VM shows as orphaned in vCenter - Web Client

This week we've been creating and deleting VMs, and in one of the labs we delete a VM and then when we access the Web Client and connect to our we see the VM shown as orphaned.

This is because the vCenter server database still see the VM.

The fix for this in vSphere 6.5 is a straightforward task.

Step 1. Download PowerCLI 6.5

Step 2. Run PowerCLI and connect to your vCenter Server from PowerCLI

connect-viserver vc-fqdn (replace with FQDN eg vc01.bryanoconnor21.co.uk)

Step 3. List the VMs

get-vm | select name

Step 4. Delete the orphaned VM

remove-vm VMName

Step 5. Verify deletion

get-vm | select name

The machine should no longer be listed.

Another way to delete the orphaned VM is to use the Web Client

Highlight the VM right click the VM > All Virtual Infrastructure Actions > Remove from Inventory

What is vSAN? - Lightboard from VMware

This week we've been looking at vSAN and mentioning the many advantages of the product.

VMware have produced a light board session explaining the vSAN product.

To summarise vSAN takes local storage on your ESXi hosts and presents this as Shared Storage.

The session is presented by Elver Sena Sosa and is less then ten minutes long.

Enjoy.

Free eBook – The Developer’s Guide to Microsoft Azure

Microsoft have now released a new version of their developer guide to Azure as a free ebook

Free eBook – The Developer’s Guide to Microsoft Azure

The book authors are Michael Crump and Barry Luijbregts

The book is 62 pages and downloaded as a PDF

Introduction from the book itself

"We created The Developer’s Guide to Microsoft Azure to help you on your journey to the cloud, whether you’re just considering making the move, or you’ve already decided and are underway.

This e-book was written by developers for developers.

And it is specifically meant to give you, as a developer, a fundamental knowledge of what Azure is all about, what it offers you and your organization, and how to take advantage of it all."

Enjoy

Free Access to Azure Services and Training

In my role as a Microsoft Certified Trainer I deliver courses on Microsoft Azure (Microsoft's Public Cloud).

Obviously I would like people to books courses and come and have a chat, but sometimes it's good to have access to additional resources.

With The above in mind Microsoft have a useful resource:

Microsoft Azure Essentials

"You've arrived at the best place to get started with Azure and learn new skills. Whatever your level of expertise, Azure Essentials can help you take it further. Choose a topic and use the curated set of demo videos, hands-on labs, and product trials to learn about and try Azure at your own pace. Azure Essentials also offers multiple learning paths, Azure certification, and support. Best of all, we'll guide you every step of the way."

Sign up, it's worth a look.

Webinar: Accelerate your cloud transformation with Microsoft Azure

In my day to day job I deliver both VMware and Microsoft courses, and as such I can see the benefits and flaws of these technologies.

Microsoft Azure can help you transform your VMware environments by delivering cost-effective economics, modernising your workloads with a truly consistent hybrid cloud approach, and streamlining the Azure migration process.

On Wednesday, December 13th 1:00pm PST Microsoft are running the following Webinar:

Accelerate your cloud transformation with Microsoft Azure

The webinar will cover the following:

In this webinar, learn how to transform your VMware workloads and apps on Azure while saving money for your organization. More specifically, we will cover how you can:

• Migrate your VMware workloads to Azure using migration tools and services for your apps, infrastructure, and data
• Use Azure to modernise your VMware workloads using the latest cloud architectures
• Integrate/Inter-operate your VMware workloads with Azure services for backup, replication, management, networking, etc.

vSphere Integrated Container Fundamentals - Free elearning

The vSphere Integrated Container Fundamentals - Free elearning is available now, covering the following:

This course covers a series of topics on cloud native basics such as container technology, Kubernetes, and container related infrastructure technologies.

• Cloud Native Basics
• What is a Container?
• The Benefits of Containers 
• Kubernetes in 5 mins
• Docker Networking Options
• Networking with Kubernetes
• An Analysis of IT Technology Silos: Consumers & Providers
• Container Registry
• Developer Ready Infrastructure
• Pivotal Cloud Foundry and vSphere Part 1
• Pivotal Cloud Foundry and vSphere Part 2
• Pivotal Cloud Foundry and NSX
• Containers on vSphere
• vSphere Integrated Containers Networking Overview

Definitely worth a look, it's self-paced and 2.5 hours long.

The future is Devops not Sysops (Well that's what I've been Told) 😀

HOL-1704-SDC-1 - vSphere 6 - Performance Optimization

One of the topics covered on the VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V6.5] course is VMware Fault Tolerance.

You can use vSphere Fault Tolerance for your virtual machines to ensure business continuity with higher levels of availability and data protection than is offered by vSphere HA.

vSphere Fault Tolerance is built on the ESXi host platform and comes as a function of the VMware vSphere HA cluster support. vSphere Fault Tolerance provides continuous availability by having an identical virtual machine run on separate ESXi hosts.
You can use vSphere Fault Tolerance for virtual machines that require protected against hardware failure.

vSphere Fault Tolerance provides continuous availability for such a virtual machine by creating and maintaining another virtual machine that is identical and continuously available to replace it in the event of a fail-over situation.

The fault tolerant virtual machine is called the primary virtual machine.

The duplicate virtual machine is called the secondary virtual machine.

It is created and runs on another ESXi host. The secondary virtual machine’s execution is identical to that of the primary virtual machine’s. The secondary virtual machine can take over at any point without interruption due to an ESXi host failure, providing fault-tolerant protection.

The primary virtual machine and the secondary virtual machine continuously monitor the status of each other to ensure that fault tolerance is maintained. A transparent fail-over occurs if the host running the primary virtual machine fails, in which case the secondary virtual machine is immediately activated to replace the primary virtual machine. A new secondary virtual machine is started, and fault tolerance redundancy is reestablished automatically.

If the host running the secondary virtual machine fails, it is also immediately replaced. In either case, users experience no interruption in service and no loss of data.

For a Hands on Experience of FT and more visit VMware Hands on Labs website and try:

HOL-1704-SDC-1 - vSphere 6 - Performance Optimization 

Broken Trust relationship in Windows 10

This week, I've been using Windows 10 in a VM environment and had issues with checkpoints and system restores.

