Footnote: If you don’t understand the importance of HA slot sizes, go learn.

===== n+1 is hogwash! originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

Here’s what’s new since the last download:

What’s new in v3:
Now synchronized with “VMware Network Ports Compendium v3″

What’s new in v213:
Change port range in VUM to 9000-9100 (and not 9000-9010)

What’s new in v212:
Added SRM Port 9007 for WSDL, SOAL
Changed SRM Port 443 to Port 80 for Communication with remote vCenter Server

He’s also given me access to his “source” document.  It’s a spreadsheet which makes looking for a specific port when troubleshooting much easier.  You can grab yourself a copy here:

Dudley maintains on online version here: http://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/89EFA582-2C35-F6A2-9ED1-7AD4810266C2/

===== Firewall diagram – updated to version 3 originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

vCenter Server 4.0 becomes unresponsive in large environments if managing ESX Server 3.5 hosts prior to ESX 3.5 patch 10
vCenter Server 4.0 can become unresponsive in large environments after 30 days if it manages any ESX Server 3.5 hosts prior to ESX Server 3.5 patch 10.
Workaround: Upgrade to ESX Server 3.5 Update 4 if you are running ESX Server 3.5 with vCenter Server 4.0.

What exactly is “patch 10”?   How do you know what build level qualifies?  Is there a single patch that can be applied?

If you upgrade to vCenter 4 and things become unresponsive after 30 days, patching all your disparate ESX servers isn’t going to be something that most large organizations can do quickly.  I’d say this is an important one.

I posed the question to my local SE, and several VMware contacts I have, but no-one seems to know.  Can anyone out there on the tubes clarify this one?

===== ESX 3.5 patch 10 – what’s that? originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

• Ensure that you have sufficient space in the source datastore as Storage VMotion uses snapshots to transfer the VMDKs over.  This is a particular problem with large frequently changing VMs, e.g. database servers.  Large disks mean that the whole transfer can take several hours, and frequently changing data means large snapshot files.  If sufficient space is not available, the datastore can fill up, preventing any more data being written to the disks and causing the Storage VMotion to fail.  I would recommend you have empty space equivalent to the size of the VM’s disk files before you start.  VMFS extents are an excellent solution to this short term problem.

• The other problem I have encountered occurs when the VM has its VMDK disk files spread across more than one datastore.  The operation begins successfully, but during the transfer the host gets confused and the process fails.  The disks have snapshots applied, but are corrupt.  Unfortunately, the only way to avoid this situation is to cold migrate all the VM’s files onto one datastore first.

Great care has to be taken to recover disks after a Storage VMotion failure, to avoid total data loss.

===== Problems with Storage VMotion originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

Enter maintenance mode from the ESX command line:
vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

I have used this command several times in anger.  It is particularly useful if you can’t get to your VirtualCenter server for whatever reason.

There are some commands which are definitely worth learning.  Fortunately you can get by with just a small handful.

Sometimes people ask me why they would want to learn CLI commands, when the VI Client provides a nice GUI.  This topic is worthy of a long post of its own, but to cover some of the obvious ones:

• Some people find it easier/quicker than the VI Client
• Some functionality is still not available from VI Clien
• CLI allows for scripting
• Sometimes the VirtualCenter is not available (particularly if it is a VM itself)
• If the VirtualCenter database server is offline, VirtualCenter itself can become unworkable
• If the ESX hosts console networking gets screwed
• You have physical access to ESX consoles but no way to get to a windows GUI

When things need fixed quickly, usually at some ungodly hour of the night, those CLI commands can be difficult to remember.  However, as long as you know a bit about the CLI, if you remember these simple things then you can do just about anything:

ls /usr/sbin
This lists out most commands that you would use.  Some of the command names aren’t that obvious e.g. vmkfstools.  This listing will often help you remember what you are looking for, or spark an idea when your mind has gone blank.

-h
Once you’ve figured out which command it was that you were looking for, then run it with the –h option.  For all VMware commands this will show a short listing of all the command’s options, switches and syntax; very similar to the /? from DOS.  You can use man command if you need a more detailed explanation, but –h usually does enough to spark some synapse.

-l (l for lima)
Often worth remembering, as this switch will usually list the current configuration set.

ls /var/log
These days, just about all the important log files are here (and its sub-directory).  With this command you can see which log files you might want to look at and run them with a simple tail command (or even grep).

/sbin/service –status-all
This command will produce a fair amount of information so you can pipe it to grep to look for running or stopped, or query the status of a single service.  However it can also provide some useful extras – for example it tells you what registered services have the local firewall ports opened for them.

history
Most commands I run, I have usually run before.  This is the ultimate reminder.

