VMware Skyline

VMware Skyline is a proactive support technology aligned with VMware Global Services offerings. VMware Skyline automatically and securely collects, aggregates, and analyzes product usage data which helps VMware support engineers improve time-to-resolution and proactively resolve potential problems. These capabilities transform support operations from a reactive, break/fix mode to a proactive, predictive, and prescriptive experience that produces even greater returns on your VMware support investment. Today VMware Skyline provides increased visibility for VMware vSphere and VMware NSX environments. Additional products will be added over time.

Read More @
https://www.vmware.com/support/services/skyline.html

VMware Watchlist App

vSphere Mobile Watchlist enables secure vSphere infrastructure monitoring and remediation directly from your smartphone. With Watchlist, VMware administrators will be able to log in to a vCenter Server or ESXi host directly and choose virtual machines and hosts from inventory to create targeted views of objects and their properties. Remediate directly from the device with power and management operations, VM console interaction, and delegation of tasks to onsite colleagues with linked relevant Knowledge Base (KB) articles.
vSphere Mobile Watchlist brings the following key capabilities to vSphere administrators on the go:

EASILY CREATE WATCHLISTS:
Search for and select a subset of VMs and hosts from your VMware vCenter Server and/or ESXi inventory to monitor in one or multiple watchlists. 
VMs and HOSTS AT A GLANCE:
Review the status of selected Watchlist VMs and hosts from your device including state, configuration details, resource usage, performance charts, health alerts, tasks and events, interact with the VM console and browse related objects. 
DISCOVER:
Alerts are linked to pertinent diagnostic information from the VMware Knowledge Base, as well as articles from the Web. 
REMEDIATE REMOTELY:
Remediate problems directly from the device using simple CPU/Memory configuration and snapshot management or by powering on/off, resuming/suspending, connecting/disconnecting, or restarting VMs and/or hosts — or for situations where on-site remediation is required, share alert(s) along with recommended solutions in an email to team members back at the datacenter. 
vSphere Mobile Watchlist is compatible with iOS 7 & iOS 8.

LICENSE INFOMATION
VMware vSphere Mobile Watchlist v1.4.0 for iOS Open Source License

VMware vSphere Mobile Watchlist v1.4.5 for Android Open Source License

For More Info refer:-
https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vsphere/vsphere-mobile
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2014/02/now-available-vmware-vsphere-mobile-watchlist.html

VMware vRA 7.0 Guest Agent Use Cases

In VMware vRA you may need optionally Guest Agent, If you have following requirements:-

•Launch in guest Scripts, this is has always been the biggest driver for installing the vRA Guest Agent. The nice part about it, after installing the guest agent, you can customize which script you want to run and what parameters you want to pass to it using custom properties. Further being able to invoke these scripts from share drives and passing them your desired parameters using custom properties, you can avoid having to edit your template, every time you update your script.
•Install Software via Scripts(Unattended Installs), this really fall under the first use case, though I still wanted to highlight that you can invoke software installation scripts using the vRA Guest agent.
• Call other in Guest Agents. (Puppet is a popular example of this use case)
•Configure or format new Drives in Guest OS. There is always the case where you want to add an extra drive upon provisioning, and this help you address preparing that drive for usage right after deployment.
•Configure multiple NIC’s
•IP address assignment from Network Profiles. It is only Required when there is no Guest OS Customization Support.

If you are looking for application authoring in vRA then you can skip this agent installation and just install the software bootstrap agent as software bootstrap agent will take care of most of the things for you

What is the Impact if VMDK of a VM in Old Protected Site is Deleted before Re-protection?

Question: What would be the Impact on re-protection if VMDK of a particular VM got deleted in Old Protected Site (Site A ). Re-protection would work or not?

 Answer: Re-protection will work without any issue and re-protection will create the VMDK for this VM automatically in Old Protected Site (Site A)

Impact of Not Configuring the Inventory Mappings in VMware SRM

An inventory mapping specifies the resources in Site Recovery Manager that a recovered virtual machine uses.

The following elements are mapped:
•Compute resources, such as resource pools
•Virtual machine folders
•Network port groups
•Placeholder datastore
Inventory mappings are optional, but highly recommended. If a virtual machine is not fully mapped, then it must be individually configured. 

To Explain this Scenario, I have created a VM > Powered On > Configured VM Replication > Added it in to Protection Group without configuring Inventory Mapping. Now as you can see in this below screenshot one warning is listed for the VM that is in Protection Group. And the warning is "Mapping for the Folder, Network and Resource Pool is Missing" 

As per my previous statement "If a virtual machine is not fully mapped, then it must be individually configured" Let me explain how this can be individually configured:-
Select VM in the Protection Group > Click on Configure Protection > You can notice for Folder, Resource Pool and Network mapping is not configured.

