PSC (Platform Service Controller) & vCenter Server Services

vCenter Server instances can be deployed in various modes, depending on the location of Platform Services Controllers:

•      vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller

•      vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller

PSC and vCenter offers number of services. Let's have a look at those services and their functions:-

You cannot distribute these vCenter Server functions across multiple servers.

•         VMware vCenter Single Sign-On = To Forward the authentication requests.

•         VMware License Server = Provides centralized License management

•         Lookup Service For Component Registrations = It holds information of the products those are integrated.

•         Certificate Authority (VMCA) = VMware CA provisions each ESXi host, each vCenter Server service, each machine in the environment, and each solution user with a certificate signed by VMware CA

•         Certificate Store (VECS) = VMware Endpoint Certificate Store (VECS) serves as a local (client-side) repository for certificates, private keys, and other certificate information that can be stored in a keystore.

•         VMware Directory Services (VMDIR) = It provides directory services with vSphere.local domain in this environment although from version 6 this domain name can be any name of your choice.

•         vSphere Web Client = It is used to connect with vCenter and manage the vCenter by using Web Browser that is supported by VMware

•         Inventory Service = It stores vCenter application and inventory data and enables you to search this data across linked vCenter Instances

•         VMware vSphere Auto Deploy = It provides stateless and stateful deployments of ESXi

•         vCenter Server support tool = This provides Kernel dump Collection by collecting them over the network.

•         VMware vSphere Syslog Collector = This is Centralized log collection tool from vmware to redirect the multiple esxi host logs to centralized location

For more info refer VMware Documentation

How to Execute the API commands in vCSA 6.0 Shell?

The API commands in the vCenter Server Appliance let you perform various administrative tasks in the vCenter Server Appliance. The API commands are provided by appliance management service in the vCenter Server Appliance. You can edit time synchronization settings, monitor processes and services, set up the SNMP settings, firewall and so on. Here is step by step of how to execute API Commands:-
1. Access vCSA Shell Locally (Alt+F1) or through SSH

2. Enable the vCSA Shell by using this command or through vCSA DCUI:-

shell.set --enabled true

3. Run this command to list all API commands:-

help api list 

4. Let's assume you want to check firewall rule those are created on vCenter Run this API command:-

com.vmware.appliance.version1.networking.firewall.addr.inbound.list

5. I have one rule in vCenter. Now if you want to delete these rules you can execute this API Command:-
com.vmware.appliance.version1.networking.firewall.addr.inbound.delete --position INT  

Replace INT with Rule Integer Value

Example:-

com.vmware.appliance.version1.networking.firewall.addr.inbound.delete --position 0

Note:- if you need help on any API command then use this:-
<API Command>  --help


For more info on API Commands in vCSA refer VMware Documentation 

Missing Hardware Status Tab in vSphere Client for ESXi Host

If you wondered after connecting with vCenter Server from vSphere Client that "Where is Hardware Status Tab?".

So no need to wonder now because This is by design in vSphere 6.0. The vSphere Client 6.0 no longer supports the hardware status plug-in. This is an expected behavior. This functionality is available in the vSphere Web Client 6.0. Refer this KB  for more info

vCSA a.k.a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 DCUI and vCSA Bash Shell Step by Step

In vCSA 6.0 to configure the appliance intially VAMI (that is accessed through port 5480) is not available. But this is back in vCSA 6.0 Update 1. Check the VMware Release Notes for What's new in vCSA 6.0 Update 1 from here. So in vCSA 6.0 Instead of VAMI, DCUI is available.

• DCUI = Direct Console User Interface
• VAMI = Virtual Appliance Management Interface

In this blogpost, i will discuss how to Use DCUI in vCSA 6.0 and How to access vCSA 6.0 Shell.