You see, very simple commands, but great starting points.  Unfortunately, now the basic VMware Install and Configure course doesn’t cover much (if any?) CLI stuff, it is often though of as a real black art.

It is always worth reminding people that even if the VirtualCenter server is unavailable, that you do have a couple of other options in an emergency:

• You can connect the VI Client directly to host ESX servers.  A lot of less experienced people think of the VI Client as VirtualCenter.  However if VirtualCenter is unavailable then the VI Client can connect to hosts.
• The VI web access.  You can connect to each host server via its web access on https://hostname/ui.  From Web Access you can do basic VM management.  Even VirtualCenter itself hosts its own Web Access portal https://VC_hostname/ui.

These two methods are often forgotten in a panic, but they have helped me countless times.

You don’t always need to remember how to do everything, just how to help yourself remember.

===== When your mind goes blank originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

There over a dozen corrections, updates, and a few small additions.  Many thanks to everyone who has emailed me since the last release, particularly Simon Price and Peter Vroomen.

===== Version 1.2 originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

To make the prompt red when you’re running as root add this to /root/.bashrc:

PS1=’\[\e[31m\]\u@\h:\w#\[\e[m\] ‘

To make the prompt green when running as a normal user add this to ~/.bashrc:

PS1=’\[\e[32m\]\u@\h:\w\$\[\e[m\] ‘

Update: If you want to add this to a kickstart script, do this:

# Help identify when logged in as root
echo “PS1=’\[\e[31m\]\u@\h:\w#\[\e[m\]‘” >> /root/.bashrc
echo “PS1=’\[\e[32m\]\u@\h:\w#\[\e[m\]‘” >> /etc/skel/.bashrc

===== Command prompt colours originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

I’ve made several corrections (thanks everyone), added a few extra snippets and dusted it with a sprinkling of handy tips and tricks.

The biggest change is a small 3i section. I have been wanting to do this for a while, but I haven’t had a chance to play with it since its beta. There is quite lot of information around about 3i now, but I just wanted to add the sort of stuff people would actual use.

On a personal note, I have just got back from an OnTap foundations course, so I am try to pull together some good reading material for the NetApp NCDA. Maybe they’ll be a "vmreference OnTap card" soon:)

As ever, suggestions/advice/questions – get in touch

===== Shining glory originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

• Correction to partition types (thanks to Arne Fokkema)
• Addition of SQL express with VC 2.5 (thanks to Peter Vroomen)
• Added check license site
• added PROD_VC_EXPRESS
• Random tidying

===== Updates originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie

So what’s next? Well, I am already gathering some material to add in a short section about 3i specific stuff. Let me know if you have any useful links.

When I was playing around with the 3i beta, I was thinking about a 3i advanced guide including busybox command listings. However, in retrospect I don’t know how much this would get used. It seems VMware want to hide this aspect as much as possible, and if you have to reboot your 3i server or set it up beforehand, then I can’t imagine many people really using it in anger.

For a long time, VMware has been promising to introduce a more advanced certification. The rumblings are starting to get louder around this, so hopefully it might be available soon. If there is extra material, or courses (which I can persuade someone to send me on) over and above the DSA course, then this could certainly be the basis for a different card. It would be great to design a card more focused towards architects.

If VMware ever improve the mess that is the RCLI, then I would definitely produce a specific reference card just for this. However, it seems like such an afterthought by them. I’m afraid that they won’t develop it further, but use it to placate the CLI and Linux set. As a little shell/editor for Windows, or a nifty little dedicated VM; this could be so useful. Unfortunately, throwing down a pile of perl scripts, just don’t cut the mustard. I like Scott Lowe’s entry here: http://blog.scottlowe.org/2008/01/07/underwhelmed-by-the-remote-cli/

And no, I have no great interest in MS’s powershell.

I’m hoping to get myself on a NetApp "Data ONTAP Fundamentals" course in March, so if I find that interesting enough and can get enough material together to study for the NCDA, then I might just put a card together for that. Does anyone have some good links to NCDA material, or can recommend a good book?

And lastly, I’m still interested in taking my Red Hat RHCE exam one day. I have been wanting to do this for quite some time, but I haven’t found an employer interested in Linux yet. I’m sure there are plenty RHCE reference cards already out there. I’d just love to have the opportunity to spend more time with Linux at work. Its hard studying for a fairly heavy curriculum, when I don’t get to use those skills regularly.

Oh, and I know I really need to do something about this site. I’ll need to get myself interesting in joomla, drupal, wordpress or something similar.

As always, please get in touch if you have any comments.

===== The VI3 card is now ready for 1.0 status! originally posted by Forbes Guthrie on vReference. Subscribe to my RSS feed for all the latest updates, and follow me on Twitter for shorter ramblings. Follow @forbesguthrie