Configuring Infoblox IPAM plug-in 4.0 with vRealize Automation 7.1

How one can integrate IPAM with vRA7:-

Disaster Recovery to vCloud Air Tutorials by VMware

Very Useful and helpful tutorials for those who are looking for DR to vCloud Air

For More Info:-
http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-replication-58/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-replication-to-cloud-10.pdf

Resizing the Replicated VM Disk - Caution!!!!!

• On the recovery site, rename the folder in which the virtual machine is replicated to. This prevents the replicated data from removing when removing replication from the virtual machine.
• Disable replication of the virtual machine you want to resize.
• At the protected site, increase the size of the desired virtual machine disk file.
• At the recovery site, log in to an ESXi host that can access the datastore in which the virtual machine is replicated to.
• Run this command to change the directory to the datastore and folder in which the replicated disk is stored:

           cd /vmfs/volumes/virtual_machine_datastore/virtual_machine_folder/

• Run this command to increase the size of the replicated vmdk using vmkfstools:

          vmkfstools –X 50G virtual_machine.vmdk

          Note: The preceding command increases the size of a virtual disk to 50 GB.

• At the recovery site, restore the virtual machine folder to the original name.
• Reconfigure the replication for the virtual machine. Ensure to select the Specify datastore folder option to select the folder in which the replicated disk is stored.You can see a prompt that shows:

         A file with the name ‘[<datastore>] <folder>/<filename> already exists. Press Yes to use file as an initial copy.

        Select Yes to use the already replicated disk as a seed. If you are using the Web Client, you must browse for the correct folder.

Limitations to Protection and Recovery of Virtual Machines in SRM

The protection and recovery by Site Recovery Manager of virtual machines is subject to limitations.

Protection and Recovery of Suspended Virtual Machines

When you suspend a virtual machine, vSphere creates and saves its memory state. When the virtual machine resumes, vSphere restores the saved memory state to allow the virtual machine to continue without any disruption to the applications and guest operating systems that it is running.

Protection and Recovery of Virtual Machines with Snapshots

Array-based replication supports the protection and recovery of virtual machines with snapshots, but with limitations.

You can specify a custom location for storing snapshot delta files by setting the workingDir parameter in VMX files. Site Recovery Manager does not support the use of the workingDir parameter.

Limitations also apply if you are running versions of ESX or ESXi Server older than version 4.1.

■	If the virtual machine has multiple VMDK disk files, all the disk files must be contained in the same folder as the VMX file itself.
■	If a virtual machine is attached to a Raw Disk Mapping (RDM) disk device, you must store the mapping file in the same folder as the VMX file. RDM snapshots are only available if you create the RDM mapping using Virtual Compatibility Mode.

If you are running a ESX or ESXi Server 4.1 or later, these limitations do not apply.

vSphere Replication supports the protection of virtual machines with snapshots, but you can only recover the latest snapshot. vSphere Replication erases the snapshot information in the recovered virtual machine. As a consequence, snapshots are no longer available after recovery, unless you configure vSphere Replication to retain multiple point-in-time snapshots. For information about recovering older snapshots by using multiple point-in-time snapshots with vSphere Replication, see Replicating a Virtual Machine and Enabling Multiple Point in Time Instances.

Protection and Recovery of Virtual Machines with Memory State Snapshots

When protecting virtual machines with memory state snapshots, the ESXi hosts at the protection and recovery sites must have compatible CPUs, as defined in the VMware knowledge base articles VMotion CPU Compatibility Requirements for Intel Processors and VMotion CPU Compatibility Requirements for AMD Processors. The hosts must also have the same BIOS features enabled. If the BIOS configurations of the servers do not match, they show a compatibility error message even if they are otherwise identical. The two most common features to check are Non-Execute Memory Protection (NX / XD) and Virtualization Technology (VT / AMD-V).

Protection and Recovery of Linked Clone Virtual Machines

vSphere Replication does not support the protection and recovery of virtual machines that are linked clones.

Array-based replication supports the protection and recovery of virtual machines that are linked clones if all the nodes in the snapshot tree are replicated.

