Roger Lund ' s IT and VMware / Virtualization Blog

New VMware KB's I deem Important.

2011-10-13T11:01:00.001-05:00

I wanted to share these three VMware Knowledge Base articles.

ESXi 4.0 Update 2 hosts may experience a purple screen after vCenter Server is upgraded to 5.0

KB Article: 2007269

“

Symptoms

You may encounter an issue where:

You have recently upgraded your vCenter Server to version 5.0
You have ESXi 4.0 Update 2 hosts in the inventory of this vCenter Server
After the vpxa agents are upgraded, the ESXi 4.0 Update 2 hosts experience a purple screen that includes this error:
NOT_IMPLEMENTED bora/vmkernel/filesystems/visorfs/visorfsObj.c:3391

Cause

This is caused by an issue in the handling of the vpxa agent upgrade.
Resolution

This issue has been resolved in 4.0 Update 3. To avoid this issue, upgrade all ESXi 4.0 Update 2 hosts to at least version ESXi 4.0 Update 3 before upgrading vCenter Server to 5.0.
ESXi 4.0 Update 3 and later versions can be downloaded from the VMware Download Center.
Additional Information

For more information about updating ESXi, see Updating ESX 4.x to a newer released update (1016209).”

ESXi 5.x boot delays when configured for Software iSCSI

KB Article: 2007108

“

ESXi 5.x boot delays when configured for Software iSCSI

Symptoms

ESXi 5.0 experiences a delay when booting during the the software-iscsi step.
After the boot process completes, the sysboot.log file contains entries similar to:
[01:57:50.925338] sysboot: software-iscsi
[02:28:22.330320] sysboot: restore-paths
After the boot process completes, the syslog.log file contains entries similar to:
iscsid: cannot make a connection to 192.168.1.20:3260 (101,Network is unreachable)
iscsid: Notice: Reclaimed Channel (H34 T0 C1 oid=3)
iscsid: session login failed with error 4,retryCount=3
iscsid: Login Target Failed: iqn.1984-05.com.dell:powervault.md3000i.6002219000a14a2b00000000495e2886 if=iscsi_vmk@vmk8 addr=192.168.1.20:3260 (TPGT:1 ISID:0xf) err=4
iscsid: Login Failed: iqn.1984-05.com.dell:powervault.md3000i.6002219000a14a2b00000000495e2886 if=iscsi_vmk@vmk8 addr=192.168.1.20:3260 (TPGT:1 ISID:0xf) Reason: 00040000 (Initiator Connection Failure)

Cause

This issue occurs because ESXi 5.0 attempts to connect to all configured or known targets from all configured software iSCSI portals. If a connection fails, ESXi 5.0 retries the connection 9 times. This can lead to a lengthy iSCSI discovery process, which increases the amount of time it takes to boot an ESXi 5.0 host.
Resolution

To minimize the amount of time the boot process spends discovering iSCSI targets, you can reduce the number of network portals and the number of targets.
To list the current number and configuration of an ESX host's network portals, run the command:
esxcli iscsi networkportal list
The output is similar to:
vmhba34:
Adapter: vmhba34
Vmknic: vmk6
MAC Address: 00:1b:21:59:16:e8
MAC Address Valid: true
IPv4: 192.168.1.206
IPv4 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
IPv6:
MTU: 1500
Vlan Supported: true
Vlan ID: 10
Reserved Ports: 63488~65536
TOE: false
TSO: true
TCP Checksum: false
Link Up: true
Current Speed: 10000
Rx Packets: 656558
Tx Packets: 111264
NIC Driver: ixgbe
NIC Driver Version: 2.0.84.8.2-10vmw-NAPI
NIC Firmware Version: 0.9-3
Compliant Status: compliant
NonCompliant Message:
NonCompliant Remedy:
Vswitch: dvSwitch0
PortGroup: DvsPortset-0
VswitchUuid: 26 46 30 50 c0 cf df 1e-52 ef ab d7 a2 ab 96 f9
PortGroupKey: dvportgroup-78003
PortKey: 1731
Duplex:
Path Status: active
Note: This is an example of one network portal (HBA34).
To list currently running targets, run the command:
vmkiscsi-tool -T vmhba##
For more information on reducing number of network portals and the number of targets, contact your array vendor”

Disabling VAAI Thin Provisioning Block Space Reclamation (UNMAP) in ESXi 5.0

KB Article: 2007427

“

Symptoms

When performing a Storage vMotion or a Virtual Machine Snapshot you experience poor system performance.
A Storage vMotion or Virtual Machine Snapshot fails or times out

Purpose

VMware introduced a new feature in vSphere 5.0 called Space Reclamation, as part of VAAI Block Thin Provisioning. Space reclamation is a garbage collection process that helps storage partners to efficiently reclaim deleted space in coordination with vSphere 5.0.
ESXi 5.0 issues UNMAP commands for Space Reclamation in critical regions during several operations with the expectation that the operation would complete quickly. Due to varied response times from the storage devices, UNMAP command can result in poor performance of the system and should be disabled on the ESXi 5.0 host.
This article shows how to disable the UNMAP command used for the Space Reclamation.
Cause