To add this Individual VM mapping expand each category where it is shown as "not configured" One by one and map it to the correct location in recovery site > Click on Ok > Click on Restore Placeholder VM Icon.

Note:- If Inventory Mapping as well as Individual VM mapping is not configured by SRM Admin. Recovery Plan Execution will not work and you will get the below error

Procedure to Increase the VM Disk Size that is Protected by vSphere Replication Using SRM

If you are trying to Increase the VM Disk Size that is Protected by vSphere Replication Using SRM, you will get this error "vSphere Replication does not support changing the length of a replicated disk.". 

Procedure to Increase the VM Disk Size that is Protected by vSphere Replication Using SRM

• Locate the directory or directories where the virtual machine is currently replicating to. Rename these directories using the datastore browser.
• Note and record the vSphere Replication configuration for the virtual machine (RPO settings, destination datastores, and so on).
• Stop replication for the virtual machine at the protected site using the vSphere Replication User Interface (UI).
•  Re-size the virtual machine's disks on the protected virtual machine using the Edit Settings.

• Resize the virtual disk on the recovery site:
• SSH to an ESXi host that has access to the datastore on the recovery site containing the replicated disks.
• Change directory to the renamed directory where the vmdk files are stored.

                   Increase the size of the disk with the vmkfstools command:

                   vmkfstools -X size vmdk

                   For example:

                  vmkfstools -X 4G Demo-VM.vmdk

• Once the vmdks have been resized on both sites, rename the folder from step #1 back to its original name using the datastore browser.
• Re-configure replication for the virtual machine, using the replication configuration you noted in step #2. You will need to select the datastore folder manually and you will be prompted to use the replicated disks as seeds.

Note:- If you will not increase the Size of the disk in the recovery site by using the above mentioned command, you will get the this below error as soon as the replication is again configured by you "The capacity of the seed disk does not match the capacity of the replication source disk. Create a new seed copy or verify that you selected the correct seed to use for this replication.:

Storage Provider Versions Comparison

This was Introduced in vSphere 5.0, the storage provider has evolved over time. Here is the features comparison in different versions of VASA:-

VMware Licenses Mystery Solved

Are you lost in VMware Licenses? Do you find difficulty in Understanding VMware Licenses, Products and Editions? Do you want to understand which VMware Product uses which License Metric? Now no need to worry, refer new VMware Product Guide <<<<<Link to Download VMware Product Guide>>>>>

 

VMware vSAN 6.6 Design and Sizing Guide

Refer this Link:-
https://storagehub.vmware.com/#!/vmware-vsan/vmware-r-vsan-tm-design-and-sizing-guide

How to check the Service Request Approval or Rejection Justification in VMware vRA 7?

 In vRA, one can set up the approval policy with conditions. For an example, i want if somebody is going to request the VM from self-service portal with more than 1 vCPU. That request should be approved by the approver. Whenever approver approves or rejects the request they have to give the justification, I as an end user wants to know what is the Justification of approval or rejection. Now the question to how to know this Justification as an end user. Lets have a look to know how to check this:-

1. Login as an End User in vRA Self Service Portal.
2. Request the Service. If approval policy is linked with the Service then Under request tab, request status would be "Pending Approval".
3. Then Approver will Check the request and Approve or Reject it with Justification. Lets assume Approver Rejected the Request.
4. As an End User when you will check the request status Under Request Tab. You will get status "Rejected". Click on the Request Number.

5. Now Click on Rejected Link Under Approval status. Here Under Justification Column you can check the Justification.

VMware vSAN 6.6.1 Upgrade Guide

Refer this Link:-
https://storagehub.vmware.com/#!/vmware-vsan/vsan-6-6-1-upgrade-considerations

VMware vSAN 6.6 License Editions

vSAN license editions include Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, and Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) Standard and Advanced. The following table shows the features included with each license edition.

Note:- Features in these editions can vary in different versions of vSAN . Please refer the vSAN Version Specific Licensing Guide.

For More Info Refer:-
https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vsan/vmware-vsan-66-licensing-guide.pdf 

What is PFTT and SFTT in VMware vSAN 6.6

In vSAN 6.6, new storage policy features have been added for stretched clusters. These features provide failure protection for stretched clusters: 
Local Protection for Stretched Clusters

• Primary level of failures to tolerate (PFTT) replaces the previous Failures to Tolerate (FTT). It applies to tolerate the failures across sites of streched cluster

• Secondary level of failures to tolerate (SFTT) is a new rule that applies to tolerate the failures within each site of a stretched cluster. 