Protection and Recovery of Virtual Machines with Reservations, Affinity Rules, or Limits

When Site Recovery Manager recovers a virtual machine to the recovery site, it does not preserve any reservations, affinity rules, or limits that you have placed on the virtual machine. Site Recovery Manager does not preserve reservations, affinity rules, and limits on the recovery site because the recovery site might have different resource requirements to the protected site.

You can set reservations, affinity rules, and limits for recovered virtual machines by configuring reservations and limits on the resource pools on the recovery site and setting up the resource pool mapping accordingly. Alternatively, you can set reservations, affinity rules, or limits manually on the placeholder virtual machines on the recovery site.

Protection and Recovery of Virtual Machines with Components on Multiple Arrays

Array-based replication in Site Recovery Manager depends on the concept of an array pair. Site Recovery Manager defines groups of datastores that it recovers as units. As a consequence, limitations apply to how you can store the components of virutal machines that you protect using array-based replication.

■	Site Recovery Manager does not support storing virtual machine components on multiple arrays on the protected site that replicate to a single array on the recovery site.
■	Site Recovery Manager does not support storing virtual machine components on multiple arrays on the protected site that replicate to mulitple arrays on the recovery site, if the virtual machine components span both arrrays.

If you replicate virtual machine components from multiple arrays to a single array or to a span of arrays on the recovery site, the VMX configurations of the UUID of the datastores on the protected site do not match the configurations on the recovery site.

The location of the VMX file of a virtual machine determines which array pair a virtual machine belongs to. A virtual machine cannot belong to two array pairs, so if it has more than one disk and if one of those disks is in an array that is not part of the array pair to which the virtual machine belongs, Site Recovery Managercannot protect the whole virtual machine. Site Recovery Manager handles the disk that is not on the same array pair as the virtual machine as an unreplicated device.

As a consequence, store all the virtual disks, swap files, RDM devices, and the working directory for the virtual machine on LUNs in the same array so that Site Recovery Manager can protect all the components of the virtual machine.

Change root account Password of Multiple ESXi Hosts

Today i got this question from one of my client to reset the muliple esxi hosts root account password. There are multiple ways of doing this:-
1. Through Host Profile
2. Through Power CLI Script

Through Host Profile
1. Export the Host Profile from any esxi host.

2. Edit the Exported Host Profile

 3. Keep only password change option selected and deselect the remaining options.

4. Attach the Profile with ESXi hosts or Cluster

5. Check the Profile compliance on your esxi hosts as you can see the warning message because host is not compliant according the profile settings.

6. Enter the Hosts in the Maintenance Mode

7. Click on Remediate Option

Through Power CLI Script
1. Download this powercli script zip file from here
2. Extract the contents of zip file and paste both the files in c:\Scripts directory
3. Modify esxservers.txt and replace host1 and host 2 entries with your esxi host names like shown in this screenshot

4. Open Power CLI and execute Reset_esxi_root_password.ps1 script > then press "R" to run it once > Provide Old Password and New Password as it will be requested as input > Press Enter

Bingo!!!!! It's done now all the esxi hosts root account password is changed.

Demystifying VCAP6-DCV Deploy Exam

If one has already VMware Datacenter Virtualization Professional Level Certification (Level 2) Certification and now they are looking for Advanced Certification (Level 3) then one of exam for this is VCAP6-DCV Deploy Exam. Let's start with the requirements for this exam for existing and new candidates and how one can prepare for this exam.

 Certification Path:
As per my observation i believe these exam codes are based on these levels like 1V0, 2V0, 3V0, 4V0

Requirements for the New Candidate:
Remember for VCAP-DCV Deploy exam no training is mandatory although recommeneded training is VMware vSphere: Design and Deploy Fast Track [V6]. This training provides exposure to the design as well as deploy labs.

Requirements for the Existing Candidate:
Remember for VCAP-DCV Deploy exam no training is mandatory although recommeneded training is VMware vSphere: Design and Deploy Fast Track [V6]. This training provides exposure to the design as well as deploy labs.