The issues have been that in one of the labs we restore back to a previous snapshot/system restore point and that breaks the trust relationship.

In order to fix this issue launch Windows PowerShell on the Windows 10 device and then type the following command. Replace the dc-name with the name of a Domain Controller in the organisation.

Test-ComputerSecureChannel –Server dc-name -Repair -Verbose

If successful the trust relationship is now fixed

VMware vSphere - What's New Fundamentals [V6.0 to V6.5] - Free elearning

With VMware VCP certification, it has become a requirement to renew you VCP certification ever two years.

If you are already a VCP6-DCV , a way to renew your VCP is to pass the:

vSphere 6.5 Foundations Exam

In order to help prepare for this exam, VMware have provided a free elearning course:

VMware vSphere: What's New Fundamentals [V6.0 to V6.5]

The course lasts 1.5 hours and covers the following.

Overview:

This course highlights the new features and enhancements in vSphere 6.5. It also presents use cases that describe how the new features align with customer needs.

This course begins by discussing VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere administration. 

To simplify what’s new in vSphere 6.5, we can break the advancements down into three primary categories under vSphere and vCenter server administration. 

• First, we have dramatically simplified the administrator’s experience which makes IT more efficient than ever before. 
• Second, we have added comprehensive built-in security into vSphere 6.5 to secure your entire data centre. 
• And the third is that it provides a universal application platform giving you the ability to run any application, anywhere.

Enjoy

Retaining resource pools when disabling vSphere DRS

Today we have been covering DRS and one of the topics was restoring a resource pool when DRS had been disabled and then re-enabled.

As resource pools are a bit of DRS functionality, they are deleted when DRS is disabled.

You may turn off vSphere DRS for a cluster.
If you disable vSphere DRS, the resource pools are removed from the cluster.
When vSphere DRS is disabled, the cluster’s resource pool hierarchy and affinity rules are not reestablished when DRS is turned back on.
To avoid losing the resource pools, save a snapshot of the resource pool tree on your local machine.


You can use the snapshot to restore the resource pool when you enable vSphere DRS.

When we edit the setting for the DRS cluster and choose to disable DRS we are presented with a warning and asked if we wish to create a snapshot of the resource pools and also the location for the snapshot.

To restore a resource pool tree, you need to meet the following prerequisites:

You can restore a previously saved resource pool tree snapshot when you enable vSphere DRS.
vSphere DRS must be turned on. You can restore a snapshot only on the same cluster that it was taken. No other resource pools are present in the cluster.

To restore the Snapshot, re-enable DRS .

•   Browse to the cluster in the vSphere Web Client navigator.

•   Right-click the cluster and click All vCenter Actions.

•   Select Restore Resource Pool Tree.

•   Click Browse and locate the snapshot file on your local machine.

•   Click Open.

•   Click OK to restore the resource pool tree.

VMware vCenter High Availability with vSphere 6.5

We've been talking today about VMware vCenter High Availability, the talk today was an introduction.

The purpose of vCenter High Availability is to protect the vCenter Appliance against failures.

The vCenter High Availability cluster uses 3 x VMs in order to protect the appliance, these are:

The Active mode or primary node is the running state. Runs the active instance of vCenter Server.

The Passive node is a clone of the Primary. Recieves updates from the Active node and synchronises the state. It is identical to the Active node, except that all services are stopped.

The Wintness/Quorum node. that does not take over in the case of a failure. It is purely there to break the tie in case of a split brain/network partition.

This product however only protects the vCenter component.

For a more in depth coverage of protecting the vCenter and PSC with HA. I'd recommend watching the following presentation.

vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller 6.5 High Availability , presented by Adam Eckerle and Emad Younis

"In this video we discuss high availability for the Platform Services Controller which includes how the load balancer works for this solution. Then we go into native vCenter Server high availability (VCHA) and how it can be used to protect vCenter Server when embedded and external."

VMware - Webinar to help prepare yourself for VCAP -DCV Deploy exam

Are you preparing for you VMware VCAP-DCV Deploy exam?

Do you have a spare hour on the 29th November 2017?

If the answer is yes, why not sign up and attend the

VMware - Webinar to help prepare yourself for VCAP -DCV Deploy exam.

The session runs at 10 AM on Wednesday 29th October and lasts for 1 hour, the session will be presented by Ian Worrall a VCI working for VMware

Here's the introduction.

"Back by popular demand, this webinar focuses on the Deploy element of Data Center Virtualisation.
VCAP- DCV Deploy Exam prep: this session will help to prepare and revise prior to sitting the exam. It will include advice on the areas addressed by the exam, the materials to utilize for study, and methods to help revise.

The session will also include some example questions and information to help the audience familiarize themselves with the exam format."

Enjoy

VMware and AWS Together - VMware Cloud on AWS [ENT307]

Just been watching another session on VMC on AWS

For me best of both worlds, flexibility of the Cloud and the reliability of the VMware Hypervisor.

VMware and AWS Together - VMware Cloud on AWS [ENT307]

Presented by Paul Brockelman

"VMware CloudTM on AWS brings VMware’s enterprise class Software-Defined Data Center software to Amazon’s public cloud, delivered as an on-demand, elastically scalable, cloud-based VMware sold, operated and supported service for any application and optimised for next-generation, elastic, bare metal AWS infrastructure.

This solution enables customers to use a common set of software and tools to manage both their AWS-based and on-premises vSphere resources consistently. Further virtual machines in this environment have seamless access to the broad range of AWS services as well.

This session will introduce this exciting new service and examine some of the use cases and benefits.

The session will also include a VMware Tech Preview that demonstrates standing up a complete SDDC cluster on AWS and various operations using standard tools like vCenter."

VMware Cloud on AWS A technical Deep Dive Presentation

As part of my playing / presenting VMware and AWS technologies, I stumbled across this presentation by Andy Reedy, Wen Yu, and Aarthi Raju of AWS.

If you got an hour to spare, it is definitely worth a look.