Note: SFTT is only available when streched cluster is configured, as vSAN capability for creating the vSAN Storage Policies

• The failure tolerance method is tied to the SFTT rule as it defines how failure tolerance is achieved within each site but not across sites.
• One can have PFTT = 0, SFTT = 1 or 2 either they can have PFTT = 1, SFTT = 1 or 2.

RAID 5/6 Erasure Coding in Stretched Clusters

• RAID 5/6 erasure coding is only supported within each site.
• RAID 1 mirroring is supported cross-site.

Image thanks to VMware

Impact of Prioritizing Entitlements in VMware vRA 7

If multiple entitlements exist for the same business group, you can prioritize the entitlements so that when a service catalog user makes a request, the entitlement and associated approval policy are processed in the specified order.

Task Briefing
If you configure an approval policy for a user group, and you want a group member to have a unique policy for one or more of the services, catalog items, or actions, prioritize the member entitlement before the group entitlement. When the member requests an item in the service catalog, the approval policy that is applied is based on the priority order of the entitlements for the business group. The first time that the member's name is found, either as part of a custom user group or as an individual user, that is the applied approval policy.

For example, you create two entitlements for the same catalog item so that you can apply one approval policy for the accounting user group and a different approval policy for User 1, a member of that group.

Scenario Briefing 

 Scenario's Result

How to Prioritize Entitlements
1. Login as Tenant Administrator or Catalog Administrator Role User
2. Administration Tab
3. Catalog Management
4. Entitlements
5. Click On Prioritize Icon
6. Select a Business Group from Drop-down list
7. Drag an Entitlement Up or Down to change the priority order
8. Click on Update and Close Button

Auto Import vSphere VMs in vCloud Director 8.20

VMware Introduced cool new and exciting feature in vCloud Director 8.20. This features gives you the ability to import your vSphere VMs easily in vCloud Director Management Area. For this you have to Just move your VM to appropriate resource pool (this gets created automatically for Org vDC whenever Org vDC is created from vCD) and vm folder as per your Organization vDC setting. How to enable auto import feature in vCD? Follow the steps shared below:-

1. Log in to vCD System Admin Portal with System Admin User Credential > Administration Tab > General >. Select the Option "VM Discovery Enabled". However this is enabled by default.

2. From vSphere Web Client Just Move your VM in to Resource Created by vCD for Organization vDC

3. From vSphere Web Client Just Move your VM to Folder by vCD for Organization vDC

4. Once this is done Connect your VM to Right Org vDC Network From VM Properties in vSphere Web Client.

5. Once this is done after few seconds your VM will be listed in vCloud Director Portal under newly created vApp (this vApp get created automatically) and in vSphere Web Client automatically new folder will be created with the name "Discovered xxxxxxx". Here xxxxxxx is your VM name. As you see in the previous screenshot.

Note:-
If you want to delete the VM. You can simply delete the VM from vSphere Web Client and it will be deleted immediately from vCD portal too. You can delete the VM from vCD portal too. Best way to delete the VM is delete it by using vCD portal.

For more info refer:-
https://fojta.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/vcloud-director-8-20-vm-auto-import/

VMware SRM 6.5 - What's New?

 In VMware SRM 6.5 number of cool new features are added. These are the enhancements in SRM 6.5:-
1. Compatibility with vSphere 6.5
2. Compatibility with vSAN 6.5
3. SRMs and vVOLs Interoperatibility
4. 5 Minutes RPO with VMware Native Replication with any compatible storage (Earlier it was possible with vSAN only)
6. vROPS SRM Management Pack.
7. Full Integration with vCenter 6.5 HA
8. Full support for Windows vCenter to vCSA Migration
9. SPPG Support for Encrypted VMs
10. Two factor authentication support with SRM 6.5 Integration with vSphere Guest Operations API
11. Scripted Install/Upgrade

For More Info on these features refer:-
https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/6.5/rn/srm-releasenotes-6-5.html

https://blogs.vmware.com/virtualblocks/2016/10/18/srm-65-whatsnew/

https://storagehub.vmware.com/#!/site-recovery-manager-3/srm-6-5-technical-overview

Finally My Blog is in Top 100 vBlogs

Yesterday Eric Siebert From vSphere-land announced the results of Top vBlog 2017. You can check my previous blogpost to know more about Top vBlog 2017. Thanks to everyone who voted for my blog. My Blog Rank is 79. You can find the full results here

Storage and Availability Technical Documents

Are you looking for Storage and Availability Technical Documents of VMware Products?

