End of Availability (EOA) of AppHA in vSphere 6.0 (2108249)

Purpose

This article provides details on the End of Availability of AppHA in vSphere 6.0.

Resolution

VMware is announcing the End of Availability (EOA) for vSphere AppHA with the Q1 2015 general availability of vSphere 6 on March 12, 2015.

This notification has no Impact on existing use of vSphere AppHA in a vSphere 5.x or older environments. It also has no impact on support already purchased from VMware when vSphere AppHA is used in a vSphere 5.x or older environments.  End of support for vSphere 5.x will follow the dates already published by VMware and are available for view in the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.

FAQ:

When is the vSphere AppHA End of Availability (EOA)?

The vSphere AppHA EOA is scheduled to occur with the Q1 2015 GA release of vSphere 6 on March 12, 2015.  vSphere AppHA will not be part of the vSphere 6 release.

What is End of Availability (EOA)?

A product or feature has reached its End of Availability when it is no longer available for purchase or part of a release from VMware. See more at the Enterprise Infrastructure Support page.

Can I continue to use vSphere AppHA after EOA?

Customers may continue to use the vSphere AppHA feature with vSphere 5.x. This is a change in packaging and not offering a feature with a new release will not affect existing product support or functionality.

Can I continue to get technical support for vSphere AppHA after EOA?

Yes. Customers who have active support contracts will still be entitled to technical support as per the VMware Lifecycle Policy Matrix available at the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.  

What is the VMware vSphere AppHA End of General Support (EOGS) date?

VMware is announcing the End of Availability (EOA) for vSphere AppHA with the Q1 2015 general availability of vSphere 6 on March 12, 2015.  This information can also be found at VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.  vSphere AppHA is not a standalone product, but a feature of vSphere and therefore EOGS support will occur with vSphere ESXi Hypervisor 5.x.

Is there a new product that replaces vSphere AppHA?

There is no replacement for the vSphere AppHA feature, customers can use vSphere Data Protection, HA, Fault Tolerance, and Replication to protect their environments along with supported 3rd party products.

Whom may I contact if I have additional questions?

Please reach out to your VMware representative or VMware Global Support Services if you have any additional question

Source KB

Why Microsoft SQL cannot be used as an External Database with vCenter Server Appliance?

Microsoft SQL is not supported as an External Database with vCenter Server Appliance because Microsoft SQL driver support is not available for SUSE Linux.

Upgrade Scenario's for vCenter 6

The upgrade decision-making process depends on the placement of the vCenter Single Sign-On service and the vCenter Services.
First Scenario

• If a machine has Single Sign-On and vCenter Server installed, it becomes vCenter Embedded Platform Services Controller.

 Second Scenario

• If one machine has vCenter Server and Inventory Service installed.
• vSphere Web Client and Single Sign-On are in Separate Machines.

Third Scenario

• All vCenter 5.x components are installed on separate servers/VMs.
• After upgrade Web Client and inventory Service are defunct.
• Web Client and Inventory Service become part of Management Node.

vCenter Server Appliance Enhancements in vSphere 6

vSphere 6 vCenter Server Appliance now scales to the same capacity as a vCenter System installed on Windows Server

End of Availability (EOA) of vCloud Director in vCloud Suite 6.0 (2108250)

Purpose

This article provides details on the End of Availability (EOA) of vCloud Director (VCD) in the vCloud Suite 6.0

Resolution

VMware is announcing the End of Availability (EOA) for vCloud Director with the Q1 2015 general availability of vCloud Suite 6 on March 12, 2015.  This product was EOA as a standalone product in September 2013.

This has no impact on existing use of the product. It also has no impact on support already purchased from VMware or the support lifecycle for the product. For details on the end of support for this product, see the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.

VMware recommends that customers using vCloud Director migrate to vRealize Automation as soon as possible. 

FAQ:

When is the VMware vCloud Director in vCloud Suite End of Availability (EOA)?

The vCloud Director as part of the vCloud Suite EOA is scheduled to occur with the Q1 2015 GA release of vCloud Suite 6 on March 12, 2015. vCloud Director as a standalone product has been EOA since September 2013. 

What is End of Availability (EOA)?