VMware Cloud on AWS A technical Deep Dive

VMware Storage Hub - A hub of information

I'm now into my revision for my vSAN exam and have found the following site a useful resource for not only vSAN, but also storage and availability. It is always a useful site all matters storage within VMware.

It is the VMware Storage and Availability technical document site

The site is broken down into three separate sections

VMware vSAN

Hyperconverged Infrastructure technical resources. vSAN documents to help you at every stage with HCI, from evaluation to optimization.

• vSAN
• HCI
• Storage
• Hyperconverged

vSphere Storage

Storage topics fundamental to vSphere and ESXi including information about VMFS and other storage enhancements.

• VVols
• vSphere
• Storage
• VMFS
• NFS

Site Recovery Manager

VMware Site Recovery Manager is the industry-leading solution to enable application availability and mobility across sites in private cloud environments.

• SRM
• DR
• Availability
• Disaster
• Recovery
• Migration

VMware Education - VMware vSAN Troubleshooting Tools, Tips and Tricks Webcast

I've been playing a bit with VMware vSAN, and today I start the prep for my VSAN Specialist exam.

As part of my prep I have just listened to am interested webcast from VMware.

Title:

The webcast is hosted by Francis Daly of VMware

"Attend this 60-minute webcast and leave with a better understanding of:

• VMware vSAN architecture
• Troubleshooting tools you need based on actual customer use cases
• Effective troubleshooting techniques used by the VMware Technical Support Team

The webcast is available via those lovely people at VMware Education Services and is available at the following link

VMware vSAN Troubleshooting Tools, Tips and Tricks

Also for a list of the Questions in PDF format for the Q&A visit the following link.

VMware vSAN Troubleshooting Tools, Tips and Tricks Q&A

Free eBook From VMware - Network Virtualisation For Dummies

One of my favourite topics when delivering courses, is always networking.

So a huge thank you to VMware for making available another free ebook:

Network Virtualisation For Dummies

The book is written by Mora Gozani

Here's the description from the book itself.

"This book is loaded with information that can help you understand and capitalize on network virtualization. In plain and simple language, I explain what network virtualization is, why it’s such a hot topic, how you can get started, and steps you can take to get the best bang for your IT buck."

The book is 77 pages in length. So if you have a few spare moments, give is a read.

VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive By Frank Denneman & Niels Hagoort - Free ebook

Exclusive access to the VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive download is brought to you by Rubrik and VMUG.

Visit the link

Nice book, excellent resource. Worth a look and a download.
 

"The VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive is a guide to building consistent high-performing ESXi hosts. Written for administrators, architects, consultants, aspiring VCDX-es and people eager to learn more about the elements that control the behavior of CPU, memory, storage and network resources."

VMware vSphere 6.5 Upgrade and Troubleshooting webcast

Are you upgrading to vSphere 6.5? Then why not register for the following webcast from VMware.

Title: Session 3: vSphere 6.5 Install and Upgrade Troubleshooting - (EMEA Session)
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017
Time: 12:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Ali Ahmad
Senior Technical Training Specialist
VMware

 "In this final session of our “Upgrading to vSphere 6.5” webcast series we will provide an overview of the vCenter Server 6.5 on Windows install and upgrade workflow to enable you to plan your vCenter install and upgrade. We will also discuss troubleshooting approaches which will help you identify, resolve, and avoid issues during an Install and Upgrade."

To register, visit the VMware webcast site

Enjoy

Preparing for my vSAN Specialist Exam

Finally, I have managed to clear all the work I've built up over the last few months and I'm now about to prepare for and hopefully pass my vSAN Specialist exam.

As a VCI I talk about vSAN on the majority of the courses I deliver on the VMware side of life.

The first thing for me as I prepare for all of the VMware exams I take is to download the exam prep document. This is obtained from the VMware Certification site.

The exam is broken down into nine separate sections as follows:

• Section 1-Storage Fundamentals
• Section 2–vSAN Fundamentals
• Section 3–vSAN Configuration
• Section 4–vSAN Policies and Virtual Machines
• Section 5–Managing and Operating vSAN
• Section 6–Stretched Clusters and Two-Node Clusters
• Section 7–Monitoring and Troubleshooting vSAN
• Section 8–Interoperability with vSphere Features
• Section 9-Designing a vSAN Deployment

My first step toward the exam will be to access the following course.

VMware vSAN: Deploy and Manage [V6.6]

After I've worked through the course I'll also play with the various VMware vSAN Hands on Labs 

As I go, I'll try to keep this site up to date with my journey to vSAN

VMware Cloud on AWS - AWS Podcast

I'm in the fortunate position of working for not only a VMware VATC (VMware Authorised Training Company), but also an AWS training company.

I've worked on VMware for years and AWS not as long.

I've been looking at the VMC on AWS hybrid cloud technologies for a number of months now, and it was nice to get some insight from the AWS side of things.

If you've got a spare fifteen minutes, visit the AWS podcast site and have a listen to the:

#214: VMware Cloud on AWS | October 30 2017

"VMware Cloud on AWS is now available to customers! Simon speaks with Andy Reedy, Manager of Solutions Architecture at AWS, about how it works and what customers can do with this capability."

For more information on VMC on AWS product visit:

VMware Cloud on AWS product page

Free eBook from VMware - Digital Workspace Basics

VMware have very kindly made available the following ebook:

Digital Workspace Basics, written by Kevin Strohmeyer

The introduction is as follows:

"The digital workspace fundamentally transforms the way IT delivers end-user services to employees and contingent workers. A digital workspace provides the necessary infrastructure for your employees to securely access the applications and data they need on any device used for work."

This is a small book, only 6 pages, but still worth a look at.

VMware vExpert Cloud Announcement

VMware have released their list of VMware vExpert 2017 Cloud recipients, and I'm glad to announce I made the list along with many other talented VMware experts.

Congratulations to all on the list.

https://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2017/10/vexpert-cloud-2017-award-announcement.html

VMUG Webcast - Advantages of Blast Extreme on Thin and Zero Client Endpoints

Have you got a spare hour on the 26th October 2017, then why not register for the.