Your search ends here, Check out this >>>LINK<<<

Introducing Vembu BDR Suite v3.8

New features in v3.8

Download Link

Disk Image Backup from BDR Server

Disk Image Backups can now be configured and managed via Vembu BDR Server. Relying on proxy agents is no longer required, unless it’s a distributed deployment which require individual proxy agent installation.

FLR from GUI (Backup & Replication)

File Level Recovery(FLR) is now available for both backup and  replication jobs where user can choose specific files and folders from VMware/Hyper-V/Disk Image backups and VMware replication, to be restored in a quick fashion.

Seed load backup data to OffsiteDR

Storing copy of backup data for DR requirements is now an easy task to be accomplished by seed loading backup server data to desired offsite data center. This save loads of time and bandwidth from being consumed.

Auto Authorization

Enabling Auto authorization in Vembu BDR allows proxy agents to get registered to backup server using unique registration key generated by respective BDR server.

Encryption Settings

Users can now provide additional security to their disk based backup jobs by assigning custom-password to backup server, such that all their backup data will be encrypted and can be restored/accessed only by providing the custom-password.

Storage Pooling

Storage Pools are used to aggregate the space available from different volumes and utilise them as a storage for specific backups. The hybrid volume manager of Vembu BDR Server supports scalable and extendable backup storage for different storage media such as Local drives, NAS(NFS and CIFS) and SAN(iSCSI and FC). Vembu BDR provides storage pooling option for both backup level and group level.

   
MSI Installer : For all Clients

Users will now get the client agents installer as .msi format also.The installer will check for the following packages based on the OS types (32 bit or 64 bit) and it will install the following (if not installed previously),

○     Visual C++  2008 redistributable packages x86

○     Visual C++ 2008 redistributable packages x64

○     Visual C++ 2013 redistributable packages x64

○     Visual C++ 2015 redistributable packages x86

Enhancements in v3.8

Enable or Disable retention for VMBackup / ImageBackup

User can enable or disable retention policy for the backups based on their requirements.

Disabling retention allows user to maintain all the backups without any merging of the incremental timestamps. This option is used when the backup size is low.

Disk level download option for VMware & Hyper-V plugins

Users can download backup data in multiple disk file formats such as: VHD, VMDK, VHDX, VMDK-Flat and RAW.

Similarly, if user need to download individual disks in a virtual machine, he can perform disk level download by selecting the disks.

From a group of virtual machines in a host backup, multiple disks can be downloaded with same disk file format.

Disk Management Mount(Hyper-V)

This option lets you instantly attach backup data to disk management as a VHD/VHDX file and proceed with the restore process. The VHD/VHDX file is created by virtually mounting the backup data on the vembu virtual drive. Users can access backup data via disks attached on disk management.

Once done with requirement, unmount backup data. This will resume backup job, so that incrementals will run as scheduled.

List VMs in an alphabetical order

Virtual Machines that are present in the host will be listed in an alphabetical order based on the ASCII table values, thereby making it simpler for the user to search and configure the backup. In the Review Configuration page, the Virtual machines that are chosen for backup is listed in the selected order.

Note: Virtual Machines will be listed in the following hierarchical order <special characters>, <numeric characters>, <Uppercase letters>, <lowercase letters>.

Search option for VMs in backup config page & restore list page

This option allows user to search the Virtual machines that are available in the ESXi host. Also, the user can search VMs/ host/cluster from a vCenter server. By specifying the required VM name in the search option you can select the VMs that are to be backed up from a ESXi host/vCenter Server.

VM level reports in OffsiteDR Server

This page lists all replicated jobs configured from backup server to the offsite server where you can see a report option alongside every replicated job

New menu for consolidated VM level report in BackupServer & OffsiteDR

VM level report gives the user the centralized report page of all VMs that are configured for backup. It allows user to view the detailed backup reports of virtual machines configured from both ESXi or Hyper-V Host.

Full featured free edition

Post 30 days trial version, user can either opt to purchase the product or continue using the free edition.

In Free edition user has two options to proceed with backup configurations : Full featured free edition or Limited Edition.        

Admin\Read Only Access privileges at both Backup Server and Group Level

Email Settings in Backup Agents

Email Report for OffsiteDR

Backup Verification Email Report (Backup Server & OffsiteDR)

Backup Level Report in Backup Status Report (Backup Server)