Eric Sloof

I've recorded a video which will show you the new vSphere 5 iSCSI UI support and some other usability improvements. In vSphere 5 you'll have the ability to configure dependent hardware iSCSI and software iSCSI adapters along with the network configurations and port binding in a single dialog box using the vSphere Client. Full SDK access is also available for these configurations.

If you use the software or dependent hardware iSCSI adapters, you must configure connections for the traffic between the iSCSI component and the physical network adapters. Configuring the network connection involves creating a virtual VMkernel interface for each physical network adapter and associating the interface with an appropriate iSCSI adapter.

If your host has more than one physical network adapter for software and dependent hardware iSCSI, use the adapters for multipathing. You can connect the software iSCSI adapter with any physical NICs available on your host. The dependent iSCSI adapters can be connected only with their own physical NICs.

CloudFS is a prototype replicated and distributed storage system for the VMware ESX platform. It allows VMs to run using local storage, without any single points of failure. CloudFS has been described in the research papers "Lithium: Virtual Machine Storage for the Cloud" at SoCC 2010 in Indianapolis, and "Scalable virtual machine storage using local disks" in the December 2010 issue of ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review.

The CloudFS code must be checked out under your VMware "bora" tree, and the build files patched from the file under scons/scons.diff. See the README file for further instructions. Please be aware that this is prototype software intended for a research audience, and not for ordinary users without above average systems hacking skills.

http://labs.vmware.com/flings/cloudfs

The vSphere Web Client, the Next-generation browser-based vSphere Client. A browser-based, fully-extensible, platform-independent implementation of the vSphere Client based on Adobe Flex. The vSphere 5.0 release includes both the new browser-based client and the Windows-based client available in prior releases. In this release, the browser-based client includes a subset of the functionality available in the Windows-based client, primarily related to inventory display and virtual machine deployment and configuration.

In this video I’ll show you how to log in to vCenter Server using the vSphere Web Client and manage your vSphere inventory. Before you can start to use the Web Client you first have to verify that the vCenter Server system is registered with the client. Just open a Web browser and enter the URL for the vSphere Web Client: http://server_name:8443/vsphere-client

The vSphere Web Client has improved immense comparing to the old Web Access interface and is completely rewritten in Adobe’s Flex. It’s supported on the following browsers:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and 8
- Mozilla Firefox 3.5 and 3.6

To deploy virtual machines in the vCenter Server inventory, you can create a virtual machine or clone an existing virtual machine. It’s also possible to deploy a Virtual Machine from a Template with the vSphere Web Client. Deploying a virtual machine from a template creates a virtual machine that is a copy of the template. The new virtual machine has the virtual hardware, installed software, and other properties that are configured for the template.

USB devices attached to the client computer running the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client can be connected to a virtual machine and accessed within it.

 What's New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Storage

This paper focuses on the storage-specific features and enhancements that are available in vSphere 5.0 and provides an overview of how they optimize storage utilization, ease monitoring, and increase operational efficiency. Wherever possible, VMware will also provide use cases and requirements that might apply to these new functions.

 What's New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Performance

VMware vSphere 5.0, the best VMware solution for building cloud infrastructures, pushes further ahead in performance and scalability. vSphere 5.0 enables higher consolidation ratios with unequaled performance. It supports the build-out of private and hybrid clouds at even lower operational costs than before. This paper outlines many of these performance enhancements.

 What's New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Networking

With the release of VMware vSphere 5.0, VMware brings a number of powerful new features and enhancements to the networking capabilities of the vSphere platform. These new network capabilities enable customers to run business-critical applications with confidence and provide the flexibility to enable customers to respond to business needs more rapidly. All the networking capabilities discussed in this document are available only with the VMware vSphere Distributed Switch.

 What's New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Availability

VMware provides several features that can be leveraged to increase the availability of a virtualized environment. This paper presents these features as they apply to availability of the applications, the infrastructure, and the management platform.

 What's New in VMware vCloud Director 1.5 Technical Whitepaper

VMware vCloud Director is a software solution that enables enterprises and service providers to build clouds delivering Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), giving end users the agility they demand, and giving IT the efficiency they require. Only VMware vCloud Director offers the cloud without compromise—the ability to run an efficient cloud securely within a datacenter, and the option to bridge to an ecosystem of over 3,000 service-provider partners.

 What's New in VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 Technical Whitepaper

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager is the premier tool to enable you to build, manage and execute reliable disaster recovery plans for your virtual environment. Taking full advantage of the encapsulation and isolation of virtual machines, Site Recovery Manager enables simplified automation of disaster recovery. It helps meet recovery time objectives, reduces costs traditionally associated with business continuance plans and achieves low-risk and predictable results for recovery of a virtual environment. In this paper, we will provide an overview of the new capabilities of Site Recovery Manager 5.0.

