Here is another preview of the vSphere 5 vReference Card – the resources section. I’d love to hear any of your feedback. Just drop your comments below or catch me on twitter (@forbesguthrie).
Click on the image to see it full size, or you can view/print it as a PDF.
Here is the first preview of the vSphere 5 vReference Card – the networking section. I’d love to hear any of your feedback. Just drop your comments below or catch me on twitter (@forbesguthrie).
Click on the images to see them full size, or you can view/print it as a PDF.
and
I received a great suggestion from @FarooqPSK on Twitter this morning:
Would’ve been great if you could’ve included epub/mobi format for the vsphere 5 documentation notes. Please consider this.
So after an hour of wrestling with the notes in Calibre, I managed to create a version in MOBI (for Kindle users) and EPUB (for everything else). I can’t guarantee they will be perfect as the converter can mangle tables, but it should be much more legible for these devices.
Here are the notes in EPUB and MOBI format as a zip file.
Update: Here are the same notes as separate downloads: MOBI file (for a Kindle) and an EPUB file (everything else). Hopefully this should make it easier to grab straight from your device.
You’ll be glad to hear that I’m in the process of collating information for a new vSphere 5 Reference Card. I’ll release sections for everyone to peruse as soon as they’re ready as I’ll be eager for feedback before I roll them into the first full release. I like the Mantra of “release early, release often”. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@forbesguthrie) to be the first to hear of any new sections.
As part of that effort, I’ve been trawling through the new vSphere 5 documentation. I’ve collated my condensed notes into a free download. I think for anyone who is familiar with vSphere 4, then it should bring you up to speed fairly quickly. The VMware documentation is about 1700 pages, but fortunately these notes are packed down into about 50 pages.
For example:
Dynamic port binding is deprecated in ESXi 5.0.
It is considered a Best Practice to use the Select the Percentage of Cluster Resources Reserved admission control policy.
The iSCSI initiator is enabled by Default in vSphere 5.
They’re all excerpts take directly from the official VMware PDFs. This makes it great to study from, as the VCP questions are often taken straight from their documentation. I occasionally added a few words to help clarify the context of the sentence, but the vast majority of the content is word-for-word. Being direct quotes makes it easy for you to search within the PDF if you are unsure on an area or need greater clarification surround a statement.
Living in this topsy-turvy North America land as I do these days, I’ve created it in Letter size. Let me know if you have any issues print it out in A4 and I’ll take a look at fixing it or republishing an A4 formatted version.
I hope they’re useful to you as well: vSphere 5 Documentation Notes.
This afternoon I attended the #VSP2384 session – Distributed Datacenters with Multiple vCenters Deployments Best Practises. I didn’t take notes as I quickly got absorbed by this excellent presentation. I’m already looking forward to downloading the video of this as soon as its uploaded to the VMworld website and watching it again.
However, as a brief abstract here is some of what they covered:
Ravi Soundararajan, who has 7 years of experience looking at customers vCenter performance, explained the components of the vCenter software. He then looked at how different factors such as network latency and bandwidth over WAN links could affect your design. Ravi explained the needs of each of the software components in vCenter and how to right-size the server hardware.
Ratnadeep Bhattacharjee then took over, and jumped into different vCenter deployments for spilt sites, and covered the effects of using Linked Mode in the design.
Some of the useful bits I gleaned were:
- Hosts separated over WAN links from their vCenters are more sensitive to network latency than they are to bandwidth.
- vCenter network traffic is regularly very bursty (up to 10x).
- vCenter 5 is more resource hungry than previous versions due the additional services they provide. So you should consider upping the hardware as you move to version 5.
- JVM resources should be sized appropriately (can be bad to oversize).
- vCenter minimum hardware requirements are minimums. You may need more for your environment.
- There is a hard limit of 500 connection sessions on vCenters and this is the same for Linked Mode vCenters (collectively, all Linked Mode vCenters only get 500) . Clients use one and each VM console uses one. Other 3rd party software can use these as well. So this limit can hit the larger deployments.
A couple of things I got from questions I posed at the end was this:
- The official vSphere 5.0 documentation (PDFs) state you can’t keep vCenter 5.0 in Linked Mode with 4.x vCenters. However the vSphere 5.0 Release Notes state you can. The former is true and the latter is a documentation mistake. As you upgrade your Linked Mode vCenters, you disconnect them from 4.x hosts and can only join them back to the other vCenters after they are upgraded.
- When you upgrade your vCenter from 4.1 to 4.1U1, your client doesn’t automatically ask you to upgrade (like it would if you were connecting with a 4.0 client to a vCenter 4.1). If you are running a 4.1U1 vCenter, you should manually uninstall and install the latest client. This resolves a number of client side issues.