A product or feature has reached its End of Availability when it is no longer available for purchase or part of a release from VMware. For more information, see Support Policies.

Can I continue to use vCloud Director after EOA?

Customers may continue to use the vCloud Director 5.5. This is a change in suite packaging and will not affect existing product support or functionality.

Can I continue to get technical support for vCloud Director after EOA?

Yes. Customers who have active support contracts will still be entitled to technical support as per the VMware Lifecycle Policy Matrix.

What is the VMware vSphere vCloud Director End of General Support (EOGS) date?

End of General Support (EOGS) for VMware vCloud Director is indicated at VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix. 

Is there a new product that replaces vCloud Director?

VMware recommends that customers using vCloud Director migrate to vRealize Automation as soon as possible. 

Is vCloud Director 5.5 compatible with vSphere 6.0? 

Yes, VMware will release a version of vCloud Director that is compatible with vSphere 6.0.  Please ensure the availability of a compatible version of vCloud Director before beginning your upgrade sequence to vSphere 6.0.

Are existing vCloud Suite 5.x customers who have deployed and are actively using vCloud Director entitled to vCloud Director when they upgrade to vCloud Suite 6.0?

Yes, existing vCloud Suite 5.x customers are entitled to vCloud Director for the licenses that they choose to upgrade from vCloud Suite 5.x to vCloud Suite 6.0. 

Are Service Providers affected?

No, Service Providers will continue to be served by vCloud Director for Service Providers product line as part of the VSPP program.

Source KB

vVOLs aka Virtual Volumes in vSphere 6

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VMware Tech Pubs

Lockdown Mode in vSphere 6

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VMware Tech Pubs

Simple Explanation of How Nutanix Works

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Youtube

Installing and Configuring VMware vSphere Big Data Extensions Video

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Youtube

Use of unsupported Web browsers to connect to vSphere Web Client results in error message

When you connect to the vSphere Web Client using an unsupported Web browser, an error message appears:
Your browser-OS combination is not supported. Some features might not work correctly. A minimum of IE10, Firefox 30 or Chrome 35 are required for Windows. A minimum of Firefox 30 or Chrome 35 are required for MAC OS X. Read the vSphere Web Client help for details.

Solution:-


The officially supported Web browsers are:-

• Internet Explorer 10.0.19 and later, Firefox 34 and later, or Chrome 39 and later for Windows
• Firefox 34 and later or Chrome 39 and later for Mac OS X

Source KB

What is IGMP Querying and IGMP Snooping and why would I need it on my network?

IGMP is a network layer (Layer 3) protocol used to establish membership in a Multicast group and can register a router to receive specific Multicast traffic. (Refer to RFC 1112 and RFC 2236 for information on IGMP versions 1 and 2.)

Multicast aware switches are slowly making their way into the network cores for businesses and universities that have heavy traffic to move through their networks. Multicast filtering is achieved by dynamic group control management. By default, all Multicast traffic should be blocked until requested by a Multicast group member. (Default behavior depends on switch manufacturer.) The master of the IGMP filter lists is the router or switch that is configured to act as the IGMP Querier. The responsibility of the Querier is to send out IGMP group membership queries on a timed interval, to retrieve IGMP membership reports from active members, and to allow updating of the group membership tables.

A Layer 2 switch supporting IGMP Snooping can passively snoop on IGMP Query, Report, and Leave (IGMP version 2) packets transferred between IP Multicast routers/switches and IP Multicast hosts to determine the IP Multicast group membership. IGMP snooping checks IGMP packets passing through the network, picks out the group registration, and configures Multicasting accordingly.

Without IGMP Querying/Snooping, Multicast traffic is treated in the same manner as a Broadcast transmission, which forwards packets to all ports on the network. With IGMP Querying/Snooping, Multicast traffic is only forwarded to ports that are members of that Multicast group. IGMP Snooping generates no additional network traffic, which significantly reduces the Multicast traffic passing through your switch.

If your network distribution core does not support IGMP Querying/Snooping, the AVN streams will still function as designed but your network may be subjected to high traffic loads and condensed collision domain due to the broadcasting action used by the older switch or hub. If this is the case, you may wish to isolate the streaming nodes within the network so that the streams may be viewed without crossing the normal network traffic along its path.