 What's New in VMware Data Recovery 2.0 Technical Whitepaper

VMware Data Recovery 2.0 is the premier tool to enable quick and simple backup, storage, and recovery of virtual machines and files within the virtual environment. With the release of version 2.0, VMware has expanded the capabilities of VMware Data Recovery in the virtual environment to attain quicker and more reliable backups with better levels of integration with VMware vCenter Server and new manageability options. This paper presents an overview of the new capabilities of VMware Data Recovery 2.0.

 VMware vSphere Storage Appliance Technical Whitepaper

In VMware vSphere 5.0, VMware is releasing a new software storage appliance to the market called the vSphere Storage Appliance. This appliance provides an alternative shared storage solution for small-to-medium business customers who might not be in a position to purchase a SAN or NAS array for their virtual infrastructure. Without shared storage configured in a vSphere environment, customers have not been able to exploit the unique features available in vSphere 5.0, such as vSphere High Availability, vSphere vMotion, and vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler. The VSA is designed to provide shared storage for everyone. This paper presents an overview of the VSA architecture, deployment of a VSA storage cluster, and basic monitoring and managing.

 What's New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Platform

VMware vSphere 5.0 introduces many improvements and new features to extend the benefits and capabilities of vSphere 4.1. These advancements build on the core capacities in vSphere to provide improved scalability; better performance; and easier provisioning, monitoring and troubleshooting. This paper focuses on the these new features and enhancements.

So what’s the fuzz about this new vSphere 5 Storage DRS feature? This feature delivers the DRS benefits of resource aggregation, automated initial placement, and bottleneck avoidance to storage. You can group and manage similar datastores as a single load-balanced storage resource called a datastore cluster. Storage DRS makes VMDK placement and migration recommendations to avoid I/O and space utilization bottlenecks on the datastores in the cluster. Storage DRS takes care of the initial placement of virtual machines and VMDK files. This placement is based on Space and I/O capacity. Storage DRS will select the best datastore to place this virtual machine or virtual disk in the selected Datastore Cluster. When Storage DRS is set to fully automatic, it will do automated load balancing actions. Of course this can be configured as manual as well and that is actually the default today. Load balancing again is based on space and I/O capacity. If and when required Storage DRS will make recommendations based space and I/O capacity. It will however only do this when a specific threshold is reached. I’ve recorded a video which will show you how to:

- Configure a Datastore Cluster
- Set Storage DRS Automation Level
- Set Storage DRS Runtime Rules
- Create a Storage DRS Scheduled Task
- Using Storage DRS Rules
- Edit Virtual Machine Settings for a Datastore Cluster
- Apply Storage DRS Recommendations
- Add Storage to a Datastore Cluster



A datastore cluster is a collection of datastores aggregated into a single unit of consumption for an administrators. When a datastore cluster is created, Storage DRS can manage the storage resources comparable to how DRS manages compute resources in a cluster.  As with a cluster of hosts, a datastore clusters is used to aggregate storage resources, enabling smart and rapid placement of new virtual machines and virtual disk drives and load balancing of existing workloads. When you create a VM you will be able to select a Datastore Cluster as opposed to individual datastores. Storage DRS provides initial placement recommendations to datastores in a Storage DRS-enabled datastore cluster based on I/O and space capacity.

During the provisioning of a virtual machine, a datastore cluster can be selected as the target destination for this virtual machine or virtual machine disk after which a recommendation for initial placement is done based on I/O and space capacity. Initial Placement in a manual provisioning process has proven to be very complex in most environments and as such important provisioning factors like current I/O load or space utilization are often ignored. Storage DRS ensures initial placement recommendations are made in accordance with space constraints and with respect to the goals of space and I/O load balancing. Although people are really excited about automated load balancing, it is Initial Placement where most people will start off with and where most people will benefit from the most as it will reduce operational overhead associated with the provisioning of virtual machines.

Ongoing balancing recommendations are made when one or more datastores in a datastore cluster exceeds the user-configurable space utilization or I/O latency thresholds. These thresholds are typically defined during the configuration of the datastore cluster.  Storage DRS utilizes vCenter Server’s datastore utilization reporting mechanism to make recommendations whenever the configured utilized space threshold is exceeded. I/O load is evaluated by default every 8 hours currently with a default latency threshold of 15ms.  Only when this I/O latency threshold is exceeded Storage DRS will calculate all possible moves to balance the load accordingly while considering the cost and the benefit of the migration. If the benefit doesn’t last for at least 24 hours, Storage DRS will not make the recommendation.