VMUG Webcast

Advantages of Blast Extreme on Thin and Zero Client Endpoints

Topic: Since the announcement of the Blast Extreme protocol with VMware Horizon 7 just one year ago, Blast Extreme has quickly become the talk of the town. VMware have continued to make further improvements with each release, including most recently BEAT (Blast Extreme Adaptive Transport). BEAT offers vast improvements out of box with Horizon 7.1 or later, offering 50% improved bandwidth and 6X speed. This offers an improved user experience to both local and remote users. Organizations that are still using other VDI protocols may be wondering when it’s time to jump on the Blast Bandwagon and what advantages they may see as a result.

This webcast will educate viewers on the benefits and efficiencies of deploying Blast Extreme on 10ZiG Thin and Zero Client endpoints, and will include a live demo of the 10ZiG Manager – a fully FREE Thin and Zero Client Management Software solution, with no user limit or confusing support agreements.

Speaker: Kevin Greenway, Chief Technology Officer, 10ZiG Technology

Thursday, October 26 12-1 PM (CST)

If you're not already a member of VMUG, sign up at the VMUG website

Then register for the above webcast

While you're there, have a look at the other events hosted by the VMware User Group.

Automating NSX® for vSphere with PowerNSX - VMware Press Book

One of the things that's an expectation of my job is that, I'm going to have to do a lot of reading.

Also that I'm going to stand in front of people and talk a lot.

The vast majority of the VMware courses I now deliver involve talking about VMware NSX, and why not? It's a good product.

Thanks to those lovely people at VMware Press for making the following book available for download.

Automating NSX® for vSphere with PowerNSX - VMware Press Book, written by Anthony Burke

The book covers the following over 176 pages

Introduction from the book itself.

"This book has been written to cater to administrators and architects of an VMware NSX for vSphere environment. This book should serve as a primer for users with skillsets ranging from beginner to advanced. Some prior knowledge around the following topics will help readers. These topics include:

• Microsoft PowerShell:  pipelines, variables,loops, scripting.

• VMware vSphere PowerCLI™:  basic vSphere administration.

• VMware NSX for vSphere: concepts and configuration specifics.

It is assumed that the reader will be familiar with NSX for vSphere constructs and terminology."

Operationalizing VMware NSX - VMware Press Book

One of the things that's an expectation of my job is that, I'm going to have to do a lot of reading.

Also that I'm going to stand in front of people and talk a lot.

The vast majority of the VMware courses I now deliver involve talking about VMware NSX, and why not? It's a good product.

Thanks to those lovely people at VMware Press for making the following book available for download.

Operationalizing VMware NSX - VMware Press Book, written by Kevin Lees

The book covers the following over 94 pages.

Introduction from the book itself.

"Operationalizing VMware NSX® offers guidance to management-level decision makers and influencers concerned with the impact of VMware NSX on their organization, staff, and operational processes. It also speaks to engineers and technical decision makers responsible for optimizing operational tooling in a VMware NSX environment.
Operationalizing VMware NSX provides the information needed to optimize the on-going operations of a VMware NSX environment. 
Specific areas examined include the critical aspects of team structure, culture, roles, responsibilities, and skillsets. 
Additional guidance is provided for operational processes, monitoring, and troubleshooting in a VMware NSX environment."

Free eBook - Enterprise Cloud Strategy - Microsoft Press

Over the last two days, I've been presenting a Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course. This course covers the fundamentals and reasoning of the journey to, or utilisation of Microsoft Azure public cloud.

With the above in mind, the following ebook is a nice bit of additional reading.

Enterprise Cloud Strategy - Microsoft Press, written by Barry Briggs and Eduardo Kassner

Learn about the basics of adopting a cloud computing strategy for your enterprise. The second edition of the cloud computing e-book, Enterprise Cloud Strategy, covers essential information for planning and executing your enterprise cloud migration. In this executive summary of the 140-page e-book, you’ll get introduced to the strategic importance of the cloud for your business, as well as:

• Find key takeaways from the book, including resources to support your migration.

• Get familiar with cloud computing terminology, concepts, and options.

• Learn about building a roadmap for your journey to the cloud.
  
  
  
  

VMware NSX® Micro-segmentation Day 2 - VMware Press Book

One of the things that's an expectation of my job is that, I'm going to have to do a lot of reading.

Also that I'm going to stand in front of people and talk a lot.

The vast majority of the VMware courses I now deliver involve talking about VMware NSX, and why not? It's a good product.

Thanks to those lovely people at VMware Press for making the following book available for download.

VMware NSX® Micro-segmentation Day 2 - VMware Press, written by Geoff Wilmington, VCIX6-NV.

The book covers the following over 200 pages.

Introduction from the book itself.

VMware NSX Micro-segmentation – Day 2 is a guide designed to help organizations understand how to operationalise micro-segmentation in their environments.
VMware NSX Micro-segmentation – Day 2 provides a primer on leveraging tools – VMware vRealize® Log Insight™, Application Rule Manager, and VMware vRealize® Network Insight™ – to build rulesets necessary to facilitate micro-segmentation.

VMware NSX® Micro-segmentation Day 1 - VMware Press Book

One of the things that's an expectation of my job is that, I'm going to have to do a lot of reading.

Also that I'm going to stand in front of people and talk a lot.

The vast majority of the VMware courses I now deliver involve talking about VMware NSX, and why not? It's a good product.

Thanks to those lovely people at VMware Press for making the following book available for download.

VMware NSX Micro-segmentation Day 1 - VMware Press, written by Wade Holmes, VCDX#15, CISSP, CCSK

The book covers the following over 118 pages.

Introduction from the book itself.

"NSX is a networking and security platform able to deliver micro-segmentation across all the evolving components comprising the modern data center.
NSX-based micro-segmentation increases the agility and efficiency of a datacentre while maintaining an acceptable security posture.
VMware NSX Micro-segmentation – Day 1 details the security requirements needed to provide effective security controls and risk management within the modern data center, clearly showing how to go beyond the automation of legacy security paradigms by operationalising agile security through NSX micro-segmentation."

Architecting Microsoft SQL Server on VMware vSphere - Best Practice Guide

This week I'm delivering a Microsoft course which covers SQL as the database back-end, the delegates this week all use SQL, but they have virtualised by using VMware vSphere.