VAAI Thin Provisioning is enabled by default on devices that adheres to T10 standards. ESXi identifies Thin Provisioned LUNs and issue UNMAP commands to reclaim deleted space on the storage. The implementation and response times for the UNMAP command may vary significantly among storage arrays.
This variation of response times in critical regions could potentially interfere with operations such as Storage vMotion and Virtual Machine Snapshot consolidation.
Resolution

You can work around this issue on vSphere 5.0 hosts which have Thin Provisioned LUNs and T10 standard storage arrays.
Note: To verify that you have a T10 storage array, consult the VMware Compatibility Guide.
To avoid the use of UNMAP commands on Thin Provisioned LUNs:

Log into your host using Tech Support mode. For more information on using Tech Support mode see Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and 5.0 (1017910).
From your ESXi 5.0 host, issue this esxcli command:
esxcli system settings advanced set --int-value 0 --option /VMFS3/EnableBlockDelete
Note: This is a per-host setting and must be issued on each ESXi 5.0 host in your cluster.

Impact/Risks

Without disabling the UNMAP feature, you might experience timeouts with operations such as Storage vMotions and Virtual Machine Snapshot Consolidation.
Additional Information

To be alerted when this article is updated, click Subscribe to Document in the Actions box.
See Also

Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and 5.0

Request a Product Feature

To request a new product feature or to provide feedback on a VMware product, please visit the Request a Product Feature page. “

I thought it was important to share these.

Roger Lund

Tech Field Day 7 -- Austin : Roger Lund Day 1 Overview at Dell

2011-10-11T20:48:00.001-05:00

We started off the afternoon at Dell, Talking about the Dell Acquisitions and Solutions, then diving into Scalable Storage Systems, and then Equallogic. Click below for the full post on http://www.vbrainstorm.com/

Tech Field Day 7 -- Austin : Roger Lund Day 1 Overview at Dell

Roger Lund

Tech Field Day 7 -- Austin : Day 1 Overview -The Symantec Backup Appliance Overload!

2011-10-04T20:48:00.001-05:00

My Thoughts on our Mid Morning visit at Symantec.

My two cents are, these are great for remote sights, and offices. But, I wish we could run these with the same licensing, as below, but within a virtual appliance.

Check out the full post on vbrainstorm.com

Enjoy!

Roger Lund

Tech Field Day 7 -- Austin : Day 1 Our first stop at SolarWinds

2011-10-03T07:21:00.001-05:00

Check out vbrainstorm.com where I talk about Tech Field Day.

http://www.vbrainstorm.com/2011/09/tech-field-day-7-austin-day-1-our-first.html

Enjoy

Roger Lund

Bochet.net repost : VMware View 5.0 VDI vHardware 8 vMotion Error

2011-09-21T08:54:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Jason for this post, as I had this happen this morning:

I had this message.

I twittered this, @rogerlund: error when I vmotion aaron's pc between two ESXi 5 hosts. lockerz.com/s/140661269

Jason, responded, @jasonboche: Read my blost post from last night RT @rogerlund: error when I vmotion aaron's pc between two ESXi 5 hosts. http://lockerz.com/s/140661269

I found the following on his blog.

VMware View 5.0 VDI vHardware 8 vMotion Error

“

General awareness/heads up blog post here on something I stumbled on with VMware View 5.0. A few weeks ago while working with View 5.0 BETA in the lab, I ran into an issue where a Windows 7 virtual machine would not vMotion from one ESXi 5.0 host to another. The resulting error in the vSphere Client was:

A general system error occurred: Failed to flush checkpoint data

I did a little searching and found similar symptoms in VMware KB 1011971 which speaks to an issue that can arise when Video RAM (VRAM) is greater than 30MB for a virtual machine. In my case it was greater than 30MB but I could not adjust it due to the fact that it was being managed by the View Connection Server. At the same time, a VMware source on Twitter volunteered his assistance and quickly came up with some inside information on the issue. He had me try adding the following line to /etc/vmware/config on the ESXi 5.0 hosts (no reboot required):

migrate.baseCptCacheSize = “16777216″

The fix worked and I was able to vMotion the Windows 7 VM back and forth between hosts. The information was taken back to Engineering for a KB to be released. That KB is now available: VMware KB 2005741 vMotion of a virtual machine fails with the error: A general system error occurred: Failed to flush checkpoint data! The new KB article lists the following background information and several workarounds:
Cause

Due to new features with Hardware Version 8 for the WDDM driver, the vMotion display graphics memory requirement has increased. The default pre-allocated buffer may be too small for certain virtual machines with higher resolutions. The buffer size is not automatically increased to account for the requirements of those new features if mks.enable3d is set to FALSE (the default).
Resolution

To work around this issue, perform one of these options:

Change the resolution to a single screen of 1280×1024 or smaller before the vMotion.
Do not upgrade to Virtual Machine Hardware version 8.
Increase the base checkpoint cache size. Doubling it from its default 8MB to 16MB (16777216 byte) should be enough for every single display resolution. If you are using two displays at 1600×1200 each, increase the setting to 20MB (20971520 byte).To increase thebase checkpoint cache size:

Power off the virtual machine.
Click the virtual machine in the Inventory.
On the Summary tab for that virtual machine, click Edit Settings.
In the virtual machine Properties dialog box, click the Options tab.
Under Advanced, select General and click Configuration Parameters.
Click Add Row.
In the new row, add migrate. baseCptCacheSize to the name column and add 16777216 to the value column.
Click OK to save the change.

