Author: Mischa Buijs

VMware Certified Implementation Expert – Network Virtualization (VCIX-NV)

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I’m very happy to announce that I passed the VCAP6-NV Deploy exam and unlocked the VCIX-NV accreditation!

About the VMware VCIX-NV:VMware VCIX-NV

The VCIX-NV exam consists of approximately 23 live lab activities and the passing score for this exam is 300 (scale is from 100 to 500). The total time for this exam is 210 minutes, but candidates who take the VCIX-NV Exam and have a home address in a country where English is not a primary language will have an additional 30 minutes added to the exam time.

VMware - Network Virtualization Roadmap
VMware – Network Virtualization (NV) Roadmap

 

Study material:

For my study I used the following list of website’s, HOL Labs and Blogs. This helped me to pass the exam:

VMware Hands-on Labs:

VMware Sources:

Blogs:

My best advice is: Build a Home Lab and deploy VMware NSX-V. After the deployment you start using all the features that NSX-V has to offer (yeah, I know that is a lot). Get familiar and deploy and design like you would in a production environment. This will help you to get the best understanding possible for the exam.

Selected as a VMware vExpert 2018

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Announcements

VMware vExpert 2018 - Notification

Last Friday VMware announced the vExperts for 2018. I’m pleased to announce that I have been rewarded with a vExpert 2018 award. This means I have been selected for a double in a row! I would like to congratulate everyone that has been awarded by VMware and VMware for supporting the community.

I’m also pleased to tell that my employer ITQ has fifteen vExperts for 2018. Congrats guys! For those interested ITQ is a VMware Premier Partner (the highest level in the VMware Partner Professional Services Program) and we are an independent VMware knowledge partner.

The VMware vExpert award?

The VMware vExpert program is VMware’s global evangelism and advocacy program. The program is designed to put VMware’s marketing resources towards your advocacy efforts. Promotion of your articles, exposure at our global events, co-op advertising, traffic analysis, and early access to beta programs and VMware’s roadmap.

Each year, we bring together in the vExpert Program the people who have made some of the most important contributions to the VMware community. These are the bloggers, book authors, VMUG leaders, speakers, tool builders, community leaders and general enthusiasts. They work as IT admins and architects for VMware customers, they act as trusted advisors and implementors for VMware partners or as independent consultants, and some work for VMware itself. All of them have the passion and enthusiasm for technology and applying technology to solve problems. They have contributed to the success of us all by sharing their knowledge and expertise over their days, nights, and weekends.

Website(s)

Lab Environment – New HP ProLiant DL360e G8

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Today a blog about my Home Lab. At the end of 2017, it was time to replace the old Dell PowerEdge R710 servers with something new. Currently, I was running two R710 servers for my lab environment.
These servers are ‘powered-on for a couple of hours a week to test new products and learn for certifications. My other environment described on this page is running 24/7 is providing a full set of infrastructure services.

Because of the price and I’m very familiar with the DL360 G8 it was a no brainer. Over the last couple of years, all my virtualization projects were based for 75% on the DL360 Gen8… so we have a lot of history together ;).

Technical specifications – HP DL360e Gen8:

  • Chassis: Small Form Factor (8-bays)
  • CPU1: Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2430 v2
  • CPU2: Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2430 v2
  • Memory: 128 GB (8x 16GB DDR3 1600 MHz)
  • Disks HDD: 2x Seagate Constellation SAS 1TB
  • Disks SSD: 4x Samsung EVO 850 250 GB
  • Storage controller: HP SmartArray P420 with 1 GB FBWC
  • NIC: 4 port 1 Gbit
  • Rack mounting kit, cable arm, and security front bezel

The spinning drives provide “safe” storage because they are configured as a mirrored volume. The SSD drives are configured as JBOD drives for performance without data protection (if I want protection I just create a virtual machine back-up to one of my storage arrays).

HPE ProLiant DL360e G8 - SFF
HPE ProLiant DL360e G8 – SFF
HPE ProLiant DL360e G8 - SFF with Bezel
HPE ProLiant DL360e G8 – SFF with Bezel

Update 2018:

In 2018, I did a full write-up of this server on this page: link

The VM Remote Console changed to VMware Workstation instead of VMRC

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Lately, I discovered an annoying feature in combination with VMware vCenter and VMware Workstation. When installing VMware Workstation on your management computer it becomes the default Remote Console viewer. To be honest, I like the VMware Remote Console (VMRC) very much. The application has all the features and is quick and light. This is compared to starting VMware Workstation to open a Remote Console.

What is VMware Remote Console: “The VMware Remote Console (VMRC) is a standalone console application for Windows. VMware Remote Console provides console access and client device connection to VMs on a remote host. You will need to download this installer before you can launch the external VMRC application directly from a VMware vSphere or vRealize Automation web client.”

In October 2017, I already fixed my problem on my management computer… but after a recent VMware Workstation update, it changed the Remote Console back to VMware Workstation. Currently, there is no option in the GUI to change the default Remote Console. Ok, but how do we get VMRC back?

