Browsing Posts in vDesign

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe storage part of a vSphere 5 upgrade path has two different steps: a firmware upgrade, that may be needed before start the vSphere upgrade (see the hardware part) and a modules/plugins/utilities upgrade, that is applied after the vSphere upgrade. In my case, for an EqualLogic array, the minimum firmware version compatible with ESXi 5 is the 4.3 release (but I’ve tried also with a firmware 4.0.6 and it works), but you will need at least the 5.0 series in order to support VAAI and VASA (see vStorage API). New firmware works also with vSphere […]

Reading Time: 2 minutesWith the new HA implemenation, something has changed also in the advanced options with new parameters, but also with some that now are no more available. For a list see Supported vSphere 5.0 Advanced Options. One options that has been removed “das.failuredetectiontime”. The reason is well explained in Duncan’s HA Deep Dive: I know many of you used this advanced setting to tweak when the host would trigger the isolation response, that is no longer possible and needed to be honest. If you’ve closely read my other articles you hopefully picked up on the datastore […]

Reading Time: < 1 minuteFor a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page. Objective 6.3 – Perform Basic vSphere Storage Troubleshooting Verify storage configuration (similar as vSphere 4.x) See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 45). A minimum of storage enterprise knowledge is also required. Troubleshoot storage contention issues (similar as vSphere 4.x) See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 45) and vSphere Storage guide (page 24). Troubleshoot storage over-commitment issues (similar as vSphere 4.x) See the vSphere Storage guide (page 183) and VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 3.1 (in the thin provisioning points). Troubleshoot iSCSI software initiator configuration issues (similar […]

Reading Time: 4 minutesAs I’ve written in a previous post, Dell has recently released the new versions of some Equallogic’s software, included the new Host Integration Tools (HIT) for VMware 3.1 that is now compatible with vSphere 5 (it support also the Storage Clusters and VASA). The appliance and the documentation are available from the Equallogic support site. HIT/VE is distributed as a OVA file (the current version is HITVE-3.1.1.32.ova) and the deploy is the same as other virtual appliance. The VM it’s based on a CentOS 5.3 distro and it’s configured with virtual hardware 7 (so it […]

Reading Time: 2 minutesFor a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page. Objective 6.2 – Perform Basic vSphere Network Troubleshooting Verify network configuration (same as vSphere 4.x) See VMware Virtual Networking Concepts for basic concepts for standard virtual switches. See Objective 2.2 – Configure vNetwork Distributed Switches for distributed virtual switches. Verify a given virtual machine is configured with the correct network resources (same as vSphere 4.x) See VMware KB: Troubleshooting virtual machine network connection issues and http://damiankarlson.com/vcap-dca4-exam/objective-6-3-troubleshoot-network-performance-and-connectivity/ Troubleshoot virtual switch and port group configuration issues (same as vSphere 4.x) Use previous links. For vmkernel porgroup vmkping […]

Reading Time: 2 minutesDell Equallogic has recently released new versions of some software. Note that those release are Early Production Access (EPA) version. Early Production Access software is fully supported for production use, but customers should read the documentation and plan an upgrade in keeping with their organization’s business practices. SAN HeadQuarters V2.2 Required firmware: V3.3.1 or later This version of SANHQ adds the following functionality: 95th Percentile Reporting Support for Multiple Server Connections Live View Group Diagnostics Report RAID Evaluator (provably the most interesting feature, because can be used as a good capacity estimator) Support for PS […]

Reading Time: 3 minutesFor a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page. Objective 5.5 – Backup and Restore Virtual Machines See also: Objective 5.5 – Backup and Restore Virtual Machines and Objective 5.5 – Backup and Restore Virtual Machines. Identify snapshot requirements (similar as vSphere 4.x) See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide (page 208) and VMware KB: Understanding virtual machine snapshots in VMware. Note that snapshots provide a point-in-time image of the disk that backup solutions can use, but Snapshots are not meant to be a robust method of backup and recovery. If the files containing a […]

© 2025-2011 vInfrastructure Blog | Disclaimer & Copyright