Note: If you don’t want to power off your virtual machine to change the resolution, you can also add the parameter to the /etc/vmware/config file on the target host. This adds the option to every VMX process that is spawning on this host, which happens when vMotion is starting a virtual machine on the server.

Set mks.enable3d = TRUE for the virtual machine:

Power off the virtual machine.
Click the virtual machine in the Inventory.
On the Summary tab for that virtual machine, click Edit Settings.
In the virtual machine Properties dialog box, click the Options tab.
Under Advanced, select General and click Configuration Parameters.
Click Add Row.
In the new row, add mks.enable3d to the name column and add True to the value column.
Click OK to save the change.

Caution: This workaround increases the overhead memory reservation by 256MB. As such, it may have a negative impact on HA Clusters with strict Admission Control. However, this memory is only used if the 3d application is active. If, for example, Aero Basic and not Aero Glass is used as a window theme, most of the reservation is not used and the memory could be kept available for the ESX host. The reservation still affects HA Admission Control if large multi-monitor setups are used for the virtual machine and if the CPU is older than a Nehalem processor and does not have the SSE 4.1 instruction set. In this case, using 3d is not recommended. The maximum recommended resolution for using 3d, regardless of CPU type and SSE 4.1 support, is 1920×1200 with dual screens.
The permanent fix for this issue did not make it into the recent View 5.0 GA release but I expect it will be included in a future release or patch.”

I quoted the whole blog, as I thought it was a great post, Thanks Jason!

Roger L

VMworld 2011 Hands On Labs - a inside look within the NOC–Part 2

2011-09-18T19:15:00.001-05:00

I wanted to show the rest of the video, that I un covered this weekend. This was form inside of the NOC at VMworld. I hope you enjoy it. First we have Xangati then a Core team member talking about the NOC at VMworld.

Roger Lund

VMworld 2011 Hands On Labs - a inside look within the NOC

2011-08-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

I had the chance to get a inside peek at the Network Operations center at VMworld.

Afterwords, I had a chance to sit down with Nexenta and discuss what part they had in building and still running the labs.

Keeping it short and to the point.

Roger L

VMware vSphere 5 product line is now available for Download

2011-08-25T10:57:00.001-05:00

Yellow-Bricks had a early blog post stating that the VMware vSphere 5 product line is now available for download.

“

Download it now… vSphere 5
Added Aug 25, 2011, By Duncan Epping with 6 Comments
The wait is finally over… I’ve noticed many people on twitter craving for it so I figured it wouldn’t harm anyone if I would provide the links to the download page. Here are the links to the direct page of ESXi and vCenter

VMware ESXi 5.0 (Build 469512)
VMware vCenter 5.0 (Build 456005)
VMware Data Recovery 2.0 (Build 433157)
vSphere Storage Appliance 1.0
VMware vShield Zones for vSphere 5 (Build 216288)
Documentation link (docs also available in epub and kindle format!)

What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0
VMware vSphere 5.0 Release Notes

Evaluation Guides:

VMware vSphere 5 Evaluation Guide – Volume One
VMware vSphere 5 Evaluation Guide – Volume Two – Advanced Storage Features
VMware vSphere 5 Evaluation Guide – Volume Three – Advanced Networking Features
VMware vSphere 5 Evaluation Guide – Volume Four – Auto Deploy
VMware Data Recovery Evaluation Guide

What’s new whitepapers (release at launch last month):

What’s New in vSphere 5.0
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0: VMware vCenter
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0: Platform Whitepaper
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0: Performance Whitepaper
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0: Storage Whitepaper
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0: Networking Whitepaper
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0: Availability Whitepaper
What’s New in VMware Data Recovery 2.0 Technical Whitepaper
VMware vSphere Storage Appliance Technical Whitepaper
What’s New in VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 Technical Whitepaper
What’s New in VMware vCloud Director 1.5 Technical Whitepaper

By the way, did you know there were over 140 new features in vSphere 5.0? Check out my article on the VMware vSphere Blog for a full list and for a nice contest / challenge!
(edit 09:00 – added links to VSA, Zones and Data Recovery)
(edit 10:53 - added eval guide links)”

----

Thanks Duncan Epping for taking the time to put the above togeather.

My Self, like the test of you, can’t wait to dive in.

Of note, I see that the licensing upgrade will not be available until next week.

Roger L.

Xangati Release Version 8!

2011-08-23T08:07:00.000-05:00

http://xangati.com/ released a new product release today. Including, a host load of new features.

“
Major New Features and Enhancements
· Introduction of datastore objects
· Introduction of ESX-datastore path objects
· Support for distributed virtual switch Integration with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) for enhanced live monitoring of Windows machines
·Integration with PC-over-IP module in View 5.0 for enhanced live monitoring of View
desktop performance monitoring
·Visualization of dependencies of objects with alerts
· Addition of new measures to VMs and ESXes
· Newly created objects get initial profiles after one day
· Automatic calculation and setting of an appliance's optimal packet sampling rate
· Report history length dependent upon product type
· Support for more than one management interface on appliance
· Ability to specify which ESX to monitor and manage
· Revised and reorganized some user interface components
· Support for vSphere 5 and VMware View 5.0
· Deprecated support for ESX 3.5
· Terminology change for XESX
“

Including the ability to see inside the OS.

