! Default HBA Device Queue Depth Changes Between vSphere Versions
April 25, 2013
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A little while ago I wrote an article titled 5 Tips to Prevent 80% of Virtualization Problems. This article was all about storage and how to configure your storage and the dangers to watch out for. This is because problems in virtualized environments are predominantly caused by or related to storage in one way or another. In that article I explained the impact of queue depths on performance and also some of the dangers of making the HBA device queue depths too high. What I didn’t know at the time I wrote the previous article was that the default queue depth for QLogic HBA’s was changed between vSphere 4.1 and 5.x. This article will being you up to date on the changes and the impacts of the change in default values between vSphere 4.x and 5.x.
Categories: Business Critical Applications, VMware
HBA, Queue Depth, VMware, vSphere 4.1, vSphere 5.0, vSphere 5.1
VMworld 2013 Call For Papers Public Voting is Now Open!
April 24, 2013
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Many of you that have submitted a paper for VMworld 2013 would have received an email saying that call for papers public voting is now open. For those that didn’t get the email I thought I’d let you know that you can now start voting for sessions. The competition this year is going to be even more insane than last year, so it would be advised to get in early and make your top sessions known.
Categories: Business Critical Applications, VMware
VMware, VMworld 2013
vSphere 5.1 Hardening Guide Official Release
April 19, 2013
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One of the most important documents for any vSphere administrator or architect has been released. The vSphere 5.1 Hardening Guide is now available. The guide was announced on the vSphere Blog by Mike Foley – vSphere 5.1 Hardening Guide – Official Release. I’d like to thank Mike and the rest of the VMware Security Team that was involved in putting this invaluable resource together. It has been reformatted from the previous version to make it easier to use. I think you’ll all like the new improvements.
Best Practice Architecture for your vSphere Environment – Build a Management Cluster
April 9, 2013
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I just read a great article written by James Knapp at ViFX (One of VMware’s Premier Partners in New Zealand) on the Best Practices (and good practices) of utilizing a Management Cluster as part of your VMware vSphere architecture. I would recommend you read it. I’ll give you my very brief take on this.
Categories: Business Critical Applications, VMware
Management Cluster, VMware, vSphere
Fight the FUD: Virtualization of Oracle Evolves to Best Practice for Production Systems by David Floyer
April 8, 2013
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I recently read an article published on Wikibon written by David Floyer titled Virtualization of Oracle Evolves to Best Practice for Production Systems. He makes some good arguments regarding virtualization of production Oracle systems, including ROI and TCO analysis. The examples given provide you with an idea of how you might optimize your environment to improve the efficiency of your investment in Oracle software without sacrificing SLA’s. I would highly recommend that you review the article as it contains some critical advice when considering Oracle software investments, including how to protect your investments from audits. I have first hand experience with how significant the savings can be from a properly optimizsed Oracle designs on VMware vSphere. You just need to take a bit of care and be smart about how you go about it. Here I will give you some additional things to think about based on a recent conversation I had with an Oracle Account Executive, which was quite interesting in my opinion.
Categories: Business Critical Applications, VMware
Oracle, Oracle RAC, VMware, vSphere
Latest ESXi 5.0 Patch Improves VMFS Heap Size Limits
April 4, 2013
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This is a brief article to let you all know that VMware has greatly improved the default and maximum limit of open VMDK’s per host in the latest patches to ESXi 5.0. Once you apply patch ESXi500-201303401-BG the default and maximum amount of open VMDK storage per host will be 60TB on VMFS5, up from 25TB previously. The VMFS Heap Size is increased from a default of 128MB to a default of 640MB.
Categories: Business Critical Applications, VMware
Heap, VMFS, VMware, vSphere 5.0
The Status of Microsoft Failover Clustering Support on VMware vSphere 5.1
March 22, 2013
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The number of enquiries I’ve been receiving regarding Microsoft Failover Clustering, especially for Microsoft SQL Server Databases has skyrocketed in the past few weeks. I have been receiving a number of enquiries from customers and also from partners including cloud service providers. As a result I thought I’d write this article to help you understand what the current status is of support for Microsoft Failover Clustering on VMware vSphere 5.1 (GA) and with regard to some VMware products.
Categories: Business Critical Applications, VMware
Clustering, Microsoft Failover Cluster, MSCS, MSFC, VMware, vSphere 5.1
vExpert 2013 Applications Open
March 21, 2013
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John Troyer (@jtroyer) – VMware Chief Social Media and Community Evangelist, has announced that the applications for vExpert 2013 are now open. If you are an active and contributing member of the thriving VMware community and think you should be recognised as a vExpert then you should consider applying. Likewise if you know someone that you think is a great contributor to the community you should consider nominating them. What does it take to be a vExpert? Read on.
Categories: VMware
vExpert 2013, VMware
VMworld 2013 Call For Papers Is Open
March 15, 2013
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This time of year is always exciting as the planning for VMworld kicks off and the Call For Papers comes out. This is your opportunity to share with the world how you’ve used VMware technologies in innovative ways, share technical deep dive content, and educate others on how to achieve massive success. Here is my perspective on submitting sessions and what I learned from VMworld last year.
Mako Networks
Mako Networks
Your Author: Michael Webster, VCDX-066, vExpert 2012
IT Solutions 2000 Ltd
More sponsors welcomed. Contact me directly via the Author Page.