With the above in mind I have included a link to the:

Architecting Microsoft SQL Server on VMware vSphere - Best Practice Guide

The guide covers all of the relevant information required to best utilise Microsoft SQL Server on the VMware vSphere server, and covers CPU, memory, and networking best practices over 53 pages.

Hope it is of some use.

Free eBook from VMware - Hyper‐Converged Infrastructure For Dummies

VMware have very kindly made available another free eBook, it's title is:

Hyper‐Converged Infrastructure For Dummies, written by Michael Haag and is 77 pages long.

The book is a VMware and Intel special edition and covers the following:

• What HCI is all about?

• Why it’s such a hot topic?

• How you can get started?

• Where you’ll get the biggest bang for your HCI buck?

To download your copy visit the link

Enjoy. 

VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure—Now Available

I have long been a user of VMware Horizon in one form or another, I've always liked the centralised features of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

With the announcement that VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure moving to GA, Customers can now connect their own instance of Microsoft Azure to our incredibly intuitive Horizon Cloud control plane, to create a secure, comprehensive, cloud-hosted solution for delivering virtualised Windows applications and session desktops.

Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure includes a robust feature set and delivers a number of key benefits:

• Multi-Cloud Deployments: Gain the flexibility to choose between cloud capacity managed by VMware or bring-your-own infrastructure with Microsoft Azure.
• Low-Cost, Hourly Billing for Microsoft Azure Capacity: You have the ability to pair consumption-based pricing on public Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) with your Horizon Cloud service subscription.
• Global Footprint: From a single instance, manage deployments across Microsoft’s 40+ global data center regions.
• Easy Deployment: Automate deployment of Horizon Cloud service components. Integration with Microsoft Azure Marketplace allows you to import a Windows Server image on which the necessary agents get automatically applied.
• Simplified Management: Always maintain the latest version of Horizon Cloud. Self-schedule upgrades, under five minutes, for components on Microsoft Azure via Blue-Green upgrades.
• Superior Architecture: Get a multi-tenant architecture built for the cloud, a cloud control plane separate from the data path—avoiding unnecessary latency and maintaining business continuity—and Unified Access Gateway—deployed automatically in Microsoft Azure.
• Simple Offer: Included in one, simple offer are remote published desktops and applications, VMware Unified Access Gateway and VMware User Environment Manager.

For more information visit the VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure product page.

VMware Cloud on AWS --- A Technical Deep Dive

Bring the VMware Software-Defined Data Center to Amazon Web Services with VMware Cloud. 

In this webinar we will dive into the compute, network and storage architecture of the VMware Cloud on AWS solution. 

We will look at real-world, live applications running in VMware Cloud on AWS which integrate with native AWS services such as S3 and Amazon Relational Database Service. 

We’ll discuss common deployment scenarios including Hybrid Cloud Architectures and Disaster Recovery and explore how the TCO of these implementations differ in VMware Cloud as compared to on-premises implementations.

The above is straight out of the invitation that is extended on the VMware Cloud on AWS --- A Technical Deep Dive

So, if you're free 19th October 2017 at 2PM GMT, why not sign up and have a look.

Enjoy.

Virtualising Exchange Server 2016 on VMware vSphere 6.x

This week I have been delivering a Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Administration course, to be precise the M20345-1 : Administering Microsoft Exchange Server 2016.

Exchange Server 2016 is the first version in which all the components and roles are officially supported for virtualisation.

The course covers virtualising Exchange Server 2016 on Hyper-V, but as you can imagine, not VMware.

With this in mind I decided to provide a link to the Microsoft Exchange Server on VMware vSphere Best Practices Guide.

The guide has 58 pages and comes in PDF format.

This guide provides best practice guidelines for deploying Exchange Server 2016 on vSphere. The recommendations in this guide are not specific to any particular hardware nor to the size and scope of any particular Exchange implementation. The examples and considerations in this document provide guidance but do not represent strict design requirements, because the flexibility of Exchange Server 2016 on vSphere allows for a wide variety of valid configurations.

The guide covers, configuring not only the VM that will run Microsoft Exchange Server, but also Networking, and storage best practices

Definitely worth a read.

New Release: PowerCLI 6.5.3

In my role as a VCI, as you can imagine, I run a lot of VMware courses.

At my company, we have an excellent course support team, this team ensures that on a Monday morning, I'm ready to go. They build the labs for me to utilse throughout the week.

In order to automate the process we use PowerCLI.

So, getting to the point, VMware have now released PowerCLI v6.5.3

PowerCLI 6.5.3 comes packed with the following:

• New module for NSX-T functionality
• Addition of a ‘Create’ method for use with the ‘Get-*Service’ cmdlets
• Several issues have been resolved

For more information visit the following link PowerCLI Reference Site

Free Training - VMware Network Virtualization Fundamentals 2017

One of the most talked about areas for me during my VMware courses is VMware NSX.

From a Software Defined Datacentre point of view, VMware NSX allows for the connection/networking component.

Also if we talk about VMware Cloud Foundation, or VMC on AWS, then an understanding of NSX is useful.

With all of this in mind. VMware have released a free VMware Network Virtualization Fundamentals 2017 course, click the link for more information.

The course covers the following

The VMware Network Virtualisation Fundamentals 2017 course introduces the concept of Software Defined Data Centre (SDDC).  The course is designed to introduce basic and fundamental concepts associated with SDDC, Network Virtualisation, Security, and the types of business challenges the solution solves by illustrating several use cases.

• Describe VMware’s SDDC architecture.
• Explain the benefits of VMware NSX network virtualisation.
• Describe the main components, features, and services of VMware NSX.
• Understand VMware NSX use cases (network security, IT automation, and application continuity).

Enjoy

VMware vForum Online Fall 2017

Do you have some free time on 18th October 2017?

If the answer is yes and you are a VMware customer, or even if you're not, why not register for the VMware vForum Online Fall 2017


VMware vForum Online is a MUST-ATTEND event for IT professionals who want to learn how to lead their digital transformation by:

• Modernizing data centers

• Empowering digital workspaces

• Transforming security

Why Should You Attend?

• VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, will share his perspective on Digital Transformation.

• Choose from 17 technical breakouts covering today’s IT initiatives and priorities, along with customer success stories.

• Get your IT questions answered LIVE via video with 10 Chat with Experts sessions.

• Test drive the latest VMware solutions in 10 instructor-led Hands-on Labs.

• Win awesome prizes including an Oculus Rift VR Goggle, an Amazon Echo, and more!

Unfortunately that day I won't be able to attend, as I'm teaching a Microsoft Azure course, if you do attend, I hope you enjoy the forum.

I've also included the link for the agenda of the forum 18th October 2017

Troubleshooting vSphere 6.5 webcast from VMware

As a VCI, one of the courses that I teach is the vSphere troubleshooting course.

In this course we cover the following.

• Use vSphere Web Client, the command-line interface, and logs to diagnose and resolve problems in the vSphere environment.

• Introduce troubleshooting principles and procedures.

• Troubleshoot networking problems and recover from these problems.

• Analyze storage failure scenarios and resolve the problems.

• Troubleshoot vSphere cluster failure scenarios and analyze possible causes.

• Diagnose common VMware vSphere® High Availability problems and provide solutions.

• Troubleshoot problems related to virtual machine migration (VMware vSphere vMotion) and improve resource use (VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler).

• Troubleshoot VMware vCenter Server® problems.

• Identify VMware ESXi™ host problems, analyze failure scenarios, and correct them.

• Troubleshoot faulty virtual machines, including installation problems, snapshot problems, connection problems, and more.

I registered for the:

Webcast:VMware vSphere 6.5 Top Issues & Troubleshooting with Feidhlim O'Leary

Also useful, produced by VMware Education Services is a list of the Questions and Answers from the webcast.

Rather a useful session.

VMUG - Webcast: How to Embrace ESX with AWS

Are you a member of the VMware Users Group (VMUG), if not, you should join.

"The VMware User Group (VMUG) is an independent, global, customer-led organization, created to maximize members' use of VMware and partner solutions through knowledge sharing, training, collaboration and events.
Join today to connect with the community and take advantage of all of the benefits of a free VMUG membership."

To join is straight forward, just go to the VMUG website

Once you've joined, then register for the Webcast: How to Embrace ESX with AWS.

The webcast takes place on 18th October. To register visit the VMUG calendar

Here's the flyer that explains what will be covered.

VMworld 2017 - VIRT1374BE - Virtualise Active Directory, the Right Way!

Not only am I a VMware Certified Instructor (VCI), I am also a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT).

From the Microsoft side of things, I specialise in Server, Exchange Server, System Center Configuration Manager and Hyper-V, including System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

From a Microsoft point of view Active Directory (AD) is quite important, and I get regular questions relating to AD virtualisation.

With that in mind I attended the:

VMworld 2017 - VIRT1374BE - Virtualise Active Directory, the Right Way!

The session is presented by Deji Akomolafe and Matt Liebowitz

Definitely worth a watch.

How to build a hybrid cloud based on VMware Cloud Foundation and vRealize Suite.

As an instructor of many of the cloud technoligies, I firmly believe that most companies will not move fully to the cloud, but will instead move to a Hybrid Cloud model.

I was lucky enough to visit VMware VMworld 2017 and watch and participate in talks on hybrid cloud.

For a nice introduction to building your Hybrid Cloud, I think the following light board is worth a look:

How to build a hybrid cloud based on VMware Cloud Foundation and vRealize Suite.

Enjoy.

VMware Workstation 14 and VMware Fusion 10 now available

I use VMware workstation on a regular basis, I use it to develop VMs for production, but also use it as an education aid, I create VMs for courses I run, but also to learn new products.

Yes, I also have a fairly hefty VMware vSphere setup, but I can't really carry that on my laptop.

I've used Fusion before in the past at companies that use Microsoft Windows, but wanted a nice shiny Apple MAC sitting on the front desks.

The new versions of VMware's Client hypervisor are as follows.

VMware Workstation 14 Pro

• Run multiple operating systems simultaneously on the same PC
• Choose from hundreds of support Guest and Host OS's
• Ready for the latest releases of Windows 10
• Create restricted and expiring VMs
• Run VMware Workstation Pro as a server to share virtual machines with others
• Support for virtual tablet sensors including accelerometer, gyroscope and compass
• Move and access your virtual machines easily across VMware infrastructure

VMware Fusion 10 Pro

• Designed for MAC OS High Sierra and ready for the latest releases of Windows 10
• Run nearly any operating system on the Mac without rebooting
• Create linked clones to save time and disk space
• Create custom virtual networking configurations to simulate complex web or cloud environments
• Connect to vSphere to run, download or upload virtual machines
• Create restricted virtual machines that can expire

For more information visit the VMware product page at the VMware Product Store

VMworld 2017 - LHC3159SU - Accelerate the Hybrid Cloud with VMware Cloud on AWS

What we're seeing an increase of is delegates asking about Hybrid cloud, people want the security of on-premises with the flexibility of Public cloud, mash them together, we get Hybrid Cloud.

With VMware on AWS the journey to Hybrid Cloud has become an easier journey.

With the above in mind, one of the VMworld sessions that I was interested in was the:

LHC3159SU - Accelerate the Hybrid Cloud with VMware Cloud on AWS

In this session Narayan Bharadwaj and Sia Goplan discuss the hybrid could solution.

The session covers in just under 50 minutes the following topics

• Strategy and Vision
• Use cases
• Solution Overview
• Demo
• Initial Availability
• Consumption and Pricing
• Questions and Answers

Enjoy

VMware Cloud on AWS: Live End to End Demo

I've been looking at VMware Cloud on AWS since I first saw it at VMworld.

A lot of the delegates on my courses use on-premises VMware and are looking at a Hybrid Cloud Solution.

Ryan Kelly of VMware has produced a demo video of creating a VMC on AWS demo.

VMware Cloud on AWS: Live End to End Demo

He makes it look easy. Enjoy

VMware vSphere What's new 6.5 HOL

If you haven't looked at vSphere 6.5 or, if you're preparing to sit you VCP6.5-DCV exam, or if you're contemplating moving to VMC on AWS.