I love the new ability to see Datastore information.

I have walked through these features in the following videos.

Mware CPU Ready Monitor, VMware Datastore Monitoring, VMware Memory Swap Monitor, VMware Netflow Monitor, VMworld, VMworld 2011, VMworld 2011 Call for Papers you tell me what you want to see., vSphere, Xangati

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Roger L

Dell EqualLogic PS6100 and PS4100 Series storage platforms : new storage for VMworld 2011

2011-08-22T07:09:00.001-05:00

When I was at Tech Field Day ( more today ) , I got a to see dell’s up coming PS6100 Array up front and personal. Here are some of the pictures. I have also included the press release below.

“

· EqualLogic PS4100 Series — ideal for small-to-medium businesses or remote office locations with growing storage needs. The SANs support up to 36TB in a single array and can scale as storage demands increase by seamlessly adding additional PS4100 or PS6100 arrays into an EqualLogic group.

· EqualLogic PS6100 Series — designed to provide mid-sized customers with a scalable storage environment, up to 72TB in a single array and 1.2PB in a single group, that can easily accommodate both high-performance and high-capacity drive options. The PS6100 family is ideal for customers looking for an IP-based storage solution to support the storage demands of a highly virtualized data center environment where the seamless movement and protection of virtual machines, applications and data is crucial.

“

Some highlights, and additional Photos.

EqualLogic PS4100

• 2U with 24 x 2.5” drive
support (Max 21.6TB)
• 2U with 12 x 3.5” drive
support (Max 36TB)
• 2 x 1000BASE-T ports
• Dedicated mgmt port

EqualLogic PS6100

• 2U with 24 x 2.5” drive
support (Max 21.6TB)

• 13TB SSD config

• 4U with 24 x 3.5” drive
support (Max 72TB)
• 4 x 1000Base-T ports
• Dedicated mgmt port

From the Deck I was provided.

Below is the Press release

“ROUND ROCK, Texas, August 22, 2011 – Dell today announced new Dell EqualLogic storage solutions and supporting software to help customers address the data management requirements of increasingly dynamic, virtualized data centers. The company also released details of new integration across its storage portfolio with the forthcoming VMware vSphere^® 5 virtualization and cloud infrastructure platform.

Today’s announcements represent another milestone in the continued evolution of Dell Fluid Data solutions, designed to help customers more effectively manage valuable business information in virtualized data centers.

New Dell EqualLogic Storage Platform Extends Fluid Data Architecture

In support of customers’ growing storage demands, Dell introduced the EqualLogic PS6100 and PS4100 family of virtualized, IP-based storage offerings. Together with new Dell EqualLogic firmware version 5.1, Dell offers customers its next generation of EqualLogic storage solutions that seamlessly integrate into existing environments without downtime or a major overhaul, enabling customers to focus on managing their storage and not the manual process of upgrading infrastructure.

This launch marks the introduction of 2.5-inch drive support for the EqualLogic product line, providing greater density and enabling IT managers to purchase only the storage they want and to scale as needed. Customers can gain up to 60 percent performance improvement on typical workloads with the EqualLogic PS Series compared to previous generation EqualLogic arrays. ¹

EqualLogic PS Series arrays, regardless of generation, work together to automatically manage data, load balance across all resources, and expand to meet growing storage needs. Dell provides these capabilities without requiring customers to “rip and replace” their storage environment during each upgrade cycle as they would with other vendors. New storage arrays include:

With the newly redesigned, compact form factor, PS6100 customers can achieve the same performance for their typical workload using half the number of arrays, and receive 50 percent more expansion capacity when compared with previous generation EqualLogic arrays.²

This month, Dell also has begun shipping the new EqualLogic FS7500, the company’s latest NAS solution that works with EqualLogic PS Series arrays to deliver the only scale-out, unified storage platform for mid-size deployments. The FS7500 uses the Dell Scalable File System, which offers several advanced features including cache monitoring, load balancing and multi-threading for fast I/O processing.

Dell and VMware Partner for Industry-Leading Integrated Solutions

Dell and VMware have expanded their strategic partnership over the past decade, collaborating on engineering integration and solutions development since server virtualization first emerged. As customers’ virtual environments have grown, Dell and VMware have worked together to develop specifications for storage infrastructures, such as the VMware vSphere® Storage APIs for Array Integration, and have delivered highly virtualized data center and storage solutions to meet joint customer needs.

For example, the latest EqualLogic firmware version 5.1 includes thin provisioning awareness for VMware vSphere to help users save valuable recovery time and help mitigate the risk of potential data loss. Dell is one of VMware’s largest global resellers , helping enable the company to uniquely address customers’ virtualized storage needs.

With the recent announcement of forthcoming VMware vSphere 5, Dell today introduced a new set of VMware specific enhancements for Dell EqualLogic, Dell Compellent and Dell PowerVault storage customers. These enhancements will roll-out through Q3 and Q4 and include:

· Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for VMware 3.1 — provide customers with enhanced storage visibility and datastore management as well as improved performance and availability through tight integration with VMware vSphere 5, VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Storage Awareness, VMware Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS), and VMware vCenter™ Site Recovery Manager 5.

