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VMware Users list

13 October 2011
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Some days ago I’ve receive this email, that seems to be a spam:

The verified version of VMWARE Users list is releasing on October 19th, 2011.
Would you like to have a copy of the same at a low investment?
You would get information such as Contact Name, Company Name, Title, Phone & Fax, Mailing Address and Business Email Address.
We are providing it to only 5 customers on a first come first serve basis. So hurry and grab a copy of the same.

The sender domain does not have a web page, there is no mention on how the data are collected and which is the relation with VMware (note also the wrong capitals in the email).

IMHO I suggest to manage it as a spam message.

General

VCP5 Blueprint with study notes

11 October 2011
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The VCP5 Blueprint with study notes, in both italian and english version, are completed and now a PDF version is available for the download:

vCertification ,

VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 7.2

7 October 2011
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For a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page.

Objective 7.2 – Create and Administer vCenter Server Alarms

See also the sample chapter of VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410 book and 5 things you need to know about VMware vSphere Alarms.
See also VCP 5 Objective 7.2 – Create and Administer vCenter Server Alarms.

List vCenter default utilization alarms (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33) and Objective 8.7 – Create and Respond to vCenter Utilization Alarms.

List vCenter default connectivity alarms (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33) and Objective 8.6 – Create and Respond to vCenter Connectivity Alarms.

List possible actions for utilization and connectivity alarms (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33) and Managing with Alarm Actions.

Create a vCenter utilization alarm (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33) and Objective 8.7 – Create and Respond to vCenter Utilization Alarms.

Create a vCenter connectivity alarm (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33) and Objective 8.6 – Create and Respond to vCenter Connectivity Alarms.

Configure alarm triggers (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33) and 5 things you need to know about VMware vSphere Alarms.

Configure alarm actions (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33) and 5 things you need to know about VMware vSphere Alarms.

For a given alarm, identify the affected resource in a vSphere implementation (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 33).

vCertification, VMware ,

VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 7.1

6 October 2011
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For a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page.

Objective 7.1 – Monitor ESXi, vCenter Server and Virtual Machines

See also: Objective 7.1 – Monitor ESXi, vCenter Server, and Virtual Machines.

Describe how Tasks and Events are viewed in vCenter Server (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 101).

Identify critical performance metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See also: Monitor vSphere ESX/ESXi and Virtual Machine Performance (for VCP4).

Explain common memory metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 7).

Explain common CPU metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the old Basic System Administrator guide.

Explain common network metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the old Basic System Administrator guide.

Explain common storage metrics (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the old Basic System Administrator guide.

Compare and contrast Overview and Advanced Charts (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See also: Monitor vSphere ESX/ESXi and Virtual Machine Performance (for VCP4).

Configure SNMP for vCenter Server (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 37).

Configure Active Directory and SMTP settings for vCenter Server (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 36).

Configure vCenter Server logging options (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 38).

Create a log bundle (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 98).

Create/Edit/Delete a Scheduled Task (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 101).

Configure/View/Print/Export resource maps (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 143).

Start/Stop/Verify vCenter Server service status (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 112).

Start/Stop/Verify ESXi host agent status (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 111).

Configure vCenter Server timeout settings (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 38).

Monitor/Administer vCenter Server connections (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 28).

Create an Advanced Chart (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 13) and Understanding and Customizing VMware ESX Server Performance chart.

Determine host performance using resxtop and guest Perfmon (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide (page 43) and ESXTOP – Yellow Bricks and VMware Tools Has Perfmon Integration.

Given performance data, identify the affected vSphere resource (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See: Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 4.1.

vCertification, VMware ,

New in vSphere 5 – VMware HA advanced options

30 September 2011
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With 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 heartbeating part already which is one reason for not needing this anymore. The other reason is that before the isolation response is triggered the host will actually validate if virtual machines can be restarted and if it isn’t an all out network outage. Most of us have been there at some point, a network admin decides to upgrade the switches and all hosts trigger the isolation response at the same time… well that won’t happen anymore!

Some of the New vSphere 5 HA, DRS and SDRS Advanced/Hidden Options related with the datastore heartbeat are:

  • das.ignoreinsufficienthbdatastore – Disables configuration issues created if the host does nothave sufficient heartbeat datastores for vSphere HA. Defaultvalue is false.
  • das.heartbeatdsperhost – Changes the number of heartbeat datastores required. Validvalues can range from 2-5 and the default is 2.
vDesign, VMware none

VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 6.4

29 September 2011
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For a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page.

Objective 6.4 – Perform Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS Clusters and vMotion/Storage vMotion

For HA and DRS see also: HA Deepdive and DRS Deepdive.

Identify HA/DRS and vMotion requirements (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 11) and the vSphere Resource Management guide (page 51). Basically a shared storage is required, some network configurations, and (for DRS and vMotion) a CPU compatibility or the EVC function in the cluster.

Verify vMotion/Storage vMotion configuration (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 119 and 122). For the network for vMotion a vmkernel interface is required (note that now vSphere 5 can use more interfaces). For Storage vMotion the main requirement is that the host can see both storages.

Verify HA network configuration (new in vSphere 5)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 13). Heartbeat can go through the vmkernel management interfaces (or other specific interfaces)… but now with vSphere also thought the shared storage.

Verify HA/DRS cluster configuration (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 11) and the vSphere Resource Management guide (page 51). Some new windows are now available to check HA and DRS status.

Troubleshoot HA capacity issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 31). When planning for HA you need to plan for a maximum host failure; the number of hosts that can fail before you run short on resources. When VMs can no longer start this might be due to a lack of resources (memory is quite common) with warnings like “insufficient resources to satisfy failover level”.

Troubleshoot HA redundancy issues (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Availability guide (page 11).

Interpret the DRS Resource Distribution Graph and Target/Current Host Load Deviation (same as vSphere 4.x)

See VMware DRS Resource Distribution Chart.

Troubleshoot DRS load imbalance issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Resource Management guide (page 62).

Troubleshoot vMotion/Storage vMotion migration issues (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vCenter Server and Host Management guide (page 119 and 122). Check also compatibility with snaphosts.

Interpret vMotion Resource Maps (similar as vSphere 4.x)

Topology maps are a easy way to show you the network and storage connection from an to hosts and/or VMs. As stated above there are some requirements to the use of vMotion live storage, networking etc. A first and easy check is to look at the topology maps and see if these requirements are met. Maps can be found when selecting a server and than selecting the tab Maps.

Identify the root cause of a DRS/HA cluster or migration issue based on troubleshooting information (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See all the previous references and also Perform Basic Troubleshooting for HA/DRS. For HA failover see also the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 34).

vCertification, VMware ,

VCP5 Exam Prep – Part 6.3

28 September 2011
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For 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 as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Storage guide (page 107). Also a networking check could be useful.

Troubleshoot Storage Reports and Storage Maps (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See Using VMware vSphere Storage Views.

Identify the root cause of a storage issue based on troubleshooting information (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Troubleshooting guide (page 45).

vCertification, VMware, vStorage ,
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