I'd recommend looking at the new VMware Hands on Lab for What's New in 6.5

The advantage of the Hands on Labs are, you get to play with the product from the comfort of you own home.

To sign up for the lab follow the link

Moving to the Public Cloud with VMware - eBooks and papers

A lot of companies have invested in either an on-premises or private cloud, a lot of these companies wish to embrace the hybrid cloud.

However, they do not want to eliminate the investment they have already made, with this in mind it makes sense to take what they have, to take what they know and transition some of their services, with minimal fuss, and minimal learning curve.

I have used VMware product now for many years, I find them robust and easy to use.

Therefore, I like VMware's push for hybrid cloud and collaboration with the four big cloud providers.

Take a look at the following link and download the various papers and eBooks. 

• Ready Your Environment for Public Cloud.
• Modernize Infrastructure: Support Digital Evolution in the Multi-Cloud Era.
• Prepare for the Public Cloud by Modernizing Your Infrastructure 

Enjoy

Introducing VMware NSX Cloud

I've been looking at VMC on AWS and as such, I can see this product being useful in order to build the Hybrid cloud, I have the flexibility of running my VMware workloads either, in my Private Cloud, or in the Public Cloud.

As networking is essential in order to access all cloud services, the following blog from VMware may be of some interest.

The Blog is entitled Introducing VMware NSX Cloud. Written by Mark Schweighardt

There's a lot more content to read and also links to the NSX Cloud product page

The New VMware Hands On Labs from VMworld 2017

Interesting article on the VMware blogs.

I attended VMworld 2017 and looked at the VMware HOL booth. Too many labs to try in the time I was there.

VMware are now releasing the labs on the VMware HOL website, new labs to appear daily until all 81 are available.

For more information visit the VMware blog

Enjoy

VMworld 2017 - EDU4263U - Understand and Avoid Common Issues with Virtual Machine Encryption

In the various VMware courses that I deliver, one of the scariest topics potentially for my delegates is around VMware VM encryption.

This is briefly what VM Encryption does.

VM encryption was released with Hardware version 13 in ESXi 6.5

We get protection of virtual machine files, virtual disk files, and core dump files. This is provided via multi-layer key protection.

With the encryption we provide.

Key management provided by key servers.
Use of the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP), an industry standard for the management of security keys.
Nonpersistence of keys for added security.

The scariest part for most people is:

"I never like encryption, in case I can't encrypt."

James Doyle of VMware did the following session at VMworld 2017.

Understand and Avoid Common Issues with Virtual Machine Encryption 

It's definitely worth a watch and I'll be pointing my delegates towards this session, hopefully James can put their minds at ease.

Another free ebook from VMware - Cloud Management for Dummies

VMware have very kindly made available another free eBook, it's title is:


Cloud Management for Dummies written by Jad El-Zein and Shobhana Viswanathan and is 77 pages in length.

IT environments are shackled by complexity. This complexity, combined with operational bottlenecks and time-consuming manual processes, can require tedious, error-prone workflows and distract from more strategic projects. To keep up with the demands of the business, IT needs a modern data center with a unified platform for managing private, public and hybrid cloud environments. Download Cloud Management For Dummies to learn about:

• Lifecycle management – from deployment to maintenance
• Hybrid landscape – manage local and remote services
• Quality of service – improve uptime and performance
• Cost containment – capture and communicate usage

To download your copy of the book visit the link

VMworld 2017 - LHC3371BUC - The Painless Path to Hybrid Cloud

As an instructor in various technologies, I stand in front of delegates and talk about Private clouds, and public clouds, but for the path for businesses I deal with, inevitability ends up at, we'll use a hybrid cloud.

People want to keep some services locally, whether that be they don't trust the cloud, or they may have a large investment in their on-premises private cloud, or in reality if thy're like me, they just think that VMware does it really well.

One of the solutions that interests me is the VMC on AWS, probably because I work for a training company that delivers VMware, Microsoft, AWS, and Google technologies, so I like to see what we can provide as a business, as well as a technology solution.

One of the sessions at VMworld that interested me was the LHC3371BUC session, titled "The Painless Path to Hybrid Cloud"

The session is presented by Eric Hanselman and Andy Reedy

Just follow the link in order to watch the session at your leisure.

LHC3371BUC - The Painless Path to Hybrid Cloud

VMworld Session - STO7645 - Virtual Volumes Deep Dive

One of the topics that we cover on quite a few of the VMware courses that I deliver is VVOLs or Virtual Volumes.

VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes introduces a storage abstraction layer that provides a common storage platform that is independent of the underlying hardware.

The services that are provided by the abstraction layer are the same regardless of the underlying resources.

Virtual volumes provide a common storage platform, independent of the underlying storage hardware.

Thanks to VMware for the image

The advantages this gives us as administrators is as follows:

• Native representation of VMDKs on SAN/NAS: 
• No LUNs or volume management.
• Works with existing SAN/NAS systems.
• A new control path for data operations at the VM/VMDK level.
• Snapshots, replications, and other operations at the VM level on external storage.
• Automates control of per-VM service levels.
• VMware vSphere® API for Storage Awareness™ protocol endpoint provides standard protocol access to storage.
• Storage containers can span an entire array.

However, I always find I don't get time to cover the VVOLs to the level I would like (VCIs do like to talk about VMware).

I attended VMworld and the VVOL deep dive session was one of the sessions on my list.

The session is hosted by Patrick Dirks and Pete Flecha. Worth a watch

VMware - A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR AUTOMATING IT

As an IT professional of many years, one of the things I've found is that time is becoming more heavily utilised with tasks that I should really automate, this will in turn make me more efficient but also allow me to get some time back for other things.

VMware have produced a document called A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR AUTOMATING IT

"In this practical guide, learn to embrace an approach that fully automates the delivery and management of infrastructure and application components, including network and security services. With automation, you’ll be better positioned to respond faster to the dynamic needs of a digital business."