· Dell Compellent Storage Replication Adapter for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 — supports automated failback from a disaster event and new work flows for planned migrations and downtime. Dell also is updating its Compellent plug-in support for VMware vSphere 5 to help customers more easily link together their Compellent storage environment with virtualized resources.

· Dell PowerVault Integration with VMware vSphere 5 — adds certification and enables customers to manage multiple PowerVault MD3200/MD3600 series of storage arrays from a single VMware vCenter Server instance using the vCenter Plugin for Dell PowerVault MD. The Dell PowerVault MD storage arrays (iSCSI and Fibre Channel) also support VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Storage Awareness. The PowerVault MD3600f/MD3620f series of storage arrays support VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 4.1 and 5 using the Dell PowerVault Storage Replication Adapter(SRA).

New Software Enhancements Deliver Enterprise Storage Sophistication with SMB Simplicity

Dell today introduced additional capabilities to help customers gain insight into their storage environment and also better integrate with Microsoft virtualization offerings. Offering integrated, all-inclusive software, the EqualLogic platform retains its ease of management as the system scales. New solutions that bring enterprise-class functionality to smaller implementations include:

· Dell EqualLogic SAN Headquarters 2.2 software — includes new multi-site support so customers now can easily monitor the health and activity of their storage environment across different geographies. The solution provides ongoing, real-time diagnostic information to enable customers to optimize and tune their system for performance and efficiency.

· Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft 4.0 — re-designed to enhance the usability experience with new features including centralized data protection and more efficient management of multiple Microsoft hosts and virtual machines. Enhanced Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) support has been designed to streamline data protection for CSVs and improve capacity utilization.

“The new EqualLogic capabilities mark a significant next step in the evolution of the Dell Fluid Data architecture and extend Dell’s leadership in virtualized IP-based storage solutions that are easy to manage. The new storage arrays and virtualization tools can help our customers run highly optimized and efficient data centers by automating configuration and improving performance without forcing forklift upgrades.” – Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager, Dell Enterprise Storage

Availability:

Dell EqualLogic PS4100 and PS6100 Series and EqualLogic FS7500 are available starting today.
Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for VMware 3.1, Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft 4.0, and SAN Headquarters 2.2 software are in beta now and planned for release this year. These applications and tools are available at no additional charge for EqualLogic customers with valid support contracts.
PowerVault software enhancements are planned for a September 2011 release, at no additional charge for existing customers

“

Enjoy

Roger Lund

VMware vSphere 5.0 vCenter Install

2011-08-06T00:23:00.001-05:00

Here I go, I am off and installing the RTM of VMware vSphere 5.0. Enjoy.

Thanks all!

Roger Lund

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0 standalone exploratory video

2011-07-27T01:06:00.001-05:00

Guy’s, I hope you enjoy this video, I cover exploring vSphere ESXi 5.0

More to come, vCenter

Roger Lund

vForum 2011 – Minneapolis & beyound

2011-07-25T06:43:00.001-05:00

keithnorbie , wrote a blog post titled. vForum 2011 – Minneapolis & beyond…

“

Well another VMware Forum is in the books. This was the 1st Forum since the launch of the vSphere 5, SRM 5, vCloud 1.5, etc. Ironically it’s the last Forum of the year and now we march on site for info and the mother-load; vmworld 2011!!
Here’s a video review form vExperts @rogerlund and @mtellin”

Here you have my self, and mike, giving you a overview of vForum 2011 – Minneapolis

Thanks Keith!

Roger Lund

Happy Birthday and Thanks to John Mark Troyer

2011-07-24T02:00:00.000-05:00

John Mark Troyer, has a Birthday. Happy Birthday John! I also wanted to take the time to thank John for all the work and personal time he has put into the Blog sphere. In case your don’t know John, Below are a couple links of who he is.

John Mark Troyer

https://twitter.com/#!/jtroyer

http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmarktroyer

http://www.facebook.com/john.troyer

I wanted to thank John for taking the time to give a darn about us bloggers that have spent their own time and finger tips, blogging about VMware technology. John has always set a example of good behaver, and honesty for us to shoot for.

He also takes the time to get to know us, read our work, and give us feed back when it comes to marking, or just blog style / writing.

I couldn’t imagine, where I would be today, without John. I want to personally thank him, and tell him to thank his wife, ( for letitng him spend the time) to do what he does, on a daily basis. John, here’s to you! Never doubt that you work has a larger impact than think, for, it does, and I’m here to say to you. Thanks, for both being you, and putting your self into your work, and what you do.

Roger Lund

Tech Field Day 7 – An Fantastic Opportunity!

2011-07-23T13:48:00.001-05:00

I am honered to be a Delegate for Gestalt IT’s Tech Field Day 7 ,

This event focus on Datacenter IT Infrastructure.

“Our Field Day events bring together innovative IT product vendors and independent thought leaders to share information and opinions in a presentation and discussion format. Independent bloggers, freelance writers, and podcasters have a public presence that has immense influence on the ways that products and companies are perceived and by the general public”

You can read more about the Tech Field Day Here.

I am looking forward to being one of the delegates. Below is the list of other delegates.