When I was comparing the Windows Registry, I discovered that the following registry keys were different between machines. To speed up to process I created some PowerShell one-liners to fix the problem.

### View settings in registry
Get-Item "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Classes\vmrc\DefaultIcon"
Get-Item "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Classes\vmrc\shell\open\command"

### Change settings to VMRC
Set-Item HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Classes\vmrc\DefaultIcon -Value '"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Remote Console\vmrc.exe",0'
Set-Item HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Classes\vmrc\shell\open\command -Value '"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Remote Console\vmrc.exe" "%1"'

When you change the registry keys, the settings are direct in effect. No Operating System reboot or browser restart is required. The change is instant. I hope the blog post helps some vSphere Administrators that also prefer VMRC above VMware Workstation for viewing Remote Consoles.

@VMware: I would like to have an option to control the behavior without changing registry keys by hand… 🙂 Thanks!

Environment

The issues occurred with the following combination of software:

  • VMware vCenter Server 6.5 (Update 1e)
  • VMware VMRC (10.0.2-7096020)
  • VMware Workstation (12.5.9 build-7535481)
  • Management Workstation: Windows 10 X64

VMRC Screenshots

Here are some screenshots that display the changes when opening the Remote Console of a Virtual Machine in VMware vCenter.

Article updates:

  • 2019-11-25: Image updates to support new layout changes.
  • 2020-10-30: Fixed code block after WP updates
  • 2022-08-15: Fixed layout issue after WP updates

The VMware VCP7-CMA Exam

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VMware VCP7-CMA Badge
VMware VCP7-CMA Badge

Today I passed the VMware Certified Professional 7 Cloud Management and Automation Exam in short VCP7-CMA. The required score was 300 points and I scored 418 points! The exam is about automation of your cloud management platform with VMware Products: vRealize Automation (vRA), VMware vRealize Business (vRB) and vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) but there are also many questions about integrations with other VMware products like VMware NSX-V, VMware vCloud Air and of course VMware vSphere.

To be honest this was not my first attempt at the VCP7-CMA exam. In VMworld 2017 Barcelona, I already did the exam but I failed with just under 300 points, that was quite frustrating.

 

VCP7-CMA Exam:

The VMware VCP7-CMA exam consists out of 85 multiple-choice questions and you need to score at least 300 points. The maximum score is 500 points and you have 110 minutes to complete the exam. In the VMware VCP7-CMA exam guide are all the exam subjects listed so make sure you understand all of them. The main focus is on the vRealize Automation product. Make sure you study the right version because the exam is based on vRealize Automation 7.X and at this time the newest version is vRealize Automation 7.3. A big surprise to me was the questions about vCloud Air… because at the time I took the exam vCloud Air was not a part anymore of VMware (it was sold of to OVH) and all the documentation related to vCloud Air was removed… mmm nice.

VCP7-CMA Study Tips:

For passing the exam, I have used the following websites:

Make sure you understand all the subjects in the Exam Guide. For almost all subjects there is a VMware Hands-on lab environment for available.

If you ask me, this is the most difficult VCP exam that I have completed until now.

VMware VCSA 6.5 Content Library Issue

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Today I was facing a VMware Content Library issue. I was removing a newly created Content Library in the vSphere Web Client but that resulted in a Java Runtime error.
The conclusion was that there was no way to remove the Content Library item.

The environment that I was troubleshooting has an external PSC and a vCenter server. The PSC and VC were running on the VMware VCSA 6.5 U1b release.
After some searching in the logs and googling, I came across the two following articles:
– Link: Notes from MWhite – Can’t create a Content Library?
– Link: VMware KB – OVF deployment fails after upgrading to vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 U1 (2151085)

Based on both information sources a couple of commands would fix the problem but there was also a note about installing patch VCSA 6.5 U1d.

I can confirm after upgrading the VSCA (PSC and VC) to version 6.5 U1e the problem was resolved.

Content Library Screenshots

ITQ Transform 2017 Event

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Yesterday I attended “ITQ Transform” an event organized by my employer (ITQ). The event was all about IT Transformation and helping the customer. At the event there were about 150 people who were mostly customers of ITQ. The keynote speaker was Brian Gammage (Chief Marketing Technologist at VMware), who explained to everyone in the room how imported IT Transformation is.

The event was organized in Utrecht a city in The Netherlands. The location is centrally located in the country and the building is very suited for business events like transform.

At the event, there were twelve sessions of thirty minutes with presentations around the following subjects:

  • End User Computing
  • (Cloud Native) Development
  • Software Defined Data Center
  • Hybrid Cloud
  • IT Transformation Services

The sessions were given by ITQ Consultants and Partners VMware, IBM and Pivotal. At the end of the day, there was room for talking and socializing with customers and ITQ personal.

At the ITQ Transform 2017 area on the ITQ website, most of the content displayed on the event is available for download. Click on the following link for all ITQ Transform 2017 downloads.