If you are interested in vCenter designs for multiple sites, or just want to understand more about the internals of vCenter, then I highly recommend you check it out once it’s available. I heard from some folks this week that they felt the super technical deep dive stuff was lacking this year. If you wanted more of that stuff then I’d say you should download this session.
VMware has announced that VMworld 2012 US will be at the Moscone Conference Center in San Francisco. The VMworld 2012 conference will run 27th August through to the 30th August 2012.
Update: VMworld Europe 2012 will be in Barcelona on 16-18 October 2012. Update 2: Apparently this has been brought forward to 9-11 October 2012.
I attended Intel’s #SPO3040 earlier this afternoon – Best Practises for Deploying VMware vSphere 5.0 Using 10GbE. It was an interesting session with lots of good material. Here are 3 short little titbits that I tweeted about that I thought might useful to record here:
- Intel said we will start to see 10GBASE-T on server boards very soon. This allows WoL (Wake-on-LAN) and OOB (Out-of_Band) type services, unlike SFP+ DA or SPF+ Fiber (although as @AlexanderJN pointed out, 10GBASE-T is still much more expensive on the switch port side, and consumes more power).
- To check the speed and width of a server’s PCI Express slots, try this:
grep Express /var/log/vmkernel.log |more
You need at least a 5.0Gb/s (Gen 2) x 8 slot to get the full line rate of a 10GbE card.
- With the newer Load Balanced Teaming Policy that came with vSphere 4.1, the traffic needs to hit 75% bandwidth utilization for 30 seconds on a pNIC for the load to be migrated.
Along with today’s release of vSphere 5, VMware has published the vSphere 5 documentation:
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-pubs.html
In addition to the online html library and the downloadable PDFs, there are now e-book versions to grab. There are MOBI files for your kindle and EPUB files for most other e-book readers. I’ve requested this for some time now, so I’m glad VMware is providing them. They have to be one of the first large mainstream software vendors to offer their documentation in these formats. I wouldn’t say it is a revolutionary concept, but nice that VMware is leading competition and being innovative when they can.
The result is great:
Over the last few weeks I’ve been working feverishly on my documentation notes and reference card for vSphere 5. See here and here for the vSphere 4 versions if you’re not sure what I’m referring to.
I’m 90% done on my notes from the Release Candidate version of the official documentation, so I just need to finish them off and quickly check the new GA versions for changes. I hope to get them published in the next couple of weeks. So if you’re not willing to wade through 2000+ pages of official documentation then you might want to get a copy of my notes for some of the newer and more interesting excerpts. I wanted to have them released in time for VMworld, but what with that being merely days away it probably isn’t going to happen. We’ll see; after all, what’s else are plane journeys for if not documentation. BTW, if you’re heading to VMworld this year and spot me out-and-about, be sure to come and say hi. It’s always nice to meet fellow v12n geeks.
As soon as I’ve got the documentation notes out the door, I’ll be beavering away on the new reference card. I can’t say when it will be available, as it takes a tremendous amount of work, but rest assured I’ll be working hard to complete it as quickly as possible.
If you want to be the first to know when the notes and/or card is available, be sure to follow me on twitter @forbesguthrie. I’ll try to keep everyone abreast of my progress over the coming weeks.
I thought I’d post up a full listing of the esxcli command from vSphere 5. It’s as much for my own future reference, but as 5.0 still isn’t GA I thought there are probably other folk who’d like to take a look through all the options.
Although the esxcli command was around before vSphere 5.0, it has been propelled into the spotlight with the news that esxcli will be the new standard that VMware will migrate towards while depreciating the other command line tools we have come to know. It’s time to get comfortable with it. As I pull together all the pieces for the vSphere 5 reference card, I’ll be changing the commands over to esxcli.
If you want to learn more about the esxcli command, pop over to William Lam‘s excellent posts on the subject. In particular his post outlining the major enhancements.
One interesting point that I noticed from the listing, is that it was missing the “license” top-level namespace that William had identified. I suspect this may be because I had joined the host to a vCenter instance. Perhaps at this point the host realizes that it’s not authoritative for its licensing anymore and then excludes the namespace as an option.