“

Theron Conrey
Conrey.org
VMunderground
@TheronConrey

Scott Lowe
TechRepublic
VirtualizationAdmin
@OtherScottLowe

Roger Lund
vRoger
vBrainstorm
@RogerLund

Frank Owen
TechVirtuoso
@fowen

Bob Plankers
The Lone Sysadmin
@Plankers

Fabio Rapposelli
Juku
P2V It!
@FabioRapposelli

Brandon Riley
virtual insanity
@BrandonJRiley

Derek Schauland
Technically Speaking
@WebJunkie

Matt Simmons
Standalone Sysadmin
@standaloneSA

Matt Vogt
Virtualization, Storage, Community
@MattVogt

”

Quoted content and images are From http://techfieldday.com/2011/tfd7/

Presenters and Schedule

“

Presenting Sponsors

Thursday, August 11

08:00-10:00

SolarWinds
@SolarWinds_Inc

10:30-12:30

Symantec
@Symantec

13:30-18:00

Dell
@Dell

Friday, August 12

08:00-12:00

Dell
@Dell

16:00-18:00

Veeam
@Veeam

“

“Tech Field Day web page is being updated as news is released. It's at http://techfieldday.com/2011/tfd7/ (or http://bit.ly/TFDAUS) and http://techfieldday.com/2011/tfd7-links/ will contain links to our presenters and delegates, as well as news, twitter updates, and more. Take a look now to see the names, blogs, and twitter accounts! There's also a Twitter list at http://twitter.com/techfieldday/tfd7-delegates.”

Make sure to follow the event on Twitter.

The @TechFieldDay Twitter account and #TechFieldDay Twitter hashtag will be used. They also have a Twitter list of TFD delegates you can follow and reference.

Thanks to both Stephen Fosket and Matt Simmons for this event and to the vendors for their sponsorship. Additionally, thanks for letting me be a delegate, and having a opportunity to participate in this event.

Those that know me, know that I love to talk design, play with technology, and talk about what possible, today, tomorrow, and far future. I believe this event, will be right up my ally. You can guarantee, I will take this chance to take every opportunity to discuss technology in every form I can; even if it means little sleep.

Roger L.

Additionally, the following delegates have written these blogs:

Matt Vogt
Virtualization, Storage, Community
@MattVogt

Tech Field Day 7 - Austin, TX

VMware vCenter SQL Express to SQL 2008 R2

2011-07-18T13:42:00.001-05:00

Did you install SQL express and need to later upgrade the database and had trouble?

I am limited in the realm of SQL knowledge. therefore, I just ran the installer of SQL 2008 R2, and didn’t see my instance listed.

I was following this blog post.

Upgrading SQL Server Express to 2008 R2 Standard and Adding Features to the Upgraded Instance

At this screen, I didn’t see the instance I wanted to upgrade. (note, taken from the above blog post)

After, some creative googleing, I found the following.

sql 2005 express -> express 2008 r2 ?

I found if I went into options. And selected x86, and re followed the above blog link.

And that worked!

Now, remember, that since you didn’t have full SQL, vCenter couldn’t install support for it, on first install. You’ll need to remove vCenter, and reinstall.

I hope that helps some of you.

Roger Lund

VMware vSphere 5 Licensing – Customer take? Your saying I pay what!?

2011-07-12T15:39:00.001-05:00

I just finished Watching the presentation on Cloud Infrastructure LaunchvSphere Licensing Overview Your Cloud. Intelligent Virtual Infrastructure. Delivered Your Way. PDF Here

Compare vSphere 5.0 Editions

Video Below.

http://event.on24.com/view/presentation/flash/EventConsoleNG.html?uimode=nextgeneration&eventid=334399&sessionid=1&key=90D46ABB25FC5986BF832E9EA3038536&format=fhaudio&contenttype=A&playerwidth=1000&playerheight=650&mediametricid=738098&mode=launch&eventserver=http://event.on24.com&eventuserid=51754351&usercd=51754351&mediametricsessionid=43357053&mode=launch&eventserver=http://event.on24.com#

I made my own video, but need to slice it, as it is to long for you tube.

---

My questions are more around per proc cost and higher dense servers.

In the example, I have I will use a blade system. Let’s assume these are two Socket Blades.

If I have eight blades in a chassis, with 256GB per blade . Totaling 2048GB of memory. And today, via vSphere 4.x , I could use this memory.

Now, I could max my memory in this example configuration for 512GB per blade. Totaling 4096. And today, via vSphere 4.x , I could only use half of this memory.

Today, I need 16 Enterprise Plus Licenses, at the VMware store price of Only $4,369.00. Totaling $69,904.

Using the vSphere 5 licensing, if I want to use 2048GB of memory ( now, you could subtract memory required to support HA)

We are talking about 2048 / 48 = 42.66 licenses. Therefore, I will round up. 43 * $4369.00 = $187,867.00 . This is a difference of $117,963 More to use the same memory.

Using the vSphere 5 licensing, if I want to use 4096GB of memory ( now, you could subtract memory required to support HA) And, currently, this is not possible with vSphere 4.

We are talking about 4096 / 48 = 85.333 licenses. Therefore, I will round down.85 * $4369.00 = $371,365.00

Now, in a four socket configuration, you get more CPU, but the cost stay’s the same.

---

We are talking about a huge price difference, now, I am not saying I agree or disagree, but I think at that cost, it will be hard to move customers into the vSphere 5, market.

