Tag : vSphere
Written by Christopher Lewis on June 11, 2018
With the release of VMware vSphere 6.7, the feature parity between the legacy flex and HTML5 client is getting closer. In addition, with the release of VMware NSX-v 6.4.1 more VMware NSX-v features are also available in the HTML5 client (as seen below). Note: At one of the keynotes at VMworld 2017 Europe, Ray O’farrell committed to the HTML5 client would have FULL feature parity at the next MAJOR release.
Written by Christopher Lewis on October 9, 2017
The following post is a part of my unofficial study guide for the VMware Specialist: vSAN Digital Badge. The full study guide can be found here. Objective 2.1 - Provide a high-level description of vSAN VMware vSAN™ aggregates local or direct-attached data storage devices to create a single storage pool shared across all hosts in the vSAN cluster. vSAN eliminates the need for external shared storage, and simplifies storage configuration and virtual machine provisioning.
Written by Christopher Lewis on March 25, 2017
Prerequisites A VMCA SSL Certificate (such as root_signing_cert.cer) A RSA Private Key (such as root_signing_cert.key) Process Overview The high level steps are as followed: Log into the External Platform Services Controller. Replace the Root Certificate. Connect to the PSC Appliance. Renew the Machine SSL Certificate. Renew the Solution User Certificate. Connect to the VCSA Appliance. Renew the Machine SSL Certificate. Renew the Solution User Certificate.
Platform Services Controller vCenter VCSA VMCA VMware vSphere
Written by Christopher Lewis on January 8, 2017
In this post we will look to expand on my previous post HOWTO: Deploy a vSphere 6.5 External Platform Services Controller (VCSA) and deploy the VMware vSphere 6.5 vCenter Server Appliance so that it takes advantage of the external Platform Services Controller. Prerequisites Like with anything VMware Appliance related, you will need to have both Forward and Reverse DNS entries manually added to your DNS Server. To install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA), you first have to mount the ISO.
VMware vSphere Platform Services Controller PSC vCenter Server
Written by Christopher Lewis on November 15, 2016
If you didn’t already here the news, VMware vSphere 6.5 is now GA. Whilst lots of people will be concentrating on upgrading vSphere 5.x/6.x to 6.5 I’m going to start with the basics… To install the Platform Services Controller using the VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA), you first have to mount the ISO. In Windows 10 this is simple! Installation Steps So first things first, double click on VMware-VCSA-all-6.5.0-<buildnumber>.iso to mount it as a drive on your system.
VMware vSphere Platform Services Controller PSC vCenter Server
Written by Christopher Lewis on September 19, 2016
If you plan to deploy the Platform Services Controller without using it with VMware vCenter, such as when deploying it for SSO for vRealize Automation 6. The options for configuring SYSLOG are not available through the GUI without the VMware vCenter Web GUI. Problem: How do you configure SYSLOG on a Platform Services Controller when its not deployed with VMware vCenter Server 6.x? Solution: Log into the Platform Services Controller as Root via SSH.
Written by Christopher Lewis on August 11, 2016
This is the final post in a series of post on automating the deployment of the Platform Services Controller (PSC). To be honest I didn’t expect these posts to turn into a series but as I like to share. The previous two articles in this series can be found here: HOWTO: Automate the installation of the External Platform Services Controller using PowerCLI & JSON - Part 1 How to Automate the installation of the External Platform Services Controller using PowerCLI & JSON - Part 2 Within this final post, I will tackling the automated deployment of a two node PSC Cluster and will be sharing the script I use.
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 29, 2016
Over the last few months I have been designing and building a solution for vRealize Automation 6 for a customer. (I know, I know, its not the latest and greatest version with all the whiz-bang features of vRA7 - but the only solace I take is that the VCAP-CMA exams are currently based on vRA 6 - so hopefully it is good practice). You will have noticed that the last few posts I have created are concerning the VMware vSphere Platform Services Controller (PSC) and how to install it (and automate it).
VMware Platform Services Controller vRealize Automation vSphere
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 25, 2016
As a follow on to my previous article, HOWTO: Automate the installation of the External Platform Service Controller using PowerCLI & JSON - Part 1, I had a new customer requirement to deploy the Platform Service Controller as the identity solution for vRealize Automation 6.x, but this time directly onto a VMware vCenter Server rather than an VMware vSphere ESXi host. I can hear you all screaming at the article about vRealize Automation 7, how it is much cooler and has its own highly available vIDM - but this project started when vRA7 had only just come out and the customer didn’t want to take the risk.
Platform Services Controller PowerCLI PowerShell PSC VMware vSphere
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 3, 2016
As a follow on to my previous article on how to deploy HOWTO: Deploy the VMware vSphere 6.0 Platform Services Controller, I thought I would share a way to automate the delivery of the vSphere Platform Services Controller using PowerCLI/Powershell. The main credit for this article goes to the information in the brilliant PowerCLI Reference 2nd Edition (see my review here) of which my colleague Jonathan Medd (www.jonathanmedd.net / @JonathanMedd) was a co-author.
Platform Services Controller PowerCLI PowerShell PSC VMware vSphere
Written by Christopher Lewis on May 23, 2016
The following instructions will help you deploy a standalone VMware vSphere Platform Service Controller. Instructions In the software installer directory, double-click vcsa-setup.html. Wait for the browser to detect the Client Integration Plug-in and allow the plug-in to run on the browser when prompted. On the Home page, click Install to start the vCenter Server Appliance deployment wizard. At the End User License Agreement screen, check the “I accept the terms of the license agreement checkbox”, and click Next.
Written by Christopher Lewis on April 12, 2016
As part of the continual (re)deployment and evolution of my home lab I have created a custom ESXi image to include a VIB for my Synology SAN. Whilst I will concentrate on the steps required to complete this specifically for the Synology, the principle applies to any home lab or indeed any Production environment that needs a custom VMware vSphere ESXi Image. Required Software: VMware PowerCLI (latest available) VMware vSphere offline bundle downloadable from VMware (I’m using the 6.