Otherwise, for a general performance improvement, you may consider upgrading your network core to a switch that is Multicast aware.

Source:-
http://www.vsicam.com/_faq/what-is-igmp-querying-and-igmp-snooping-and-why-would-i-need-it-on-my-network/

RAID Types Explained

RAID 0, also known as disk striping, is a technique that breaks up a file and spreads the data across all the disk drives in a RAID group.
The benefit of RAID 0 is that it improves performance. Because striping spreads data across more physical drives, multiple disks can access the contents of a file, allowing writes and reads to be completed more quickly. A drawback to RAID 0 is that it does not have parity. If a drive should fail, there is no redundancy and all data would be lost. RAID 0 requires at least two physical disks.

RAID 1: RAID 1 is called disk mirroring. All the data is written to at least two separate physical disks. The disks are essentially mirror images of each other. If one of the disks fails, the other can be used to retrieve data. Disk mirroring is good for very fast read operations. It's slower when writing to the disks, since the data needs to be written twice. RAID 1 requires at least two physical disks.

RAID 5 is a RAID configuration that uses disk striping with parity. Because data and parity are striped across all of the disks, no single disk is a bottleneck. Striping also allows users to reconstruct data in case of a disk failure. Reads and writes are more evenly balanced in this configuration, making RAID 5 the most commonly used RAID method. RAID 5 requires at least three physical disks.

RAID 6, also known as double-parity RAID, uses two parity stripes on each disk. It allows for two disk failures within the RAID set before any data is lost. RAID 6, also known as double-parity RAID, uses two parity stripes on each disk. It allows for two disk failures within the RAID set before any data is lost. This configuration offers very high fault- and drive-failure tolerance. It is used for environments that need long data retention periods, such as archiving. One disadvantage in using RAID 6 is that each set of parities must be calculated separately, which slows write performance. Implementing RAID 6 is also more expensive because of the two extra disks required for parity.

RAID 10, also known as RAID 1+0, combines disk mirroring and disk striping to protect data.
A RAID 10 configuration requires a minimum of four disks, and stripes data across mirrored pairs. As long as one disk in each mirrored pair is functional, data can be retrieved. If two disks in the same mirrored pair fail, all data will be lost because there is no parity in the striped sets. RAID 10 provides redundancy and performance, and is the best option for I/O-intensive applications. One disadvantage is that only 50% of the total raw capacity of the drives is usable due to mirroring.

Source:-
Techtarget

Why we need to disable HA for Enabling the VSAN in Cluster?

Q. Why "When enabling VSAN ensure vSphere HA is disabled. You cannot enable VSAN when HA is already configured. Either configure VSAN during the creation of the cluster or disable vSphere HA temporarily when configuring VSAN."?

Ans. Reason behind this is when VSAN is enabled with HA then HA is not using Management Network for the Heartbeat Traffic it uses "VSAN Network" for the Heartbeat Traffic. For making these fundamental changes in the architecture HA needs to disabled before enabling the VSAN in the Cluster.

Error Message if you will try to enable VSAN on the Cluster where HA is already Enabled

 
Note:-
Be aware that when HA is turned on in the cluster, FDM agent (HA) traffic goes over the VSAN network and not the Management Network. However, when an potential isolation is detected HA will ping the default gateway (or specified isolation address) using the Management Network. 

VMware VSA : End of Availability

VMware is announcing the End of Availability of all vSphere Storage Appliance versions, effective April 1, 2014. After this date you will no longer be able to purchase this product. 

All support and maintenance for vSphere Storage Appliance 5.5 will be unaffected and will continue to follow the Enterprise Infrastructure Support Policy.

The End of General Support life date for customers with vSphere Storage Appliance 5.5 remains September 19, 2018. Support contracts can be renewed beyond End of Availbaility until End of General Support.

Customers interested in moving to a new VMware software-defined storage solution may elect to upgrade to VMware Virtual SAN. For more information on how to upgrade to VMware Virtual SANcontact your VMware Sales Representive or VMware Reseller.

Read End of Availability FAQ

Contact Support