And as a VMware vExpert, and VMUG leader, what I don’t want is to see people shy away from VMware and towards a competitive product.

What is everyone thoughts?

EDIT:

Officially, I have no opinion as cost is just cost. but this subject is one that a customer brought to my attention almost as soon as the product launched.

Roger Lund

VMware Cloud Infrastructure - Demo's and more White Papers

2011-07-12T12:37:00.001-05:00

There are a ton of resources available on the show floor. Here are a few.

Demo :New compelling storage features in VMware vSphere 5
Demo: Enhanced accessibility to VMware vCenter Server with new VMware vSphere Web Client
Demo: Installing and Configuring VMware vSphere Storage Appliance
Demo: Simplifying storage management with VMware vSphere Storage DRS
Demo: Using Auto Deploy to dynamically provision a new host to an existing cluster

VMware vSphere 5 What's New: Availability Whitepaper
VMware vSphere 5 What's New: Data Recovery Whitepaper
VMware vSphere 5 What's New: Networking Whitepaper
VMware vSphere 5 What's New: Performance Whitepaper
VMware vSphere 5 What's New: Platform Whitepaper
VMware vSphere 5 What's New: Storage Whitepaper

Lots of good resources.

Roger Lund

Introducing the Next Step in Cloud Infrastructure -VMware vSphere 5.0 and more!

2011-07-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

VMware Announced the next step in Cloud Infrastructure.

"

Starting today: Virtualize any application. Respond to business faster. Trust your cloud.

Leveraging the proven vSphere virtualization technologies, VMware introduces intelligent cloud infrastructure with built-in automation and resource elasticity to free IT from manual processes and enable it to meet business requirements on-demand.

Only VMware lets you achieve the levels of efficiency and agility characterized by the cloud benchmarks without throwing away your existing investments in applications, hardware and knowhow. https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&needuserinfo=y&eventid=319982&sessionid=1&key=82E09EE9B6FB6F29E31FB41998C23C79&sourcepage=register "

> Watch Announcement Webcast

New releases include.

"

VMware vSphere 5.0 - New HA architecture for expanded scalability
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 - vSphere replication,automated failback, planned migration
VMware vSphere Storage Appliance 1.0 - Benefit from share storage (HA, vMotion) without storage hardware
VMware vCenter Heartbeat 6.4 - Improved integration with vCenter Server"

Now, I am not going to go and try to link everything out , but I want to put a few of the documents you care about in once place.

VMwarevSphere™ 5.0Licensing, Pricing and Packaging
What’s New in VMwarevSphere™ 5.0 Platform
Compare vSphere 5.0 Editions
Entitlement Mapping

Also new

VMware vSphere™ Profile-Driven Storage

EDIT

What’s New in vSphere 5 and Heartbeat 6.4 Presentation!

Now, I am still digesting this, so more to come!

Roger Lund

VMware Event - Raising the Bar, Part V

2011-07-07T23:11:00.000-05:00

VMware has a been planning something. What is it? Th next cloud infrastructure? A new product release? Make sure to check out the live event on July 12th. Below is a expert from VMTN Blog - Register now for "Raising the Bar, Part V" -- online event.

"
July 12, 2011
9am-Noon Pacific Time
VMware CEO Paul Maritz and CTO Steve Herrod will be presenting on the next generation of cloud infrastructure. Join us and experience how the virtualization journey is helping transform IT and ushering in the era of Cloud Computing.
9:00-9:45 Paul and Steve present - live online streaming10:00-12:00 three tracks of deep dive breakout sessions10:00-12:00 live Q&A with VMware cloud and virtualization experts
The event is free -- if you sign up today you'll get an email reminder. This is a not-to-miss event!
These vExperts will be on-site at the event in San Francisco and will be covering the event live! (Also watch for live-tweeting from @VMwareEvents and @jtroyer with the #vmwarecloud hashtag)

Eric Siebert (@ericsiebert, vSphere-land)
David Davis (@davidmdavis, VMware Videos)
Bob Plankers (@plankers, The Lone Sysadmin)
Bill Hill (@virtual_bill, Virtual Bill)

"

http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2011/07/register-now-for-this-vmware-online-event-july-12-raising-the-bar-part-v.html

I for one, can't wait to see what new and up coming technology VMware has in store for the public.

vExpert 2011

2011-07-03T13:45:00.001-05:00

It's Official, I am a 2011 vExpert. I want to Thank everyone for voting. I believe most of you know my story, and why I lead both a unofficial VMUG, and recently, a Official ( Minneapolis MN, with Rick @VMRICK ) VMUG.

From the first time I played with Virtualization, I was excited , as I knew then of the possible impact in the Datacenter. Since then I have not only been speaking about Virtualization, but living message as well.

Thanks to John, and VMware for looking to the community , and embracing what we have to say.

Roger Lund

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Dell Storage Forum 2011– Dell DX Object Based Storage Lab Setup

2011-06-16T21:25:00.001-05:00

Earlier on my other blog http://itblog.rogerlund.net , I posted a blog post on Dell DX object based storage, with regards to the hands on labs at Dell Storage Forum 2011.

Check it out at http://www.vbrainstorm.com/2011/06/dell-storage-forum-2011-dell-dx-object.html

Roger Lund

You Tube Channel!