In vCloud Director 1.0, VM provisioning operations resulted in the creation of full clones, delivered to users within minutes through a simple web portal. With the enablement of linked clones in vCloud Director 1.5, users no longer have to wait for a full copy each time they deploy a vApp. vCloud Director “links” clones together so that common elements are stored only once. This improves agility in the cloud by reducing provisioning time, from minutes down to seconds, and reducing the cost of storage by up to 10x.

• Builds on vSphere and scalesup to 10,000 VMs and 25 vCenter Servers
• Creates virtual datacenters, by pooling resources into new units of consumption
• Securely enables the cloudwith vShield, LDAP authentication, and RBAC
• Provides self-service portals and standardized infrastructure catalogs
• Isolates users into organizationswith unique catalogs, policies, and LDAP
• vCloud Director builds on vSphere to transform IT
• vCloud API enables inter-cloud portability, programmatic control, and integrationsIT
• Fast Provisioning Utilizing linked clones dramatically speeds up provisioning time and reduces storage costs.
• vApp Custom Guest Properties: Allows developers and other users to easily pass user data into guest OSes using OVF descriptors.
• vCloud Messages and Blocking Tasks: Programmatically connect vCloud Director to enterprise systems (e.g. CMDB) enabling end-to-end system automation.
• Microsoft SQL Server Support: Now runs on SQL Server (as well as Oracle).
• vShield Edge VPN integration: Programmatically create site to site IPSec-VPN tunnels to connect across clouds.
• Expanded vCloud API: Additional commands added to the vCloud API namespace to include all GUI-accessible actions and enable broader integration and scripting using the API.

With the release of vSphere version 5.0, VMware will also offer two new training courses. These new training courses are still in beta and will be released when vSphere 5.0 becomes general available. The two day “VMware vSphere: What's New [V5.0]” is aimed at current vSphere 4 administrators and the VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V5.0] is the full five day course. VMware Certified Professional on vSphere 5 VCP5 certification is available at the end of August, more information can be found at vue.com (VCP510). There are different paths to VCP5 certification based on your background. Choose your path and complete the three core validation components:

1.Attend a qualifying VMware authorized course.Already a VCP4? There is no course requirement until February 29, 2012.

2.Gain hands-on experience with VMware vSphere 5.

3.Pass the VCP5 Exam.

VCP5 Exam Blueprint

At the 25th and 26th of August I'll deliver the vSphere 5 What's New training GK Nieuwegein - http://www.globalknowledge.nl/cursussen/vmware/virtualisation/vmwn.html

Ik geef een Nederlandstalige vSphere 5 ICM training bij Global Knowledge in Nieuwegein van 19 sep t/m 23 sep http://bit.ly/qZHkku

VMware vSphere: What's New [V5.0]

This hands-on training course explores new features in VMware vCenter™ Server 5.0 and VMware® ESXi™ 5.0. Topics include VMware vSphere® 5 installation and how to upgrade from vSphere 4.x to vSphere 5.0. vSphere 5.0 is the first version of vSphere to include only the ESXi hypervisor.

Objectives

• List and describe key enhancements in vSphere 5.0
• Upgrade a deployment from vSphere 4.x to vSphere 5.0
• Use Image Builder to modify and export an image profile as part of Auto Deploy
• Use Auto Deploy to Install a stateless ESXi host
• Manage a version 8 virtual machine with the next-generation Web-based VMware vSphere Client
• List and describe key networking enhancements, including the ESXi firewall and new features in vNetwork distributed switches
• Upgrade and manage a VMware vSphere VMFS5 datastore
• Understand and configure policy-driven storage management
• Create a datastore cluster and configure Storage DRS
• Configure a VMware High Availability cluster based on the new Fault Domain Manager agents
• Use the Linux-based VMware vCenter Server Appliance
  

VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V5.0]

This hands-on training course explores installation, configuration, and management of VMware vSphere®, which consists of VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter™ Server. The course is based on ESXi 5.0 and vCenter Server 5.0. Completion of this course satisfies the prerequisite for taking the VMware® Certified Professional 5 exam.

Objectives

• Install and configure ESXi
• Install and configure vCenter Server components
• Configure and manage ESXi networking and storage using vCenter Server
• Deploy, manage, and migrate virtual machines
• Manage user access to the VMware infrastructure
• Use vCenter Server to monitor resource usage
• Use vCenter Server to increase scalability
• Use VMware vCenter Update Manager to apply ESXi patches
• Use vCenter Server to manage higher availability and data protection

What’s New in VMware vSphere 5?