Anyway, without further ado here is a full listing (created with esxcli esxcli command list):
Namespace Command -------------------------------------------------- ----------- esxcli.command list fcoe.adapter list fcoe.nic disable fcoe.nic discover fcoe.nic list hardware.bootdevice list hardware.clock get hardware.clock set hardware.cpu.cpuid get hardware.cpu.global get hardware.cpu.global set hardware.cpu list hardware.memory get hardware.pci list hardware.platform get iscsi.adapter.auth.chap get iscsi.adapter.auth.chap set iscsi.adapter.capabilities get iscsi.adapter.discovery rediscover iscsi.adapter.discovery.sendtarget add iscsi.adapter.discovery.sendtarget.auth.chap get iscsi.adapter.discovery.sendtarget.auth.chap set iscsi.adapter.discovery.sendtarget list iscsi.adapter.discovery.sendtarget.param get iscsi.adapter.discovery.sendtarget.param set iscsi.adapter.discovery.sendtarget remove iscsi.adapter.discovery.statictarget add iscsi.adapter.discovery.statictarget list iscsi.adapter.discovery.statictarget remove iscsi.adapter.discovery.status get iscsi.adapter.firmware get iscsi.adapter.firmware set iscsi.adapter get iscsi.adapter list iscsi.adapter.param get iscsi.adapter.param set iscsi.adapter set iscsi.adapter.target list iscsi.adapter.target.portal.auth.chap get iscsi.adapter.target.portal.auth.chap set iscsi.adapter.target.portal list iscsi.adapter.target.portal.param get iscsi.adapter.target.portal.param set iscsi.ibftboot get iscsi.ibftboot import iscsi.logicalnetworkportal list iscsi.networkportal add iscsi.networkportal.ipconfig get iscsi.networkportal.ipconfig set iscsi.networkportal list iscsi.networkportal remove iscsi.physicalnetworkportal list iscsi.physicalnetworkportal.param get iscsi.physicalnetworkportal.param set iscsi.plugin list iscsi.session add iscsi.session.connection list iscsi.session list iscsi.session remove iscsi.software get iscsi.software set network.fence list network.fence.network.bte list network.fence.network list network.fence.network.port list network.firewall get network.firewall load network.firewall refresh network.firewall.ruleset.allowedip add network.firewall.ruleset.allowedip list network.firewall.ruleset.allowedip remove network.firewall.ruleset list network.firewall.ruleset.rule list network.firewall.ruleset set network.firewall set network.firewall unload network.ip.connection list network.ip.dns.search add network.ip.dns.search list network.ip.dns.search remove network.ip.dns.server add network.ip.dns.server list network.ip.dns.server remove network.ip get network.ip.interface add network.ip.interface.ipv4 get network.ip.interface.ipv4 set network.ip.interface.ipv6.address add network.ip.interface.ipv6.address list network.ip.interface.ipv6.address remove network.ip.interface.ipv6 get network.ip.interface.ipv6 set network.ip.interface list network.ip.interface remove network.ip.interface set network.ip.neighbor list network.ip set network.nic down network.nic get network.nic list network.nic set network.nic up network.vswitch.dvs.vmware list network.vswitch.standard add network.vswitch.standard list network.vswitch.standard.policy.failover get network.vswitch.standard.policy.failover set network.vswitch.standard.policy.security get network.vswitch.standard.policy.security set network.vswitch.standard.policy.shaping get network.vswitch.standard.policy.shaping set network.vswitch.standard.portgroup add network.vswitch.standard.portgroup list network.vswitch.standard.portgroup.policy.failover get network.vswitch.standard.portgroup.policy.failover set network.vswitch.standard.portgroup.policy.security get network.vswitch.standard.portgroup.policy.security set network.vswitch.standard.portgroup.policy.shaping get network.vswitch.standard.portgroup.policy.shaping set network.vswitch.standard.portgroup remove network.vswitch.standard.portgroup set network.vswitch.standard remove network.vswitch.standard set network.vswitch.standard.uplink add network.vswitch.standard.uplink remove software.acceptance get software.acceptance set software.profile get software.profile install software.profile update software.profile validate software.sources.profile get software.sources.profile list software.sources.vib get software.sources.vib list software.vib get software.vib install software.vib list software.vib remove software.vib update storage.core.adapter list storage.core.adapter rescan storage.core.adapter.stats get storage.core.claiming autoclaim storage.core.claiming reclaim storage.core.claiming unclaim storage.core.claimrule add storage.core.claimrule convert storage.core.claimrule list storage.core.claimrule load storage.core.claimrule move storage.core.claimrule remove storage.core.claimrule run storage.core.device.detached list storage.core.device.detached remove storage.core.device list storage.core.device.partition list storage.core.device set storage.core.device setconfig storage.core.device.stats get storage.core.device.vaai.status get storage.core.device.world list storage.core.path list storage.core.path set storage.core.path.stats get storage.core.plugin list storage.core.plugin.registration add storage.core.plugin.registration list storage.core.plugin.registration remove storage.filesystem automount storage.filesystem list storage.filesystem mount storage.filesystem rescan storage.filesystem unmount storage.nfs add storage.nfs list storage.nfs remove storage.nmp.device list storage.nmp.device set storage.nmp.path list storage.nmp.psp.fixed.deviceconfig get storage.nmp.psp.fixed.deviceconfig