2011-06-14T20:08:00.001-05:00

I have created, or rather, decide to use my you tube channel. Please ignore the dance video... I was put up to it…… @edsai

You'll see a collection of all the video's related to both blogs, and user groups there in the future.

Check it out!

You Tube Channel

Thanks!

Roger Lund

VMware KB Roll Outs - June 2011 - a few I noticed.

2011-06-13T23:04:00.001-05:00

I was reviewing a few KB's, on VMware's RSS feed, and thought this stood out.

The following is taken from http://kb.vmware.com

"

Cannot license a centralized ESX/ESXi 4.x host

KB Article: 2000723

Symptoms

    Cannot license a centralized ESX/ESXi 4.x host
    Licensing an ESX/ESXi host fails with one of these errors:
        Features in use - vMotion/fault tolerance
        The license key entered does not have enough capacity for this entity

Resolution http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2000723

Cisco Nexus 1000v logs contain the message: Dropping received frames from duplicate VSM saddr (0x1010000)

KB Article: 2000074

Symptoms

    Cisco Nexus 1000v logs may contain the error:

    vswews01a %KERN-1-SYSTEM_MSG: Dropping received frames from duplicate VSM saddr (0x1010000)

Resolution http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2000074

The esxtop utility causes high CPU load

KB Article: 2000829

Symptoms

    The esxtop utility is very slow to redraw and display data.
    The console world indicates 100% load.
    ESX console shows the esxtop process generating the high CPU load.
    ESX host is sluggish and unresponsive.
    Stopping the esxtop utility reduces the CPU load to normal.

Resolution http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2000829

The guest operating system is extremely slow or does not boot when connected to the host CD/DVD drive

KB Article: 2000382

Symptoms

    The virtual machine is extremely slow
    The guest operating system fails to boot
    CPU and disk performance charts for the virtual machine show little or no activity
    The virtual CD/DVD drive is connected to a host device
    In the host vmkernel or messages log, you see a log spew similar to:

    May 27 07:42:07 VS2 vmkernel: 21:02:21:57.950 cpu5:4235)ScsiDeviceIO: 1672: Command 0x28 to device "mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" failed H:0x0 D:0x2 P:0x0 Valid sense data: 0x3 0x2 0x0.
    May 27 07:42:13 VS2 vmkernel: 21:02:22:04.455 cpu5:4235)NMP: nmp_CompleteCommandForPath: Command 0x28 (0x41027f3c6640) to NMP device "mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" failed on physical path "vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" H:0x0 D:0x2 P:0x0 Valid sense data: 0x3 0x2 0x0.

Resolution http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2000382

vMotion fails at 78% with the error: Could not open change tracking file

KB Article: 2001004

Symptoms

    vMotion fails at 78%
    You see the error:

    A general system error occured. Source detected that destination failed to resume"

    In the vmware.log file, you see errors similar to:

    Jun 09 18:13:13.815: vmx| DISKLIB-LIB   : Resuming change tracking.
    Jun 09 18:13:17.821: vmx| DISKLIB-CTK   : Could not open tracking file. File open returned IO error 4.
    Jun 09 18:13:17.821: vmx| DISKLIB-CTK   : Could not open change tracking file "/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi-ctk.vmdk": Could not open/create change tracking file.
    (2108).
    Jun 09 18:13:17.825: vmx| DISK: Cannot open disk "/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi.vmdk": Could not open/create change tracking file (2108).
    Jun 09 18:13:17.825: vmx| Msg_Post: Error

    In the hostd.log file, you see entries similar to:

    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.602 57781B90 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi.vmx'] VMotionLastStatusCb: Failed with error 7: Source detected that destination failed to resume.
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.602 57781B90 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi.vmx'] VMotionResolveCheck: Operation in progress
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.603 57740B90 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi.vmx'] Tools are auto-upgrade capable
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.604 57740B90 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi.vmx'] Tools guest daemon status changed to: 1
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.610 57781B90 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi.vmx'] VMotionStatusCb: Completed
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.610 57781B90 verbose 'vm:/vmfs/volumes/4da7419d-76842557-1fe8-001a6468e1ed/erptlbi/erptlbi.vmx'] VMotionResolveCheck: Firing ResolveCb
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.611 57781B90 info 'VMotionSrc (1307644538230054)'] ResolveCb: VMX reports needsUnregister = false for migrateType MIGRATE_TYPE_VMOTION
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.611 57781B90 info 'VMotionSrc (1307644538230054)'] ResolveCb: Failed with fault: (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
       dynamicType = ,
       faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
       reason = "Source detected that destination failed to resume.",
       msg = "",
    }
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.611 57781B90 verbose 'VMotionSrc (1307644538230054)'] Migration changed state from MIGRATING to DONE
    [2011-06-09 13:35:43.611 57781B90 verbose 'VMotionSrc (1307644538230054)'] Finish called

Resolution http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=2001004

"

Question, do you guy's/gals want me to the full resolution into the blog? I linked to shorten.

Thanks

Roger L

Dell Storage forum 2011 - Dell Equallogic Hands on lab Design Overview.

2011-06-13T22:38:00.000-05:00

http://www.vbrainstorm.com/2011/06/dell-storage-forum-2011-dell-equallogic.html

Check out my latest post at vbrainstorm on the Dell Equallogic hands on labs at Dell Storage Forums.

Roger L.