Cybersylum

I know many are looking to upgrade to vSphere 7.0 Update 2.  If your hosts use USB Boot Media (SD-Cards, USB Sticks, etc) there is some important information you need to read before you upgrade.    Refer to the information in the Notes from the Field section below for full details.

Upcoming Events

VMworld 2021
October 5-7, 2021

Registration is now live.  You can register for free on VMworld.com.  Key Dates:

• Content Catalog – Became available on July 20th.  This allows you to browse information on what content will be available and help you start to plan your schedule.
• Schedule Builder – will open on September 14th.  This will allow you to sign up for sessions.
• The event itself will be from October 5-7 and is on-line.

In addition to the General pass (which is free), a Tech+ Pass is available for $299/individual.    A comparison of the options is available here.

Continue reading “vToolbelt – August 2021”

I know many are looking to upgrade to vSphere 7.0 Update 2. If your hosts use USB Boot Media (SD-Cards, USB Sticks, etc) there is some important information you need to read and action you should take before you upgrade.

Read on in this newsletter for the details you need to know…

VMworld 2021

VMworld 2021 will be from October 5-7 and is on-line. You can register for free on VMworld.com.

Key Dates:

• July 20th – The Content Catalog becomes available – This allows you to start figuring out which sessions you want to attend
• September 14th – Schedule Builder launches – This is when you can actually register for sessions.  Some popular sessions fill early, so don’t delay!

In addition to the General pass (which is free), a Tech+ Pass is available for $299/individual.   If you are curious as to the differences, a comparison of the General and Tech+ passes is available.

vSphere 7 Upgrade Notes

I am hearing of two different issues that customers are running into with vSphere 7 upgrades and wanted to pass the info along.

Continue reading “vToolbelt – July 2021”

vCenter Server Security Advisory – VMSA-2021-0010

Last week, VMware released information on a critical issue affecting Plug-ins on vCenter Server.  VMware recommend customers patch or implement the workaround as soon as possible.

The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability due to lack of input validation in multiple plug-ins in vCenter (some of which are enabled by default). VMware has evaluated the severity of this issue to be in the Critical severity range with a maximum CVSSv3 base score of 9.8.  The full notice (including list of plug-ins) can be read at https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2021-0010.html

This affects certain versions of vCenter Server (Windows and the VCSA alike).  The work around is to disable the affected plug-ins in vCenter – KB 83829.  This does impact management and is considered a short-term stop gap.

Continue reading “vToolbelt – June 2021”

VMware with Tanzu – Live Learn Event
Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Join this exclusive educational event to gain insight and discovery into VMware vSphere with Tanzu. You will get live training and information from VMware experts, who will take you through a curated and customized set of hands-on modules on vSphere with Tanzu. Participants who complete the modules and assessments will receive a certificate.

This vSphere with Tanzu live training event has been designed to help you learn the most critical components and modules in a way that is easy and accessible:

• Pre-Work: Available on Sunday, May 23rd: Provide pre-work learning content, that will establish a knowledge base into the Tanzu application prior to the immersive learning experience on the day of instruction.
• Live Instruction: On Tuesday, May 25th: Live instruction that will walk learners through carefully chosen topics on vSphere with Tanzu with VMware experts providing guided instruction as well as integrated chat that will enable social learning.
• Post Work: Closes on Thursday, May 27th: During the conclusion of the event participants will have the opportunity to receive a certificate of completion. The post-work portion of this event includes a formative assessment that is derived of the content during the live instruction.

Register

Continue reading “vToolbelt – May 2021”

Product Support Watch

The following products are nearing the End of General Support.  You can find the full list on the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.

Horizon View / Workspace ONE

• App Volumes 2.17 – 7/02/2021
• Dynamic Environment Manager 9.8 – 7/02/21
• Dynamic Environment Manager 9.9 – 9/17/21
• Horizon 7.10 ESB – 9/17/21
• Identity Manager 3.3.1 – 4/17/2021
• Identity Manager Connector 19.03 – 7/01/2021
• vRealize Operations for Horizon 6.6 – 4/30/21
• Workspace ONE Access 20.01 – 7/30/21

NSX

• NSX Advanced Load Balancer 18.2 – 8/31/21
• NSX-T Data Center 2.5 – 9/19/21

Notes From The Field

vSphere 7 Update 1 introduced the vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS). This change has abstracted the Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and High Availability (HA) functionality from vCenter.  These functions are now controlled by a set of small virtual machines.  You will not see them in the inventory view; but you may see them on a datastore or in other reports that show running VMs.  These VMs are named vCLS – or vCLS(x).  You don’t need to manage them; but it is good to understand what they are.  You can read more on the YellowBricks blog.

When installing vSphere 7 on a number of older processors you may see a warning that this processor will be deprecated soon.  The affected processors are all in or near End of Life or End of Support status by their respective manufacturers.  You can see the full list of AMD & Intel CPUs in VMware KB 82794.

The vSphere 7 Security Configuration guide has been updated and is now available.

Not a developer but interested in learning more about Kubernetes?  Check out Tanzu for the vSphere Admin.  You can also check out a collection of Kubernetes & Cloud-Native books.

Carbon Black Cloud Workload Essentials has a free trial through April 2021. You can get hands-on with the product and try it out in your environment without obligation.   Get more information and sign up at https://www.carbonblack.com/workload-free-trial.

Technical Advisories

vCenter Server Internal Certificate Expiration – If your vCenter server (Appliance or Windows) was deployed as 6.5 Update 2 or later, the Security Token Service (STS) signing certificate may have a 2-year validity period.  Depending on when your vCenter was deployed, this may be approaching that expiration date.  There is no vCenter Alarm for this condition.  I highly recommend you take a few minutes and check your environment and proactively replace the certificate if needed.

• KB 79248: Simple ways to check the STS certificate expiration date
• KB 76719: Scripted/automated method to replace STS certificate

Continue reading “vToolbelt – November 2020”

Hello and welcome to fall…  I think.  Maybe next week. Ohio weather is so unpredictable.  Anyway a short newsletter this month  A few on-line events you may be interested in as well as a free trial of Carbon Black.

Free Training Resources – Offer extended!
For the past few months I have mentioned that VMware was offering a complimentary 6-month Digital Learning subscription to the Premium edition of the VMware Learning zone. Due to popular demand, this offer has been extended to a full year.  You must enroll by October 31st.  You can learn more about this free offering and register here.

Technical Advisories

Are you managing Android devices with Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management?  There are some changes regarding Workspace ONE UEM & Android Enterprise coming in November 2020 you will want to review.

Continue reading “vToolbelt – October 2020”