vToolBelt – December 2018
Upcoming Events
Central Ohio VMware Users Group (12/18) – Join COVMUG for the final meeting of the year!
Meeting Agenda:
- 8:30 AM: Peer Networking with Morning Refreshments
- 9:00 AM: Pure Data Freedom – Kyle Keller and Matt Montes, Pure Storage
- 9:45 AM: Break
- 10:00 AM: The Trials and Tribulations of Using Virtual Volumes (VVOLs) – Brian Parks
- 10:30 AM: PowerShell Workshop (be prepared to code!) – Kurt Bohman
- 11:30 AM: Wrap-Up & Giveaways
Bring your own device!
For the PowerShell Workshop part of the meeting, the plan is for everyone to actually code. So please bring your laptop with Windows PowerShell or PowerShell Core installed. It would also be ideal if you had the free Microsoft Visual Studio Code installed.
Get more information and register here!
Product Watch
The following products are nearing the End of General Support. You can find the full list on the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.
| AirWatch Console 9.2 – 3/21/19 |
Identity Manager 3.0, 3.1 – 3/21/19 |
| Fusion 10 – 3/26/18 | Workstation 14 – 3/26/19 |
| vRealize Automation 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 – 12/17/18 |
vRealize Business for Cloud 7.3 – 3/15/19 7.4, 7.5 – 4/12/19 |
| vRealize Network Insight 3.7, 3.8 – 2/22/19 3.9 – 3/20/19 |
vROPs for Horizon 6.5 – 3/21/19 |
| vRealize Orchestrator 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 – 12/17/18 |
vRealize Network Insight 3.7, 3.8 – 2/22/19 3.9 – 3/20/19 |
| vRealize Business for Cloud 7.3 – 3/15/19 7.4, 7.5 – 4/12/19 |
Notes from the Field
Recently, Oracle announced that Java SE 8 public updates will no longer be available for Business, Commercial, or Production use. As far as VMware products are concerned – this is not an issue. VMware has a commercial license and support agreement with Oracle for Java SE for Embedded use. You can read more about that here.
Free E-books! Who doesn’t like a free book?
- VMware vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive – This is the authoritative book from Duncan Epping and Frank Denneman updated for 6.7. Get your free PDF thanks to VMUG and Rubrik
- NSX Day 1 Library – VMware has published a set of guides that can be used to help you operationalize NSX in your environment. If you are looking to create automation around NSX or design your infrastrucure – these guides have you covered!
- The Gorilla Guide to Maximizing vRealize Operations – This book will help you if you are just getting started with vRealize or even if you have been running it for a while. It is updated for vRealize 6.7.
Upgrade Tips
- For those running NSX in a Cisco UCS environment, you may need to review your NENIC driver version before you upgrade.
- If you run vSAN and have upgraded to 6.7 Update 1, you may notice an issue with viewing Capacity History for vSAN. Spoiler – fixes ahead!
- VMware has a KB (53710) which discusses the proper Upgrade Sequence for vSphere 6.7 and compatible products.
- As of 6.7 Update 1, the embedded Platform Service Controller model is now the recomendation. For those with an external PSC, VMware has developed a convergence tool that can help those who want to migrate from external to embedded.
The latest on vSphere
- In vSphere 6.7 Update 1 the HTML 5 client is fully feature capable. You can learn more about what has changed. Update Manager has received a number of enhancements. Even 6.5 Update 2d has had most of the functionality added. If you use third-party plug-ins – make sure you know which ones have been updated to HTML 5.
- If you want to learn more about upgrading to vSphere 6.7, you should check out vSphere Central. This has recently been udpated with an upgrade section to make it easier to find what you need…
- With the release of vSphere 6.7, there have been some updates to Linked Mode and how the platform service controller can be installed. Check out the vSphere 6.7 Topology and Upgrade Planning Tool to learn more.
- Changes to the vSphere with Operations Management bundle (also known as VSOM) – vSOM is a bundled SKU that includes vSphere ESXi and vRealize Operations Management – both of which are licensed by CPU. Beginning in February 2019, this SKU will no longer be available for purchase. If you already own this SKU – do not fear. The product will be “decomposed” into two separate SKUs and still available to use.
- Windows vCenter has been deprecated. vSphere 6.7 is the final release that will include a Windows vCenter component. Going forward, VMware’s direction is to the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA). For those still running vCenter on Windows, there is a migration process.
- Running out of size in the root parttion on the VCSA? You can increase the root partition size fairly easily
- Are you looking to get started with automating vSphere? Maybe you know Powershell but are not sure how to use SOAP or Rest APIs? Take a look at this recording from a VMUG where a VMware architect goes into how to get started.
A few bits on vSAN
- If you are running thin-provisioned VMs you probably like the fact that it can help you save space; but also know that over time those disks can become inflated. There is functionality called TRIM/UNMAP that can help manage that and possibly even reclaim space. Did you know that vSAN in vSphere 6.7 Update 1 can make TRIM/UNMAP even easier?
- How much slack space should you plan for with vSAN? Take a few minutes to learn about vSAN Maintenance Mode Impact to Object Resilience to help you learn why slack space is important and help you plan for what is right in your environment.
I’ll leave you with a tidbit that may make some (me) feel old. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Windows 98, some hardy soul built a Windows 98 PC this year. My favorite is the case – a full-size PC case – that is nearly 2 feet tall!
I hope you found this useful. I wish you Happy Holidays and a bright New Year!