This video will show you how to install ESXi 5.0 on a drive with an existing ESX 4.1 installation and VMFS datastore present. ESXi 5.0 uses the same installer for fresh installations and upgrades. If the installer finds an existing ESX 4.x or ESXi 4.x installation, it allows you to performs an upgrade.

During this upgrade, the ESXi installer will offer several options for preserving or discarding existing ESX host settings and VMFS datastores. If an earlier version of ESX and VMFS was found by the installer, it will show you the selected storage device contains an installation of ESX and a VMFS datastore. You can choose whether to upgrade or install and overwrite the existing installation. You can also choose whether to preserve or overwrite the existing VMFS datastore. After upgrading from ESX  4.1 to ESXi 5.0, only the relevant settings will be migrated.

For vSphere-based environments, vShield solutions provide capabilities to secure the edge of the vDC, protect virtual applications from network-based threats, and streamline antivirus protection for VMware View deployments by offloading AV processing to dedicated security VMs. These new product offerings can start securing infrastructure almost immediately since all the underlying compute resources are already present in the vsphere environment.

These same solutions in the traditional security model would have taken months to authorize and provision in the physical data center. vShield Edge provides network-edge security and gateway services to isolate the virtual machines in a port group. Common deployments of vShield Edge include protecting access to a company’s Extranet. vShield Edge can also be used in a multi-tenant cloud environment where the vShield Edge provides perimeter security for each tenant’s virtual datacenters (or VDC).

vShield Edge secures the edge of a virtual datacenter with firewalling, VPN, NAT, DHCP, and Web load-balancing capabilities that enable rapid, secure scaling of cloud infrastructures. Along with network isolation, these edge services create logical security perimeters around virtual datacenters and enable secure multi-tenancy. New features in vShield Edge include the ability to set up static routing, instead of requiring NAT for connections to the outside, as well as certificate-based VPN. vShield Edge provides network-edge security and gateway services to isolate the virtual machines in a port group. Common deployments of vShield Edge include protecting access to a company’s Extranet. vShield Edge can also be used in a multi-tenant cloud environment where the vShield Edge provides perimeter security for each tenant’s virtual datacenters (or VDC).

vShield App helps you overcome the challenges of securing the interior of your virtual datacenter. vShield App is software-based, it is deployed as a virtual appliance. As a result, vShield App is better than physically securing the virtual datacenter because it is a lot less expensive than buying a number of physical firewalls and segmenting them into different security zones. Also, with vShield App, you can create virtual firewalls with unlimited port density. vShield App provides complete visibility and control of inter-virtual machine traffic in logical security zones that you create. vShield App provides hypervisor-level introspection into the inter-VM traffic. vShield App enables multiple trust zones in the same ESX/ESXi cluster. vShield App also allows you to create intuitive, business language policies, using the vCenter Server inventory for convenience.

Advanced Grouping capabilities in vShield App allow even more sophisticated policies to be managed with ease Layer 2 protection coupled with APIs enable automatic quarantining of compromised VMs.  vShield Data Security provides knowledge of protected data across cloud environments and lowers cost of compliance by helping define scope Enterprise roles in vShield Manager provides the separation of duties required by security and compliance standards.

UEFI virtual BIOS. Virtual machines running on ESXi 5.0 can boot from and use the Unified Extended Firmware Interface (UEFI). When you create a new virtual machine on an ESXi 5.0 host you have the option to choose for virtual machine version 8. This new version brings a lot of extra (scalability) features but there’s one other interesting new feature. The Extensible Firmware Interface can be selected to replace the BIOS of a virtual machine. EFI is the successor of the traditional BIOS which is used since the introduction of the IBM PC back in 1981. If you want to host Apple Mac OS X 10.6 in a virtual machine, you need EFI. In this video I’ll show you how to get access to the EFI interface. I’ll also show you how you can get access to the pre-OS command line environment.

When you select a guest operating system, BIOS or Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is selected by default, depending on which firmware the operating system uses. Mac OS X Server guest operating systems support only EFI. If the operating system supports both BIOS and EFI, you can change the default before you install the guest operating system. Use the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box at the end of the creation process or after the virtual machine is created. The Firmware selection pane is on the Options tab under Advanced > Boot Options.

vSphere 5.0 also supports booting ESXi hosts from the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). With UEFI you can boot systems from hard drives, CD-ROM drives, or USB media. Booting over the network requires the legacy BIOS firmware and is not available with UEFI.