set storage.nmp.psp.generic.deviceconfig get storage.nmp.psp.generic.deviceconfig set storage.nmp.psp.generic.pathconfig get storage.nmp.psp.generic.pathconfig set storage.nmp.psp list storage.nmp.psp.roundrobin.deviceconfig get storage.nmp.psp.roundrobin.deviceconfig set storage.nmp.satp.generic.deviceconfig get storage.nmp.satp.generic.deviceconfig set storage.nmp.satp.generic.pathconfig get storage.nmp.satp.generic.pathconfig set storage.nmp.satp list storage.nmp.satp.rule add storage.nmp.satp.rule list storage.nmp.satp.rule remove storage.nmp.satp set storage.vmfs.extent list storage.vmfs.snapshot.extent list storage.vmfs.snapshot list storage.vmfs.snapshot mount storage.vmfs.snapshot resignature storage.vmfs upgrade system.boot.device get system.coredump.network get system.coredump.network set system.coredump.partition get system.coredump.partition list system.coredump.partition set system.hostname get system.hostname set system.module get system.module list system.module load system.module.parameters list system.module.parameters set system.module set system.process list system.process.stats.load get system.process.stats.running get system.secpolicy.domain list system.secpolicy.domain set system.settings.advanced list system.settings.advanced set system.settings.kernel list system.settings.kernel set system.settings.keyboard.layout get system.settings.keyboard.layout list system.settings.keyboard.layout set system.stats.uptime get system.syslog.config get system.syslog.config.logger list system.syslog.config.logger set system.syslog.config set system.syslog mark system.syslog reload system.time get system.time set system.uuid get system.version get system.visorfs get system.visorfs.ramdisk add system.visorfs.ramdisk list system.visorfs.ramdisk remove system.visorfs.tardisk list system.welcomemsg get system.welcomemsg set vm.process kill vm.process list
vCenter deployments are likely to change for large companies as they upgrade to vSphere 5. Traditionally vCenter has been installed in one of two designs. The primary decision was whether to split off the database onto a second server. Smaller shops simply installed vCenter and MS SQL (or even MS SQL Express for the very small) on the same server.
Medium and large organisations commonly split out the database onto a separate server; their vCenter server is dedicated. As we know, larger companies like to divide out applications and databases onto their own server instances. This is done for several reasons, not least to help scale up to heavier workloads. So I think its fair to say, in most medium and large implementations, this is the “classic” vCenter deployment:
Now for very large deployments, some companies create a third separate server for the vCenter Update Manager (VUM). This was particular important for anyone using the VM guest OS patching feature, as that capability could consume significant resources for a vCenter which managed lots of VMs. However this guest OS patching was never a particularly popular feature with large enterprises, as they usually already had a working patch solution that they stuck with. When VMware announced with the release of vSphere 4.1 that it would remove the guest OS patching feature in the next iteration, it really put the nail in the coffin. So I’d postulate that this 2 server model is the one that the vast majority of vSphere users have at the moment.
So what’s new?
vSphere 5 comes with many more components which you now need to consider (new ones in blue):
- vCenter itself
- vCenter database
- vSphere Update Manager (VUM) – note the vCenter > vSphere name change with v5 for VUM
- VUM database
- vSphere Web Client (* see note below)
- ESXi Dump Collector
- Syslog Collector
- AutoDeploy
- Authentication Proxy
With so many separate components, many deployment possibilities exist. Arguably the largest of deployments can do this:
However, I think the most likely candidate for the Next Generation, is something modelled around a 3 server deployment for the larger deployments. Companies can choose which additional components they might want and selectively install them on a Components Server. (Smaller companies can obviously consolidate services as they see fit across 1 or 2 servers)
Personally I think very large organisations with the most demanding of vSphere infrastructures are more likely to scale-out to multiple vCenter instances using Linked Mode, instead of further splitting this 3 server model.
The new Linux based vCenter Server Appliance currently has two limitations which will restrict its adoption in these larger deployments:
- No Microsoft SQL support
- No Linked Mode
Once these are overcome we’ll see an even more diverse mix of designs. vSphere architects will be able to slice-and-dice with more efficiency, and scale as required in a more dynamic fashion. For now I think we’ll see this 3 server design become de rigueur.
Note *
The Web Client has a “service” component that should be installed centrally.
The RC version of the vCenter Server and Host Management PDF states:
VMware recommends that you register a given vCenter Server systemwith only one vSphere Web Client instance
Once this service is installed, it has to be registered via a browser (with Flash) on the server that it’s installed on. It cannot be registered remotely. I’m not sure how good I feel about having to install Adobe Flash alongside my critical vCenter components just for this registration step.
Forbes Guthrie
vSphere Design
Mastering vSphere 5