ITQ Transform Highlights

Opening by Paul Geerlings CTO ITQ
Brian Gammage VMware about Transformation - ITQ Transform
Brian Gammage from VMware talking about IT Transformation
Bert Jonker IBM about IBM Cloud - ITQ Transform
Bert Jonker from IBM talking about the IBM Cloud (Bluemix)
Marco van Baggum talking about VMware NSX versions

vROPS 6.6 Deployment: Subnet Problem

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Last week I was deploying a VMware vRealize Operations Manager (vROPS) environment at a customer and that was causing problems because of no TCP/IP connectivity to the virtual machines. At first, it seemed like an administrator configuration error or typo, but it appeared to be a VMware bug. This blog post is about my findings and the solution to this problem.

Problem:

To find the source of the TCP/IP communication problems, I did some basic testing:

  • Is the vROPS web interface available on port 80 or 443?
  • Does the virtual machine respond to a ping (ICMP) request?
  • Is the vNIC enable on the virtual machine?
  • Is the vNIC connected to the right Port Group of (NSX) Logical Switch?
  • Are there no NSX Distributed Firewall (DFW) or physical firewall blocking the traffic?

After these tests, I could confirm the problem is inside the appliance/virtual machine.

Solution:

When I was looking at the network card configuration files it appeared that there was a problem with the configured subnet mask. The ‘NETMASK’ field has a prefix notation filled in… not a subnet mask notation. Here is a quick write-up to fix your problem.

  1. Open the Virtual Machine console with the vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client.
  2. Press ALT + F1 to get into the console (Hint: ALT + F2 to get back to the main screen).
  3. Login with the root account and root password.
  4. Open the network card configuration file with the vi editor (vi /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth0).
  5. Search for the line that starts with ‘NETMASK’.
  6. Replace the current prefix 28 to a subnet mask 255.255.255.240 (Hint: The values listed here are an example).
  7. Restart the vROPS appliance.
  8. After a reboot of the appliance, the IP connectivity should be working.

Screenshot(s):

The screenshots below are taken from the Virtual Machine console and gives you basic directions.

Final word:

As a result of inserting a prefix in the OVF deployment screen, the network card configuration failed. A test with a subnet mask notation did not result in these problems. The problem is caused by a network configuration script that sets the network card configuration in the Operating System. VMware please fix this problem… it’s possibly a small code change or the prefix/subnet mask detection is not working correctly.

Update 04-11-2017: Today I received a notification from an ITQ college that the vRealize Log Insight (vRLI) deployment also is suffering from the same problem (vRLI link).

 

vRA: Installation Prerequisite Checker Hangs

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Recently I was deploying a new vRealize Automation (vRA) 7.3.0 environment at a customer and I ran into some problems. In the “vRealize Automation Installation Wizard” the “Prerequisite Checker” stopped working after applying fixes. This caused a major problem because no buttons in the GUI were working. In this article, I’m explaining what might be the cause and how to get around the problem.

Read more

VMworld 2017 Barcelona (my personal review)

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This week I travelled with my colleagues to VMworld 2017 in Barcelona Spain. This was my first VMworld but luckily my colleagues helped me out with putting a schedule together. The days were absolutely great and well-organized thanks to my employer ITQ (special thanks to Francisco Perez van der Oord and Paul Geerlings).

This blog post is about my first VMworld with my personal highlights.

 

VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive

VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive Signed

At the Rubrik stand, a thousand copies were given away of the best book in stores now (personal opinion) “VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive“. At a specific time, you had to wait in line to get a free copy of the book signed by Frank Denneman and Niels Hagoort. I was one of the lucky people who got a free copy with their signatures :).

VMworld 2017 Sessions

Delivering-Hybrid-Cloud-Architectures-for-Your-Customer-with-VMware-Cloud-on-AWS-Adam-Osterholt

At VMworld, I attended a lot of sessions but my personal top three were the following:

  • Delivering Hybrid Cloud Architectures for Your Customer with VMware Cloud on AWS – Adam Osterholt
  • Replicating VMware VVols: A technical deep dive into VVol array-based replication in vSphere 6.5 – Claudio Calisto, Nick Dyer
  • vCenter Performance Deep Dive – Ravi Soundararajan

I also attended a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) session with Tom Corn the Vice President of Security Products at VMware about AppDefense.

Server and Storage Hardware (Dell EMC / HPE)

HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen10On Tuesday I visited multiple hardware vendors about their new products.

  • At the HPE stand they showed the new HPE ProLiant gen 10 servers and their current storage portfolio 3PAR, Nimble. A beta version of the HPE ProLiant DL360 G10 was displayed and there was an iLO5 demo.
  • The Dell EMC stand was one of the largest on VMworld. They displayed all their main products and were displaying demos.

Final word

I could blog all day about the announcements and sessions but luckily all information is available for everyone. You can find the sessions on the vendor websites or on YouTube. The company I work for has created a dedicated page to display all the VMworld news items.