It's a short document, only 8 pages. to download just follow the link

Free elearning from VMware - Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals [V6.5]

As a VMware Certified Instructor, I'll be honest, I like when people come on courses, however sometimes a little taster of a product before attending a course may be useful.

VMware have released a new free elearning course which is definitely worth a look.

That course is the Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals [V6.5]

The course covers the following objectives.

This course provides a fundamental understanding of VMware’s Data Center Virtualization products. The course also takes you through the components and features of vSphere 6.5, and shows how the vSphere 6.5 product line helps resolve business and IT challenges commonly faced by organizations.

The course is self-paced and lasts for 2.5 hours.

The course contains 4 modules and these are:

1. Course Introduction
2. Introduction to Data Center Virtualization with VMware vSphere
3. Components of VMware vSphere
4. vSphere Solutions to Data Center Challenges

The course is available via the VMware Education website

Enjoy

Another free eBook from VMware - Secure Digital Workspace for Dummies

VMware have very kindly made available another free eBook, it's title is:

Secure Digital Workspace for Dummies and is written by by Pam Takahama, Josue Fontanez, and Tricia Stream

"The ways employees work, where they work, and from where they work have been changing and creating increasing demands on IT. The ability to support a mobile workforce with apps and virtual desktop environments is key. Learn how to deliver, secure, real-time access to data and apps across devices and locations by building a digital workspace platform."
 

The book focuses on ensuring that users and IT departments get the most out of the technologies available to provide an enterprise mobility solution.

Across 53 pages and 7 chapters, the book provides considerations and solutions in order to deliver a reliable, secure and usable experience to end users.

For more information and to download a copy of this eBook visit the following link.

Secure Digital Workspace for Dummies

Free stuff from VMware, a new ebook, Next-Gen Virtualization For Dummies

One of the things I found out last week at VMwworld, is that, technology changes at an alarming rate.

VMware have very kindly made available for download  a free ebook called Next-Gen Virtualization For Dummies.

The book covers the following:

This is straight from the Intro page.

Next-Gen Virtualization For Dummies is your guide to taking the virtualized data center to an all-new level. So, how do you get there? The first step is to get intimately acquainted with the concepts
explored in this book. We provide tips, insights, and advice for building a robust, agile virtualization platform to drive your digital transformation forward and create a clear route to the hybrid cloud.

The book comprises of 6 chapters over 60 pages and is authored by Himanshu Singh and Martin Yip

Definitely worth a read.

Next-Gen Virtualization for Dummies

VMware Horizon 7.3 webcast

One of the courses I teach is the VMware Horizon View Install, Configure, and manage, and I've been working with VMware Virtual desktop technologies for quite a while now.

As such the announcement that Horizon 7.3 is here, is something I'll be interested to examine further.

VMware are running a webcast for EMEA on Thursday 28th September 2017 at 12:00PM, follow the link below to register for this event, or if you're based elsewhere in the world, VMware are running three events covering all regions

The event will be presented by Johnathan Perrott and John Hathaway, both of VMware and will last approx an hour.

Join us for a walk through of the new features including App Shortcuts and Dedicated Instant Clone Support. We’ll help you understand how Horizon 7.3 can enhance and build on your current Horizon feature set.

See you there (virtually), I'll be watching during my lunch hour.

VMware Research Site

As an instructor of VMware products, one of the things I like to do, is ensure that I am aware of the things that VMware are working on.

One of the sites I check on a regular basis is the VMware Labs Flings.

"Flings are apps and tools built by our engineers and community that are intended to be played with and explored."

The above is straight off the Flings Website , I find some of the utilities extremely useful.

The other site I check on a regular basis is the VMware research website.

"We bring development to the VeRGe of research, and research to the VeRGe of production"

Again the description is lifted directly from the research site 

I like this site to get an insight to the things that VMware are working on.

Just a little bit on a couple of VMware sites you may find useful.

VMC on AWS Demo session from VMworld 2017

VMware Cloud on AWS #LHC1547BU

As an on-premises and Cloud lecturer, I’ve always thought that most companies would leverage both sets of technologies and produce a Hybrid Cloud.

As a VMware specialist, I’ve always thought that one of the strong selling points of VMware was the rich set of management utilities.

I like the thought of cloud services, especially the scalability of services and the thought of not having to worry about my hardware.

I was therefore interested in the VMware VMC on AWS.

With that in mind I attended the #LHC1547BU VMC on AWS fundamentals presented by Oren Root and Matt Dreyer (basically the people that wrote it) session at VMworld 2017.

The session started with an overview and introducing the two companies.

VMware – Leading Compute, Storage and networking capabilities.

AWS – Broadest set of management utilities offering massive flexibility.

The way that the VMC on AWS is sold is as VMware as a Service, the product we already know runs on bare metal and integrates into the AWS services, this allows the use of all the familiar management utilities, the VMware virtual centre software manages on-premises and cloud services in a single HTML5 console.

The VMware product is sold as a suite of products and includes Virtual Centre Server, vSphere, VSAN, and NSX, with communication initially secured with IPSEC all that is needed is a connection (ENI, Elastic Network interface) between VMware and AWS.

Like I’ve mentioned VMware Cloud on AWS is a service and will be provisioned, operated, and maintained directly by VMware, this means a single point of contact for all support.

The above gives the customer Automated account creation and environment provisioning, and automated interconnection between VMware and AWS accounts.

From an operational point of view, the customer benefits from support from VMware directly and this includes ongoing infrastructure monitoring.

If you paid for 4 hosts and you get a tin failure, the host is replaced automatically. Also all patching and software updates are handled automatically.

Flexible consumption models

The pricing is based on hosts and is charged per hour, or the customer can elect a reserved model with discounts for a 1 or 3 year period. The customer also has the option of buying add-on services as and when they are made available.

How does the customer pay? With VMware Subscription Purchasing Program or with VMware Hybrid Publishing Credits, Purchase Orders, or credit card.

VMware also offer a Hybrid Loyalty Program, the advantage of this, is that existing customers get automatic discounts on the licenses.

After the product information we were then treated to the demo.

I’ve also now included the link to the VMworld Session, it is approximately 40 minutes.

I hope this is a great success for both VMware and AWS.