How to Use DCUI in vCSA 6.0

1. Deploy the vCSA and Power it On.

2. Open the vCSA VM Console. This is what you will get when you will access console.

F2 = To login in to the system and to customize it

F12 = To Shutdown or to Restart it 

2.  Press F2 to Login and to Customize vCSA and then provide the Username and Password

 

3. Once Logged in then you will get these options:-

• Configure Root Password
• Configure Management Network
• Restart Management Network
• Troubleshooting Mode Options
• View Support Information

4. Configure Root Password is to Change the existing root user password

5. Configure Management Network is to Use Change IP, Subnet Mask, DNS & Default Gateway

6. Restart Management Network option is used to restart management network services in case you have connectivity issues with vCSA.

7. Troubleshooting Mode Options you can use to Enable/Disable SSH or Bash Shell

8. View Support Information option you can use to get some more details about vCSA

How to Use Bash Shell in vCSA 6.0

1. Enable the Bash Shell. There are two options to enable it:-

• Either Use Troubleshooting Mode Options
• Either Use Alt+F1 to Switch to Shell from DCUI and the execute this command shell.set --enabled True 

 Once Enabled then execute the command shell
 

ESXi Shell, SSH and DCUI Timeout Settings in vSphere 6.0

Any user with the Administrator role can execute system commands using the ESXi Shell. If a user enables the ESXi Shell on a host, but forgets to log out of the session, the idle session remains connected indefinitely. The open connection can increase the potential for someone to gain privileged access to the host.

There are 2 timeout settings you should enable to control ESXi Shell and SSH sessions:
These are not new settings, these were present in ESXi5 as well.
ESXi Shell Availability – ESXiShellTimeOut– How long the ESXi Shell and SSH services will run. After this timeout interval service will be stopped automatically and one cannot connect with ESXi shell or SSH after this timeout.
Steps:-
1. Configure this timeout value from DCUI (You an even use vSphere Client, vSphere Web Client, PowerCLI)
2. Then after this timeout configuration, enable ESXi shell and SSH


Idle ESXi Shell Sessions – ESXiShellInteractiveTimeOut
– How long a shell session can remain inactive before being automatically terminated. This means sessions can be initiated again after this termination as this is just idle session timeout.

From DCUI:-

From vSphere Web Client:-

DCUI Timeout Setting:-
This is new in vSphere 6.0
 – How long a DCUI session can remain inactive before being automatically terminated

From DCUI:-

 From vSphere Web Client:-

There are different ways to configure these timeout settings, some in minutes and some in seconds:-
1. vSphere Client uses seconds
2. vSphere Web Client uses seconds
3. vSphere API PowerCLI uses seconds


To set these by PowerCLI use the Set-AdvancedSetting cmdlet – in the below example the ESXiShellInteractiveTimeout is set to to 5 minutes (300 seconds) on the host.

Get-VMHost esxi | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name'UserVars.ESXiShellInteractiveTimeout' | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value "300"

4. Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) uses minutes

VMware Product Lifecycle Matrix

Download VMware Product Lifecycle Matrix Guide from here

Source:-
VMware Technical Whitepaper

What is Software-Defined?

Software-Defined
Moving the Intelligence from specific Hardware to Software is known as Software-Defined.

Software-Defined Storage (SDS)

Software-defined storage (SDS) is an approach to data storage in which the programming that controls storage-related tasks is decoupled from the physical storage hardware.

Examples:-
EMC ViPR
VMware Virtual SAN

Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach to computer networking that allows network administrators to manage network services through abstraction of higher-level functionality. The goal of SDN is to allow network engineers and administrators to respond quickly to changing business requirements. In a software-defined network, a network administrator can shape traffic from a centralized control console without having to touch individual switches, and can deliver services to wherever they are needed in the network, without regard to what specific devices a server or other device is connected to. The key technologies are functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability.

Examples:-
Juniper Contrail
VMware NSX

Software-Defined Compute (SDC)
With software-defined compute, the computational functions can happen in any number of hardware devices in the cloud, as needed, rather than be assigned to a specific hardware device. In addition, the compute functions can be moved around to different pieces of virtual infrastructure, depending on the availability of resources.

Examples:-
Microsoft Hyper-V
VMware ESXi
Citrix XenServer

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