Exam Details:-
Number of Questions in the Exam, Time Limit, Exam Cost and either exam is Proctored or Non-Proctored or lab based, these questions are always there in the mind. Here is answer of all these questions related to VCAP6-DCV Deploy Exam.
Note:- Exam Price and Time Limit can vary country to country. 

Exam Objectives:

+ Section 1 - Create and Deploy vSphere 6.x Infrastructure Components

+ Objective 1.1 - Perform Advanced ESXi Host Configuration

+ Objective 1.2 - Deploy and Configure Core Management Infrastructure Components

+ Objective 1.3 - Deploy and Configure Update Manager Components

+ Objective 1.4 - Perform Advanced Virtual Machine Configurations

+ Section 2 - Deploy and Manage a vSphere 6.x Storage Infrastructure

+ Objective 2.1 - Implement Complex Storage Solutions

+ Objective 2.2 - Manage Complex Storage Solutions

+ Objective 2.3 - Troubleshoot Complex Storage Solutions

+ Section 3 - Deploy and Manage a vSphere 6.x Network Infrastructure

+ Objective 3.1 - Implement and Manage vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) Networks

+ Objective 3.2 - Implement and Manage vSphere 6.x Distributed Switch (vDS) Networks

+ Objective 3.3 - Scale a vSphere 6.x Network Implementation

+ Objective 3.4 - Troubleshoot a vSphere 6.x Network Implementation

+ Section 4 - Configure a vSphere Deployment for Availability and Scalability

+ Objective 4.1 - Implement and Maintain Complex vSphere Availability Solutions

+ Objective 4.2 - Implement and Manage Complex DRS solutions

+ Objective 4.3 - Troubleshoot vSphere clusters

+ Section 5 - Configure a vSphere Deployment for Manageability

+ Objective 5.1 - Execute VMware Cmdlets and Customize Scripts Using PowerCLI

+ Objective 5.2 - Implement and Maintain Host Profiles

+ Objective 5.3 - Manage and analyze vSphere log files

+ Objective 5.4 - Configure and manage Content Library

+ Section 6 - Configure a vSphere Deployment for Performance

+ Objective 6.1 - Utilize Advanced vSphere Performance Monitoring Tools

+ Objective 6.2 - Optimize Virtual Machine resources

+ Section 7 - Configure a vSphere 6.x Environment for Recoverability

+ Objective 7.1- Deploy and manage vSphere Replication

+ Objective 7.2 - Deploy and Manage vSphere Data Protection

+ Objective 7.3 - Backup and Recover vSphere Configurations

+ Section 8 - Configure a vSphere 6.x Environment for Security

+ Objective 8.1 - Manage authentication and end-user security

+ Objective 8.2 - Manage SSL certificates

+ Objective 8.3 - Harden a vSphere 6.x Deployment

Exam UI Guide
https://mylearn.vmware.com/lcms/web/portals/certification/VMware%20Certification%20Platform%20Interface.pdf

Test Drive to vSphere Environment for the Exam Preparation
https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vsphere-hol&ui=www_cert

I will try to add more details on each objective in future blog posts.

For more information and latest certification updates refer:-
http://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/certification/

VMworld 2016 Session: vVOLs and Containers - Architecture Discussion

Learn Architecture Level details about vVOLs and Containers and their use cases. How this will change in future version of vSphere, Supported and Unsupported configurations with vVOLs. 
Source:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoovdDVJuFM

VMware vRealize Cloud Management Platform - Vision

Source:-
https://youtu.be/59kifMRmofc

VCP7-CMA Beta Exam Exam - Limited Time Offer

 

Anyone who is interested in achieving VCP7-CMA certification. They can go for this exam as beta version of this exam is avaiable now. This exam is available for the limited time, in India this exam is available for USD 50 (Exam Prices are subject to vary country to country).

Exam Blueprint Link
https://mylearn.vmware.com/lcms/web/portals/certification/exam_prep_guides/Exam_Prep_Guide_2V0-731_v1.2.pdf?q=%23newinthezone&src=typd&mid=4554&eid=CVMW2000018428362